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Lawyer Claims Tsarukian Arrested ‘Unlawfully’
Naira Bulghadarian
Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian (archive photo)
Opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian was arrested yesterday on suspicion of organizing a rally in violation of the law, his lawyer Yerem Sargsian wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Sargsian said Tsarukian’s arrest was “clearly unlawful.” He said the politician was kept for hours at the National Security Service (NSS) to where he had been invited to be questioned as a witness earlier on Wednesday. “For nine hours NSS officers were struggling to find any grounds for Tsarukian’s arrest,” the lawyer claimed.
The party led by Tsarukian was one of 17 opposition forces that took part in a rally demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over the statement he signed with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on terms that are largely viewed by Armenia’s opposition as an act of surrender.
Leaders and senior members of other parties participating in the protests were also arrested or summoned for questioning by the NSS on November 11.
Despite the arrest, the loose opposition alliance vowed to continue its anti-government protests and also seek the release of arrested leaders and activists.
Tsarukian’s lawyer said that his client’s arrest was also unlawful because the crime he is suspected to have committed is not considered a heavy crime and is punishable by a fine of up to $600 or imprisonment for up to two months.
Tsarukian is currently under investigation as part of a separate criminal case in which he is charged with organizing a vote-buying scheme in 2017 parliamentary elections.
The BHK leader was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in June and was arrested on September 25. Tsarukian claimed political motives behind his prosecution and arrest. He was freed on bail on October 22.
Later on Thursday, Armenia’s law-enforcement authorities said that Tsarukian was arrested on charges of organizing mass disorders. Several other opposition leaders and activists, including the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun) Gegham Manukian and Eduard Sharmazanov of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia are also arrested and charged with organizing mass disorders.
Homeland Party leader Artur Vanetsian is arrested and charged with organizing mass disorders and revealing a state secret. ARF leader Ishkhan Saghatelian is also arrested and charged with revealing a state secret.
All in all, 10 people have been arrested, the authorities said.
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Northern Illinois University (NIU) To Host The BEF Junior Nationals
The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) is pleased to announce that Northern Illinois University (NIU) will host the 23rd Annual BEF Junior National 9-Ball Championships on July 6 -10, 2011.
Over 150 young billiard athletes are expected to qualify for the BEF Junior Nationals which will be held at the Huskies Den located in the Holmes Student Center on the NIU campus in DeKalb, Illinois. The seventeen (17) 9-foot billiard tables will be draped with Simonis Cloth and will set the stage where junior players will be competing for scholarships, prizes and an invitation to represent the United States at the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) World Junior 9-Ball Championships.
To participate in the BEF Junior Nationals, players must earn an entry through a BEF qualifier or must be appointed by their local junior league. The national event features 4 divisions: 18 & Under Boys, 18 & Under Girls, 14 & Under Boys, and 14 & Under Girls. Qualifiers will be held throughout the United Stated and are currently being scheduled through May. For more information about hosting a qualifier, sending a player representative through your league, or viewing a list of upcoming qualifier dates and locations, visit www.BilliardEducation.org.
The 2011 BEF Junior National 9-Ball Championship sponsors include: Simonis Cloth, Northern Illinois University's Huskies Den, Billiard Congress of America (BCA), CueSport College International and the BEF supporters.
Illinois State University to Host 2009 Junior Nationals & Collegiate 9-Ball Championships
Press Release | Apr 19, 2009
2012 BEF Junior Nationals Heads to Wisconsin
Press Release | Mar 26, 2012
2008 BEF Junior Nationals & ACUI Collegiate 9-Ball Championships Head to the University of Arizona, Tucson
Press Release | Feb 27, 2008
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Warner's Warning
Former Card says new QB prep will be difficult after missing offseason
Former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, appearing at the NFL 101 All-Access event in L.A. earlier this week, said it will be tough for any quarterback in a new situation in 2011.
In 2004, free agent quarterback Kurt Warner didn't sign with the New York Giants until June 3, deep into the team's offseason work.
While Warner was the starter coming out of training camp, he was eventually benched for rookie Eli Manning and "I never got comfortable with the offense the whole time I was there."
Warner relays the story standing on the field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, at an event meant to highlight the city's viability as an NFL town. But the NFL is in a different place this year, with players unable to have their normal offseason work. Warner, famous for his preparation when he was playing, knows perhaps better than anyone what the missed time will mean to any quarterback – and specifically, whatever quarterback ends up arriving to play for the Cardinals.
Veteran or not, it's a difficult place to be. Warner just remembers back to his Giant days to underscore that reality.
"You can go out and you can function, and do some things well, but it's the nuances of the offense that make players great," Warner said. "The Peyton Mannings, the Tom Bradys, why are they successful? They have been in the same system for eight, nine, 10 years and they know the ins and outs of it and how it works."
Hoping whoever steps in – whether it is Kevin Kolb or someone else – and does well right away may be asking too much. Kolb, in an interview this week on The Dan Patrick Show, said he knows transitioning to a new team with such a short timeline will be "hard" and that because he doesn't know where he will be playing, it's impossible to even get a jump-start.
"You can't put yourself in that situation mentally because if you do, you're liable to be disappointed," Kolb said. "I just know when this bell does ring I have a lot of work to do mentally."
That would stand to reason for any new quarterback. The conventional wisdom across the NFL since the labor trouble started were veteran teams – and more importantly, with quarterbacks in place – would be in a better place than those who weren't.
The Cardinals are in a better position than a team trying to break in a rookie, of course, like Carolina with Cam Newton or Minnesota with Christian Ponder or Tennessee with Jake Locker. "Anytime you can bring in a veteran with experience and the more experience the better, in another system or systems, even a guy comfortable in a pro huddle, that is an advantage," offensive coordinator Mike Miller said.
Limitations exist, however. Kolb, the most popular topic of Cardinals' speculation, has been playing in Andy Reid's West Coast Offense derivative, which doesn't exactly parallel what coach Ken Whisenhunt likes to do. Any new quarterback will also have to create a chemistry with wide receivers that usually begins in the offseason, and learn about his offensive line. In the latter case, the Cards still have to build their group of blockers too.
The Cardinals aside, Warner hesitates in endorsing any quarterback walking into a new situation this fall.
"I don't know how realistic it is to have these guys come in and make an immediate impact," Warner said.
John Skelton is still a possibility for the Cards. The second-year QB started the last four games for the team and, unlike anyone coming in, he is familiar with the playbook and what Whisenhunt and Miller will want to accomplish.
The second offseason for a player, however, is usually his most important. Skelton likely lost the momentum he might have had from the last month of the season once he wasn't able to work at the facility with the coaches.
"The one thing I know about the Cardinals' situation is that they have proven the best player will play," Warner said. "If that's John Skelton who has played a little bit and they feel comfortable with him playing even if they have signed another guy, it wouldn't surprise me for them to say, 'Hey this other guy is still our guy for the future and he just needs some time to get up to speed.'
"But you know it's hard if you go out and make a big splash in free agency or a trade, to then sit that guy on the bench. I think they will get someone who they think can be serviceable early, and he'll be around long enough to hopefully they can hit their stride around midseason."
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Crash of a Cessna 411 in East Hampton: 1 killed
William F. Holdgate
Jefferson - Nantucket
The pilot purchased the multiengine airplane about 18 months prior to the accident, and was conducting his first flight in the airplane, as he flew it from Georgia to Massachusetts. While en route, the airplane experienced a failure of the left engine. The airplane began maneuvering near an airport, as its groundspeed decreased from 173 miles per hour (mph) to 90 mph, 13 mph below the minimum single engine control speed. A witness reported that the airplane appeared to be attempting to land, when it banked to the left, and descended to the ground. The airplane impacted on a road, about 3 miles east-southeast of the airport. A 3-inch, by 2.5- inch hole was observed on the top of the left engine crankcase, and streaks of oil were present on the left gear door, left flap, and the left side of the fuselage. The number two connecting rod was fractured and heat distressed. The number 2 piston assembly was seized in the cylinder barrel. The airplane had been operated about 30 hours, during the 6 years prior to the accident, and it had not been flown since its most recent annual inspection, which was performed about 16 months prior to the accident. In addition, both engines were being operated beyond the manufacturer's recommended time between overhaul limits. The pilot did not possess a multiengine airplane rating. He attended an airplane type specific training course about 20 months prior to the accident. At that time, he reported 452 hours of total flight experience, with 0 hours of multiengine flight experience.
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed, while maneuvering with the left engine inoperative. Contributing to the accident were the failure of the left engine, and the pilot's lack of multiengine certification.
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Researchers show off a working light-based processor
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/23/researchers-show-working-light-based-processor/
The year has been chock-full of scientific breakthroughs, but the University of Colorado is determined to finish 2015 with a bang. Its researchers have created what they say is the first full-fledged processor to transmit data using light instead of electricity. The design isn't entirely photonic, but its 850 optical input/output elements give it the kind of bandwidth that make electric-only chips look downright modest -- we're talking 300Gbps per square millimeter, or 10 to 50 times what you normally see. The key was finding a way to reuse existing conventional processes to put optics in places where regular circuitry would go.
The design isn't a powerhouse with a tiny size (3mm by 6mm, or 0.1in by 0.2in) and just two cores. However, it shows the potential for dramatic improvements in computing power without having to completely reinvent the wheel. You could have networking gear that copes with massive amounts of data, for example. And there's plenty of room for optimization, too, so the possibilities for this technology remain wide open.
[Image credit: Glenn Asakawa, University of Colorado]
Via: Phys.org
Source: University of Colorado, Nature
The 10 best devices to turn your home into a smart home
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-smart-home-devices-2015-12
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
AmazonThe modern “smart home” is still learning. It’s still something we have to put in quotes like that. In the tech world’s rush to make everything Internet-connected, the home seems to be the area with the most potential for change and lasting effect. There are certainly no shortage of startups and corporations trying to make it work.
But for now, only a handful of these experiments look like they’ll bring more convenience than frustration. It’s hard to say that any smart home gadget is smart enough to be essential, but if you have an appreciation for forward-looking tech and a wallet with money to burn, there are devices out there that can help your day-to-day. Give them a chance, and it might be hard to go back. Here are a few we like.
ecobee3 Smarter WiFi Thermostat
AmazonThe Nest Learning Thermostat is the face of smart home technology for most, but depending on what your home is like, it’s not blasphemous to say the ecobee3 is superior.
Now, at their cores, both devices carry most of the same benefits. They’re both capable of learning your preferences and schedule, then adjusting the temperature accordingly. They’re both better-looking and more enjoyable to use than the basic pieces of plastic that occupy most households. Their very presence will probably make you more conscious about saving energy. They both can pay for themselves over time. And once you’re able to heat up or cool down your house from your phone, without having to get out of bed, you won’t want to go back.
If you live in a larger household, however, the ecobee3 can be much more convenient — provided you pick up a couple more remote sensors. Yes, it gets pretty pricey at that point, but having those gives you granular control over the temperature in different rooms around your house. By contrast, the Nest’s measurements are largely limited to the area in which it’s installed.
If you live in a condo or smaller place in general, that’s no big deal; the Nest itself is still very adept at taking the work of climate control off your hands. But we also like the ecobee3’s display, which isn’t as vibrant as the Nest’s, but is touch-enabled and more spacious, making it less frustrating when you want to enter a WiFi password, see weather info, access the settings, and so on.
Still, both devices are pretty great. Which one’s best just depends on whether you need a whole-home solution or a more straightforward one. For now, if it’s the former, go with the ecobee.
ecobee3 Smarter WiFi Thermostat with Remote Sensor (2nd-gen.), $245.24, available at Amazon.
AmazonThe Philips Hue is just about synonymous with the “smart lighting” concept, but that’s because it works, and it’s fun. While nobody really needs a smartphone app that turns their lights blue, the Hue family of devices make it easy to adjust the mood of a room.
It doesn’t come cheap, though. If you’re curious about the idea of adjustable lighting but don’t want to drop a couple hundred on a starter kit, the Cree Connected LED Bulb might be a better fit. It requires a hub to work and isn’t as colorful, but it can still be dimmed from a phone, potentially saving you some cash along the way.
Philips Hue Starter Kit, $199.99, available at Amazon.
AmazonLike the Learning Thermostat above, the Nest Protect spruces and smartens up a device most of us take for granted. The connected smoke and carbon monoxide detector looks nicer than the gray plastic chunk on your ceiling, for one, but it also does its job well, gauging potential dangers, then loudly alerting you if there’s a problem.
If you’re not home when something goes awry, it’ll send alerts to your phone. (And probably cause a few panic attacks in the process.) A handy “Pathlight” feature gives you a light if the Protect senses you walking around in the dark, too. And if you ever get a little too sloppy cooking dinner, you can turn off any non-emergency alarms right from the Nest app, rather than disconnecting the whole thing out of frustration.
Nest Protect, $99, available at Amazon.
AmazonThe Amazon Echo is technically a Bluetooth speaker, but you wouldn’t buy one just to play music. Instead, it best serves as a Siri or Google Now for your home, a digital assistant that can tell you the weather, crawl the Web for random info, fire up some music, set alarms or calendar events, adjust a growing number of other smart home devices, and more, all upon your request.
Amazon’s done a stellar job of updating and improving the Echo since it launched late last year, and the whole thing is simple to use and operate. Like most of the devices on the list, it’s also something to gawk at. It might bring us closer to a Her-style existence, but as a friendly, hands-free bridge to the Internet, the Echo is nice to have around.
Amazon Echo, $179.99, available at Amazon.
AmazonThe Sonos Play:1, meanwhile, is very much about the music. The entry-level device in the Sonos family of WiFi sound systems, the Play:1 performs well for its relatively diminutive size, and, like other Sonos devices, can easily stream music from Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora, Amazon Prime Music, SiriusXM, and most other major players.
You need to use Sonos’ app to do that, and really this model is meant to be a gateway to hooking up and syncing with other Sonos devices, but if you’ve ever thought about building such a home audio system, this is where you want to start.
Sonos Play:1, $195, available at Amazon.
AmazonThe Nest Cam builds off the successes of the Dropcam Pro — the creators of which Nest bought last year — by delivering a functional, high-res, and connected wireless security camera.
It puts out a wide-angle, 1080p stream that you can watch from your phone — not a replacement for a full-on home security system, but useful if you’ve got a child that needs monitoring. It’ll send you alerts if it senses something suspicious — though that’s limited to one every half-hour — and you can also stash and access past footage through the cloud.
Nest Cam Security Camera, $183.48, available at Amazon.
Belkin WeMo Switch
AmazonBelkin’s WeMo Switch devices want to make it so you’re never anxious about leaving something plugged in once you’re out of the house. They simply plug into an existing AC outlet, connect to your WiFi network, and then allow you to turn on or off whatever’s plugged into them through a corresponding app.
That app has a reputation for being finicky from time to time, but get past that and you can find a ton of opportunities for home automation here (especially with a service like IFTTT). If you suspect a device is chewing up too much energy, for instance, you could have it automatically shut down once it hits a certain cost for the day.
Belkin WeMo Switch, $39.99, available at Amazon.
AmazonYou probably know what a Roomba is by now, and as we’ve said before, the newest model in the series of semi-autonomous robot vacuums is its smartest yet. It’s shamelessly expensive, but now you can schedule it to automatically start cleaning at specific times, regardless of whether or not you’re near it. It’s tidier at actually doing that cleaning, too, though it’ll still charmingly bash itself into a post every now and again.
iRobot Roomba 980, $899.99, available at Amazon.
AmazonIt’s a niche device among niche devices, but the August Smart Lock lets you remotely control a door lock. Keys have never been particularly complicated, but the Smart Lock looks good (even if it’s a bit thick), isn’t too tough to install, and, unlike similar devices, goes over your deadbolt instead of replacing it entirely. If nothing else, having your door open and unlock for you without having to touch a thing is just neat.
If you pick up August’s Connect accessory or use a compatible hub (like Logitech’s Harmony Home Hub), you can also dictate the Smart Lock to allow certain people into the house, even when you’re not there. You’ll creep out the cable guy, sure, but if you can’t afford to stay home on the day of installation, this lets you let him in.
August Smart Lock, $199.99, available at Amazon.
Logitech Harmony Home Control
AmazonLogitech has been the only real presence in the land of universal remotes for a long time now, and its Harmony Home Control is the best value it offers for anyone with a few smart home devices. The included Harmony Companion remote can connect to things like the aforementioned Nest thermostat, Philips Hue lights, or Sonos speakers, in addition to the usual suite of TVs, media streamers, cable boxes, game consoles, and so on.
Using it isn’t constantly seamless, but for something that’s controlling up to 8 things at once, it’s far from unruly. It also ditches the IR blaster in favor of an RF signal, which means you don’t have to point it directly at what you want to control in order for it to work.
While it has areas that could be a little more polished — there’s no backlight, for instance — it still breaks down many processes that’d be complicated without it. Now that it’s dropped about $40, it doesn’t charge an outrageous amount for the privilege either.
Logitech Harmony Home Control (White), $106.09, available at Amazon.
If you take these 3 tax deductions you have a higher chance of being audited
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/3-tax-deductions-raise-chance-of-audit-2015-12
Getting audited is many taxpayers' worst nightmare, but that shouldn't stop you from taking advantage of the tax deductions you're legally entitled to take. You should just take care to make sure you have the documentation you need to back up your deduction if the IRS decides to take a closer look at your return.
Below, you'll learn about three tax deductions that often raise red flags from would-be auditors.
Self-employed entrepreneurs often work out of their homes, and the tax laws provide for such businesses to deduct the legitimate expenses that are connected with their home-based business. If you meet the requirements for a portion of your home that's used regularly and exclusively for business use, and is your principal place of business, you can usually prorate your overall household expenses by the fraction of your home's total area that your business takes up. In addition, you can deduct in full expenses that are directly linked to your business and aren't shared throughout the remainder of your home for personal use.
Abuse of this provision has led to increased IRS scrutiny. The most important thing to remember is that you need to be able to document the separate area and its exclusive business use, so if your business takes up a large fraction of your overall property, you'll need to prepare to prove it. In addition, ensuring that all claimed expenses are business-related is important in maintaining your credibility during an audit.
Donations to charity are usually tax-deductible to those who itemize their deductions, and the IRS has paid increasing amounts of attention to charitable deductions in recent years. Gifts by check are hard to falsify, but claiming large amounts for donated items like cars or used clothing has been a frequent area of abuse among taxpayers.
In judging your charitable donations, the IRS will compare your deductions with those of taxpayers in a similar financial situation based on your tax return. If you're on the high side of average, the risk of an audit will increase, and it'll be more important for you to keep good records on what you gave, when you gave it, and how you determined the appropriate value of the property. Fail at any of those tasks, and you could be left unable to support your deduction to an IRS auditor.
3. Unreimbursed business expenses
Most of the time, employees get reimbursed by their employers for any business expenses they pay for themselves. As a result, the IRS looks carefully at unreimbursed business expenses, even though they're an itemized deduction and are only deductible to the extent that they exceed 2% of adjusted gross income.
Many items are potentially deductible, including dues and license fees, subscriptions to trade journals and publications related to your work, tools and supplies, and specialty uniforms. Yet the temptation among many taxpayers is to try to deduct additional items that are only somewhat connected to their jobs. Before taking this deduction, make sure the expenses you're seeking to claim are legitimately business-related, and be prepared to explain in an audit why your employer didn't reimburse you for them.
Finally, bear in mind that any deduction could lead to an audit if it's unusually large compared to what most people report on their tax returns. If you're entitled to a big deduction for any reason, make sure you have the records to prove it in case the IRS comes knocking.
Getting audited is no fun, but as long as you have the required documentation, you should be able to stand up to IRS scrutiny with your deductions intact. Keeping good tax records with these three deductions in particular is a smart move that will keep you from paying extra tax after an audit.
NOW WATCH: We did a blind taste test of popular french fries — the winner was clear
The Texas professor who lived in a dumpster started a company that's building 208-square-foot, movable apartments
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-professor-is-building-apodments-2015-12
There’s a lot to like about Kasita, a micro-modern-modular apartment building coming up in the heart of Texas. The units are 208 square feet in size: teeny-tiny, but these days, less is more. Especially in Austin, where the population as a whole is booming but where families with children are leaving the urban core in droves.
To help singles squeeze their lives into such small spaces, Kasita boasts tons of interior-design bells and whistles, from modular “tile” shelving to various networked-home features.
And then there’s Professor Dumpster, aka Jeff Wilson, the former dean of Huston-Tillotson University who once made his home in a 33-square-foot dumpster as a teaching exercise. He’s the brain behind Kasita, and he’s assembled a diverse team of designers and executives to build his dream in Austin and at least nine other cities. Kasita has raised at least $645,000 in private investment so far (and more is promised).
But Kasita also raises two questions. And on these points, the project risks running awry.
The first concern is, unfortunately, key to the whole Kasita concept: The prefab housing units are all ‘apodments.’ They can be moved from one city to another, presuming there is a vacancy in the destination Kasita. Think of them as modular storage drawers that you might buy from the Container Store (but much cooler looking).
Kasita
It’s a solution in search of a problem. Sure, moving’s a pain in the ass. The apodment doesn’t get you out of moving, though. It just makes the process that much more difficult. A resident who lives on the third floor of Kasita is going to need a crane or a truck to get her pod down and on to the truck that will carry the pod to its next location. It’s bound to be less expensive to hire two movers for an hour—how much can it cost to pack up a 200-square-foot apartment?—or do it the old-fashioned way by paying friends for their labor with beer and pizza.
“Request a move across town or across the country with a tap on your phone,” the site reads. But who would ever do this? The tech triumphalism is off-putting. Moving is stressful because it’s important. It’s supposed to be stressful. And broadly speaking, permanent housing isn’t something that begs for branding across cities, like hotel chains or Lyft.
The second issue is the cost. Dumpster/Wilson has said that the units will rent for $600. The company has two lots in downtown Austin, where rents go for much more. Rents downtown range from around $900 to more than $2,000. Depending on where the Kasita lots are located, the median rental housing cost might be more than three times the asking rate for a Kasita unit. (I’ve emailed the Kasita team to ask about the location and will update when I get answers back.)
There’s a popular misconception that modular housing necessarily means cheaper housing. The high costs of housing aren’t driven by the manufacture of homes. They’re driven by the high price of land in places like Austin, one of the finest cities on this planet (and my former home). In a city where Millennial residents are allegedly holing up in “stealth dorms” in order to escape high rents, the queue for a $600 downtown apartment—even an utterly tiny one—would run like the endless line to Franklin’s on a sunny Saturday during SXSW. The same goes for Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and other cities where Kasita plans to expand. After all, here’s what $600 gets you in Bushwick.
“Through partnerships with local entities, Kasita will rent units at about half the market rate of a studio apartment,” the website reads. Maybe that will work. Call me skeptical.
There is a solution to high rents in Austin, though—and it’s staring us right in the face: The rendering of Kasita depicts in the background various types of housing in the Live Music Capital of the World, including tall residential towers, several of which have gone up in the city in recent years. More buildings like these, with a greater variety of unit sizes and formats—and, crucially, the zoning that allows for high-density residential construction—is just what the doctor ordered.
NOW WATCH: New York City's first micro-apartment is 302 square feet... and costs $2,750 a month
Mozilla launches an iOS 9 content blocker, Focus by Firefox
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/08/focus-by-firefox-ios-9/
Even Mozilla is getting into the iOS 9 ad blocking arena with Focus by Firefox, a free content blocker for Safari on Apple's mobile OS. Just like the early batch of blockers, it can keep your mobile browsing experience free of ads, as well as web analytics and social media trackers. But Mozilla says it'll also be transparent about how it's blocking content. It's using Disconnect's open source block list, which also powers Firefox's Private Browsing on desktop platforms, and it'll inform users as it builds on Focus by Firefox. In addition to making your mobile browsing more private, the blocker can also speed up performance by blocking things like web fonts. Ironically, Focus by Firefox isn't yet compatible with Firefox on iOS, because Apple doesn't allow content blockers to work with third-party browsers.
"We want to build an Internet that respects users, puts them in control, and creates and maintains trust," Mozilla's chief business and legal officer, Denelle Dixon-Thayer, wrote in a blog post. "Too many users have lost trust and lack meaningful controls over their digital lives. This loss of trust has impacted the ecosystem -- sometimes negatively. Content blockers offer a way to rebuild that trust by empowering users."
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Audi e-tron wins Le Mans
by AutoVolt | 23 Jun, 2013 | Racing Hybrids | 0 comments
Audi e-tron Wins Le Mans 2013
For the second time in succession, Audi has won the Le Mans 24 Hours with a hybrid race car and quattro drive, thus continuing its unique success story at the world’s most important endurance race. Victory was clinched by Loïc Duval (F), Tom Kristensen (DK) and Allan McNish (GB).
As expected, the twelfth triumph for the four rings at Le Mans was one of the most difficult and hardest-fought ones. Following a change in the regulations that was made at short notice, the three Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars on average were able to do two laps less on one tank filling than their main rival Toyota. The Audi drivers had to compensate for the additional pit stops by faster lap times on track – and did so in weather conditions that at times were extremely difficult.
Rain showers crossed the track again and again during the dramatic race. They resulted in numerous incidents and a total of eleven safety car deployments. The field ran for more than five hours under ‘yellow’ while the track was cleared and repairs were performed.
The three Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars, which are equipped with an electrically driven front axle, were the fastest vehicles in the field throughout the entire race – as well as the most efficient ones: Victory in the Michelin Green X Challenge, a competition of the cleanest, fastest and most efficient prototypes, went to Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm as well.
“We owe the twelfth victory of our brand at Le Mans to the consistent, innovative spirit of our engineers, the unconditional commitment of the entire team and the skills and strong nerves of our drivers. On behalf of Audi, I extend my sincere congratulations on this success to all of them,” said Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, who, as usual, personally watched the race on location. “This marks another great success for Audi in which our hybrid system again prevailed and new technologies, which our customers will also benefit from in the future, were tested.” They included innovative radiators and matrix-beam LED headlights, which make optimum lighting of the corners at night possible – a crucial advantage at Le Mans.
“We knew that, not least due to the regulatory requirements, it would be very difficult for us this year,” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “As expected, Toyota was a very strong rival – but our Audi R18 e-tron quattro was in a class of its own. My thanks go to the entire team that worked for months to achieve this success.”
The twelfth Audi victory at Le Mans was achieved by the number ‘2’ Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by Loïc Duval (France), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland) who had started the race from the pole position. For Duval, who had clinched the pole position on Wednesday, this was the first success at the classic French endurance race and the third for Allan McNish. Tom Kristensen, who has been the sole record holder of the race since 2005, triumphed for the ninth time.
The victorious Audi R18 e-tron quattro ran for 24 hours without the slightest technical problem. Duval/Kristensen/McNish took the lead at 21:43 on Saturday night and would not relinquish it anymore up to triumphantly crossing the finish line at 15:00 on Sunday. The three Audi drivers achieved the crucial one-lap advantage over the second-placed Toyota at an early stage and maintained it all the way to the end, even in partially chaotic conditions with torrential rain.
Misfortune struck the other two Audi squads that almost simultaneously were forced to make unscheduled pit stops shortly before the end of the seventh hour of the race and, up to that time, had made for an Audi one-two-three lead up to that time. Oliver Jarvis was touched by a slower vehicle and, as a result, suffered a punctured tire on which he had to complete nearly an entire lap that cost him two laps. In the thrilling final phase, Le Mans newcomer Lucas di Grassi (Brazil), Marc Gené (Spain) and Oliver Jarvis (Great Britain) managed to overtake the Toyota that had been running in third place up to that time, and to thus secure third place on the podium.
Due to changing the alternator Marcel Fässler (Switzerland), André Lotterer (Germany) and Benoît Tréluyer (France) lost their sure lead a total of twelve laps. With an impressive recovery the 2011 and 2012 winners managed to advance from 24th place to position five in their R18 e-tron quattro.
The 90th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours was overshadowed by a fatal accident that occurred in the GT class shortly after the race started. “Obviously, this horrible incident dampens the joy about another great Le Mans victory for Audi in which our team and our drivers were under extreme tension for 24 hours and couldn’t make any mistakes,” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “We were all completely shocked by the news of Allan Simonsen’s death. During his career, he also contested races in the Audi R8 LMS. Our sympathy primarily goes to his family and friends but to the team of Aston Martin as well. It shows that you must never stop doing whatever is possible for safety in motorsport. This is the first fatal accident we’ve had to witness in 15 Le Mans years. I hope it’ll remain the last.”
Source; Audi Press Release
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3 fund types: Open-end, closed-end, ETFs
By Mary Wisniewski Mary Wisniewski's Twitter profile
Thomas Barwick/Getty Images
What do open-end funds, closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds all have in common?
Investors can use all three options as an easy and low-cost way to establish a diversified portfolio that reflects a particular investment objective.
But each of these fund types is structured differently.
What are open-end mutual funds?
Open-end mutual fund shares are bought and sold on demand at their net asset value, or NAV. The NAV, which is based on the value of the fund’s underlying securities, is generally calculated at the close of every trading day. Investors buy shares directly from a fund.
What are closed-end funds?
Closed-end funds, which are lesser known but more than a century old, have a fixed number of shares and are traded among investors on an exchange. Like stocks, their share prices are determined according to supply and demand, and they often trade at a wide discount or premium to their NAVs. According to the Investment Company Institute, more than 90 percent of closed-end funds calculate the value of their portfolios every day.
Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, also trade like stocks on an exchange, but their market prices hew more closely to their NAV than closed-end funds. Under normal market conditions, premiums and discounts usually stay within 1 percent of NAV, with the exception of some smaller ETFs that trade infrequently. Investors can trade intraday.
Both open-end and closed-end funds have been around for many decades. Closed-end funds, which are the oldest, date back to the late 19th century. ETFs launched about 25 years ago and are becoming more popular. Inflows for ETFs hit $464 billion in 2017, according to data from State Street Global Advisors.
Still, mutual funds remain the most popular in terms of total assets because of their prominence in workplace retirement plans, such as 401(k)s. Closed-end funds have the smallest market share: Their total assets increased to $275 billion in 2017, according to an Investment Company Institute report.
Just because open-end funds are the most popular does not always mean they are the best option or that other fund types should be ignored. In fact, financial advisers have been favoring ETFs to their clients.
Closed-end funds have their fans as well. Households with close-end funds tend to be more affluent, per Investment Company Institute.
Before investors choose between these funds, they should understand the unique characteristics of each fund type and consider their own risk tolerances.
In the market for a broker? Read Bankrate’s brokerage reviews and find the one that fits your needs.
Indexed vs. active management
ETF fans point to their lower cost as a clear advantage over mutual funds.
But, the costs of the funds reflect the differences in how they are managed.
Actively managed funds, where managers actively trade securities to maximize returns, are more expensive than funds that track a particular index, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
Index funds can have fees below one-tenth of 1 percent, whether they are mutual funds or ETFs. The higher price of actively managed funds, which can have fees that top 1 percent, is a consequence of the high cost of overhead, such as supporting a research staff who are trying to beat the market.
“Obviously, there is a cost to all of that,” says Greg McBride, CFA, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com.
Unlike other funds, closed-end funds often trade at enormous premiums — trading at a share price higher than the NAV — or discounts, trading at a share price lower than the NAV.
While buying at a discount could seem like a deal, it could also point to the fund’s poor performance or another problem. So, investors are encouraged to do their homework and research a closed-end fund’s historical performance. Most importantly, the discount shouldn’t be the deciding factor.
“The bigger question is whether closed-end funds are right for you,” says McBride. “You are building a portfolio.”
While closed-end funds are viewed as useful for generating income, their quirks can scare investors away. Closed-end funds’ can use leverage investing, which helps them make more money in good times, but they can lose a lot of money in bad times as well.
“It can require a strong stomach because of leverage,” says Cara Esser, CFA, a senior investment research analyst in Mesirow Financial’s retirement planning and advisory group.
While ETFs and open-end funds can also use leverage, Esser says it’s more prevalent in closed-end funds.
And remember, a fund’s high dividend yield reflects the high risk behind the fund. Taking on the risk could potentially lead to greater returns. But, it could also lead to grief.
“Be cautious about yield chasing,” says Esser.
Mutual fund vs. ETF: Which is better?
What is an ETF? Learn the basics
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The Colonisation Of Australia By Jordan T. Sharp
The Colonisation of Australia Jordan T. Sharp Charles Sturt University Word Count: 2067 Colonisation was created through the emergence of European capitalism from the 1500’s and continues today. Colonisation depends on the systematic exploitation of environmental and human resources which still continue in today’s societies. Colonisation is the process of where control over spirituality, land, language and education, health and family structures and also culture itself is passed down from the indigenous people to the colonisers. (Colonisation and Racism, 2000.) Pre-invasion in Australia, the aboriginal people had their own way of life, they had been living in Australia “Terra Nullis” for about 50,000 to 120,000 years. They were…show more content…
Aboriginal people built semi-permanent dwellings; as a society emphasis was on the relations in the family, group and country rather than the development of an agrarian society. The land was so important to the Aboriginal people, their ownership and legal systems were far different from the European legal systems. Different areas of land were created by the dreaming creation stories and each individual belonged to certain territories within the family group and also had different spiritual connections, therefore they belonged to their land they didn’t own it. Different systems placed each individual in different relationship to every other person in the groups and determined the behaviour of an individual to one another. This was called the ‘kingship’ system. It also determined the behaviour of individuals and how they spoke to one another, there were the codes of behaviour that outlined their roles on the community. The aboriginal people had different defined roles amongst the community depending on their age and genders; generally the men’s role was the hunter and was also giving the role of managing cultural obligations that were important to their group. Whereas the women’s role in the community was the gatherer where they prepared food for the family, they also had the role of early child rearing and they also had talks in cultural obligations. (Bearndt and Bearndt, 1992). Captain James Cook Landed in Botany Bay in 1770 which at the time
Primary Sector of Economy
Primary sector of the economy The primary sector of the economy is the sector of an economy making
Is Obamacare Really For The Best Of Its People?
Amendment : The Term Limit Amendment
Cultural Encounters : Cultural Encounter, Anthropology And Art
The Uk National Debt Crisis
Is Gender Dysphoria Caused Solely By Neurological Dysfunction?
The Difficulty Of Giving Up On Own Country
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(Redirected from 1989 WS)
1989 World Series (4-0)
Oakland Athletics (99-63, AL) over San Francisco Giants (92-70, NL)
BR 1989 World Series Summary
1.1 Umpires
3 The Games
3.1 Game 1: October 14
3.3 Interrupted by Earthquake
4 History sidenote
5.1 1989 Postseason
"It puts everything into perspective in that baseball is only a game and has pretty much nothing to do with life." - Giants first baseman Will Clark, talking about the earthquake.
While remembered best for the devastating earthquake that interrupted its progression, the 1989 World Series had many other subplots. It was the second straight all-California World Series, and the fourth overall as of 2012 (the others were in 1974, 1988, and 2002). It was the first World Series featuring teams in the same metro area since 1956. It featured one team that had been upset the previous Series and had a chip on its collective shoulder, versus a team that hadn't been to the Fall Classic in nearly three decades. The San Francisco Bay Area had largely been a laughingstock on the baseball frontier since the mid-1970s, but in October 1989, the eyes of a nation were transfixed as the Bay Area trotted out its two teams as combatants for baseball's ultimate prize.
Umpires[edit]
Rich Garcia (AL), Paul Runge (NL), Vic Voltaggio (AL), Dutch Rennert (NL), Al Clark (AL), Eric Gregg (NL)
AL Oakland Athletics (4) vs. NL San Francisco Giants (0)
Time of Game
1 Giants – 0, A’s – 5 October 14 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland) 49,385 2:45
3 A’s – 13, Giants – 7 October 27 Candlestick Park (San Francisco) 62,038 3:03
4 A’s – 9, Giants – 6 October 28 Candlestick Park (San Francisco) 62,032 3:07
The Games[edit]
Game 1: October 14[edit]
Oakland 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 X 5 11 1
W: Dave Stewart (1-0) L: Scott Garrelts (0-1)
The Series got underway at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on October 14th. The pitching matchup featured two pitchers coming off fine years: Scott Garrelts for the Giants, a seven-year veteran but a first-year starter, a 14-game winner who captured the National League's ERA title with a 2.28 mark, going up against the menacing, formidable Dave Stewart, a 20-game winner for the third consecutive year, and a runner-up in the American League's Cy Young Award voting.
As the game got underway, things started off bleakly for Stewart. He gloved a weak grounder hit by Robby Thompson in the 1st inning, and promptly threw the ball away, allowing Thompson to reach second and putting the Giants in an early position to strike first blood. Unfortunately for them, Thompson didn't score, and neither did his teammates. After the inauspicious start, Stewart mowed the San Francisco lineup down to the tune of a 5-0 complete-game shutout.
Oakland 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 X 5 7 0
W: Mike Moore (1-0) L: Rick Reuschel (0-1)
The next evening, Oakland rode a four-run 4th inning to a 5-1 victory. Three of those runs came on a home run by Terry Steinbach off 40-year-old Rick "Big Daddy" Reuschel in that fourth frame. Unbeknownst to Steinbach, manager Tony LaRussa had made a pregame prediction that the A's catcher would hit one out against Reuschel, citing that "Big Daddy" was a low-ball pitcher and Steinbach was a low-ball hitter.
Interrupted by Earthquake[edit]
Shortly before the scheduled start of Game 3 on October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, rattling the Bay Area for 15 terrifying, agonizing seconds. Early reports had the magnitude at 6.9, but the final, official reading was 7.1. Due to the destructive nature of this earthquake, and the fact that both teams' cities were affected, the game was postponed, as was the entire Series, for what would turn out to be ten days.
Oakland 2 0 0 2 4 1 0 4 0 13 14 0
San Francisco 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 7 10 3
When the Series did resume, on October 27th, at Candlestick Park, it was greeted by much fanfare, preceeded by a moment of silence. Singers on the field led the crowd of over 60,000 in the singing of San Francisco, while the Giants' pennant was hoisted up the flagpole. The ceremonial first pitches were thrown by the heroes who helped save lives - police, firemen, doctors/nurses, civilians - in the aftermath of the earthquake. Immediately afterward, on the field, the managers and the umpires met to discuss the ground rules that would be employed should an aftershock occur.
The game featured a rematch of starting pitchers from Game 1: Stewart versus Garrelts. As they did in Game One, the Athletics struck early, pushing across two runs on a Dave Henderson double that hit off the top of the chain-link fence in right field. Matt Williams hit a home run in the 2nd inning to cut the Athletics' lead in half. Both teams traded two runs in the 4th, but the A's pulled away in the 5th, tallying four runs on a three-run Canseco homer and a solo shot by Henderson. Oakland added one more in the 6th and four more in the 8th, effectively putting the game away. The Giants, resiliant all year, put up a four spot of their own in the bottom of the 9th but fell well short.
Losing the previous year's World Series in disappointing fashion had left a bitter taste in the A's mouths, but they knew that it would soon dissipate. They had history on their side; no team had ever lost a World Series after being up three games to none.
Oakland 1 3 0 0 3 1 0 1 0 9 12 0
W: Mike Moore (2-0) L: Don Robinson (0-1) S:Dennis Eckersley
In Game 4, Oakland built an 8-0 lead before Kevin Mitchell blasted a two-run home run in the bottom of the 6th. The following inning, the Giants rallied for four more, cutting the A's lead to 8-6. In the top of the 8th, Steinbach drew a bases-loaded walk from Steve Bedrosian to give the Athletics an insurance run. As it would turn out, the A's wouldn't need it. Todd Burns retired the Giants in order in the bottom of the 8th, and Dennis Eckersley set them down in the 9th to seal the deal on Oakland's fourth World Series championship.
History sidenote[edit]
1989 was not the first time the Athletics and Giants franchises met in the World Series. They had clashed three times in the 1900s and 1910s, while the Giants were in New York and the Athletics were in Philadelphia.
In 1905, Christy Mathewson pitched three shutouts as the Giants triumphed four games to one. In 1911, the A's got revenge, beating the Giants four games to two. Just for good measure, the A's defeated the Giants again two years later, in the 1913 World Series.
The Athletics' victory was the 50th triumph for the American League in the history of the World Series.
Related Sites[edit]
Wikipedia article on the Loma Prieta Earthquake
Blog gathering pictures of the A's, Giants, and the Loma Prieta Earthquake
NL Championship Series (4-1) Giants over Cubs
World Series (4-0) Athletics over Giants
AL Championship Series (4-1) Athletics over Blue Jays
Modern Major League Baseball World Series
Pre-1903 Postseason Series
Retrieved from "https://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/index.php?title=1989_World_Series&oldid=757293"
World Series Sweep
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Membranes for Liquid and Gas Separations Tech Market to See 6.0% Annual Growth Through 2023
Industry Expansion is in Response to Consumer Demand, Increased Regulatory Pressure
WELLESLEY, Mass., April 25, 2019–Consumer demand for high-quality products, increased regulatory pressure, deteriorating natural resources, and the need for environmental and economic sustainability are factors helping to boost the membrane technology for liquid and gas separations market, according to the latest report by BCC Research, “Membrane Technology for Liquid and Gas Separations.”
The U.S. market expects to see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6% through 2023, when it could be worth $5.1 billion.
Major players in the market include Dow Chemical (DOW), Toray (TRYIF), SUEZ (SEV), Koch Membrane Systems, Toyobo (TYOBY) and LG Water Systems (LPL).
The United States consumes as much as 45% of all membrane modules produced worldwide. The U.S. market was valued at $3.8 billion in 2018.
Gas separations lead the market by growth, with a CAGR through 2023 of 7.3%, followed by conventional liquid separations at 5.9%.
The liquid separations segment was led in growth by microfiltration, with a CAGR through 2023 of 6.8%, followed by nanofiltration at 5.6% and ultrafiltration at 5.5%.
“Several new membrane products for gas separation are on the cusp of commercialization,” notes report author and BCC Research analyst Andrew McWilliams. “After years in which there was a lack of suitable materials for large and promising applications in several areas, inorganic and organic/inorganic hybrid membranes are poised to enter the market for uses such as hydrogen separation and natural gas purification.”
Market Seeing Consolidation
Mergers and acquisitions have highlighted market activity in recent years. Notable activity included the acquisition of SAES Pure Gas by Entergris (2018), the acquisition of Oltromare by Microdyn-Nadir (2018) and the acquisition of Natrix Separations by Merck (2017). There has been a relatively small number of market entrants; one notable start-up is PolyCera, which specializes in next-generation membrane technology for industrial wastewater treatment and process separation.
Editors/reporters requesting analyst interviews should contact Sarah Greenberg at press@bccresearch.com.
Membrane Technology for Liquid and Gas Separations( MST041J )
Publish Date: Mar 2019
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Camila Cabello Leaves Fifth Harmony
By Shirley Halperin
Remaining members Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui will continue the group as a foursome.
Fifth Harmony has announced that singer Camila Cabello has left the group.
In a message posted on social media and signed by "Ally, Normani, Dinah and Lauren," the group writes, "After four and a half years of being together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony. We wish her well."
The remaining members, Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui, state that they will continue the group as a foursome.
As recently as December 9, when the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour hit New York City, the group had announced plans to release a new album. Kordei told radio personality Elvis Duran, "2017, it’s going to be popping" and Jane Hansen added, "The third album is definitely going to be so lit. We're really excited.”
2016 Most Popular Music Videos on YouTube: Fifth Harmony's 'Work From Home,' Sia's 'Cheap Thrills' & More
After forming on the second season of the American version of The X Factor in 2012, Fifth Harmony released two albums beginning with Reflection in January 2015. That album included "Worth It," their first Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last summer; the quintet would surpass that milestone with "Work From Home" feat. Ty Dolla $ign, the lead single to sophomore LP 7/27, which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100.
While the 7/27 tour brought 5H on their first international trek this year, Cabello had hinted at pursuing solo material through two successful collaborations. "I Know What You Did Last Summer," a duet with Shawn Mendes, became a Top 20 hit upon its release in late 2015. "Bad Things," a Machine Gun Kelly single featuring Cabello, has done even better, reaching No. 10 on the Hot 100 as of last week.
Although other members had expressed interest in solo careers -- Jauregui released a collaboration with pop duo Marian Hill earlier this month -- Fifth Harmony had long assured fans that a breakup or member departure was not imminent.
But insiders suggest that tensions between Cabello and the other group members had long been festering. In fact, December 18, the day the split was announced, marked the conclusion of Cabello's contractual obligations to the group and offered an exit, says a source.
Billboard has reached out to Cabello's representative for comment.
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Mapping the Darién Gap
This video describes how indigenous communities from the tropical rainforest of Darién, Panama, use drones to map their lands. The communities use these maps to protect their territories from outside incursions and to design sustainable land-use plans.
Think Like a Scientist: Gorongosa
This video describes a large-scale project to restore the wildlife of Gorongosa National Park. The video highlights the project’s approach of combining traditional conservation biology with solutions for addressing challenges in the community.
Animated Life: Pangea
This animated short video celebrates the early 20th-century German astronomer and atmospheric scientist Alfred Wegener, who first proposed that continents once formed a single landmass and had drifted apart.
The Origin of Species: The Making of a Theory
This film explores the epic voyages of Darwin and Wallace that led each to independently propose the natural origin of species and formulate the theory of evolution by natural selection.
This animation provides an overview of some basic concepts from plate tectonics, a fundamental theory in earth science.
The Principle of Isostasy
This video provides a demonstration of the principle of isostasy, the idea that the continental crust “floats” on the underlying mantle.
The Geologic Carbon Cycle
This animation explores how carbon enters the atmosphere and can be removed through a series of chemical reactions.
Stratigraphic Principles
This video provides a demonstration of two main principles in the study of rock layers: superposition and association.
Fossil Record of Stickleback Evolution
This video explores the evolution of a stickleback fish population over tens of thousands of years, based on fossil data.
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By Kate Radford
The Lincoln Thrift Store that operates behind the Methodist Church recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
"It's my baby," said Diane Ironi who started the thrift shop. She monitors inventory and coordinates volunteers. "It's helped so many people. We've helped families from one end of town to the other."
"I set it up so we had a place in town where people could bring good, usable items. I w...
The Big Read returns
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Amid virus surge, Noem pushes tourism with CARES Act funds
In this Dec. 12, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks to then-Gov.-elect Kristi Noem, R-S.D., during a meeting at White House in Washington. At the governor's request, the South Dakota Department of Tourism aired a Fox News ad narrated by Gov. Noem that premiered alongside her speech at the Republican National Convention. The 30-second spot, which cost taxpayers $819,000, advertises the state as a place open for visitors despite the coronavirus pandemic.((AP Photo/Evan Vucci File))
Published: Sep. 9, 2020 at 9:08 AM MDT
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration announced Tuesday that it is using federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for a $5 million tourism ad campaign aimed at drawing people to the state, even as it emerges as one of the nation’s top hot spots for COVID-19 infections.
The 30-second spot, which premiered on Fox News alongside Noem’s speech at the Republican National Convention last month, features the governor saying that “with our breathtaking landscapes and wide-open spaces, we’re a place to safely explore.” But the state currently ranks second in the country for new cases per capita over the last two weeks, with 439 new cases per 100,000 people.
The ad is narrated by Noem. It offers dramatic footage of South Dakota scenery such as Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Park, then concludes with the governor introducing herself and pitching a visit to South Dakota.
The state has counted 124 infections among people who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August but has not released an estimate on secondary infections linked to rallygoers. Health officials across 12 states have found more than 300 people with infections who attended the rally, including a Minnesota man who died.
Noem spokesman Ian Fury defended using the federal coronavirus funds for the ads, saying that the state “should absolutely be promoting tourism” because it is vital to South Dakota’s economy. After agriculture, it is the state’s largest industry.
“That’s how people put food on the table,” he said.
Money for the ad will come from $1.25 billion the state received from the federal government to address the coronavirus crisis. The U.S. Treasury Department is allowing states to use the money to publicize when tourism activities resume and ensure visitors' safety. The Department of Tourism has said it is considering placing the ad on networks like History, TBS, USA, Hallmark, A&E and Discovery.
Fury said the line in the ad that touts the state as a “place to safely explore” fulfills Treasury’s requirement for using the money to address the pandemic.
But Sen. Reynold Nesiba, a Sioux Falls Democrat who sits on the Appropriations Committee, criticized the decision, saying it was more about Noem raising her political profile than helping the state. He claimed the governor’s office has stressed a cautious approach to using the federal funds, delaying their deployment to non-profits, universities and businesses.
“The way to get our economy going again is to address the pandemic,” Nesiba said.
Noem’s approach has been to leverage her hands-off approach to restrictions during the pandemic to attract businesses and tourists to the state. She has said that she is focused on the number of hospitalizations from COVID-19, rather than the number of infections. That stood at 68 people on Tuesday.
“Celebrate what makes America great,” she says in the ad. “And experience the great places and great faces of South Dakota.”
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12th July 2016 /in Uncategorised /by John Blauth
A fast jet, screaming low across the sky, delivers a unique visceral thrill. The noise the lethally sleek machine makes as it devours the air through which it flies, compresses it, blends it at enormous pressure with Jet A1. It ignites the resultant mix to produce supersonic thrust provides all the evidence we need that primeval slime can, and has, evolved.
This week’s biennial Farnborough Air Show is a global event that showcases a sector worth, before the referendum, £52bn a year.
Aerospace is the fifth-largest industry in the UK. It directly and indirectly employs 340,000 people and in 2014 orders taken at the Show by companies from all over the world were valued at £157bn.
“Farnborough is a global shop window for the UK and Europe, for the entire world,” Shaun Omerod, chief executive of Farnborough International told the BBC. “It connects UK small and medium-sized companies – who ordinarily wouldn’t get this access – to the global market. He added: “Farnborough is one of the very few international trade events which is left on UK soil.”
To be successful and effective, Farnborough requires three strong supports: a robust national manufacturing presence, a powerful communications capability capable of delivering precisely targeted content to government, finance and the global industry and an unimpeachable professional status based on rigorous scientific and engineering integrity.
This is exactly what we have and it works like a Swiss clock.
The UK manufacturing presence is robust – and global. Agusta Westland is Italian. BAE is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is also, to all intents and purposes, an American company. Airbus is a European consortium and the wings for all of its civilian products, including the A380, are made in the UK. Rolls-Royce PLC is wholly British (not to be confused with the German-owned car company) and is the world’s second largest jet engine manufacturer.
Until 24th June this year it is fair to says that the future for the sector in the UK looked unassailable and assured.
The aerospace industry communicates with government via ADS, the sector’s trade body which wholly owns Farnborough International Limited, the show organiser. The content and substance of ADS communications is extremely effective and cannot be fairly faulted. Aerospace has a high profile as a result of consistently professional PR.
The keeper of the flame that illuminates professional integrity behind the industry is the Royal Aeronautical Society, 150 years old this year. It is the world’s only specialised body dedicated to the aerospace community. RAeS exists to “…further the advancement of aeronautical art, science and engineering around the world.” Through peer discussions, close and enduring academic liaison, and professional accreditation the Society keeps the sector on the straight and narrow, something that engineers do by instinct and men of commerce often avoid for the same reason.
Sir Sydney Camm, engineer and designer of the WW2 Hurricane, Cold War Hunter and Falklands hero Harrier among others, once said of the TSR-2 aircraft cancelled by the then-government: “All modern aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height and politics. TSR-2 got just the first three right.”
One has to wonder what the future holds for the UK element of this hugely successful global industry. How will it fare without existing free trade agreements, all of which are now, terrible pun absolutely intended, up in the air right now?
The simple answer is that the industry as a whole, and especially all the companies and bodies mentioned above, must communicate as never before. The content of their united message is simple: irrespective of the referendum result, and the weather, the show (literally and metaphorically) must go on.
https://www.blauth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAjRAAAAJDg4NDRlYjg1LTY0OWQtNDgwZC04MGRiLTRhMWUxN2ZiY2ZlYw.png 300 400 John Blauth https://www.blauth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Blauth-logo.jpg John Blauth2016-07-12 14:24:582019-12-06 10:42:15Cleared for take off
Hold your fire Crowds are only as wise as their dumbest component
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The EDA operates under a Conservative Party of Canada Constitution authorized by the Party’s National Council. Copies are available to members on request. The EDA’s financial affairs are approved regularly by the Board of Directors; reviewed at an Annual General Meeting and audited by a local appointed auditor plus Elections Canada. Read the Constitution below by clicking the down arrow to reveal sections, or download a pdf by clicking the button below.
1.1 The name of the Association is “Conservative Party of Canada Grey-Bruce-Owen Sound (BGOS) Electoral District Association”.
2.1 "annual general meeting" means a meeting of the members at which directors are elected. 2.2 "Association" means the Conservative Party of Canada BGOS Electoral District Association, as recognized by National Council pursuant to Article 5.2 of the Party Constitution. 2.3 “Association Constitution” means this constitution of the Association, as amended from time to time. 2.4 “board of directors" means the body provided for in Article 7 of the Association Constitution. 2.5 “by-law” means a by-law enacted by the board of directors pursuant to Article 17 of the Association Constitution. 2.6 “called for that purpose” means a meeting for which notice was provided at least fourteen (14) days in advance and which notice included reference to the matter at issue. 2.7 “candidate” has the same meaning as set out in the Canada Elections Act. 2.8 “chief executive officer” has the same meaning as set out at s. 403.02(1)(d) of the Canada Elections Act. 2.9 "director" means any member of the board of directors of the Association. 2.10 "Executive Committee" means the body provided for in Article 8 of the Association Constitution. 2.11 “Financial Agent” means the office provided for in Article 8.7 of the Association Constitution. 2.12 "member" and “membership” means a member and the membership of the Association respectively, unless the context otherwise requires. 2.13 “National Council” means the National Council of the Party as provided for in the Party Constitution. 2.14 “Party” means the Conservative Party of Canada. 2.15 “Party Constitution” means the constitution of the Party, as amended from time to time. 2.16 “President” means the office provided for in Article 8.4 of the Association Constitution. 2.17 “Secretary” means the office provided for in Article 8.6 of the Association Constitution. 2.18 “special general meeting” means a meeting of the members called for the purposes of an election (including a delegate selection meeting) or a referendum vote pursuant to the Association Constitution and the Party Constitution. 2.19 “Vice President” means the office provided for in Article 8.5 of the Association Constitution.
3.1 The Association is guided by the following objectives: 3.1.1 Supporting and promoting the principles, objectives and policies of the Party and maintaining an effective Association for that purpose. 3.1.2 Providing organizational and financial support to the Party’s candidate in BGOS, in accordance with Article 14.2 of the Party Constitution. 3.1.3 Raising money and maintaining a fund to support the Association and assist candidates. 3.1.4 Actively identifying potential supporters and recruiting new members. 3.1.5 Encouraging the participation and recruitment of youth. 3.1.6 Complying with the obligations, and benefiting from the rights and privileges of being recognized by National Council.
4.1 Membership in the Party is open to every citizen or permanent resident of Canada who satisfies the requirements of the Party Constitution. 4.2 Pursuant to Article 4.3 of the Party Constitution, the Party maintains a National Membership Program that contains the names of every member of the Association. 4.3 The Association is responsible for forwarding any membership forms and remittances to the Party on a timely basis. 4.4 The Association shall request the list of members from Party headquarters at least five (5) days in advance of any date required for eligibility purposes. 4.5 The names of the members of the Association shall be made available to the Association through the National Membership Program.
5.1 Unless otherwise stated herein, motions require a simple majority of those present and voting to pass. 5.2 Participation in any meeting of the Association is subject to a minimum membership period of twenty-one (21) days unless specifically otherwise set by National Council pursuant to Article 4.2 of the Party Constitution. 5.3 Proxy voting is not permitted. 5.4 For the purposes of accrediting members at annual general meetings or special general meetings, members may be required to provide two (2) pieces of official identification. These must between them prove identity, residence, and eligibility as specified in Article 4 of the Party Constitution. To establish identity a member must provide picture identification, provided that the returning officer may waive this requirement on a case by case basis where exceptional circumstances exist.
6. MEETINGS OF THE ASSOCIATION
6.1 Subject to the provisions of this Association Constitution, meetings of the Association shall be convened by the President as required. 6.2 The President, or his or her designate, shall chair all meetings of the Association. 6.3 Subject to what may be set out by National Council, the Executive Committee may adopt rules of order to be followed at any Association meeting. Absent the adoption of any rules of order or to the extent not provided by such rules or not provided by the requirements of National Council, the Association shall follow Wainberg’s Society Meetings including Rules of Order. 6.4 Subject to the requirements of Article 12 of the Association Constitution, the board of directors or National Council may call an annual general meeting or a special general meeting of the Association. 6.5 National Council may call an annual general meeting or special general meeting of the Association as it sees fit, including in particular at the next meeting of National Council following the receipt by National Council of a petition requesting such a meeting signed by a minimum of three-tenths (3/10) of the Association’s membership. 6.6 Unless otherwise required by National Council, the Association shall convene one (1) annual general meeting each calendar year or no later than fourteen (14) months after the last annual general meeting. 6.7 The following business shall be conducted at an annual general meeting: 6.7.1 report by the board of directors; 6.7.2 presentation of financial statements; 6.7.3 election of directors; 6.7.4 other business as required.
7. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
7.1 The board of directors of the Association shall, subject to the Association Constitution and input from members, manage and direct the affairs of the Association. 7.2 Subject to any minimum periods of membership which may be set pursuant to Article 4.2 of the Party Constitution, any member may stand for election to the board of directors of the Association at an annual general meeting. The following rules apply: 7.2.1 elections for the board of directors may not proceed without the opportunity for nominations from the floor; and 7.2.2 each nominee must have the opportunity to speak, with the Chair to determine the speaking time allotted for each nominee. 7.3 The board of directors shall be comprised of: 7.3.1 the directors elected or appointed pursuant to this Article; and 7.3.2 the Party Member of Parliament for (insert name of electoral district); or 7.3.3 if there is no Party Member of Parliament for BGOS, the most recent Party candidate for BGOS who shall serve at the discretion of the board until the next nomination contest selection date. 7.4 Up to one-tenth (1/10) of the directors may be members of other Party electoral district associations. 7.5 The total number of elected directors shall not exceed thirty (30). 7.6 The term of office of the directors lasts until elections have occurred at the next annual general meeting of the Association. 7.7 If a director ceases to hold office, the board of directors may appoint a replacement director from the membership. 7.8 The board of directors, on the approval of two-thirds (2/3) of those present and voting, may appoint up to two (2) additional directors to the board of directors between annual general meetings. The appointments shall be made at a meeting called for that purpose. 7.9 The board of directors, on the approval of two-thirds (2/3) of those present and voting, may remove a director who has missed four (4) consecutive regularly scheduled meetings of the board of directors without reasonable explanation; or whose conduct is judged improper or unbecoming, or likely to adversely affect the interest or reputation of the Association or the Party. The removal may only occur at meeting called for that purpose. 7.10 The board of directors shall meet at least quarterly, at the call of the Secretary as directed by the President. It shall also meet upon written request of at least five (5) directors. 7.11 The board of directors may establish such committees as are required for the efficient operation of the Association. 7.12 The board of directors shall establish a nominating committee whose purpose will be to identify and recruit qualified persons willing to serve the Association as directors. The nominating committee shall report on such matters at every annual general meeting. 7.13 The board of directors shall annually prepare, based on recommendations of the Executive Committee, a strategic election readiness plan outlining key strategies and action plans that are consistent with and are designed to achieve the objectives of the Association. This plan shall be a living document and at a minimum of once annually it shall be updated for the period remaining until the expected time of the next federal election. A summary of this plan shall be presented to each annual general meeting of the Association. 7.14 A quorum of the board of directors is four-tenths (4/10) of the directors. 7.15 If two (2) consecutive meetings are unable to conduct business due to an absence of a quorum, the next meeting may proceed with a quorum of one-quarter (1/4) of the directors, provided directors are given at least fourteen (14) days notice of the potential application of this provision before that meeting. 7.16 The board of directors may meet by teleconference, if a by-law so permits.
8. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
8.1 The Executive Committee shall manage and direct the day-to-day affairs of the Association, subject to the provisions of the Party Constitution and direction from the board of directors. 8.2 The Executive Committee shall be comprised of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Financial Agent and at least one (1) but not more than three (3) additional directors. Any additional Executive Committee members will normally be those members of the board of directors with specific responsibilities such as Election Readiness Chair, Membership Chair, Fundraising Chair, and the like. 8.3 Within twenty-one (21) days after an annual general meeting, the board of directors shall by simple majority elect the Executive Committee, all of whom except the Financial Agent shall be directors. 8.4 The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association, board of directors and Executive Committee, and may serve as an ex officio member of all committees except the Candidate Nomination Committee. The President shall oversee the management and administration of the business and affairs of the Association. The President, or the Secretary, shall be designated as the chief executive officer for the purposes of the Canada Elections Act. 8.5 The Vice President shall have such duties as are assigned by the board of directors or the President, and shall assume and perform the duties of the President in the absence or incapacity of the President. 8.6 The Secretary shall be the custodian of all non-financial Association records and documents, and all by-laws of the Association. The Secretary shall prepare and maintain minutes of meetings of the Association, the board of directors and the Executive Committee; shall call meetings upon the direction of the President; and shall have such duties as are assigned by the board of directors or the President. 8.7 The Financial Agent is responsible for the assets and administration of the financial transactions of the Association. The Financial Agent shall have such other duties as are assigned by the board of directors or the President, and shall carry out the responsibilities of, and be designated as, the Association’s “financial agent” under the Canada Elections Act. The Financial Agent is a voting member of the Executive Committee, but is only a voting member of the board of directors if he or she is elected or appointed a director. 8.8 The board of directors may not elect anyone to the same office on the Executive Committee, except that of Financial Agent, more than three (3) times out of four (4) consecutive Executive Committee elections. 8.9 The election of a Financial Agent shall be reported to the Chief Electoral Officer in accordance with the provisions of the Canada Elections Act. 8.10 Any member of the Executive Committee may be removed from their executive position by a majority of the total number of the board of directors at a meeting called for that purpose. 8.11 Upon ceasing to hold office, Executive Committee members shall promptly deliver to their successors, the President or the Vice President of the Association, all records, materials and property in their possession, which belong to the Association. 8.12 The board of directors may by simple majority of those directors present and voting elect any director to fill any vacant office on the Executive Committee. 8.13 The Executive Committee shall meet at the call of the President, or upon written request to the Secretary by of a majority of the Executive Committee members. 8.14 A quorum of the Executive Committee is a majority of its members. 8.15 Meetings of the Executive Committee may be held via teleconference or face-toface, or by a combination thereof. 8.16 At each meeting of the board of directors, the Secretary shall provide the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Executive Committee meeting, unless such minutes have already been presented to the board of directors.
9. ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT
9.1 The board of directors shall, under the leadership of the Executive Committee and in accordance with Party requirements, carry out such actions as are necessary to meet the objectives of the Association. 9.2 The Association shall utilize information management systems developed by the Party to ensure the consistent and effective management of events, fundraising, voter support levels, volunteers, membership and other campaign related information.
10. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
10.1 The Association shall operate in accordance with the Canada Elections Act. 10.2 The Financial Agent or Secretary, as the case may be, shall promptly send to Party headquarters a copy of every document filed with Elections Canada or the Canada Revenue Agency. 10.3 The Financial Agent shall, within fourteen (14) days of receiving a written request for financial documentation from the Chief Agent of the Party, send to the Chief Agent any financial document so requested.
11. CANDIDATE SELECTION
11.1 The board of directors shall appoint a Candidate Nomination Committee for the purpose of recruiting potential nomination contestants and administering the candidate selection process. Prior to appointment, committee members must agree to maintain neutrality with respect to the nomination process and all potential nomination contestants and agree not to seek nomination themselves. 11.2 Any member of the board of directors after filing nomination papers to seek the nomination as a candidate in an upcoming federal election or by-election shall take a leave of absence as a director and may only resume duties of a director when they are no longer a contender for the nomination or the election or byelection, as the case may be. 11.3 All approved nomination contestants shall be invited to attend meetings of the board of directors. 11.4 The Party will provide rules and procedures for recruiting, selecting and training candidates. 11.5 A person seeking nomination as a candidate shall present to the committee all documentation as required by the Party, and meet membership and all other requirements as specified by the Party.
12.1 Notice of all meetings of the Association shall be sent to all members from one (1) or both of the following: 12.1.1 the Secretary or other persons at the direction of the Secretary: or 12.1.2 Party headquarters. 12.2 Notice of all meetings of the Association shall be sent to all members via one (1) or both of the following: 12.2.1 Regular mail sent to the member’s address of record; or 12.2.2 Any telephonic or electronic means of communication, as appropriate. 12.3 Each notice shall include the date, time and location of the meeting, and a list of the matters to be dealt with at the meeting. 12.4 Notice of all annual or special general meetings of the Association shall be sent not fewer than fourteen (14) days and not more than forty-five (45) days prior to the meeting, subject to the power of National Council to waive these requirements. 12.5 Notice of all meetings shall be provided to Party headquarters.
13.1 The following shall be promptly provided to Party headquarters after the election, re-election or appointment of a director: 13.1.1 his or her name, mailing address, telephone number, facsimile number and email address, as applicable. 13.2 The following shall be promptly provided to Party headquarters after the election of an Executive Committee member: 13.2.1 his or her name, office held, mailing address, telephone number, facsimile number and email address, as applicable. 13.3 Party headquarters shall be promptly provided with the name of the Executive Committee member designated chief executive officer, and Party Headquarters shall promptly be informed whenever there is a change in the member so designated. 13.4 The following shall promptly be provided to Party headquarters after every annual general meeting: 13.4.1 the minutes of the annual general meeting; 13.4.2 the annual financial report of the association; and 13.4.3 a copy of any resulting correspondence with Elections Canada.
14.1 A motion to amend the Association Constitution may only be brought by the board of directors, or twenty-five (25) members of the Association. 14.2 The board of directors shall submit any proposed amendment satisfying the criteria in Article 14.1 of the Association Constitution to National Council or its designate at least forty-five (45) days prior to an annual general meeting. 14.3 The submission shall include the wording of the proposed amendment; a brief rationale for the amendment; and the time, date and location of the annual general meeting. 14.4 National Council or its designate may approve, disallow or alter a proposed amendment. A proposed amendment which is approved or altered may be moved, as approved or altered, at the next annual general meeting. 14.5 The motion to amend the Association Constitution, including the proposed wording of the amendment, shall be included in the notice sent pursuant to Article 12 of the Association Constitution. 14.6 A motion to amend the Association Constitution must be approved by two-thirds (2/3) of the members present and voting at the annual general meeting. 14.7 Not more than fourteen (14) days after voting on a motion to amend the Association Constitution, the Association shall deliver to National Council or its designate the result of the motion and, if applicable, a copy of the Association Constitution, as amended. 14.8 No amendment to the Association Constitution is effective unless it complies with all the provisions of this Article.
15. FISCAL YEAR
15.1 The fiscal year of the Association shall be from 1 January to 31 December of each year.
16. DUTY TO UPHOLD CONSTITUTION
16.1 It shall be the duty of the board of directors to uphold and enforce the provisions of the Association Constitution.
17. BY-LAWS
17.1 The board of directors may adopt by-laws with respect to the operation of the Association, and which do not conflict with the Association Constitution, the Party Constitution, the Canada Elections Act or decisions of National Council. Copies of such by-laws shall be kept by the Secretary and copies shall be sent to Party headquarters. An Association by-law only becomes valid and in effect when registered with Party headquarters 17.2 To be adopted, a by-law requires a majority vote of board of directors present and voting at a meeting called for that purpose.
18.1 When acting within the scope of their authority, no director of an Association shall be liable for any debts, actions, claims, demands, liabilities or commitments of any kind made by the Association. The Association shall indemnify and hold harmless each such director, against any such debt, action, claim, demand, liability or commitment whatsoever.
19.1 The Association Constitution is to be interpreted and read subject to the provisions of the Canada Elections Act. Unless the context otherwise requires, words and phrases used in the Association Constitution have the same meaning as in the Canada Elections Act. To the extent there is a conflict between any provision of the Association Constitution and the Canada Elections Act, the latter shall prevail. 19.2 Subject to Article 19.1 of the Association Constitution, the Party Constitution shall govern the affairs of the Party and the Association and in the event of any conflict between the Association Constitution and the Party Constitution, the latter shall prevail. 19.3 Subject to Article 19 of the Party Constitution (arbitration), National Council shall be the final authority in all matters that require interpretation of the Association Constitution.
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Two Israelis killed in West Bank shooting attack
An Israeli soldier and a Rabbi were killed in a West Bank shooting attack near the Ariel Junction on Sunday.
Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger, aged 47, was shot while driving through the Ariel junction and died of his wounds this morning. The attacker, according to Palestinian media, is Omar Abu Laila, a 19-year-old from the town of Az-Zawiya. Yesterday morning he stabbed Sergeant Gal Keidan and stole his gun, opening fire at three passing vehicles, hitting Rabbi Ettinger, before stealing an abandoned vehicle and escaping. He drove to the nearby Gitai Avishar junction, where he opened fire again, wounding another soldier, Alexander Dvorsky.
The car he was driving was found abandoned near the West Bank village of Burkin. It is thought he is hiding in one of the villages in the vicinity.
Israeli security forces on Monday reportedly detained the father and brother of the attacker and the large scale manhunt has entered a second day. According to the IDF: “Troops conducted extensive searches and carried out security checks at the entrances and exits of the villages. The forces continue to carry our operational and intelligence efforts in order to locate and apprehend the assailant.”
The army said soldiers have carried out preparatory work to destroy the family home, a common tactic used by Israel, which says it acts as a deterrent against future attacks. The IDF said it was not immediately clear whether the suspect was affiliated with any terrorist organisation or was acting alone.
Sergeant Keidan, aged 19, will be buried this morning at a military cemetery in his hometown of Beer Sheva.
An initial IDF inquiry concluded that military personnel on operational duty failed to respond as they should have. After the soldier was stabbed and his gun was taken, the soldier standing next to him did not open fire. The Israeli army commander, standing on the other side of the intersection, was also unable to take action to stop the attacker from escaping.
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64 Syrian National Army troops killed in Turkish offensive
NORTHEAST SYRIA - A total of sixty-four Syrian rebels fighting alongside Turkish forces have been killed in the offensive which began last week.
The rebels known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) comprises various opposition groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, and now, together with Turkey are battling against Kurdish troops.
Eighteen Syrian National Army soldiers were killed on Wednesday, according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency.
Another 187 SNA troops have been injured as a result of the Turkish offensive, which the Turks are calling Operation Peace Spring.
Turkey has designated the Kurdish forces, principally YPG/PKK fighters, as terrorists, notwithstanding they have been fighting alongside U.S. troops against ISIS.
Turkey says the aim of Operation Peace Spring, which began on 9 October 2019, is 'to eliminate YPG/PKK terrorists from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey's borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria's territorial integrity.'
Turkey has claimed it has 'neutralized 673 YPG/PKK 'terrorists,' which has caused a storm in the U.S. Congress which has been outraged by the Trump administration's green-lighting of the operation, and the abandonment of the Kurds.
Clashes between Turkish forces and the SNA against the Kurish forces are continuing in various parts of the Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn districts along the Syrian-Turkish border, despite a so-called ceasefire or 'pause' that was supposedly agreed on Thursday night between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
"All military operations will be paused, and Operation Peace Spring will be halted entirely on completion of the withdrawal," Mr Pence said Thursday night.
"This also includes an agreement by Turkey to engage in no military action against the community of Kobani."
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu however characterized the 'agreement' differently.
"We will pause the operation for 120 hours in order for the terrorists to leave," he said Thursday night. "We will only stop the operation if our conditions are met."
(Photo credit: Anas Alkharboutli/DPA/PA Images).
By Jay Jackson, Big News Network
19th October 2019, 00:25 GMT+11
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Long-Term Weather Outlook: Cinch Up
TAGS: Ranching
A look at historical weather patterns reveals a sobering trend – the decade of the 2010s is shaping up to be like the 1950s.
Burt Rutherford | Mar 21, 2013
If there’s any advice that succinctly addresses the current weather situation facing many cattlemen, it’s this: “Cinch up. The ride ain’t near over yet.”
That, in cowboy lingo, is one of the conclusions you can draw after listening to Ted McCollum, Texas AgriLife Extension beef specialist in Amarillo, walk through some historic weather pattern data. Just be warned – it’s no trip through the tulips.
Weather in the interior U.S. – specifically defined as if it rains or not – is largely influenced by water temperatures in both the Pacific and North Atlantic, he says. Looking at data provided by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, he points out that in the 1950s, we had a very cool Pacific Ocean and a very warm Atlantic.
He says the current data suggests we again have a very cool Pacific Ocean and a very warm Atlantic Ocean. “The conditions we have right now with the Atlantic and Pacific are the same conditions we had in the 1950s as far as temperatures go. And the conditions that don’t bode well for North America are when we have a warm Atlantic and a cool Pacific.”
Looking at the charts, he says it takes about 30-35 years for Atlantic seawater temperatures to complete a cycle. “About 1928-29, it warmed up and stayed warm for 30 years. Then it cooled off from about 1958 or ’59 until 1996.”
So, if the Atlantic began warming in 1996, that means we’re about 17 years into the cycle. “So we may have a few more years before the Atlantic cools down,” he says.
The Pacific began to cool in the mid 1940s and stayed cool until about the mid-’70s.”It stayed relatively warm from 1975 up until about 2006. Looking at 1945 to ’75, that’s about 30 years; ’75 to 2006 is about 30 years. So we are about 6-7 years into possibly a 30-year time period that the Pacific Ocean may be cooler than normal,” he says.
Another Look: Southwest Drought Elicits Dust Bowl Comparisons
And those seawater temperatures drive rainfall patterns in the U.S. With a warm Atlantic and cool Pacific, the general tendencies are for the East Coast and Northwest to have ample moisture; for the interior U.S., drought is likely.
Given the timing of the cycles, we’ll someday move to a cool Atlantic and a cool Pacific, which will provide some relief, he says. Eventually, the cycle will turn to a warm Pacific and cool Atlantic, and cattlemen will enjoy rainfall patterns similar to the 1970s and ’80s. But for the present, the chances of the interior U.S. having abundant rainfall are a lot lower than they were a few decades ago, McCollum says.
Cattlemen facing their second and even third year of severe drought are likely looking for any indication that things will get better. “If we go back and look at the 1950s, from ’52 to ’58, was it dry every year?” McCollum asks. “No. I think there was at least one year of normal rainfall. But that one year was bracketed by a couple of pretty severe years on either side. So I don’t want us to think we’re moving out of the drought. I don’t think we are yet,” he says.
“When we talk about recovery and rebuilding the cowherd, we need to keep that in mind,” he adds. “This may not be over with.”
Cinch up.
100 Reader Submitted Calving Photos
Commercial Cattleman Builds Back His Herd Using DNA Marker Technology
Drought Management Resources
Good Heifer Development Is All Or Nothing
Reader Perspective: 2011 Drought Ravages Cattle Country
U.S. In For Long-Term Weather Shift
Weather Forecast: Good, Bad And Ugly
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Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food stuffs and fertilizers.
PRODUCT DATA AND TYPICAL PROPERTIES
Formula : NH4OH Molecular weight : 35.05 pH (20°C, 1%w/w solution of ‘890’ grade) : 11.4 (typical) Completely miscible with water.
Apperance clear colourless liquid Assay % as NH3 32.0 ± 0.5 Specific gravity (15.5°C) 0.8895 ± 0.0015 Chloride % as Cl- < 0.0005 Residue on evaporation % as Mass < 0.002 (at 105°C)
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to foodstuffsand fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or indirectly, is also a building block for the synthesis of many pharmaceuticals. Although in wide use, ammonia is both caustic and hazardous. In 2006, worldwide production was estimated at 146.5 million tons. It is used in commercial cleaning products.
Ammonia, as used commercially, is often called anhydrous ammonia. This term emphasizes the absence of water in the material. Because NH3 boils at −33.34 °C, the liquid must be stored under high pressure or at low temperature. Its heat of vapourization is, however, sufficiently high so that NH3 can be readily handled in ordinary beakers, in a fume hood. "Household ammonia" or "ammonium hydroxide" is a solution of NH3 in water. The strength of such solutions is measured in units of baume (density), with 26 degrees baume (about 30 weight percent ammonia at 15.5 °C) being the typical high concentration commercial product. Household ammonia ranges in concentration from 5 to 10 weight percent ammonia.
Approximately 83% (as of 2003) of ammonia is used as fertilizers either as its salts or as solutions. Consuming more than 1% of all man-made power, the production of ammonia is a significant component of the world energy budget.
Precursor to nitrogenous compounds
Ammonia is directly or indirectly the precursor to most nitrogen-containing compounds. Virtually all synthetic nitrogen compounds are derived from ammonia. An important derivative is nitric acid. This key material is generated via the Ostwald process by oxidation of ammonia with air over a platinum catalyst at 700 - 850 °C, ~9 atm. Nitric oxide is an intermediate in this conversion:
NH3 + 2 O2 → HNO3 + H2O
Nitric acid is used for the production of fertilizers, explosives, and many organonitrogen compounds.
Household ammonia is a solution of NH3 in water (i.e., ammonium hydroxide) used as a general purpose cleaner for many surfaces. Because ammonia results in a relatively streak-free shine, one of its most common uses is to clean glass, porcelain and stainless steel. It is also frequently used for cleaning ovens and soaking items to loosen baked-on or caked-on grime. Household ammonia ranges in concentration from 5 to 10 weight percent ammonia.
Minor and emerging uses
Refrigeration - R717
Because of its favorable vaporization properties, ammonia is an attractive refrigerant. It was commonly used prior to the popularization ofchlorofluorocarbons (Freons). Anhydrous ammonia is widely used in industrial refrigeration applications because of its high energy efficiencyand low cost. Ammonia is used less frequently in commercial applications, such as in grocery store freezer cases and refrigerated displays due to its toxicity.
For remediation of gaseous emissions
Ammonia used to scrub SO2 from the burning of fossil fuels, the resulting product is converted to ammonium sulfate for use as fertilizer. Ammonia neutralizes the nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollutants emitted by diesel engines. This technology, called SCR (selective catalytic reduction), relies on a vanadia-based catalyst.
As a fuel
Ammonia was used during World War II to power buses in Belgium, and in engine and solar energy applications prior to 1900. Liquid ammonia was used as the fuel of the rocket airplane, the X-15. Although not as powerful as other fuels, it left no soot in the reusable rocket engine and its density approximately matches the density of the oxidizer, liquid oxygen, which simplified the aircraft's design.
Antimicrobial agent for food products
As early as in 1895 it was known that ammonia was "strongly antiseptic .. it requires 1.4 grams per litre to preserve beef tea."Anhydrous ammonia has been shown effective as an antimicrobial agent for animal feed and is currently used commercially to reduce or eliminatemicrobial contamination of beef.
As a vehicle fuel
Ammonia has been proposed as a practical alternative to fossil fuel for internal combustion engines. The calorific value of ammonia is 22.5 MJ/kg (9690 BTU/lb) which is about half that of diesel. In a normal engine, in which the water vapour is not condensed, the calorific value of ammonia will be about 21% less than this figure. It can be used in existing engines with only minor modifications to carburettors/injectors.
To meet these demands, significant capital would be required to increase present production levels. Although the second most produced chemical, the scale of ammonia production is a small fraction of world petroleum usage. It could be manufactured from renewable energy sources, as well as coal or nuclear power. It is however significantly less efficient than batteries. The 60 MW Rjukan dam in Telemark, Norway produced ammonia via electrolysis of water for many years from 1913 producing fertilizer for much of Europe. If produced from coal, the CO2 can be readily sequestrated. (the combustion products are nitrogen and water). In 1981 a Canadian company converted a 1981 Chevrolet Impala to operate using ammonia as fuel.
Liquid ammonia is used for treatment of cotton materials, give a properties like mercerisation using alkalies. And also used for pre-washing of wool.
Lifting gas
At standard temperature and pressure ammonia is lighter than air, and has approximately 60% of the lifting power of hydrogen or helium. Ammonia has sometimes been used to fill weather balloons as a lifting gas. Due to its relatively high boiling point (compared to helium and hydrogen), ammonia could potentially be refrigerated and liquefied aboard an airship to reduce lift and add ballast (and returned to a gas to add lift and reduce ballast).
***Uses Taken from Wikipedia – Please ensure correct use for you***
Ammonia .890 sg
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Bob Chapek is coming up on his one-year anniversary in February as chief executive of Walt Disney. He has made good work of shifting the Magic Kingdom’s focus on streaming video and capturing some Netflix fairy dust. In the coming year Chapek could make his mark in another way: An ESPN spinoff would keep Disney ahead of the game.
The $300 billion entertainment conglomerate’s stock has been buoyed by the eye-popping success of its direct-to-consumer service Disney+. In just over a year it has landed 87 million subscribers, near its five-year target of 90 million customers. It now expects to gain up to 260 million customers by 2024. Netflix, by comparison, has 195 million subscribers more than a decade after its debut.
Chapek reorganized the ranks to put streaming front and center in October. Sports, TV and films are created under separate division heads but Kareem Daniel, chairman of media and entertainment distribution, has been given financial oversight over all content across the Magic Kingdom.
To reduce Disney’s reliance on cable distributors and further change within the group, he should set ESPN free. Disney doesn’t own the channel’s core content: It pays princely sums for the right to air sporting events, such as National Football League matchups. Overall, Disney is on the hook for more than $40 billion in sports programming commitments – more than triple the amount a decade ago.
More viewers might help offset the expense, but consumers are eschewing cable and ESPN’s audience is shrinking. The prime network counts over 80 million subscribers – down approximately 16% from 2010. Direct-to-consumer service ESPN+ has about 12 million customers, yet that’s less than 10% of Disney’s overall streaming video subscriber base including Hulu.
MoffettNathanson estimates ESPN accounts for about 60% of Disney’s cable operating profit of some $6 billion last fiscal year. But the unit’s margin has been shrinking from about 39% in 2010 to an estimated 30% in 2022 according to forecasts from Barclays. Chapek could cleave ESPN into a separate company, which could be worth some $40 billion at just under 12 times operating profit. It would be a bold play to make Disney more agile in its battle with Netflix. Reuters
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Mink Sonata
Cover art by Maryann Callery
Offbeat drama of a mother, father, and adult daughter living together inside an upscale Manhattan apartment. Daughter plays a cello and has a personality disorder. Her alter ego seduces her father who is a political media guru. Mother is conflicted in how to stop this awful charade.
Categories: The Plays Tags: Non-naturalistic, Family: Parents and Daughter
“The family under observation in Allan Havis’s MINK SONATA has affluence and political influence … [In] this intriguing new play … the dialog is literate and often amusing. Mr Havis has an ability to make artificial language sound in character. He has captured the jargon of people for whom solipsism may be an incurable disease …” —Mel Gussow, The New York Times
Over three decades, Allan Havis has had his plays produced at theatres across the country and in Europe, including San Diego Rep, Old Globe, Seattle's ACT, Odyssey, Long Wharf, South Coast Rep, American Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Virginia Stage, WPA, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Trapdoor Theatre, Coral Gable's New Theatre, Interact Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Co. and Rowholt Theater-Verlag (National German Radio). Works commissioned by England's Chichester Festival, Sundance, San Diego Rep, Ted Danson's Anasazi Productions, South Coast Rep, Mixed Blood, CSC Rep, Malashock Dance, Carolina Chamber Chorale, National Foundation for Jewish Culture, San Diego City Opera and University of California, San Diego. Nineteen published full-length plays including his signature drama MOROCCO: Penguin/Mentor, Theatre Communications Group, Smith & Kraus, Applause Books, and Broadway Play Publishing. Harper/Collins published his young adult novel Albert the Astronomer in 1979. His sequel novel Albert Down a Wormhole was published by Goodreads Press in 2019. His book on ninety years of cinema, Cult Films: Taboo & Transgression, was published by University Press of America. In collaboration with composer Anthony Davis, his play LILITH was re-imagined as a chamber opera, premiering at UC San Diego's Conrad Prebys Music Center December 2009. His next collaboration with Mr. Davis was Lear on the 2nd Floor, which premiered as a work-in-process March 2012 at Princeton University, and a full-length piece at UC San Diego's Conrad Prebys Music Center March 2013. Both operas can be viewed online at UCSD TV. His third opera, St. Francis de Los Barrios, was presented in showcase at the Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego in 2015. His latest opera project, The Golem of La Jolla, in collaboration with composer Michael Roth, will have a concert presentation October 2019 in La Jolla Playhouse's WoW Festival. Recipient of Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Kennedy Center/American Express, CBS, HBO, National Endowment for the Arts Awards, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle 2003 Outstanding New Play for NUEVO CALIFORNIA (co-author Bernardo Solano) and San Diego's 2008 Patté Best Play award for THE TUTOR. University of Illinois Press published in 2001 his edited volume: American Political Plays. Southern Illinois University Press published in 2010 his second edited volume American Political Plays Post 9/11. In 2019 London's Bloomsbury/Methuen published his third volume American Political Plays in the Age of Terrorism. He was Provost of Thurgood Marshall College/UC San Diego for ten years, has headed the MFA playwriting program at University of California, San Diego and continues to teach in their graduate writing program over thirty years where he serves as Chair of Theatre and Dance. He holds an MFA from Yale Drama School.
First produced by BACA Downtown, Brooklyn
Mink Sonata is produced
Always Plenty of Light at the Starlight All Night Diner
Darcy Parker Bruce
A SUPER queer time travel adventure. With Dinosaurs. A cross between Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, and Fried Green Tomatoes.
The Wild Goose Circus
The story of a dysfunctional circus in which a fortuneteller has wrested control of the circus from her ringmaster. Beasts and dark shapes never seen on earth come forth to present, or disrupt, their acts. Until an absent clown, or child, finally comes back to lead the circus's opening parade.
Sally’s Gone, She Left Her Name
Sally wants to leave home, as soon as possible, for art school in New York. Her mother seems increasingly distracted, or absent, and her younger brother, Christopher, is no help. Her successful father may or may not be involved with a younger woman at work. After Sally has a confrontation with her father, her mother suddenly disappears in the middle of the night. The play is about the last two weeks in the life of a perfect American family. But as this family unravels, as words and longings are misunderstood, and things fall apart, a larger spirit in each of these characters begins to show signs of life.
Eat the Runt
Avery Crozier
A satirical piece which turns its sharp eye on political correctness, office politics, sexual harassment, religious persuasions, and societal and cultural norms. The actors don’t know which role they’ll play until the audience decides for them at each performance. The actors forge their own unique interpretations in any one of the 40,320 possible casting combinations that could confront them, creating a unique and hilarious interpretation of the show every night.
Cast: 8 total (4 female, 4 male, flexible casting)
When the Messenger Is Hot
Laura Eason, adapted from the book of short stories by Elizabeth Crane
Three years after Josie’s mother died, no one expects her to telephone from a bus station in North Dakota. This comic study of love and letting go gives a look at the disparity between what you expect and what is delivered.
70 Scenes of Halloween
Jeffrey M Jones
A quirky, inventive, and fun play in which time is out of joint as married couple Jeff and Joan contend with ghosts, beasts, and witches banging on their windows, wafting through their rooms, and wielding butcher knives.
Dancin’ to the Calliope
Jack Gilhooley
A funny, zany, and strangely touching tale of two performers in a carnival sideshow who plot to assassinate a rural sheriff and then kill themselves.
Two American couples get caught in a chronological palindrome on a trip to Italy. Stigmata, alchemy, adultery, and St. Catherine of Siena’s severed head plague a nun and a minister in this circular love story that is a comedy if performed forward and a tragedy if performed backward.
To She Who Waits
Bob Clyman
Meg and Jack were childhood sweethearts, who got married, and when their daughter, Hannah, was born, Meg stayed home with her, while Jack worked. They were happy. Then their church hired a new pastor. Flash forward … Jack is dead, and Meg is fighting the church she fled for custody of Hannah. Now that Meg is about to see Hannah for the first time in two years, the clock is already ticking. She will only have 12 visits to convince Hannah, who is openly hostile toward her, to leave the church she loves and its promise of salvation, to live with Meg — the mother who left her behind.
American Midget
The mysterious Mr Much contrives to convince ordinary Albert that he is a “little person” — but is he? Join one man’s struggle to distinguish reality from delusion in a world far more outlandish, but only slightly more absurd, than our own.
Looking at Christmas
Christmas Eve. New York City. An aspiring writer and a struggling actress meet while looking at the famous holiday windows, and the characters in the displays come to life and look back at them, including a lecherous elf with eyes for Mrs. Claus; Scrooge and Tiny Tim arguing about being portrayed as zombies; a street-wise Little Match Girl; Jim from “The Gift of the Magi” enjoying his wife’s new androgynous haircut; and a jealous Joseph The Carpenter. A smart, sweet, slightly twisted holiday romantic comedy.
Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male, flexible casting, up to 17 actors)
Kenny Finkle
In this unabashedly sentimental comedy, a cat named Samantha has just started living with a guy named Shuman who she believes is her true love. At first everything seems to be going great. Samantha can't get enough of Shuman, and she can't get enough of him. But soon Samantha realizes that Shuman doesn't always seem to understand her. Worse yet, Shuman doesn't always seem all that interested in trying to understand her. Things become truly problematic when one night Oscar, a sexy alley cat, shows up at the door. Suddenly Samantha begins to wonder whether she's an indoor or an outdoor cat. To make matters more complicated, a quirky aspiring cat therapist named Matilda inserts herself into the mix, thinking she can solve everyone's problems but only seems to make things worse. Eventually Samantha finds herself on a journey, both physical and emotional, that leads her to discover what having a home and being loved really mean to her. INDOOR/OUTDOOR is an allegory about the difficulties and joys of all manner of relationships.
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Fernando Ricksen dies aged 43 after battle with motor neurone disease
The former Rangers player spent six years at Ibrox until 2006.
Former Rangers player Fernando Ricksen has died at the age of 43 following a battle with motor neurone disease, the club have announced.
Ricksen, who spent six years at Rangers until 2006, announced he was suffering from the disease in October 2013.
“Rangers is deeply saddened to announce that former player Fernando Ricksen passed away this morning following his battle with motor neurone disease,” the Scottish club said on their official website.
“Fernando spent six trophy-laden seasons at Ibrox having initially joined a number of other Dutch players under manager Dick Advocaat in the summer of 2000.”
Ricksen, who won 12 caps for Holland and was signed by Rangers from AZ Alkmaar for £3.75million in 2000, raised awareness and funds to help other sufferers of motor neurone disease through the Fernando Ricksen Foundation.
A benefit match for the Dutchman, held at Ibrox in January 2015, saw over 41,000 fans attend Ibrox and raised £320,000 with the proceeds split between Fernando, his daughter Isabella, MND Scotland and the Rangers Charity Foundation.
Rangers added: “The thoughts of everyone at Rangers is today with his wife Veronika, his daughter Isabella and all his family and friends.”
Peter Lovenkrands, who also joined Rangers in 2000 and spent six years with the Scottish club, paid tribute to his former team-mate on social media.
The 39-year-old posted on Instagram: “You looked after me when we signed at Rangers together, taking me back and forward to training because I didn’t have a car, great memories on and off the pitch!
“A true warrior and leader on the pitch! You’ll be truly missed. RIP my friend.”
Zenit St Petersburg – the team Ricksen left Rangers to join, initially on loan, in 2006 – also released a statement.
It read: “We’re deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our former player Fernando Ricksen. He battled bravely against motor neurone disease right until the end and we are all thinking of him and his family at this difficult time.”
Scottish Premiership Rangers
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Bali's Ancient High Court
<p>Carved stone gates cadi bentar at Bale Kembang (Floating pavilion) at Taman Gili Kertha Gosa, remains of a royal palace. Semarapura, Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia. | Gekko Gallery</p>
Kertha Gosa Pavilion
位置: Klungkung Royal Palace
Klungkung, the smallest Bali's regency, is also home to some of its most fascinating historical sites.
The Klungkung Palace is a historical building complex in Semarapura, the capital of Klungkung.
One of the most remarkable parts of the palace is the Kertha Gosa Pavilion. It is the ancient high court of the king, where Bali's most difficult cases were decided.
Translating as "the place where the king meets with his ministries to discuss questions of justice" Kertha Gosa was the king's high court, a site that dates back centuries and was once the setting of the most difficult legal decisions in the land.
Decorated with frescoed ceilings, it's a breathtaking room and an important piece of Bali history — and one of the few parts of the palace that remain after the Dutch colonial conquest of 1908.
Taman Ujung Water Palace Karangasem
Taman Ujung Floating Palace, is an enchanting water palace built in Karangasem Regency in 1901, and features a network of pools and ponds that were used for ...
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Harvard Book Store puts Barack and Michelle Obama’s farewell speeches in book form
By Steve Annear Globe Staff,January 20, 2017, 1:29 p.m.
As the transition of power began Friday morning in Washington, D.C., the Harvard Book Store offered bookworms something to remember outgoing President Barack Obama and the First Lady by.
The shop in Harvard Square printed a run of 20 books containing the goodbye speeches recently delivered by Obama and his wife, Michelle, as they prepared to depart from the White House after eight years.
Titled “Barack Obama & Michelle Obama: Farewell Speeches,” employees printed the palm-sized books in the store, on what the company calls its “Paige M. Gutenborg,” a custom-printing machine that can assemble a book in roughly five minutes, before spitting it out, ready to read.
Alex Meriwether, the store’s marketing manager, said the books were produced by the staff. The cover, he said, was designed by the bookstore’s manager, and features an excerpt from Obama’s final address, including the line “Yes, we can. Yes, we did. Yes, we can.”
The text of the speeches is in the public domain, but printing them in book form was seen as an opportunity to offer people a keepsake from the outgoing administration.
“It’s a fulfilling experience reading it as well as listening to it,” said Meriwether of the book, which is 72 pages long. “I think that is ... what’s particularly distinct about Barack Obama and his speech writing team.”
As of Friday morning, several of the books had been sold.
This isn’t the first time that the bookstore has packaged together Obama’s speeches, and offered them to readers. A volume titled “Two More Speeches,” which was released in 2016, contains Obama’s “Speech on Race” and the “Eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney,” which was read following the Charleston, S.C., shooting.
When asked if the store would be creating a book based on Trump’s inaugural speech, which he delivered to the nation after being sworn in Friday afternoon, Meriwether said he didn’t believe there would be much interest.
“But if people requested it, we would put something together,” he said.
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An effort to ban public funding of abortion in Mass. is underway
By Stephanie Ebbert Globe Staff,July 16, 2017, 5:24 p.m.
PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE
In the heated debate over funding for abortion, one argument often silences both sides: Taxpayers aren’t paying for abortions anyway, since federal funding has been prohibited by the Hyde Amendment for four decades.
But Massachusetts is one of 17 states where abortions are taxpayer-funded — with money from the state.
Antiabortion activists are now trying to change that, launching a petition drive to change the state Constitution, which — the state’s high court ruled in 1981 — grants women on Medicaid the right to a state-funded abortion.
If their effort proves to be successful, it would return a thorny political debate long silenced by the judiciary to the legislative arena, where activists could then try to pressure their representatives to cut off public funding.
Right now, “you can’t really discuss it with your legislators because they have their hands tied,” said Thomas Harvey, an attorney and chairman of the Alliance to Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortions ballot campaign.
“It’s got to be made, in my view, a political issue,” Harvey added. “And right now, it’s not.”
In a state where abortion rights have long been a given, opponents hope the effort will give them an opening to start posing uncomfortable questions that politicians may prefer not to address.
For instance, state Representative James J. Lyons Jr., a sponsor of the measure, pointed to language in Massachusetts law, defining abortion as “the knowing destruction of the life of an unborn child.”
“When you put it out there like that, you think, ‘Why are we spending our tax dollars on that?’ ” said Lyons.
“I guess what we’re trying to do is just bring an awareness to what’s going on in Massachusetts,” he added. “You talk to people and say, ‘Do you know that our tax dollars pay for abortion in Massachusetts?’ And they’ll say, ‘No, no, that doesn’t happen.’ ”
Said State Representative James J. Lyons Jr.: “You talk to people and say, ‘Do you know that our tax dollars pay for abortion in Massachusetts?’ And they’ll say, ‘No, no, that doesn’t happen.’”Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff/File 2016
It’s unclear exactly how much Massachusetts spends on abortion services each year, though it’s a small share of the state’s spending on health care, which dominates the overall budget. Medicaid, known in Massachusetts as MassHealth, covers about 1.9 million residents and cost the state $6.2 billion in the past fiscal year, with the federal government picking up the rest of the $15.2 billion tab.
Sharon Torgerson, a spokeswoman for the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services, could not provide a sum specific to abortion but said the state spends $5.7 million on all MassHealth family planning services.
Conservatives object to the state sending their tax dollars to abortion clinics. But abortion-rights defenders think the Hyde Amendment itself is discriminatory, making it more difficult for poor women in most states to gain access to safe abortions. The amendment blocks federal dollars from being used for abortion, except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the pregnant woman, noted Tricia Wajda, director of communications for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
“Every woman — regardless of her ZIP code — should have the ability to make decisions about her health and abortion without barriers,” Wajda said in an e-mail. “While 17 states do provide Medicaid coverage for abortion with state dollars, many women still do not have affordable access to abortion care.”
She noted that they include women who work for the federal government, regardless of where they live; veterans who use the veterans affairs system; uniformed service members and their families around the world; federal prisoners; Peace Corps volunteers; and beneficiaries of Indian Health Services.
Massachusetts also barred state funding for abortions for a brief period, starting in 1978, following the Legislature’s passage of what was known as the Flynn-Doyle bill. One of its authors was then-Representative Raymond Flynn, who would later become mayor of Boston.
But in 1981, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that women eligible for Medicaid have a constitutionally protected right to funding for abortion.
“The right to safe, legal abortion means little to the woman who cannot afford her care,” Wajda said. “The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has recognized this, ruling that prohibiting state funding for abortion for Medicaid-eligible women renders the right to an abortion illusory.”
The initiative petition now proposed directly targets that decision and seeks to disentangle abortion from other constitutional rights.
“Nothing in this Constitution requires the public funding of abortion,” according to the language the measure would add to the Constitution. It would require another act of the Legislature to actually alter the funding.
In Tennessee, a 2014 constitutional amendment went even further, directly prohibiting state funding for abortions. Since then, Tennessee passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning the procedure after 20 weeks.
Abortion rights defenders fear an erosion of rights under the Trump administration and have been trying fend off incremental restrictions on abortion rights at various state legislatures.
“The current national political environment is one of the most hostile in recent memory to health care access, women, and reproductive rights,” Wajda said. But she thinks resistance has only built in Massachusetts. “The people of Massachusetts and our lawmakers have responded to this dangerous climate by rallying to support access to affordable health care and basic rights whenever they have been challenged.”
In Massachusetts, any change in abortion funding is a long way from reality. An initiative petition starts with a proposal submitted to the attorney general’s office by at least 10 voters. The petition must then demonstrate public support by attracting the signatures of a certain number of registered voters — this year 64,750 — and submitting them to local election officials by November.
If this signature drive succeeds, the petition would then require the approval of one-quarter of the Legislature — 50 lawmakers — in two successive legislative sessions, meaning the earliest it could appear on a ballot is 2020.
The signature-gathering effort is being pushed by the Renew Massachusetts Coalition, a conservative advocacy group that worked on last summer’s successful signature drive for a 2018 ballot question that would repeal the state’s transgender accommodations law.
Harvey said he thinks it could garner more support than other abortion measures because it also deals with fiscal issues.
“It’s not up or down on abortion. It’s what your tax dollars are going to,” he said.
Typically, the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund can rely on the support of 131 of the 198 members of the Massachusetts House and Senate (with two Senate vacancies).
In Massachusetts, even many leading Republicans wholeheartedly defend abortion rights. In the spring, Governor Charlie Baker pledged to shore up Planned Parenthood funding in Massachusetts if Congress followed through on threatened budget cuts. Asked about the governor’s position about the initiative petition, Torgerson said in a statement that “the governor opposes any efforts to defund women’s health and family planning services in the Commonwealth.”
Abortion rights advocates remain confident that they will prevail. And even if the public supported it, the measure would not take away taxpayer funding unless the Legislature took up a whole new effort to do so.
Abortion opponents acknowledge they don’t have those votes, but they want to start the conversation.
“Unless it’s an issue that people talk about,” Harvey said, “nothing’s ever going to change.”
Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at Stephanie.Ebbert@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieEbbert.
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HOME & INTRODUCTION
FIESTA VIII: POSTPONED
M-1 RAFFLE WINNER/SPECIAL EVENTS
AIRBORNE PUBLICATIONS
BENAVIDEZ-PATTERSON "ALL AIRBORNE" CHAPTER
The "FIESTA VIII" Raffle for the Vintage,
World War II Era, M-1 Garand Rifle
was held as originally scheduled on
Saturday, July 4, 2020.
The Grand Prize Winner...
DONNA FELBERG-PALMER
Donna Felberg-Palmer (left) pictured with the Grand Prize, Vinatge, WWII era, M-1 Garand Rifle, won during the
"FIESTA VIII" Raffle
Sponsored by the El Paso Chapter of the 82nd Airborne.
Husband Troy is seen at right with the rifle which is now
part of his private collection of historic weapons.
DONNA & TROY PALMER!
WWII Commemoratives
The chapter previously, welcomed members, dignitaries, family members and friends, to honor World War II Veterans (from all campaigns), with a tribute for their dedicated service, and personnel sacrifices, during a most tumultous period in world history.
A Well Deserved Celebration to Honor the Service, and
Remember The Sacrifices, of World War II Veterans!
The organization would sponsor three (3) World War II Commemorative Events each year. Starting with the commemoration of Operation: "OVERLORD," the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, France, this event was held in the month of June.
Veterans of all branches of the military are represented during the commemorative events as all veterans of the World War II era, are invited to participate.
In the month of September, a commemoration of Operation: "Market Garden," the Allied advance into Holland, would be celebrated.
The final World War II commemorative event would come in the month of December when the chapter would remember the historic: "Battle of the Bulge."
Each of the commemorative events would feature keynote speakers to include U. S. Congressman Beto O'Rourke, and various other dignitaries of the local community. Also featured were varoious dignitaries from Fort Bliss, Texas, to include various Garrison Commanders and the Battalion Commander of the 93D MP Battalion, Jeremy R. Willingham.
In 2016 however, the commemorative events were combined into one, with World War II Veterans (all camapigns), honored during a D-Day Commemorative/World War II Veteran Recognition Celebration.
Because of the large crowds, the celebration was moved to the
CHAMIZAL NATIONAL MEMORIAL THEATER.
And, in conjunction with the National Park Service, the events were staged at the larger facility.
Photos Courtesy of the 93D MP Bn., Fort Bliss, Texas
The event commenced with the presentation of the "Colors" and sounding of the National Anthem.
At left, Leon "Uncle Sam" Blevins (EPCC Prof.), leads the assembly in the "Pledge of Allegiace".
Chaplain, LTC (Ret.) John Szilvasy followed with the opening Prayer!
Chapter Chairman, Jesus Bravo, welcomed dignitaries, veterans, members, and guests, to the celebration.
Photo: Ruben R. Ramirez, El Paso TIMES
Guest of Honor, U. S. Congressman, Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), recognized the members of "The Greatest Generation" and thanked them for their Meritorious and Exemplary Service in support of International Freedom & World Peace!
Keynote Speaker, LTC Jeremy R. Willingham, BN. CDR., 93D M.P. BN., Fort Bliss, Tecxas, spoke on the significance of the service & personal sacrifices, of the WWII Veterans.
The veterans listened as they were praised by each of the visiting dignitaries.
82nd Airborne Photo by Martin Rodriguez
Ms. Stephanie Valle (Anchor, KVIA ABC-7 "Good Morning El Paso" and co-host of the Noon Show), served as the Guest Orator and recited the poem: "A Soldier Died Today" (a.k.a. "Just A Common Soldier").
93D MP BN Photo
Rev. Dougla P. Davis, Sr., introduced and explained the significance of the P.O.W./M.I.A. Taable (a.k.a. "America's White Table").
Mrs. Kum S. Medina (center, with photo of spouse), receives the accolades for the military service of her disabled veteran spouse, Jose Concepcion Medina, from Col. Willingham (left).
93D MP Photo
The Video version of the "Armed Forces Medley" was played honoring the veterans of all Branches of the U. S. Military.
Photo: Martin Rodriguez, 82nd Airborne
LTC (Ret.) Bob Chisolm (left), and Dr. Joseph Torres, prepare to cut one of the three cakes served during the social gathering, to conlcude the celebration. Ice cream and refreshments were also served to everyone in attendance.
Fellow vets demonstrate their support of WWII Veteran, Dr. Joseph E. Torres (center).
Family members and friends gathered with the WWII Veterans for various photo opportunities, during the social gathering.
Photo courtesy: 93D MP BN.
LTC (Ret.) Bob Chisolm (left), combat veteran of WWII, Korea & Vietnam is pictured with event sponsor, Chris Harris (center), and LTC Willingham, CDR., 93D M.P. BN., during the social hour.
And to NEVER FORGET, all of our HEROES, who never returned!
© 82nd Airborne El Paso Texas
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Jessie Jollymore, Executive Director of Hope Blooms, which runs on 100% solar energy thanks in part to the support of the bullfrogpowered community.
Jessie Jollymore
Executive Director, Hope Blooms
I’ve always thought that when you change the way you look at things—the things you look at change.
Something spoke to me
One day I was walking by an abandoned piece of land in an inner city community in Halifax. It was supposed to be a community garden—the local government had provided funding for it, but the program had failed. Something spoke to me. I thought, ‘This is the spot that’s going to flourish, and it’s going to thrive through children working and gardening together. We’re going to grow healthy foods here and bring them home to their families. We’re going to learn how to cook the food too.’
It’s now nine years later and there’s a thriving community garden located in the same space. When the Hope Blooms greenhouse program started, eight children were enrolled in the program. Today, over 53 children have been through the program.
We grow more than 3,000 lbs of food annually and the kids take most of it home for their families. We host community suppers and summer film nights. What’s really cool is that we now also make and sell salad dressing using herbs grown in the garden. Through their experiences, the kids are growing up to be leaders.
We chose not to be connected to the grid
Inner cities and green energy don’t often go together—but these kids see this land as sacred and respect it. One of our program graduates designed our greenhouse after receiving design training and doing his own research. When planning the greenhouse, we chose not to be connected to the grid. We are thankful for the support we received from the Bullfrog community for the solar panels on the roof that power our facility with 100% green energy and love that we’ve become an example for other communities to follow!
It takes a child to raise a village
When children have lived through generations of poverty, they don’t know what it’s like to give back because they’re always on the end of receiving. When they become the providers themselves, now that’s a game changer. The young man who designed the greenhouse gets to wake up and see his creation every day. Soon, he will be leaving us to attend an Ivy League university in the U.S. where he’s received a full scholarship for an architecture program.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but we say it takes a child to raise a village. We believe that growing food in the inner city—and now promoting green energy—are some of the most disruptive things you can do.
Hope Blooms operates a community garden in Halifax, featuring a youth-designed greenhouse, which was built through the support of Arlene Dickinson (Dragon’s Den). Yields from the garden and greenhouse are used to produce salad dressing sold through local farmers markets, with the proceeds supporting educational programs and scholarships. Through Bullfrog Power’s support, the greenhouse is powered by 100% renewable energy via a 3.1 kilowatt solar array and battery backup system.
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CEO of Sapiens to employees "we recently encountered a cyber incident that may have caused you some discomfort"
Sapiens sent a letter to its workers, customers, and suppliers reporting the ransom attack that cost it about a quarter of a million dollars
Meir Orbach 11:5518.06.20
"We recently encountered a cyber incident that may have caused you some discomfort," Sapiens International Corp. N.V. (NASDAQ: SPNS) CEO Roni Al-Dor wrote in an email, informing company employees about a cyber attack against the company. Earlier this week, Calcalist reported that the Nasdaq and Tel Aviv- listed Israeli software company was forced to pay $250,000 ransom in Bitcoin to hackers that threatened to shut down its computers.
In response to Calcalist’s request for comment, the company neither confirmed nor denied the details.
Sapiens International CEO Roni Al-Dor. Photo: Yossi Aloni
“We immediately took steps to isolate and implement measures to prevent additional affecting and commenced an investigation lead by our IT teams together with the support of a leading forensic vendor to determine the scope and effect of this incident on our operations,” Al-Dor’s email read.
Sapiens specializes in developing software for insurance and finance companies and has hundreds of clients around the world. The hack is believed to have occurred while most of the company’s employees switched to work from home amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.
The company's management also issued a letter to suppliers and customers in mid-April telling them about the attack that it was victim to. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have taken our network off-line, which may have impacted your connectivity to our network. We are in the process of restoring our connectivity in an incremental fashion, based on security considerations," the letter read. The company apologized and announced that it was working to investigate the incident with the help of an external company and that, according to its findings, the incident did not harm its production infrastructure and did not involve information about people.
Sapiens employs some 2,500 people around the world, 900 of them in Israel.
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Final piece of derelict vessel removed from river
Operations will continue for the next eight weeks
Spectators from "Unified Command" watch as the final 60-foot, 50,000 pound piece of steel from the derelict Davy Crockett vessel is lifted on Thursday from the Columbia River. The deconstruction project, which has been going on for the past seven months, will be complete in October.
Thursday marked a “significant day” in the deconstruction of the SS Davy Crockett, as the final 60-foot long, 55,000 pound, rusty metal section of the derelict barge was slowly lifted from the waters of the Columbia River.
“The occasion of today is a very rewarding day to us,” said Capt. Daniel LeBlanc, Coast Guard incident commander and on-scene coordinator. “This is a symbolic event that signifies all of the work that has been put forth to make sure we protected the environment.”
The seven-month operation was jointly managed by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, along with contractor Ballard Diving and Salvage.
During the 211-day operation crews removed 4.4 million pounds of steel, which is being transported to Portland’s Schnitzer Steel for recycling.
Also taken from the site on the shoreline near Camas was another 838,432 pounds of debris, including wire, bricks, and oiled sorbent materials. Workers also removed 4,850 pounds of asbestos. The response resulted in approximately 1.6 million gallons of oily and contaminated water being taken off-site for disposal.
“The operations we conducted were extremely challenging, technically complex, and were labor intensive,” LeBlanc said.
As part of the effort, crews built a cofferdam lined with an impermeable silt barrier and additional sorbent materials around the site to collect oil that could have escaped during the deconstruction.
“In doing so, we protected the Columbia River from 33,000 gallons of oil that we have collected to date,” LeBlanc said. “Today’s lift of steel is a victory for Unified Command.”
The project isn’t entirely complete yet. According to Mike Greenburg, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality state on-scene coordinator, vacuum dredging of sediment inside the cofferdam is expected to take an additional 14 to 18 days, while removal of the cofferdam will take another six weeks.
Once finished in October the price tag of the deconstruction project will have exceeded $20 million, which will be paid for through the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
“It was fortunate that the U.S. Coast Guard stepped in to provide funding, because it was clear the vessel owner was not able to manage the response,” said Ron Holcomb, Washington Department of Ecology state on-scene coordinator.
Response was initiated in January, when the 431-foot SS Davy Crockett suffered a significant structural failure during a salvage operation being conducted by its owner, Brett Simpson of Ellensburg, Wash. He was issued an administrative order on Jan. 21 by the Coast Guard to take cleanup action or face penalties.
On Jan. 27, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Coast Guard received reports of a light sheen that stretched 14 miles to the Port of Vancouver and traced it back to the Davy Crockett vessel. This prompted federal authorities to step in and take charge.
LeBlanc said the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for Southwest Washington continues to investigate, and will likely seek to recover from Simpson federal monies spent on the project.
According to Robert Mester, Ballard Diving and Salvage project coordinator, the Davy Crockett has been in the Columbia River for 30 years.
“We know it’s been here a long time,” he said. “These derelict vessels pose a significant environmental protection problem because they change hands many times, and they are used for different purposes.”
According to the “American Merchant Marine at War,” organization, approximately 2,700 Liberty ships were built by the U.S. Maritime Commission during World War II, between September 1941 and September 1945. The mass-produced cargo ships were named after prominent Americans. Very few of them remain in operating condition today.
The SS Davy Crockett was constructed in the early 1940s in Houston, Texas, by the Houston Shipbuilding Corporation. It was later converted to a flat deck barge by a private owner.
“This is a 1941 Liberty Ship,” Mester said. “[It was] built to be used for five years, not 50 years.”
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Home / Blog / V. Ross Morrison v. The Queen -deals with Canadian Humanitarian Trust and Canadian Gift Initiative
V. Ross Morrison v. The Queen -deals with Canadian Humanitarian Trust and Canadian Gift Initiative
Published December 16, 2015 by Mark Blumberg
The Honourable Justice F.J. Pizzitelli of the Tax Court of Canada dealt with a motion in V. Ross Morrison v. The Queen. The court dismissed the motion with costs. The cases deals with the Canadian Humanitarian Trust (“CHT”) and Canadian Gift Initiative (“CGI”) which CRA would describe as abusive charity gifting tax schemes. Mr. Morrison had wanted that the CRA to “disclose or produce for inspection the names and municipal and/or email addresses of all persons who have filed Objections to the Reassessments in the CHT and CGI Donation Programs and whose Objections have not been resolved (the “Outstanding Objectors”);” The court noted “I do not agree with any of the Appellant’s arguments. The Appellant has neither provided nor argued any legal precedent that supports his position on any of these issues. There is ample precedent against.”
The court noted:
[12] The only explanation that makes such names and addresses relevant appear to be found in the Appellant’s affidavit in support of this Motion that such Objectors may wish to retain the services of the Appellant’s law firm. Frankly, such suggestion is a totally inappropriate reason for bringing this application.
[13] The Appellant actually admitted in argument that while he could get by without this requested information he felt entitled to them as a consequence of his status as a test case. Firstly, there is no support in law for such alleged entitlement and secondly he has in fact admitted such information is not really necessary for his case. I might also add that the Appellant has argued he understands that there are in fact more than 200 taxpayers who have filed Notices of Appeal and so such information with respect to such taxpayers are a matter of public record. He appears to have ample access to hundreds of taxpayers who might be able to assist him as witnesses if he chooses to contact them. I fail to see how in these circumstances he can possibly argue the Minister should release confidential third-party information as a matter of necessity. He should make his own efforts to compile third-party taxpayer information for his purposes, either by reviewing information that is a matter of public information as it pertains to the taxpayers who have filed appeals above or advertising for assistance from those who have not. The Appellant appears to feel he has the right to ask the Respondent or even this Court to do his leg work for him without making any real effort to do so himself.
[14] As for the Appellant’s contention that section 241 of the Act does not prohibit the Respondent from releasing the names and addresses of the Objectors, I simply cannot agree either.
[15] Section 241 reads as follows:
241(1) Provision of Information. Except as authorized by this section, no official or other representative of a government entity shall
(a) knowingly provide, or knowingly allow to be provided, to any person any taxpayer information;
(b) knowingly allow any person to have access to any taxpayer information; or
(c) knowingly use any taxpayer information otherwise than in the course of the administration or enforcement of this Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Unemployment Insurance Act or the Employment Insurance Act or for the purpose for which it was provided under this section.
(2) Evidence relating to taxpayer information. Notwithstanding any other Act of Parliament or other law, no official or other representative of a government entity shall be required, in connection with any legal proceedings, to give or produce evidence relating to any taxpayer information.
(3) Communication where proceedings have been commenced. Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in respect of
(a) criminal proceedings, either by indictment or on summary conviction, that have been commenced by the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment, under an Act of Parliament; or
(b) any legal proceedings relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Unemployment Insurance Act or the Employment Insurance Act or any other Act of Parliament or law of a province that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty.
… [3.1 to 3.3 omitted as not specific to these reasons]
(4) Where taxpayer information may be disclosed. An official may
(a) provide to any person taxpayer information that can reasonably be regarded as necessary for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of this Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Unemployment Insurance Act or the Employment Insurance Act, solely for that purpose;
[16] It is clear that subsections 241(1) and (2) contain the restrictions against any government official which includes the Minister releasing any taxpayer information or giving evidence with respect to same. The Appellant however argues that the names and addresses of the Objectors is not “taxpayer information” and that subsection 241(3) would in any event exclude the application of subsections (1) and (2).
[17] Subsection 241(10) of the Act defines “taxpayer information” as follows:
(10) Definitions. In this section,
“taxpayer information” means information of any kind and in any form relating to one or more taxpayers that is
(a) obtained by or on behalf of the Minister for the purposes of this Act, or
(b) prepared from information referred to in paragraph (a),
but does not include information that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the taxpayer to whom it relates.
[18] It is absolutely clear that not only is taxpayer information very broadly defined to include “information of any kind and in any form” which would clearly include names and addresses, but the fact it excludes information that would not “directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the taxpayer” emphasizes that the names and addresses of taxpayers are the focus of such identity protection.
[19] As for the Appellant’s argument that paragraph 241(3)(b) is an exception to the release of taxpayer information since his appeal is a legal proceeding relating to the administration of the Act, the Appellant has unfortunately failed to grasp that subsection (4) also applies and clearly only allows the release of information that is “necessary” for the purposes of such administration or enforcement and “solely” for that purpose. As indicated above, the Appellant has admitted such information is not necessary and I have found it is neither relevant nor necessary for the Appellant to have in respect of this proceeding of enforcement of the Act against him.
[20] In Rezek above Bowman J. held that the names of other taxpayers who engaged in the same transactions could not be disclosed and in Penn West Petroleum Ltd. v The Queen, 2006 TCC 82, 2006 DTC 2338, Beaubier J. found that whether other taxpayers had been reassessed is information that is expressly forbidden by statute. Both are consistent with the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Ford above that the taxpayer must prove the requirements of compliance with the Act on its own terms and that those of others are irrelevant.
[21] Consistent with the above principles, there is also no need for the Objectors to be told the Appellant is a test case or that previous counsel for the promoters have withdrawn. Since this information is a matter of public record, all other taxpayers have access to same. Each taxpayer of course has the right to pursue his objections and appeals as he or she or it may determine including deciding whether to file an appeal where the Minister had not confirmed an objection within 90 days pursuant to paragraph 169(1)(b) of the Act and whether they wish to be represented by counsel and who that might be. This Court has no jurisdiction to involve itself in the affairs of taxpayers who have not filed an appeal unless specifically provided for in theAct or other applicable legislation nor to dictate to the Minister what information it must make available to such parties as part of its duties or acts in dealing with taxpayers in pre-appeal stages. That is for the Minister to decide and for such other taxpayers to deal with if they so choose. The Appellant has no standing to speak for any such other taxpayers or advocate for them and in fact would be acting improperly by attempting to do so without their consent, notwithstanding any altruistic concerns he may have for them. Moreover, the fact the Minister interacts with taxpayers involved in similar transactions before the appellate stage does not mean such interaction is, in and of itself, proof their information is relevant to other appellants as the Appellant seems to contend.
[26] The Appellant’s motion is dismissed in its entirety with costs to the Respondent regardless of the result.
Canadian Charity Law News Receipting by Canadian Registered Charities What's New from the Charities Directorate of CRA
Some thoughts on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and CBC’s The Exchange
Charity Commission warns UK charities about the risks of ‘dominant individuals’
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David Fincher Net Worth
How much is David Fincher Worth?
in Richest Celebrities › Directors
David Fincher Net Worth:
David Fincher Net Worth and Salary: David Fincher is an American film director and music video director who has a net worth of $75 million. Best known for directing a number of well-received psychological thrillers, Fincher has been nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards twice. In total, his films have received 30 Academy Award nominations.
After developing a passion for filmmaking at a young age, Fincher started his career in filmmaking by directing music videos. David's first feature film came in 1993 with "Alien 3." He later wowed critics with 1995's "Seven" and followed up with the cult classic "Fight Club" in 1999. His films in the 2000s include "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Social Network." Generally speaking, Fincher's films have been successful both in a commercial and a critical sense.
During the mid to late 2010s, David began to gravitate more towards television, starting with the critically-acclaimed series "House of Cards." He continued his partnership with Netflix over the next few years, signing a major contract and creating series such as "Mindunter." He also served as the executive producer for the animated series "Love, Death & Robots" and directed a film called "Mank," both of which were released through Netflix.
Early Life: David Andrew Leo Fincher was born on August 28th of 1962 in Denver, Colorado. At the age of two, his family relocated to San Anselmo, California and became neighbors with George Lucas. By the age of eight, David was already obsessed with filmmaking. His passion for directing has been largely attributed to a documentary about the making of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which David watched as a young child. During this period, he began making his first films with an 8mm camera.
As a teenager, Fincher relocated once again – this time to Ashland, Oregon. During this period, he directed high school plays and designed film sets as a high school student. He also took a job as a projectionist at a movie theater and worked as a production assistant at a local news station. After graduating from high school, he took odd jobs such as busboy, dishwasher, and fry cook in order to pay the bills.
Career: As David became more established within the film industry, he started working as a production head at director John Korty's studio. He was also hired by George Lucas as a visual effects producer to create the animated film "Twice Upon a Time." During the early to mid-80s, Fincher worked on films such as "Return of the Jedi" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." His big break came when he was hired to direct a commercial for the American Cancer Society. The image of a fetus smoking a cigarette was so powerful that producers in Los Angeles scrambled to figure out who he was.
After directing a number of commercials, documentaries, and music videos, David co-founded the production company Propaganda Films. However, Fincher hated directing commercials, and he began to focus more heavily on music videos instead. During this period, he worked with artists such as Paula Abdul, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, and Billy Idol. In particular, David gained notoriety for directing some of Madonna's most iconic music videos.
In 1990, Fincher was finally given the opportunity to direct his first feature film. 20th Century Fox brought him in to replace Vincent Ward as the new director of "Alien 3." The film was already struggling with a number of production issues when Fincher took the reins, and critical reception was divided. Although many observers appreciate its unique tone, David Fincher has since disowned "Alien 3" altogether.
Although David was discouraged by the treatment he received from producers, he was eventually convinced to try his hand at another feature film. This time, he took creative control of "Seven" in 1995, which became a critical and commercial success. Grossing more than $320 at the box office, "Seven" shocked audiences with its disturbing themes and overall tone.
Fincher returned again in 1997 with "Fight Club." Like "Alien 3," reviews were divided. It was a moderate success at the box offices, but there was a sense that audiences didn't really know what to make of it. However, "Fight Club" has since become one of the most iconic cult favorites of the modern era, and it is considered an extremely intelligent and multi-faceted film.
In the 2000s, Fincher directed films such as "Panic Room" and "Zodiac." During this period, Fincher's reputation as a perfectionist began to precede him. Actors (some of whom were clearly disgruntled) were asked to do upwards of 50 takes for a single scene. This was part of David's quest for authenticity and his rejection of what he calls "earnestness" in acting.
Over the next few years, David directed movies like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" "The Social Network," with the latter of which winning three Academy Awards. In 2011, Fincher followed up with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," a psychological thriller that received plenty of praise from critics. In 2013, Fincher began to gravitate more towards television, starting with "House of Cards." The series received nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
After returning to film with 2014's "Gone Girl," David partnered with Netflix once again to create another series called "Mindhunter." Since then, he has also been involved in Netflix projects such as "Mank" and "Love, Death & Robots."
Netflix Deal: In November of 2020, David Fincher signed a "nine-figure" overall deal with Netflix that would keep him with the streaming service for another four years. Based on similar deals that other directors/producers have signed with studios such as Netflix, Fincher's deal is likely around $100 million.
Real Estate: In 2015, it was reported that Fincher had purchased a $6 million apartment in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. The 2,200-square-foot residence offers three bedrooms and was designed by Steven Harris, a renowned architect. The apartment is accessed directly by a private elevator, and there are 10-foot ceilings throughout. The building overlooks Staple Street and offers additional amenities such as a full-time doorman, a gym, and more. It is an extremely sought after building in Manhattan. In addition, Fincher and his longtime significant other own an estate in Los Feliz that they originally purchased back in 1996 for $3 million.
David Fincher Signs Four-Year Netflix Deal Reportedly Worth Nine Figures
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About The higgins funeral home
higgins funeral home
Michael J. Higgins Funeral Service has quite a legacy. Mary is native to LaGrange and has been working with us since we've opened our LaGrange location. Terry is a funeral assistant and works all visitations. She retired from Bank of America after working as a Assistant Vice President of the Trust Department for 25 years. In his spare time, Jack loves cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs and spending time with his family. We, the Higgins family, for over 135 years and four generations, have been privileged to serve the families and the community as a whole with professional service and personal attention. In … Cy works with us at both locations and is here to serve your family. Dan, her husband, was a fireman for the City Of Newnan for over 36 years, retiring as Captain over fire investigation. View upcoming funeral services, obituaries, and funeral flowers for Higgins Funeral Home in Fayetteville, Tennessee. 505 likes. The professional, dedicated staff can assist you in making memorial service plans, funeral planning, and talk you through cremation options. Jim has worked in accounting for over 50 years and is a valuable asset in the office and helping families. Jeffrey graduated from mortuary school in December of 2015 and is now a licensed embalmer and funeral director in the state of Georgia. Staff is available on a 24-hour basis to provide compassionate and professional service at an affordable cost. Bryan joined the staff over 10 years ago as a funeral assistant to families. And not only that, it was among the first businesses designed specifically as a funeral home … Higgins Funeral Home (Heavenly Angels) 244 E 138th Street Chicago, IL 60827 Tel: 1-773-239-8700 Higgins Funeral Home provides individualized funeral services designed to meet the unique needs of each family. Benjie is the pastor of Concord Baptist Church of LaGrange. Lindsay now works for Benton Parker Design, a local interior design firm. He was awarded through the Fulton County Government, "Glenn Higgins Day" on the calendar for his work with the less fortunate. helps in all of the daily operations of the funeral home including funerals as well He is a licensed embalmer and funeral director in the state of Georgia. Chase is a valuable asset to our business and is here to help in whatever capacity he is called to do. He obtained an Engineering degree from Auburn University as well as a Textile Engineering degree from North Carolina State and a Doctorate in Engineering from I.T.T. Family is obviously very important to the Higgins family. Our friendly and professional staff is at your service - 24/7. David is the younger son of Jeff and Mary Higgins. 752 Mountain BlvdWatchung, NJ 07069Steve Szczubelek, Manager. ‘Funeral Subscribe to Obituaries (715) 359-2828 Jeff is a member of the LaGrange Rotary Club, the LaGrange Gridiron Club and on the Board of Directors for the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, currently serving as Vice President. She is the administrator as well as the licensed insurance agent on the staff. The couple has two sons, Jeffrey and David, who are part of the family business. Each family, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion, is regarded as unique in their customs, wishes and needs. Plan a funeral, find contact information and more. In May of 2017 David married the former Lindsay Lorraine Lassetter. Lucy and her husband, Ernest, are members of Franklin Road Baptist Church in LaGrange. As of 2017, he is a graduate of Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service and is now fully licensed in the state of Georgia. View upcoming funeral services, obituaries, and funeral flowers for Michael J. Higgins Funeral Service, Inc. in New City, New York. We want you to feel as comfortable as you possibly can through your time with us. View upcoming funeral services, obituaries, and funeral flowers for Higgs Funeral Home in Soperton, Georgia. She is an active member of East LaGrange Baptist Church. Baptist Church where she still enjoys playing the piano when needed. Fishing, hunting and water skiing with their parents are the boys past times outside of sports. Jim is a diplomat for the Chamber of Commerce in LaGrange and Co-Chariman of the Miss Troup County Scholarship Pageant. See actions taken by the people Lucy is a funeral assistant here at Higgins LaGrange Chapel and here for your family in your time of need. She graduated from the Gupton Jones College of Funeral Service, and is a licensed funeral director and embalmer in the state of Georgia. Christie is a valued funeral director to our firm. Wayne is a registered Funeral Director and Embalming Apprentice as well as a 30 year retired United States Marine. In addition to working at the funeral homes Mary is involved with the community by serving on the Symphony Guild and Talisman Garden Club. We boast over 50 years in the funeral home industry, helping literally thousands of families along the way. Higgins LaGrange Chapel & Higgins Hillcrest Chapel are family owned and operated by the Higgins Family. "Our Family Serving Your Family Over 50 Years". Glenn passed away on October 3, 2015 and is greatly missed by his family. Glenn served as a city council member for the city of Fairburn for over twenty years, served as a deacon, little league coach, board member for, Advocates For Special Citizens, Rotary, as well as other charities and groups. Our entire facility is handicap accessible, making it just a little easier for those that may have this concern. 41 were here. Mary also serves the funeral home in the capacity of assistant administrator. Northgate High School in 2010 where he enjoyed playing football and wrestling. We were blessed to have Richard join our team and his loyalty to our success. She attended Harris County High School and upon graduation she began working for Daniels Insurance and Realty Company. Richard and his wife, Pauline, are involved with the Newnan community and love spending time with family. Higgins Funeral Home - Heavenly Angels. Bryan is the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church here in Newnan, where he has served for over 15 years. Higgins Funeral Home is a small African American Funeral Home providing compassionate and affordable funeral services to families in time of need Funeral Service & Cemetery Facebook is showing information to help you better understand the purpose of a Page. Our chapel of all faiths offers seating for close to 200 with other areas to use as an overflow if needed. View upcoming funeral services, obituaries, and funeral flowers for John J. Buettgen Funeral Home in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Darlene is Past President of the Kiwanis Club of Coweta County. In Lucy's spare time she loves creating floral arrangements and traveling. 1K likes. He also works for A.S Turner & Son in Decatur. Plan a funeral, find contact information and more. Our state rooms are expansive in their ability to accommodate any size service. Otherwise, please post on our obituaries page. Chase graduated from East Coweta High School and Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service. David and Lindsay welcomed their son, Charlie Buren Higgins, in December 2019. Burial will be held at the Evergreen Cemetery in Loup City. He graduated LaGrange High School and attended LaGrange College. He owned Art Dry Cleaners of LaGrange for 17 years then worked with Ideal Cleaners of LaGrange for 15 years. David and Lindsay are members of Unity Baptist Church and enjoy spending time with their Golden Retrievers, Graham and Magnolia. View upcoming funeral services, obituaries, and funeral flowers for Higgins Memorial Home in Freehold, New Jersey. The Higgins are members of the Unity Baptist Church in Newnan where Jeff was the part time Director of Music for 10 years. Higgins Funeral Home's licensed staff has been helping Central Wisconsin families for over 50 years. Having been licensed by the State of Wisconsin, we are the only locally owned and operated funeral home of it's kind. investigation. Oh, and Roll Tide Roll... Jack is a valuable part of Higgins Funeral Home. All Obituaries - Higgins - Reardon Funeral Homes offers a variety of funeral services, from traditional funerals to competitively priced cremations, serving Youngstown, OH and the surrounding communities. Deidre also has performed with Bell Canto and the Choral Society of West Georgia. Wayne and Deidre have been in the funeral business for 15 years. Richard is the pastor at Miracle Tabernacle Church of Newnan. Celebration of Life services will … Jim attended Berry College and Norman College. In January 2015 he married the former Jamie Leigh Harvey . Terry is here to help any family in their time of need. He and his wife Megan make their home in Newnan. Higgins Funeral Home at Hunter-Allen-Myhand. True, we have all the areas you have come to expect in a funeral home, yet designed a little differently. Thank you for bearing with us as we try to better serve our community. He retired as the Chief Juvenile Intake Officer for Coweta County where he had opportunity to help many young people through the years. Terry is a native Coweta Countian. He and his wife Jo live in LaGrange and are members of the Baptist Tabernacle Church of LaGrange. Our caring, attentive staff ensures truly personalized services to … As a licensed funeral director and embalmer in the state of Georgia, Jeff and his family are here to serve your family in your time of need. Providing funeral home, burial, and cremation services for Antioch, CA. Salem Chapel - Higgins - Reardon Funeral Homes offers a variety of funeral services, from traditional funerals to competitively priced cremations, serving Youngstown, OH and the surrounding communities. Larry is always repairing and updating our facility. He and his wife, Linda, have 3 daughters and 6 grandchildren whom they love very much. Our LaGrange facility offers a new approach to funeral service. Jack is a member of the Gideons and the Homefolk Ministries which provides transportation for disabled veterans & senior adults. She is an active member in Beta Sigma Phi International Sorority. Wilma has been a member of the staff for over twenty years and for many more years before that as our pianist. We also offer funeral pre-planning and carry a wide selection of caskets, vaults, urns and … They both are members of Unity Baptist Church in LaGrange, Georgia where Deidre is an active member of the church choir. For a listing of local florists please click the image to the left. *If you would like your message to be private use this feature.*. Jeff was born while his parents were living in the upstairs apartment of Higgins Hillcrest Chapel. Call Us: 925-757-4343 Benjie continues his ministry while working at Higgins Funeral Homes as a funeral assistant. He graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2015 where he is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Unclaimed This business has … He was raised in the East Newnan community and went to Hogansville High School. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, and awarded the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Higgins Hillcrest Chapel offers families a funeral home facility that cannot be duplicated anywhere. Dan, her husband, was a fireman for the City Of Newnan for over 36 years, retiring as Captain over fire. He graduated from LaGrange High and earned his Supervisor Certificate at West Georgia Technical College. Austintown Chapel - Higgins - Reardon Funeral Homes offers a variety of funeral services, from traditional funerals to competitively priced cremations, serving Youngstown, OH and the surrounding communities. We will work together with your family to make the last memory of your loved one the best it can be. He He is a licensed funeral director and embalmer in the state of Georgia. He graduated from. We feel that our location, with it's spacious, elegant viewing rooms and ample on-site parking, offer the finest facilities in central New Jersey. Jeffrey and Jamie are members of Crossroads Church and enjoy spending time with their Irish Setter, Monroe, and their Australian Sheep Dog, Finn. Higgins Funeral Homes Family Owned & Operated HOME ABOUT PRE-PLANNING OBITUARIES SEND CONDOLENCES FLOWERS Holiday Remembrance Services MEET OUR FAMILY & … He has had the opportinity to sing at many events throughout the years including the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, the Southside Theater Guild, the National Anthem at the Atlanta Braves game as well as the privilege to sing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra among other things. We are not reporting to a board of directors or stock holders that ultimately control our business. Higgins "Home for Funerals" is a full-service funeral provider. Darlene is directly involved with the daily operations of the funeral home. Wilma has been a member of the staff for over twenty years and for many more years before that as our pianist. 20 Center Street Freehold, NJ (732) 462-0895 | 07728 J. Nolan Higgins - Manager NJ Lic. Built in the 1850's, our Newnan facility is perhaps one of the finest restored antebellum homes in this area. She owns Christie Hayes and Associates Real Estate here in Newnan. She is now a graduate student at Georgia State University and is employed by the college as a graduate assistant. She is a member of the Unity Baptist Church and sings in the choir. Our staff of dedicated professionals is available to assist you in making funeral service arrangements. Jim is a member of First Baptist Church of LaGrange. Darlene lives in LaGrange and is always available to help families as needed. We boast over 50 years in the funeral home industry, helping literally thousands of families along the way. Wayne is founder of the LaGrange Marine Leatherneck Club where he organizes socials and events helping veterans with the community. He also served in the United States Army. Wilma retired from the Newnan Utilities as the Commission Treasurer with over thirty-one years of service. Perhaps the most defining area in our funeral home is what we like to call the gathering common area. Lindsay also graduated from Georgia Southern University where she was a member of the Phi Mu Fraternity. We start each encounter with the most important … Plan a funeral, find contact information and more. Wilma is a member of the Central Baptist Church where she still enjoys playing the piano when needed. The hallmark of the American funeral service is to enhance the dignity of mankind. We are not reporting to a board of directors or stock holders that ultimately control our business. Plan a funeral, find contact information and more. He is a funeral assistant and is always here to help. We, the Higgins family, for over 135 years and four generations, have been privileged to serve the families and the community as a whole with professional service and personal attention. Higgins LaGrange Chapel is family owned and operated by the Higgins Family. Higgins - Reardon Funeral Homes | Youngstown OH funeral home and cremation Here at Higgins-Reardon, we are committed to the safety and well-being of the entire community. He lived in the chapel until three years of age. He is also a graduate of Gupton Jones College where he was honored to be a member of the Pi Sigma Eta Fraternity, a scholastic based honor fraternity for mortuary science. He is a retired Senior Engineer at Milliken & Company. This website is designed to provide comprehensive information that will assist the public in making informed and knowledgeable decisions regarding funeral service. Higgins LaGrange Chapel Mrs. Barbara Ann Shaw, of LaGrange, passed away on Saturday, September 7, 2019 at the Florence Hand Home. He was a part of our staff until his death in September 2012. We, the Higgins family, for over 135 years and four generations, have been privileged to serve the families and the community as a whole with professional service and personal attention. We also offer funeral pre-planning and carry a wide selection of caskets, vaults, urns and … Obituary for Mary L. (Stefan) True | Mary L. True, 82 of Arcadia, NE died Thursday, October 29, 2020 at Valley County Hospital in Ord, NE. He graduated from Northgate High School in 2012 where he wrestled and played football. Higgins Funeral Home 213 E. Market Street Fayetteville, TN 37334 931-433-2544 (Phone) 931-433-2233 (Obituary Line) Recent stories from the blog: Higgins Funeral Home on board with MAD SAM Read More Why Preneed? We will be practicing safety measures in accordance with the CDC to ensure the safety and well-being for the community and our staff. The family and staff at Higgins "Home for Funerals" pledge to provide service that accurately reflects the needs of each individual family. He is a 2014 summa cum laude graduate of Georgia Tech where he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. Darlene is the wife of the late Glenn Higgins and they have been involved in the funeral industry for over forty years. Marion Hancock, 93 of Loup City, NE died Sunday, November 22, 2020 at Rose Lane Home in Loup City, NE. He is also a board member of United Way of West Georgia in LaGrange. He pastors Living by Faith Church in Newnan. Jeff has led church music in local churches for over twenty years and has served on many local charities and fund raisers. Bryan joined the staff over 10 years ago as a funeral assistant to families. He and his wife, Judy, reside in LaGrange. He continued his education at the University of Georgia where he became a certified trainer of Natural Gas Safety. We have been honored to help thousands of families find comfort and closure in times of personal loss. He is married to the former Robin Bishop and is a life-long resident of Newnan. Pre-arrangements and pre-need conferences are easily arranged. Jamie is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Georgia where she was a member of the Delta Zeta Sorority. John J. Buettgen Funeral Home in Schofield and Wisconsin Rapids, WI provides funeral, memorial, aftercare, pre-planning, and cremation services to our community and the surrounding areas. Pre-arrangements and pre-need conferences are easily arranged. Bryan also serves as one of our staff chaplains. He was a part of our staff until his death in September 2012. She is married to Scott, has two young daughters, and makes her home in Newnan. They raised two sons in Newnan, Greg and Gordy. She was born on December 30, 1933 in Roanoke, Alabama to the late Bryan Landers and Carrie Lee Jones Landers. Cy is native to LaGrange but works with us part time at both locations. What better way to pay tribute to your loved one than to share our home with your family and friends. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic private family services will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 28, 2020 at Higgins Funeral Home in Loup City with Reverend Lori Stevens officiating. They both began working with Higgins Family in 2012. Together they help in daily operations of the funeral home by assisting at funerals and visitations. November 15, 1958 - November 14, 2020 Keith Lowell Kirk, 61, of Benton, passed away peacefully at his home on November 14, 2020. "Our Family Serving Your Family"... Higgins LaGrange Chapel & Higgins Hillcrest Chapel are family owned and operated by the Higgins Family. Cy has been working in the funeral service for over 20 years. Higgins Memorial Home proudly offers a tradition of compassion to best serve Freehold-area families. Larry is a preacher at Murphy Avenue Church of Christ of LaGrange. Christie has been a life-long friend of the Higgins family, growing up with Jeff and Mary. Our staff is made up of dedicated professionals who will help minimize the stress of the situation you will be encountering. Jeff married the former Mary Cook in 1989. Share in our history and feel that you are in a comfortable "home" as you carry out your loved one's desires for a final tribute. Wilma (being part of the Higgins family as a cousin) works all visitations and is here to serve you in any way possible. They have one son, Sammy, and a daughter, Bekah. She was recognized for her service for working there for more than 50 years. Larry is native to the LaGrange community. We feel that our location, with it's spacious, elegant viewing rooms and ample on-site parking, offer the finest facilities in central New Jersey. In addition to working at the bank, Lucy has been in the funeral industry for about 10 years and has helped many families while here in LaGrange. She also is involved in the LaGrange Kiwanis Club. as visitations. 3469 The caring funeral service directors at Higgins Funeral Home provide specialised funeral services designed to meet the needs of each family. They raised two sons in Newnan, Greg and Gordy. Plan a funeral, find contact information and more. Wayne and Deidre love having the opportunity for ministry that the funeral industry provides. Higgins Funeral Home is a full-service funeral home serving Fayetteville and Lincoln County. He attended Woodward Academy in College Park for 13 years, graduating in 1985 to proceed to Florida State University, University of Georgia and Georgia State University. Wilma is a member of the Central. Jeffrey is the older son of Jeff and Mary Higgins. This is done by meeting the needs of the deceased and of those who mourn before death, at the time of death, and perhaps for an extended period thereafter. Literally, our family serving yours. Higgins "Home for Funerals" is a full-service funeral provider. This large area offers seating areas where you may want to catch up with an old friend or larger funeral groupings where you can have your own mini family reunion. He. We are not reporting to a board of directors or stock holders that ultimately control our business. Jeffrey and Jamie welcomes their son, Jeffrey Glenn Higgins III (Jay) in March of 2017. He was a member of Oak Grove Baptist Church. He is a graduate of Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service. . WELCOME TO Higgins Funeral Home Hillcrest Chapel The compassionate funeral directors at Higgins Funeral Home Hillcrest Chapel provide individualized funeral services designed to meet the needs of each family. in the funeral home industry, helping literally thousands of families along the way. Our friendly and professional staff is at your service - 24/7. To this day, it is the only funeral home in New City. Jeff coached his older son's baseball team for over a decade in Sharpsburg and had the privilege to coach his younger son's football team in Peachtree City for many years. He retired from the City of LaGrange Utilities after 37 years of service. Wilma retired from the Newnan Utilities as the Commission Treasurer with over thirty-one years of service. Higgins Funeral Home of Benton has been serving families of Polk County and the surrounding counties since 1928, and 91 years later it continues as an independent, locally managed and operated business. Higgins Funeral Home (Heavenly Angels) 244 E 138th Street Chicago, IL 60827 Tel: 1-773-239-8700 Our compassionate, experienced staff acts as a team, providing personal attention and unparalleled service. We also offer funeral pre-planning and carry a wide selection of caskets, vaults, urns and burial containers. One of Deidre's favorite past times was singing the National Anthem at the Braves game July, 7, 1991.
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High-scoring attackman Byrne to make season debut for Bayhawks
bwagner@capgaznews.com |
High-scoring attackman Josh Byrne will be back in the starting lineup when the Chesapeake Bayhawks face the Denver Outlaws on Sunday afternoon (5 p.m.) at Sports Authority Field. (YANAIR PHOTOGRAPHY 240-688-3772 /)
High-scoring attackman Josh Byrne will be back in the starting lineup when the Chesapeake Bayhawks face the Denver Outlaws on Sunday afternoon (5 p.m.) at Sports Authority Field.
Byrne burst on the scene last season by setting a Major League Lacrosse rookie record by scoring 39 goals. That surpassed the previous mark by a first-year player of 34 that was set by Kieran McArdle of the Florida Launch in 2014.
Byrne was named MLL Rookie of the Year after leading the league in goals scored and finished tied for 10th with 46 points despite playing in just nine of 14 games. The left-handed attackman was selected by the Bayhawks in the third round (19th overall) of the 2017 MLL Collegiate Draft out of Hofstra University.
Byrne was unavailable to play in Chesapeake's three games to date because he was playing professional indoor lacrosse. Byrne amassed 63 points on 26 goals and 37 assists in his rookie campaign with the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League.
"Josh is athletic and skilled – just a good overall player," Chesapeake head coach Dave Cottle said. "Josh was very productive as a rookie and we're hoping he'll be even better after gaining valuable MLL experience."
Byrne bolsters a Bayhawks attack that has struggled to develop chemistry this season due to moving parts. Matt Danowski has played in two of three games while Steele Stanwick has appeared in just one contest.
Left-hander Nathan Lewnes (St. Mary's High) has started all three games on the right side while second-year pro Colin Heacock has been playing attack after working in the midfield as a rookie.
Cottle also announced that Chesapeake has placed starting goalie Brian Phipps (Severn School, Maryland) on injured reserve with a bad shoulder. Niko Amato, who played the second half of the May 3rd loss to Charlotte, replaced Phipps and started the majority of games for the Bayhawks in 2017.
twitter.com/BWagner_CapGaz
Florida Launch
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The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard Releases First Poster With Salma Hayek And Ryan Reynolds, Along With Some Bad News
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is one of the many films that fans are looking forward to seeing on the big screen once theaters open up again. We have yet to see footage from the upcoming sequel, but Salma Hayek has now released the first official poster, which features her alongside stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. Unfortunately, the one-sheet comes with a bit of disappointing news for fans.
Salma Hayek released the cool new poster for The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard on her Instagram page but, in a caption, she also confirmed that the film has been pushed back to 2021. She also voiced her displeasure with the postponement, as she’s eager to share it with moviegoers. Check it out for yourself down below:
Because of the confinement the release of HWB has been postponed to the summer of 2021. I’m kind of bummed because I can’t wait for you all to see it. Por la cuarentena, el estreno de Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, se movió al próximo verano. Que lastima porque muero de ganas de que lo vean. #HitmansWifesBodyguard @samuelljackson @vancityreynolds @imdb
A post shared by Salma Hayek Pinault (@salmahayek) on Jun 10, 2020 at 11:22am PDT
With Salma Hayek’s Sonia Kincaid poised to take on a bigger role in this follow-up to 2017's The Hitman’s Bodyguard, one can see why she would be disappointed. And you can only imagine how much fun it’ll be to see her, Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds reunite.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard was originally announced in 2018 and began production in Europe in the spring of 2019. The film was originally set to be released on August 28, 2020 before being shifted to its new release date, August 20, 2021.The movie will focus on the continued adventures of bodyguard Michael Bryce and assassin Darius Kincaid, as they both seek to protect Kincaid’s wife from a new threat.
While the news is sure to come as a letdown for fans of this budding franchise, news of the delay isn’t surprising. Most know by now that just about every major studio film set for release in 2020 has been moved back. Even another of Salma Hayek’s projects, Marvel’s The Eternals, was shifted from November 2020 to February 2021.
The change in release plans for Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard don’t appear to have been met with much opposition thus far, but that hasn’t exactly been the case for every 2020 blockbuster that’s been delayed. Warner Bros.' Tenet, which is expected to draw audiences back to the theaters, has had to move its release date a few times. And believe it or not, this apparently drew some opposition from director Christopher Nolan.
Regardless of how you feel about The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and other movies being delayed, the moves are understandable. Because of how much money these massive films are poised to make, studios want to put them in the best positions to be successful, and Lionsgate is clearly aiming to do that with this film.
The wait to see Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson all together again may have just gotten longer, but devoted fans of the franchise should be able to wait things out.
Keep it here at CinemaBlend for more updates on film and TV delays as they arrive.
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CJ Joins Catholic Library Consortium
In the spirit of Catholic Schools Week, CJ is proud to announce its partnership with the Dayton Deanery Libraries Consortium.
The Dayton Deanery Libraries Consortium consists of a coalition of six local grade schools and two area high schools. The group was formed by eight librarians from each school for the 2013-14 school year to promote collaboration and help better meet the needs of students.
"Our goal is to have one centralized library system and to bring other Catholic schools together to share resources and knowledge," said Gina Harrington, director of library services at CJ. The system uses Follet Software to enable students to access and search all of the school's Web-based databases, catalogs and research services.
The consortium's aim is to reduce duplication of services, help students transition from elementary to high school through their familiarity with common resources, and support teachers by better integrating the kinds of critical thinking and literacy skills found within the Common Core Standards.
Fellow member schools include Ascension, Incarnation, Mother Brunner, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Christopher, St. Helen and Alter High School.
Also new to the library this year is the addition of a mobile Chromebook Lab for students and teachers. The lab includes 28 Google Chromebook laptop computers which help accommodate mixed-grade classes. The devices supplement desktop computers available in the Library and Writing Labs, and also provide extra opportunities for students working before or after school in the Eagles Learning Center.
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43 Massacred Farmers Did Not Get Military Clearance To Go To Farm..Buhari's Spokesman
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has blamed the death of 43 rice farmers killed by Boko Haram in Zabarmari village of Borno State, on their failure to get military clearance before working on the field.
Shehu said this while speaking to the BBC on the tragic incident that occurred at the weekend.
“The truth has to be said. Was there any military clearance from the military who are in total control of the area?
Did anybody ask to resume activity?” Shehu demanded.
The presidential media aide claimed that the farmers did not get the instruction of the Nigerian Army securing that territory before carrying out their farming activities, and as such left the military in the dark before the tragedy struck.
“So ideally, all of these places ought to probably be allowed to pass through proper military clearance before resettlement or even farmers resuming activities on those fields.
“People need to understand what it is like in the Lake Chad Basin area - a window that the terrorists have exploited,” he said.
The massacre of 43 farmers in Borno State at the weekend is one of many insecurity challenges that have continued to ravage the North-East region of the country.
Mr Shehu’s statement seems to reflect the alleged insensitivity of the Presidency to these worsening challenges that have spread to other parts of the country, including the recent kidnapping on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
Garba Shehu Tries To Clarify His Comments
“Today, I found myself leading the trends in the social media for the wrong reasons.
“The State of Borno is essentially a military zone up till now that we are talking and much of what people do; much of where they go are governed by the exigencies of security.
“Routinely, traders, administration officials and even UN agencies get the green light to go to many of the areas to avoid trouble.
“Information from security agencies says that the Zabarmari marshlands are infested with land mines and movements in around those areas subject to military oversight.
“No one is delighted with the massacre in Zabarmari and there is nothing anybody will gain by playing blame games.
“The question I tried to answer on BBC was: did the security sign off on the area as being free of mines and terrorists? The honest answer is, no.
“I’m human with tons of compassion and empathy, and could not have said that the victims deserved their fate for ignoring security clearance.
“I was merely explaining the mode of military operations in the war zone of the Northeast.
“There are areas that are still volatile that require security clearance which is intended to put people out of harm’s way.
“When tragedies occur, questions arise in terms of how something happened in order to avoid future recurrence.
“Informing the military of our movements in an area of volatility and uncertainty is intended to preserve public safety.
“Explaining why something happened doesn’t mean I have no sympathy for the victims.
“I was just explaining the military procedures on the safe movement of the people and not supporting the death of the victims,” he said
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I love music. Few things in life make me happier. If my life was a movie it would have a continual sound track. Running, cleaning house, working on the computer, driving, I am always surrounding myself with music. My tastes are varied, but there are always some groups that I can't get away from. So for my May Faves I decided that I would share my current five favorite albums. In no particular order:
1. "The Shelter" by Jars of Clay. I kind of bought this album by accident. I went to the "Rock and Worship Roadshow" in February mainly because Jars of Clay was performing. I have had a love affair with this group from their very first album way back when I was 16. I currently own pretty much everything they have ever done, but I was missing their album from 2009, "The Long Fall Back to Earth" which has a song that I really love on it. Well, they were running a deal at the show that was basically 2 albums for $20. I realized I didn't have "The Shelter" so I snagged it. WOW! This will probably always hold a place in my top 10 favorite albums of all time. Really. Two songs that send chills up my arms: "Small Rebellions" and "We Will Follow". This is worship music for me. If you like J.O.C. at all BUY THIS ALBUM! Or actually still buy it, even if you don't.
2. "The Outsiders" by Needtobreathe. I loved the song "Let Us Love" from the radio single. This group is kind of a funky southern country/rock group. Not what I usually listen to. But I really like this group. I really like the title track, "The Outsiders" and also "Garden". Fun band, fun album.
3. "Crazy Love" by Hawk Nelson. First Hawk Nelson purchase, not my last. I could not get enough of the "Crazy Love" radio single so this album was a must have! Originally it was a sleeper- there are several tracks I don't care for- but the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. I really like "Your Love is a Mystery" and still haven't gotten bored of the title track, either.
4. "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" by Relient K. An oldie, but a goodie. I don't ever get tired of this album. May have to buy a new Relient K CD soon, though, because I love this group. A couple of songs that make me turn it up and sing: "I Need You", "I'm Taking You with Me" and "Devestation and Reform". This group is loud, and I like that.
5. "Church Music" by David Crowder Band. This is a mixed bag: he can be a little strange, but I have to say, the songs I like I am obsessed with, so I am willing to put up with a few I don't care for in exchange. I absolutely adore his version of "How He Loves" and his version of "All Around Me" is the best. I don't even LIKE those songs when other people sing them. Another excellent worship inducing album.
Not an expert by any means, but I know what I like. Check out any of these tracks on Amazon or Itunes to give them a listen. Maybe you'll find a new favorite, too.
Labels: May Faves, music
I first heard 'How He Loves' at Centrifuge last year and it quickly became a favorite!
p.s. LOVE the trendy tiles from yesterday's post. You're becoming SO crafty. I'm kinda jealous :)
Lisa Dawn May 7, 2011 at 9:52 AM
I think we are music twins! I love all those bands! I don't have the Jars Of Clay album or the Needtobreathe, but I want them!
Kristan L. King May 8, 2011 at 7:11 PM
Cool post. I feel that I am constantly singing...my life is surrounded by music too!
I am not familiar with all these groups though...something to check out, for sure.
Good to see you today - Happy Mother's Day!
Any of those good to car dance to? =) I always love a good song to make me look ridiculous in the car. lol
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Topic: Music Row
Prove It Clarksville: Day Ten: Crayons and Copper
By Kenny York | July 25, 2014 |
An exercise in homelessness.
Clarksville, TN – The biggest event of this day was that I got to take a shower. It was the first one since last Wednesday night, and trust me that it was a worship experience in itself—not to mention using a real toilet and not feeling rushed. Oh, the things we take for granted.
You know, there are a lot of talented people riding the bus, living in shelters, or even sleeping in tents and under bridges. Yesterday morning at the bus stop, I noticed a young man with a sketchpad and pencils.
Cabin’s crayon-and-wood-scrap art.
Salon 615: It’s All About “The Voice”
By Sandee Gertz | December 24, 2013 |
Nashville, TN – I’ve discovered another benefit of urban living in Downtown, Nashville: very cool neighbors. Of course there are musicians and songwriters everywhere, and so when I passed my neighbor’s door and often heard him belting out classic rock tunes, I took him to be a touring musician who fronted a band.
I don’t know if what sealed that estimation was helped by the fact that he had long rocker-worthy hair, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt most days, and had this distinctively mellow yet baritone voice when he spoke going up and down on the elevator.
Bitchstraps – custom-made leather guitar strap.
Clarksville’s Ted Crozier receives SAFE Community Heroes Award
Clarksville, TN – On Wednesday, November 13th, 2013, SAFE: Soldiers and Families Embraced presented Col. (R) Ted Crozier, US Army, with the inaugural SAFE Community Heroes Award to recognize Col. Crozier’s passionate work for Soldiers, veterans and family members.
The award was the Inaugural Community Heroes Award and will in years to come awarded by SAFE to honor those who work tirelessly for our military, veterans and their families.
Ted Crozier receives SAFE Community Heroes Award
THE ROYS Launch “Gypsy Runaway Train” June 4th, Multiple Shows Scheduled during CMA Music Festival
Multiple CMA Music Festival Performances Kick Off June 4th Release
Nashville, TN – The launch for THE ROYS’ newest CD, “Gypsy Runaway Train”, is underway with a flurry of radio, television, live performances and reviews.
The duo celebrates the June 4th release by bringing their signature sibling sound to CMA Music Festival again this year with multiple shows scheduled.
101st Combat Aviation Brigade Soldiers run in 13th Annual Country Music Marathon for Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital
Written by Spc. Michael Newell
Nashville, TN – Service members and celebrities were among approximately 31,000 runners in the 13th Annual Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee, Saturday.
Beautiful weather greeted all the runners who participated in the charity event for Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
The event resembled more of a block party than running event. The 26.2-mile route was lined with 50 bands playing live on 28 different stages, cheerleaders and thousands of spectators. The course wound its way through the heart of Nashville’s historic Music Row.
1st Sgt. Ronald Schlangen, Headquarters and Headquarters Company senior non-commissioned officer in charge, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division runs the 13th Annual Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday. Approximately 31,000 runners participated in this fund-raising event for the Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, including 101st Airborne soldiers, officers and civilians.
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XFL Review: Week 3 game recaps, highlights, more
by Dustin Riese - Staff Writer - Monday, February 24, 2020, 11:59 AM
Now that we are about 33% of the way through the XFL season, we are starting to see that there are teams who are contenders and then just plain bad teams. Whether coaching, Q.B. play, or just lack of talent is the reason for some teams to be worse than others remains to be seen, but regardless we have still seen some exciting football games this year.
That was once again the case in week three as a team searching for their first win nearly upset the lone unbeaten left. While a previously winless team took down a previously unbeaten team on Sunday. Here are the recaps, along with some of the key standout players.
HOUSTON ROUGHNECKS 34- TAMPA BAY VIPERS 27: In what looked like a David vs. Goliath matchup on paper, the undefeated Roughnecks, got all they could handle from winless Tampa as they fell behind by two scores early. Despite that, Houston never panicked, and as all good teams do, they found a way to win as they prove to be the class of the XFL with their 34-27 win to remain unbeaten.
Current league MVP P.J. Walker continues to go about his business as NFL teams should start to take notice of the former Temple star. After being on the Colts practice squad for a few years, the XFL decided to give him a chance this season, and it has proven to be a good decision. Once again, Walker was on top of his game going 24-36 through the air for 306 yards and three touchdowns. He is now responsible for ten scores this season to go along with just one turnover.
You would think having players like Sammie Coats is a big reason as to why Walker has been so strong this season, but that is not the case. Instead, Cam Phillips has not only become his favorite target but has become the best receiver in the XFL. He solidified his case by hauling in all three T.D. receptions once again to go along with 194 yards receiving on eight catches.
Defensive back Demarquis Gates picked up his first INT of the season while Carl Bradford Caushaud Lyons recorded one sack each on the day. It was the second of the season for Bradford.
Things continue to be a rough go of things for the Vipers, but they continue to show great improvement from one week to the next. Taylor Cornelius was the primary Q.B. on Saturday, as he threw for 193 yards and one score. Jalen Toliver was a big reason why the Vipers offense was much more fluid this weekend as he hauled in 104 Yards receiving after recording just 53 yards through two games.
DALLAS RENEGADES 24 – SEATTLE DRAGONS 12: A slow start for Dallas once again raised concerns as the Dragons opened a 12-6 lead before the Dallas offense got rolling to close the game out on an 18-0 run to claim their second win of 2020.
Landry Jones is starting to show why the Renegades were so happy to draft him to be there signal-caller this season. Jones tossed for 274 yards and three scores but did throw two picks to put a damper on his day. The combination of Lance Dunbar and Cameron Artis-Payne in the backfield continues to be a success as they rushed for 94 yards on 21 carries. Dunbar also added 56 yards receiving to his day.
Speaking of receiving, Donald Parham had the best game of his XFL career thus far, breaking the century mark for the first time with 101 yards to go with two scores. IN total, eight different receivers hauled in a pass for Dallas as they did a great job of spreading the ball around.
For Seattle, things continue to be a work in progress, but positive signs continue to emerge. QB Brandon Silvers appears to be finding his rhythm at Q.B. as he threw for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the game. Silvers also threw a pick, but that is an improvement considering how he looked at times during the first two weeks.
Austin Proehl once again led the way in receiving for the Dragons, bringing in 81 yards and one score for the one-dimensional offense as the rushing game continued to be a struggle. Defensively speaking, Godwin Igwebuke and Channing Stribling each brought in an interception on the day for their first of the season. Linebacker Steven Johnson was all over the field as he combined for 14 tackles on the afternoon.
NEW YORK GUARDIANS 9 – S.T. LOUIS BATTLEHAWKS 29: In front of the largest crowd in XFL history to date, the Battlehawks treated the home fans with another win 29-9 as they were all over the Guardians from the start. That is remarkable when you look at the stat line as the Battlehawks offense didn’t need to do too much to score points in this one.
Jordan Ta’Amu had the most pedestrian game of his XFL career throwing for just 119 yards and adding in 14 yards rushing with no scores. If it weren’t for Matt Jones and Christian Michael, who rushed for a combined 139 yards and two scores, this would have been a very dull game to sit and watch.
One thing we did see in this one was the Battle Hawks defense setting the tone early and often as they continue to impress for Jonathan Hayes. Kenny Robinson brought in his first interception of the season while the front seven of St. Louis picked up three more sacks to add to their league-leading sack total.
The Guardians continue to be a mess on both sides of the ball as they don’t have an identity right now. Matt McGloin was much better this week but was still terrible at best with 84 yards passing and one interception. That forced New York to go with three Q.B.’s in this one as Marquise Williams led the team with 94 yards passing while former Birmingham Iron QB Luis Perez came in and tossed the only Guardians score of the day.
That score went to Austin Duke, who finished with a team-high 43 yards joining Justin Stockton (41) and Colby Pearson (41) with over 40 yards receiving. Both Tim Cook and Darius Victor finished with 50 yards on the ground to lead the way.
D.C. DEFENDERS 9 – LOS ANGELES WILDCATS 39: The biggest upset of the weekend came in front of the biggest disappointment in terms of fans as the previously unbeaten Defenders fell to previously winless Los Angeles 39 -9.
QB Josh Johnson made it perfectly clear during week two that his team is close but just needs to figure out how to finish off drives to reach their potential. Following a 278-yard three-touchdown passing day and I think it is safe to say that Johnson showed what the Wildcats could look like when they are clicking. After being inactive the first two games, Tre McBride made his presence felt in his season debut hauling in 109 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Nelson Spruce added 75 yards of his own but did not record a touchdown.
The biggest surprise of the game had to be the defense where the Wildcats forced four Defender interceptions. Two of those came from Mike Stevens as those are now his first two of the season. Arrion Springs and Jack Tocho picked up the other two in what was an overall frustrating day for D.C.
After looking like an early-season MVP through two weeks, Cardale Jones was dealt a reality check this week as he tossed for a season-low 103 yards and four interceptions as he now has five on the season. When your two best receivers Eli Rodgers and Rashad Ross combine for four catches and 32 yards, you know your in for a tough time.
For the first time all season, the Defenders looked lost not only on offense but on defense as well. If it wasn’t for Nick Brossette and his 75 yards on nine carries, who knows what this offense would have looked like all game as he picked up the lone score in his XFL debut.
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ESPN reportedly is pressing Peyton Manning to join 'Monday Night Football'
ESPN apparently isn't surrendering hope of putting Peyton Manning in the booth for "Monday Night Football" games this season.
Jimmy Pitaro, the network's president, and Connor Schell, its executive vice president for content, flew to Denver last week to woo the retired quarterback, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which noted that there's no indication what Manning's level of interest may be.
As for ESPN, its approach reportedly is "Manning or bust." With Jason Witten's decision to return to the Dallas Cowboys after one season in the booth, the man who co-wrote a book about ESPN and remains plugged into the network's inner workings thinks there will be a two-person booth with Joe Tessitore doing play-by-play and Booger McFarland analyzing the game unless Manning decides to give it a try.
"They're going to have a two-man booth unless somehow Peyton changes his mind," Jim Miller said on the latest Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. "They have a relationship with Peyton because of the ESPN+ show right now, and Peyton has thought about this. But if you're Peyton, what's the upside?"
That's a question he seems to be pondering, too. He was a hot commodity a year ago, when every network was seeking the next Tony Romo after Jon Gruden left "MNF" and Fox landed "Thursday Night Football" games. Despite the demand, Manning was "reluctant," although the New York Post's Andrew Marchand reported that ESPN was willing to "back up the truck" for him after paying Gruden $6.5 million a year in 2018. He reportedly declined an annual salary offer of between $4 million and $7 million, partly because he didn't want to work games involving his brother, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. "I don't want to be a critic at this point," he said last April.
Since retiring in March 2016, Manning has focused on TV commercials, offering a joking apology in the fall of 2017 "to all the people out there who are tired of seeing me on commercials." Last season, he tried his hand at football analysis for ESPN's streaming service, working on "Detail," a show created by Kobe Bryant's production company. That effort was warmly received.
In addition, there has been speculation that he might become the part owner of a team, a possibility he addressed with a nonchalant wisecrack to Peter King in the fall of 2017, "I keep looking for that $2.5 billion in my pocket." Whether he's owning a team, running one, calling games or doing another form of analysis, he told King that he believes "in staying close to the game" with all the preparation that entails.
"I went to the combine last year and met with some GMs and some owners to pick their brains on different sides of things. I sat in with a team during the NFL draft this year," he told King at that time. "I stayed off camera, but I was able to sit in and watch. Oftentimes if I am speaking at a certain event, I will stop by that NFL team or college team and go talk some football.
"But I know what that job entails, and that is an all-in job. That is a do-not-put-your-phone-down-ever job. It's a 24-7-365 days a year job. Because I know what that commitment is and what that job entails, it is just not the right place for me right now. I really am enjoying what I'm doing. As far as what will happen in the next few years I can't really say, but like I said, I will always be close to the game."
First published by The Washington Post
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No teachers punished for MAP protest, Garfield had highest opt-out rate
Faculty and students protest the MAP in February
No Seattle teachers will be punished for failing to administer the MAP test during a winter term boycott, Superintendent José Banda said in a press release Friday.
Of the students and parents who opted out from the test District-wide, most were from Garfield and Ingraham High Schools.
The boycott, which began at Garfield, had widespread support from faculty, students and parents and even earned a fair amount of national attention.
From Seattle Schools José Banda:
Dear Seattle Public Schools community,
Our community has engaged in a deep discussion during the last two months about the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment, which provides data used for screening and analyzing student achievement and measuring growth over time.
While we know the MAP assessment has its strengths and limitations, it’s important for educators to use a variety of data sources to help inform classroom instruction. For many of our teachers and principals, the MAP assessment provides critical information to help screen our academically at-risk students so we can identify additional supports and provide more personalized attention, as well as measure their academic growth and improvement over time.
The latest testing period wrapped up on Feb. 28, and I wanted to share details of this assessment, as well as provide an update on future testing.
First of all, I want to thank our staff and schools for their ongoing work in administering assessments. I am pleased to report that every school administered the MAP assessment and met the testing deadline. There will be no discipline of any test administrator. Those teachers who publically said they refused to administer the test either did not teach a tested subject, or they were not a test administrator. However, I want to reiterate my hope that in the future we seek to address our concerns and issues in a more constructive manner, in a way that puts our students first.
Overall, nearly 30,000 students in the required grade levels (1st to 9th) completed the MAP assessment during the winter period. We did see a higher than usual number of high school students and families who opted out of taking the test. Districtwide, a total of 459 parents and 133 students opted-out. Of these opt-outs, 265 parents (58% of total) were from two district high schools (Garfield and Ingraham), and 129 students (97% of total) were from one high school (Garfield), A detailed accounting of winter MAP participation can be found here: bit.ly/WinterMAPdata
I want to thank the members of the Task Force on Assessment and Measuring Progress. This group of principal, teacher, student, family and community representatives has met four times since February and is charged with reviewing District assessment programs, including MAP, and making recommendations for next year and beyond. You can review the meeting minutes and agendas, as well as the names of task force members, here.
The task force is expected to make a recommendation to me in May regarding assessments for the 2013-14 school year.
In the meantime, our spring assessments will be held from April 22 – June 7. Beginning this spring, the District recommends that students enrolled in an Algebra 1 course take the NWEA Algebra End-of-Course (EOC) exam instead of Math 6+ test.
Based on a preliminary review of MAP by staff, we’ve made the following adjustment to our testing policy: For 9th grade, only students below standard based on the state reading assessment will be required to take the MAP reading test. It will be optional for 9th graders who are at or above standard in reading.
Again, I want to thank the teachers and community members for the ongoing dialogue about assessments, and I appreciate the Task Force’s commitment. I am pleased that we have been able to use this issue as an opportunity for us to all work together on a solution that best benefits our students.
One thought on “No teachers punished for MAP protest, Garfield had highest opt-out rate”
Pingback: Garfield High teachers prepare for renewed MAP protest + First mayoral candidate forum in the neighborhood will cover education | Central District News
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TNCs and human rights : 2nd session of the Working Group
The content of a legally binding treaty on transnational corporations (TNCs) was discussed during the second session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Working Group.
The second session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights was held in October 2016 in Geneva. (The first session had been held in July 2015.) This working group, created by a Human Rights Council resolution in 2014, was chaired by the Ecuadorian ambassador María Fernanda Espinosa.
The discussions were organized around six themes (and several sub-themes) in the course of which some thirty panelists (politicians, lawyers, international organization members, academicians and representatives of both civil society and business) took the floor. They spoke on the content, the scope and the implementation mechanism of the future treaty. The accent was on the human rights repercussions and legal problems posed by TNCs, the extraterritorial obligations of states, the responsibilities and obligations of TNCs, the scope of the future treaty’s implementation, and access to justice and to compensation for the victims.
Numerous social movements (notably peasants and trade unions) and organizations from affected communities, members of the Global Campaign to Dismantle the Power of Transnational Corporations and End Impunity (of which the CETIM is a member) were present to support the process, make their demands heard and formulate concrete proposals. Besides the six written statements (in three languages), a total of more than 40 oral interventions were made by the CETIM and other Global Campaign organization members. The content of these interventions referred to the concrete proposals submitted by the Global Campaign to the Working Group, in the form of written statements. These statements constitute the guidelines of the Global Campaign, which demands their inclusion in the treaty-drafting process in order that it reflect the needs of the peoples who daily suffer from the actions of TNCs.
Many state delegations also participated in the session and its discussions. The European Union, which last year had tried to derail the process and had left the room, was among the participants this time. That said, the EU’s horizon remains limited to Professor John Ruggie’s voluntary guidelines, and it continues to oppose the adoption of binding norms for TNCs.
Yet, the failings of these guidelines and their voluntary character have long been discussed and denounced by the Global Campaign and other civil society organizations as well as by several countries of the Global South.
Whether or not to bring all business enterprises (particularly small- and medium-size businesses) under the scope of the treaty was also discussed. As national small- and medium-size businesses already come under national legislation, the speakers (states and civil society), with rare exceptions, defended the idea that only TNCs and the elements of their value chain having transnational scope, hence benefiting from the absence of legislation, should come under the purview of the treaty. In fact, only TNCs benefit from special statutes allowing them to escape from legal action in the event of problems and only they can force states into litigation before private arbitration tribunals.
The obligation of governments to hold TNCs responsible in the event of human rights violations, irrespective of the place where they are committed (covered by the notion of extraterritoriality) was also one of the main subjects under discussion.
Cases of impunity and communities affected by TNCs’ activities were presented to illustrate the necessity of a binding treaty. Existing international conventions, covering the obligations of private actors in various areas (e.g. fight against tobacco, environmental standards, law of the sea) were mentioned as an example for the continuation of negotiations.
The Global Campaign also insisted on the necessity of making the rights of TNC victims a central part of the treaty by assuring them an avenue of effective redress at both the national and international level.
Thus, the concrete proposals presented during these two sessions of the Working Group will facilitate the orientation of the future treaty whose first draft should be presented by the Working Group chair at the third session in 2017.
The CETIM and members of the Global Campaign were also very much present outside the United Nations building during a week of mobilization organized on the occasion the Working Group’s second session.
Categories Articles Campaigns Human Rights Newsletter Transnational Corporations
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Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America's Fourth Coast
NASA/Reuters
Thad W. Allen
Executive Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; Former Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard (2006-2010); Task Force Co-Chair
Esther Brimmer
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, NAFSA: Association of International Educators; Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (2009-2013); Task Force Project Director
President, Whitman Strategy Group LLC; Former Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency (2001-2003); Former Governor of New Jersey (1994-2001); Task Force Co-Chair
Doyle McManus
Washington Columnist, Los Angeles Times
With the Arctic warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet and melting sea ice opening up the resource-rich region to new trade routes and commercial activities, the Arctic offers both opportunities and challenges for the United States and other countries. Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America’s Fourth Coast, the report of a CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force, assesses U.S. interests in the Arctic region in the face of changing conditions there.
The Task Force finds that the Arctic is of growing economic and geostrategic importance and proposes specific actions to improve the United States’ strategic presence in the region, including bolstering infrastructure investment, defending national borders, protecting the environment, and maintaining U.S. scientific and technological leadership.
This CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report is available here: Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America’s Fourth Coast.
MCMANUS: Well, greetings and thanks to all of you for coming. I’m Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times and a member of the Council. And I’m delighted to have a chance to preside over this meeting of the Council, one at which I know we will learn a lot because, as I was reading the task force report—which I will say parenthetically is usually well-written for a Council report. I commend it to you. (Laughter.) And includes a quite excellent selling point: What happens in the Arctic won’t stay in the Arctic. (Laughter.)
As I thought about it, I realized that, you know, members of the Council on Foreign relations spend a lot of time thinking about the hot spots. We don’t always spend a lot of time thinking about the Arctic. It is my suspicion that more members of the Council have probably visited Kazakhstan or certainly Sichuan province than have spent time any time at all above the Arctic Circle. Visits to the panhandle and the resorts in southern Alaska don’t count. So I’m delighted to preside over this.
As you know—as you know, we are on the record today. We are helping launch the Council’s independent task force report, “Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing American Strategy on our Fourth Coast.” And we are joined by the co-chairs, Admiral Thad Allen and Governor Christine Todd Whitman, the project director, Esther Brimmer, to discuss their report. Admiral Allen and Governor Whitman need no introduction. And Esther Brimmer really doesn’t need an introduction either, but I want to give a plug to her new role as CEO of NAFSA, the association of international educators. So congratulations on that.
And special thanks as well to the task force members. Several of them are here in the room. And to the observers. There are several people here from the embassies of nations in the Arctic Council, who are joining us in the audience today. And also to all of you who are joining us via Livestream and Facebook. I get to—as presider, get to start us off with a number of questions. But I will certainly do my best to open to questions and answers from the floor as soon as we can get there.
So, Governor Whitman, let me—let me start with you. And let me start with the kind of existential question behind the taskforce. You have—you and your colleagues have the daunting mission of going around Washington, getting people’s attention to these issues, and persuading them to look at your recommendations and, with luck, even act on them. So let me ask first for the elevator version: Why the Arctic and why now?
WHITMAN: Well, the Arctic is, as I said to a number of people and we say reflected in the report—and oh, by the way, let me just say that this is a task force report. And Thad and I were privileged enough to be the co-chairs, but it’s the members, as you said many of whom are here, and the observers who really made a great difference in what we were able to put together. And of course, Esther did an extraordinary job in writing it all.
But particularly there are two things happening. One, Alaska is the canary in the coal mine. And what we see happening in Alaska, it’s happening faster there than is happening in the rest of the country, in sea level rise, but it’s indicative of what we’re going to face. And you can’t ignore it. We need to take lessons from it. We need to start looking at it now. You also have a transition in administrations. And that’s a time when you have an opportunity to bring this up that might not otherwise get brought up, but you also have—you’re in a position where things get lost and fall between the cracks if you don’t bring them up and if you don’t act on them.
And so it was really an opportune time. It’s someone outside the purview, one would think, of the Council on Foreign Relations. Alaska is not a foreign country, although many of the people in this—in the United States might think of it as such, it is not. We are an Arctic nation and it’s time to remind ourselves. We’re also coming to the end of our chairmanship of the Council—the Arctic Council—and then Finland is going to be taken over from us. And it’s a time when we need to strategize with them: What do we need to do to keep the agenda moving forward?
And how do we make people understand the strategic importance of Alaska to the United States, as well as to the other Arctic nations and our involvement with them, and the potential for a lot of somewhat nontraditional relationships that can be—continue to be developed. Because when you’re talking science, you’re not talking politics. And you can talk with countries that we may not be able to talk with quite so well—I’m thinking particular of Russia as an Arctic nation. This is a way to keep a dialogue going.
So there were—all these combination of factors were coming together to say this was the time to really bring this forward. And hopefully we can get the kind of attention that we think it needs.
MCMANUS: Admiral, I think when most of us without much Arctic experience think about the region, we think about it first of all in terms of environment and energy. But there’s a big security agenda there as well. And it’s a long time since that was defined by NORAD and Nautilus. So bring us up to date, if you would, on what the security interests are, and what the security agenda ought to be.
ALLEN: Sure. Let me preface my comments with the fact that I started grade school in Ketchikan, Alaska when my dad was stationed there as a petty officer in the Coast Guard. And we had DEW Line. It was built during the Cold War to try and prevent an attack from the Soviet Union. The threats have evolved. Governor Whitman’s talked about some of the environmental issues there.
If you look at Alaska, and in maritime parlance, it’s on the great circle route. In other words, the closest way to get to northern Asia is over the top through Alaska. We have ground-based interceptors there for our strategic missile defense. We have a significant amount of capability and capacity in the bases that are in Alaska. If you think about it, they’re very close flight-wise, time-wise, longitude-wise to the Pacific Rim and to the PACOM area of responsibility.
So it certainly is a forward positioning, if not a forward operating base, for our security forces against a variety of challenges. And I won’t even get into the current challenges that are being faced on the Korean Peninsula. So I think the strategic location of Alaska in relation to our security forces may be not well-understood, but totally critical in the overall fabric of the defense of the nation.
MCMANUS: Is the Arctic an area where we are likely to see more friction with Russia over the next decade, or is it an area where we could have opportunities for cooperation?
ALLEN: You’re raising an excellent point, and one that was discussed vigorously—(laughter)—by the task force. And you know, we share the Bering Strait with Russia. It’s a transit strait under the definition of the Law of the Sea Treaty. We necessarily have to work with them on shipping, navigation, and natural resource issues. We share an exclusive economic zone.
I think—and I don’t want to speak for the task force—but the sense, I think, of the task force was this is multifaceted relationship. And somehow, if we’re going to take care of our national responsibilities on our fourth coast, we have to be able to separate out the national interest in the Arctic, and understand we have serious issues in the Ukraine, Iraq, and Syria, but we also have lines of communication that are radically different, in the Coast Guard’s relationship with the Russian border guard and our shared responsibility for resource development and the environment up there.
So I think it’s not a simplistic question, but it’s a question that everybody needs understand has a variety of answers, almost based on the environment, the issue, and the risk that you’re talking about.
MCMANUS: So we could actually have a future of both cooperation and—
ALLEN: We currently have—currently have cooperation. The Coast Guard is part of and leads the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum. There is an Arctic Coast Guard Forum. There are routine channels communication related to the missions that have to be done in those operating environments, and have been for a number of years. Those need to be sustained and they need to be able to be evolved in relationship to the changing climatic challenges and the changing environment up there, and the issues associated with that.
WHITMAN: It’s not unlike our relationship in outer space. I mean, this is an area where you can have collaboration. And it’s something we need to have. I mean, right now they’re the ones that have the ability to do actually more search and rescue, depending on where they are up there in the Bering, where problems occur, than we do, and better capability at this point. So we need to work together.
ALLEN: The northbound shipping lane in the Bering Straits is in U.S. waters, southbound is in Russia.
WHITMAN: Yeah.
MCMANUS: Esther Brimmer, you spent most of your career as a specialist on international organizations, and so I want to ask for a very quick brief from you on the Arctic Council. What does it do? What did the United States accomplish during its year, number one? And then number two, the tough part of it is, the Trump administration hasn’t sounded enthusiastic about most forms of multilateral diplomacy. How do you hope to interest and engage them in more multilateralism on this front?
BRIMMER: Well, first I want to say good afternoon and it’s great to see everyone here in the room. There are many experts all the way around this room. And this task force really benefited from your input. And just before answering your question, I would also like to salute members of the task force who are here, and our co-chairs, because you will appreciate, this was a task force with people with a wide variety of political views, a wide variety of expertise, and people came together with a remarkable degree of professionalism and expertise and comradery. Everyone was about problem solving. How do we find the best solution for U.S. strategy? So it was a real honor to serve with this team. I think they were an example of people who are dedicated to public service and public life in the broadest sense. So I think we should—you should know that.
And I think that spirit actually infused the report itself. We’re very practical. The reason we look at international mechanisms in the report is because that’s where we get work done that benefits the United States. The Arctic Council has recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. It works on many areas of cooperation with the other Arctic states, including on environmental and scientific issues. And in this forum we’ve been able to discuss things such as search and rescue, cultural issues, a wide variety of important issues. We do not discuss hard security in this forum, but it has created a space where there is confidence building and real practical cooperation that is beneficial. So, in its chairmanship of the Arctic Council, the United States has launched several initiatives in this area advancing that. Finland will take over next. And idea is that we should continue this cooperative work in this body.
I also note that there were other parts of the international mechanisms that are important for the United States. And I will flag two. You will note that the task force, after a very vigorous discussion, does support ratification of the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Now, there are important dissents and deeper understandings of that, and that’s within the report. And we talk about the fact that, you know, this is—administrations of both parties have talked about this. But the main point here is real estate. If the U.S. does accede to the treaty, we can have a better chance to defend our claims to the extended continental shelf. That’s real land, under the water, that is important to the United States. We should not disadvantage ourselves. And so we look at how to talk about it. And it’s a complex issue, and the task force thought about it in very subtle ways. I’m sort of giving you the top line there.
The other I will note is that we look at very practical mechanisms, such as the new polar code, which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization. It is in the interest of the Arctic states that those who are in the Arctic area abide by the polar code, which sets higher standards for operation in this severe environment. So the reason you work in these international bodies is to get agreement with many other countries in areas that are important to the United States.
MCMANUS: I want to stay on the Law of the Sea Convention for a moment, because it’s an issue that has come up. I was staggered to go look and see that it has been 35 years since that convention was written and 23 years since it entered in force. So that’s not—it’s not only the Trump administration that has failed to ratify it.
WHITMAN: Oh, no.
MCMANUS: That’s your number-one recommendation. You’re putting it forward at a time that—well, it’s a courageous recommendation to put forward. How do you—how do you sell it? How do you change the dynamic around on an issue that has eluded, what, six presidents—not all of whom wanted to ratify it?
WHITMAN: No. But one of the things is, besides common sense and the best interests of the country, real estate, doing a deal, those are things that resonate with this administration perhaps more than some of the others. The fact that it is something that will give us an advantage and an ability to be heard. There are—it was—it was probably the area of the most vigorous discussion that we had in the task force. And there were those who said, look, let’s go for something that just—we work around the perimeter, we work on the important things such as search and rescue agreements, things like that.
But then the consensus—the overall consensus was, if we’re going to do this, we’ll go for the big one, which really makes the most sense, try to pull out and emphasize those parts of it like the real estate that we’re giving up, in essence because we’re not able to really stake our claim in a very direct way, the fact that it is doing a deal, the kinds of things that might appeal to this administration and help them see that, yes, there’s a lot here that they can go with, even though it does have that U.N. bit at the very front of it, which is a downer for the administration a bit.
MCMANUS: So you might want to rename the convention? (Laughter.)
WHITMAN: We might want to rename the convention, but we still think it’s the right way to go.
MCMANUS: If it were the Trump Convention on the Law of the Sea—
WHITMAN: Oh, then there’d be no problem. (Laughter.)
MCMANUS: Admiral, your thoughts? And just to be clear, that the debate you’re talking about on the task force was not over the substance of the treaty or the virtue of ratification, it was—yeah.
WHITMAN: No, no. It was more, look, you’ve been beating this horse. It’s a dead horse. Why keep beating a dead horse? And why not go for something that might move the ball forward? And that has a great appeal to it. And that can happen. But you might as well start out reaching for the stars for what we think is really the right thing. And then the rest of it, if that doesn’t happen, they may go ahead with some small steps toward that end.
ALLEN: I think there’s some confusion between sovereignty and common sense. You know, there’s an old saying, you don’t have sovereignty unless you can exert it. And some people are mistaking this for a sovereignty issue. Now, I wouldn’t—I wouldn’t stand here and say there aren’t some sovereignty issues involved, especially on some of the issues related to resource extraction and the proceeds from the resource extraction. But you look at net on value what’s to be gained by acceding to the Law of the Sea treaty in terms of this country, there is no reason in the world from a business sense, a policy sense, or economic sense why we shouldn’t do this.
MCMANUS: Admiral, the second big, concrete recommendation in the report is for investment in icebreakers. And one of the joys of my job as a journalist is I get to ask the dumb questions that people don’t want to look dumb by asking. We’re never under the suspicion on that. (Laughter.) So why do we need icebreakers? What do icebreakers get us? And also, a little bit of history, and how come we ended up with fewer icebreakers—if icebreakers are assets worth having, how come we ended up with fewer—not only fewer than Russia or Canada, but fewer, rather remarkably, than China?
ALLEN: Well, the majority of the icebreaking the Coast Guard has now was a legacy mission of the United States Navy, moved to the Coast Guard in the 1950s, and a large number of icebreakers moved with that mission. In addition, we have built three since then, two polar class heavy icebreakers and the Healy, which is an ice-strengthened research vessel. The collective requirements in the polar areas, include by the Arctic and Antarctica. The resupply of the base at McMurdo is the key lifeline for research at the South Pole. And the research that takes place at the South Pole largely cannot be done anyplace else, because either it’s in darkness or light or complete quiet. And the scientific value of what goes on at the South Pole is pretty inestimable.
I served on a blue-ribbon commission on support to research in the Antarctic. And the icebreaker comes up there, do we want it to be held hostage to leasing foreign vessels to do that, or is that important to the future of research for the United States? So if you’re trying to maintain a polar presence, at either end of the world, generally if you have an operating asset—I don’t care if it’s a small boat or a helicopter or a large cutter—if you want the ability to be able to project presence at any time, you basically need three of those because one will be operating, one will be in training or doing other things, and one will be in the long-term maintenance status. So ultimately six icebreakers allows you to operate full time if you need to at both poles.
Now, we’re not going to get there right away, but we certainly are under subscribed right now to the type of capability and mission performance that we need to actually represent the sovereign interests—so we go back to sovereignty—in the Arctic. So you can take—you can parse it between the Antarctic and the Arctic. But the Coast Guard has the same mission both places. And it’s to basically break ice. And if we’re going to do it to the levels that’s expected to support research in the Antarctic, and then access and research in the Arctic, six is the optimum number. But at this point, we got to get the first one built.
MCMANUS: While we’re on this subject, I want to go off topic for just a minute. But I can’t resist asking you what—I hope you’ll understand this—what they call in congressional hearings a friendly question. The White House issued a preliminary budget proposal last week, and it included significant cuts to the Coast Guard. Is that a good idea? (Laughter.)
ALLEN: I think some mid-level bureaucrats at OMB were acting without the informed consent of the political leadership. Somebody has asked me to inform them about what was going on and I said, well, first of all, do we have to send a memo to every new administration that says: The Coast Guard is a member of the armed forces—one of the five armed forces? And if you look at what’s happening with the defense budget, what’s happening with the demands on the Coast Guard, and there is more than a physically and geographically described southwest border. It requires a defense. It requires the exertion of sovereignty to do that.
My fear is—and it goes clear back to when I was the Atlantic commander on 9/11. And before the attacks, entering fiscal year 2002, the Coast Guard was poised to take a 20 percent reduction in operations. That did not happen. When the Obama administration came in in 2009, there was a quick review of the 2010 budget. The folks in OMB decided in the interest of cost savings that they would just cut out all LORAN programs in the United States, and then we’re going to have to rebuild LORAN as a backup to GPS. And at the same time, we have proposals to allow us to bring both icebreakers back into full operation. They were shovel ready, if you will, under the Recovery Act. That never made it to the White House.
So I’d refer your question to the mid-level bureaucrats at OMB. (Laughter.)
MCMANUS: OK. I didn’t think you’d embrace the idea very quickly.
Governor, you, of course, were administrator of the EPA. So let me start with you on a couple of environment and energy questions. If you could just bring us up to date on the pace of climate change in the Arctic and its consequences for those of us in the lower 48.
WHITMAN: Well, the pace of change is unlike the rest of the country. It’s happening up there faster than we’re seeing anywhere else, in sea level rise, because of the melting of the ice sheets. And that is occurring at an extremely rapid rate. And unfortunately, it feeds on itself. And as it releases more carbon, more methane, it’s happening even faster. It opens up the—the doesn’t covert the waters anymore, so if the sun can get directly down and release more. It’s something that is showing us what’s going to happen in the rest of the country.
We have—there are 12 villages, native villages, right now that undergoing the process of moving. And there are some 30 that are in danger that are going to have to at some point. And that is telling us, at the same time, we’re seeing that during king tides in Florida, in Coral Gables, they have parking lots that fill up with water and they have fish swimming in them. It’s two opposite ends, but they’re coming at it—it’s the same basic problem that’s occurring. It’s just happening faster in Alaska.
And the challenge that it puts to you up there is, OK, you’re moving people. You have to move whole villages. How do you do that? Who do you move first? Do you move the people, then do you put the infrastructure in with them? Or do you move the hospital first and the school, the church? Because they’re there because we actually made people—they used to be nomadic tribes—nomadic peoples who moved with their—they were subsistence livers who moved with the subsistence. The churches came in and kind of divvied up the state and said decided, OK, this is going to be a Protestant, this will be Episcopalian, they’ll be Catholic. And we moved the people there.
Now, you have to decide who pays for their move, where do they go, how do you build an infrastructure to reach them once you move them back further? And so that’s a real concern. It’s the same concern—New Jersey has 127 miles of beaches. We have a lot of communities on those beaches. As we saw from Superstorm Sandy, they can be devastated pretty quickly. We’re going to have to keep paying for these things over and over again if we don’t start to understand that we’ve got to prepare. And we are not doing that yet in Alaska. We need to do that and we need to understand that what we’re seeing there in biodiversity, what we’re seeing there with sea level rise is not going to stay, as you’ve pointed out in the beginning, not going to stay in Alaska.
And it goes to not just the rest of the coastline of the United States, but we also have to understand the impact it’s having on the rest of the world and what that means for us as far as national security goes, and demands on our military, as we look at the Bering Sea opening up and who is going to be traversing there, or attempt to traverse. That’s going to put some extra strains on things.
MCMANUS: But the task force also spotlights the resources available.
WHITMAN: Right.
MCMANUS: Spotlights especially, obviously, oil and gas resources. Is it possible—and I want all of you to chime on this—I suspect this may have been an issue where there was some pretty good discussion too. Is it possible to move ahead and exploit offshore resources safely, without doing environmental damage? And then let me get specific about it, last year the Obama administration withdrew, along with the Canadians, those coastal waters from the ability to lease. Should that be—should that be reversed?
WHITMAN: Well, one of the things that we talk about in the report is just that, is the economic potential of Alaska. And there’s a right way and a wrong way to do a lot of things. I suspect in the future you’re not going to see so much of the offshore interest, because it’s just too difficult and too hard and then too hard to transport. But you probably will see more onshore. And that’s possible to do, but that is part of an overall understanding of the demands on infrastructure. How do you get it from where it’s being extracted to where you need to have it, where you need to refine it?
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline, obviously, has been a lifeline for Alaska, and for the lower 48. It’s produced—it provides a huge amount of our energy. But it is now, because of what’s happening with fracking and the low cost of natural gas, that’s put real pressure on it. There’s less demand. There’s less oil flowing through those pipelines. If you don’t keep it at full capacity you have a problem with freezing and water getting in, and it becomes an issue. And where does it stop being profitable and where do we stop doing it? Those are going to be decisions that are going to be made by the companies that are going to make economic determinations of where they want to make their investment, where it makes sense for them.
But there are more things that just the oil and the gas in Alaska. You have minerals as, again, under the Bering Sea, as that opens up and we have more of the continental shelf to look at, you have minerals there. You have all sorts of other things that can be developed. But they need to be developed in concert, we believe and it’s reflected in the report, with the native Alaskans, to ensure that it’s done in an environmentally sensitive way that doesn’t compromise their ability to live the way they have.
MCMANUS: Any other comments on that tradeoff?
BRIMMER: I will just note that you will see that the energy environment, economic issues are treated together, because we did want to talk about the interplay of issues. And I’ll flag, again, that the task force took a very practical view about some of the energy needs as well, because we also note that many of the native Alaskan communities in that area also now are, for example, layering in diesel fuel in very unsustainable ways, and talks about some renewables to help these communities which where, you know, providing electricity year-round is difficult.
So we looked at, so, what works? And what works in these different environments? It was very much trying to look in an integrated way. And again, I’ll commend people with different expertise who came together and say: What do we want to look at? And also, noted that for any of the areas we’re looking at we need much more knowledge—much more knowledge about mapping, much more knowledge about weather, for all of—for any of the activities we might need to look at. And that’s why the emphasis on additional research is so important, to support any of the types of engagement we’re talking about in the Arctic.
ALLEN: I’d make one more comment. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I don’t know how many times I was asked: Is it safe to drill? And my answer was always, wrong question. There is no risk-free extraction of fossil fuels from the Earth. So the question is, is the extraction of the fossil fuels and their value to us equal or greater than the risks associated with the extraction? And that is an issue that varies by the locale, the culture, the people that are involved and impacted by it. And it’s best resolved in a transparent, open conversation that takes in all the equities that are involved.
The offshore drilling sites off the North Slope of Alaska, the water is so shallow that it requires the blowout preventer, the failsafe item at the top of the well, to actually be buried in mud because there’s not enough room. The Deepwater Horizon oil well was in 5,000 feet of water. When we lost well control, there was no human access. Those are two very, very different conversations. And you can still have that conversation, but it needs to be transparent, it needs to involve all the stakeholders, including the indigenous people in Alaska.
And you need to put everything on the table and not be, you know, it’s not drill, no drill. It’s like, what is the risk discussion we need to have. And frankly, the risks are mitigated when you move ashore. That’s a decision that some people say is binary. No. Well, that may be the case, but I think—and I’m not proposing that I would support either side—but we just don’t know how to have that discussion. If we’re going to adequately address the concerns of the folks that are up there and take advantage of the resources that are going to actually provide value to this country, we’re going to have to learn how to do that.
MCMANUS: OK. I want to open it up to questions from our audience here. And I know there are going to be lots of questions. So simply raise your hand in a non-threatening manner and I will get right to you. (Laughter.)
Q: Thank you. Bill Courtney, RAND Corporation.
Has Russia been a reliable supplier of icebreaking services to the United States? I gather we have leased icebreaking services on a quite substantial scale.
ALLEN: We haven’t continuously required Russian icebreaking services. We have on occasionally leased icebreakers to break out McMurdo because the readiness condition, the availability of Coast Guard icebreakers, which is part of the problem I alluded to earlier. And I think no matter who you pick to lease icebreakers from—and Russia is one source—you’re going to run—the risk is, they’re working on a profit motive. They don’t mitigate all the risk that we would. And you have some problems with performance if you do that.
MCMANUS: Sir.
WHITMAN: There’s a mic coming.
Q: I’ll get it next.
MCMANUS: OK.
Q: Thanks for the report.
MCMANUS: And I want to thank Bill Courtney for reminding us that please start by introducing yourself and make sure your question ends in a question mark. (Laughter.)
Q: Yeah. I’m Mead Treadwell, former governor of Alaska, and chair of a task force on shipping and ports that’s going on.
I was intrigued by the conclusion on icebreakers, that you supported leasing them. And I guess the question is, did you grapple with the issue, as more shipping capacity opens up in the Arctic, and we’re trying to find ways to pay for icebreakers ourselves, how do we collect a tariff or collect some sort of financial support from the Asian nations who would be using Arctic shipping and port infrastructure to sell goods to Europe? Why should American taxpayers help China sell goods to France?
ALLEN: Let me take a crack at that. And I would offer Governor Whitman the chance to comment as well.
I see leasing of icebreakers as a bridge strategy to creating our own capacity. In other words, we have are requirement for presence up there right now. We have issues related to sovereignty and our ability to actually carry out our governmental responsibilities. That’s where a lease might make sense. There are issues with leases. You know, our friends at OMB, if it’s a capital lease, they score the entire cost of the lease up front in that year, and it can take up your whole budget. So we don’t have the methodology or the financial agility to actually address how we would actually execute it. But in concept, that’s a bridging strategy, but using the organic capability the Coast Guard can use.
Now, regarding cost, you get into some very, no pun intended, tricky waters there in relation to freedom of navigation and transit straits. And there have been some issues regarding the northern sea route with Russia you’re probably familiar with, and also the Straits of Torres down by Australia, whether or not they can exert mandatory pilotage in what is a transit strait, which is supposed to allow free passage between two large bodies of water. I’m not sure that is settled, because there are—there have been different claims made. And Australians made the claim the pilot is required to protect fragile, sensitive areas. The Russians say it’s based on where they claim their internal waters to be. I’m not sure we’re at the point where at least I would be prepared to come up with a really solid framework on how you would charge for that. My premise would be, we need the organic capability, regardless, for the United States.
WHITMAN: I would agree with what the admiral just said, that we need it now. As the Bering Sea opens up, you’re going to get more of just, let’s say, the tourist boats are going to want to make that crossing. And while the Crystal Serenity went while we were there, they had their own icebreaker with them. And they had a backup ship with them. The rest of—the next group that comes through, probably will not be that well-supplied, as it were. And so if there’s any rescue mission that needs to be done, we only have two icebreakers that are working. One is the light one and one’s a heavy-duty one. And if it’s in Antarctica and the problem is in Alaska, guess what, it’s going to take a while. You’re not going to get there quickly.
And so it’s a real capacity need for the United States now, which is why we talked about the leasing of—as a bridge, until we get our own online. But we need to get them. And it takes a long period of time and a lot of money to build an icebreaker. But we need it. We need them.
MCMANUS: Let’s stay in the lively middle of the room there.
Q: Thanks very much, Doyle. Dov Zakheim, former undersecretary of defense.
First, a comment about leasing, having tangled with OMB over the years. When there’s an OMB, there’s an OMB way. This would not be the first time we’ve leased. So don’t give up.
My question is about China. I noted that you didn’t have any findings listed about China, nor any recommendations listed about China. And the text basically says we ought to keep an eye on it. A, is that enough? And, B, was there a reason why there were no recommendations?
WHITMAN: It actually does reference China. There is a reference. And, Esther, why don’t you go into that?
Q: There was a reference, which is: Let’s keep an eye on it.
BRIMMER: Right. Actually, if you go through the text, actually, China and a variety of other countries are also mentioned in various points throughout the text. And so some of the places you might look—in particular, I’ll talk about changing relationships in the Arctic overall. In that section, includes—China is discussed there as well. Then, if you look at some of the others—for example, just to pick another topic—there’s a discussion of the current moratorium on commercial fishing in the actual Arctic Ocean. And in that discussion, it points out that there are non-Arctic countries that have significant fishing fleets that are—and others. So China and a variety of other countries appear throughout the text. And you could go through and extract what we say about different countries at various points. So they’re very much present. And in the discussion about icebreakers, we talk about countries that are building a significant icebreaking capacity, and we mention China. So China and other countries very much appear in the text.
ALLEN: Yeah, China has ice-capable vessels and is doing oceanographic research above the Bering Strait. Why would they want to do that? They’re allowed to as part of the UNCLOS treaty. They’re exercising their rights. And if we’ve got an issue with what’s going on up there, we can complain about it. But again, we haven’t acceded to the treaty.
MCMANUS: We got a couple of questions down here in the front, if we could, ma’am.
But I want to follow up on that, Admiral. Are the Chinese also up there because of shipping lanes? And as the sea ice recedes, what’s the security implication of that?
ALLEN: Well, my own view is they’re creating a presence. And they’ve got a legal reason to be there. They can articulate it under the UNCLOS treaty. I think there are a couple of reasons. One is shipping, sea routes—just certainly the northern sea route. But as Esther said, these—just fleets that very rarely come back to home port, follow biomasses around, and exploit protein. And many times these are countries that can’t defend their littoral zones, requires, at least in my view, to be pretty vigilant over what they might be thinking about the migration of fish stocks.
MCMANUS: Please.
Q: Elizabeth Verville.
My question is for Admiral Allen. What is the fishing situation at the present? Are the Russians respecting the boundary agreement that we have that delineates fishing in the areas where our zones overlap? And in the so-called donut hole, what’s going on with third countries? And are the Russians cooperating with us to try to regulate it?
ALLEN: Yeah, by way of background, referencing my earlier comments, there are—there’s a good portion of the area up there that is—where we have the EEZs of Russia and the U.S. come together. There is one area where they don’t quite meet at the 200-mile limit. That’s called the donut hole.
I don’t think the bilateral issues between the United States and Russia—I don’t think have been as significant as they have in the past. And the cooperation we’ve been able to achieve through the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum and now the Arctic Coast Guard Forum is creating a modality by which we can deal with resource issues. And we have a—we have a shared, vested interest in that.
Now, the other vessels that operate up there in the donut hole and what they—folks, what they do is they’ll go over the line when you’re not there, and they will pop back out when you are there. So it’s a question of maritime domain awareness, presence, and being able to put up boarding teams—or locate these vessels and then hold them accountable. But I don’t think right now it’s as large an issue with Russia as it was, say, 10 or 15 years ago. And we have a shared interest to manage this together. That’s the reason—this is one of those lines of communication with Russia that we should continue to maintain in the interests of both countries.
MCMANUS: Ambassador Negroponte.
Q: Yeah, thank you, Doyle.
I was—when I was deputy secretary, I had the opportunity, actually the pleasure, of representing us once at Ilulissat, Greenland, a meeting of the Arctic Council. I think it was in 2008. Probably the most important crisis we had during that meeting was finding a bottle of Black Label scotch for the Russian delegation, which apparently needed it quite urgently between the end of our meeting and the press conference we were going to have for the general public. (Laughter.) And we did manage to find one.
But more seriously, my impression from the Russian—and it was Lavrov—Sergei Lavrov who was leading the delegation. He had a huge group of shipping people, specialized kinds of shipping and this and that. And would you care—would you venture to speculate, Admiral or any of you, as to how much international shipping is going to go through that part of the world, say, by 2050, or something like that? I mean, assuming that by then it will be pretty clear sailing.
ALLEN: Sure. Let me first say, Mr. Ambassador, your ability to deal with breaking diplomatic crises is legendary. So thank you. (Laughter.)
I don’t think we’ve established that the northern sea route is a reliable sea route for anything other than transiting to gain experience and basically carrying bulk materials. If you’re looking at containerized traffic for just-in-time manufacturing, we’re not there yet. We may not be there for a long, long time. So I don’t believe the northern sea route in the near term is viable or predictable enough to create a lot of investment in using that as a sea line of communication. I think in the meantime, what you’re going to see is large bulk cargo—you know, coal or whatever, being transported, to establish that it can be done, to learn more about the sea routes. But I don’t see that as a near-term threat from the Russians, frankly.
WHITMAN: But they’re definitely establishing a presence through it.
ALLEN: Yeah.
WHITMAN: And when we say it’s going to be open—that the Bering Sea will be open for a month a year, a period of time a year, it won’t be ice free. I mean, that’s where the problem comes and that’s where it does slow down traffic. You can’t depend on it. And in this real time real world in which we live, that means money. Delays mean money. And that’s going to be a disincentive. But they clearly are establishing a presence. They clearly are starting to establish some claims to what is under the water. And they have a long-range plan here to extend their influence. Right now it’s not at a critical stage, but it’s something that we have got to watch very carefully. And that’s why we did feel that we needed to ratify the convention, and so that we had a legal framework within which to operate to bring our concerns and to work them through.
ALLEN: They are aggressively trying to manage the traffic in terms of when they think they have authority or jurisdiction, to regulate the traffic and require pilotage. So that is an ongoing issue with them.
MCMANUS: Let me go to the neglected left side of the room. Yes, ma’am.
Q: Yeah. Marisa Lino with Northrop Grumman.
My question, sort of a follow-up to Dov’s question. With respect to China, does your section on UNCLOS mention that it will have a—if we ratify it, it would have a significant impact on China’s activities in the South China Sea as well? And I would also express the hope that you all will brief certain key senators with respect to your results.
ALLEN: Yeah, it’s a very prescient remark. We had a lot of discussions informally inside the task force about what the adjudication of the Filipino claim had to do with modeling behavior for Russia, based on what had happened in the South China Sea. And I don’t think we can discount that moving forward. So we take your point. We take your point. And it gets back to both the Chinese and the Russians have a long tradition of being pretty patiently and slowly moving out, whether it’s China’s middle kingdom and the nine-dash line or Russia’s near-term abroad with Ukraine. We understand the expansive nature of what they’re both trying to do. And we should not discount—in the military we call it the salutary effect on good order and discipline, what happens in the South China Sea.
MCMANUS: Ambassador Brzezinski.
Q: Thank you. And thanks to the task force for doing this timely report.
I want to zero in on your comments about the impacts of climate change in the Arctic, and how the looming crisis in the Arctic is a tangible preview of the looming crisis of the global condition that you touched upon, governor. And scientists have concluded that, in fact, we’ve underestimated the acceleration of this change, and what’s at stake is the basic outlines of communities, that you described, that face relocation, whether in Alaska or elsewhere. In Washington, you are your budget. We now have seen the new administration’s budget contract the budgets of key agencies responsible of monitoring and studying and understanding the climatic events that you are describing. Can you talk a little bit more about what is at stake, and what needs to be communicated with regard to the challenge that we face as a nation? It’s not a democratic issue or a Republican issue when the water is rising. Thank you.
WHITMAN: Well, that’s what one would think. We haven’t delineated zones along our coastline that are Republican or Democrat.
Perhaps the biggest concern for me is not just the whack at the agency budgets—let’s say, Environmental Protection Agency, 31 percent cut. Can’t survive that, and that’s the intention. It’s more the cut to science and research and the scientific community, because that’s what we need. We need to know more. We can’t make—you can’t make intelligent decisions if you don’t have a frame of reference, if you don’t have a base of knowledge. And we have so much more to learn about what’s happening and what is being displaced, what we’re losing through the climate change. It’s something that is impacting all of us, and we need to—the federal government is the one that has the capability and the resource—has had the resources to really focus on that.
And for climate change, I’ve almost gotten away from talking about it, except when you—when you look at the issues in the Arctic you have to, obviously, bring it in, because that’s what’s happening with the sea level rise because it’s also about human health and the environment. And if people will take steps to protect human health—and if you think about Alaska, you have communities that have no running water, that work on the honeypot system for dealing with their sewage and their waste. We signed on to COP 21. And we have agreed that we were—that everybody should have access to clean drinking water. We have a whole segment of our population, U.S. citizens, who do not have access to that. And as we see increasing sea level rise, there’s even less and less of that.
And so that is a real health crisis. And that is a real concern that we ought to have today. What is happening there as those ice sheets melt is exacerbating what’s happening in the lower 48 as far as climate change is concerned. And how we get people to recognize that—I am very pleased to say there are 17 Republicans in the House and Senate who have stood up and signed an agreement that says: Climate change is real, it’s occurring, humans have an impact, and we should do something about it. And we need to start building on that. If you look at any poll across the United States, even amongst Republicans, better than 50 percent believe just those things—that climate change is real, it’s occurring, there’s human impact, and we need to—we need to take some steps to prevent it.
And so what Alaska gives us is a very real right-now crisis that’s starting to occur. It is not something in the future. It is not something that you’re—that you’re game-planning out. This is real. This is now. Villages are having to move because people can no longer walk from one building to the next when the sea level rises to the point where that permafrost is going. We have real—we have some military bases there that are going to be subject to having to be moved. I mean, there are some very immediate concerns that we have with this that should be, I think—and that’s one of the important parts of this report—that should be a way to raise awareness.
That this goes beyond just tree-huggers, people who love birds and bees. This is not that. This is real. This is happening now. And it’s happening to real people in real time. And it’s also starting to affect our ability to protect ourselves internationally and militarily here at home. So I worry greatly about the cuts to the various departments and agencies, as much because—and they’re aimed at the science and undercutting the credibility of scientists, and trying to convince people that don’t believe them, because there will always be dissent within the scientific community.
Scientists are rarely 1,000 percent behind anything, although at least in this instance we have better than 97 percent of scientists saying this is real and humans have a relationship here, have a responsibility and we better be doing something. So kind of go with that. It’s as good a consensus as you’re ever going to get. But you’re always going to get outliers. I mean, you’re always going to get people who say no. And that makes it confusing for those who don’t live this in their daily lives, who don’t understand it at a regular basis, who’s—it’s beyond them what is my activity going to—what difference can I possibly make? And that’s the challenge, is bringing it home, bringing it real. And that’s why Alaska offers such a good opportunity to do that, because it is real and it is happening now.
ALLEN: Yeah, Ambassador, thanks for the question, and thanks for your collaboration and leadership on this topic.
We had an internal conversation over the last couple of days. And I’m not trying to, you know, get too overly dramatic here, but if we think we’ve got a problem right now with refugees in this—in this world based on political forces in Syria and elsewhere, we start dealing with climate refugees, you’re forced—the Alaska problem will be a very, very small problem on the order of magnitude of what we will see elsewhere. And I think, just to follow on to Governor Whitman’s comments, we need to start talking about it in those terms. And that’s not something you want to deal with when it happens.
MCMANUS: Farther in the back over here. Yes, ma’am. Yeah.
Q: Thank you. I’m Mitzi Wertheim with the Naval Postgraduate School.
This is an amazing story. And my question is, what is your plan to put it in non-expert language so the whole country understands it? I mean, we’re so good at writing stuff for our own folks who understand the code, but this is such an important one that I think you need a strategy to get it on every television station, get children writing about it, getting schools engaged in learning about it so they come home and talk to their parents.
ALLEN: I’ll give you an—
WHITMAN: Esther is the—(laughter)—she did it.
ALLEN: Go ahead.
BRIMMER: Just a couple things. Indeed, we want to be able to disseminate ideas to a wide variety of people—obviously, to policymakers, but also to Americans across the country.
So I will say that in addition to the actual hardcopy report, there are also some other—there are some online tools. There are also some—you know, there will be—you know, for those of you who tweet, there’s a version where you can see some—that has—some of the maps are available. So some of the materials that appear in the hardcopy report have been since reinterpreted into other formats that may also allow more people to access the information.
ALLEN: I would just give you an anecdote. In my simple attempts to try and have this conversation, I was testifying before that august body up on the Hill that engages in random acts of aftersight. (Laughter.) I had—
BRIMMER: So we had fun on this together. (Laughter.)
ALLEN: I had somebody lean over their glasses and said, Admiral Allen, what is your opinion on global warming? Like I was going to touch that. (Laughter.) And I said, sir, I’m agnostic to the science. Where there’s water where there didn’t used to be, and I am responsible for. We’re going to have to get it down where people understand there’s a real-time, immediate impact on what’s going on around them that’s a cause for action.
WHITMAN: And I think when you have a chance to really delve into the report itself, Esther’s done an extremely excellent job, I think, of putting it into the kind of language that everyone can understand. It’s not at that level that we—we touch on everything, and she’s got a glossary of the various acronyms, but the writing itself is pretty straightforward, and pretty direct and understandable. So that’s going to be helpful with—combined with the other tools at the Council we use, and of course we’re going to be doing a lot more panels and trying to take it out to people, sort of raise the level of awareness.
MCMANUS: I worry we’ve neglected the back of the room. So hands up. While you’re thinking of your—of your—
WHITMAN: It’s a silent back of the room.
MCMANUS: —of your next good question, look, this is a Washington crowd, and there’s no subject that gets us more excited than bureaucratics. (Laughter.) So my question is, where does Arctic policy reside in the bureaucracy? Is it in the right place? If you could—since it’s the beginning of a new administration and all the old rules are now off, if you could design a structure to look at this set of issues, which is remarkable in that it covers basically the gamut of national policy issues, where would you put it?
BRIMMER: I will jump in and I’ll say that the report does talk about continuing a structure within the White House. We think it’s very important that you have an interagency structure. Of course, the previous administration had the Arctic Executive Steering Committee. We think there should be some type of structure that allows for that interagency cooperation/guidance from the central point of the White House.
We then also talk about some of the different parts of different agencies. I’ll just take a moment and talk about the State Department, because that’s my corner of the world, and say that there we do think it’s important that we continue to have a senior diplomat in this area. We call for an Arctic ambassador. And we say that that should be part of the—part of the structure, and that person could also be a deputy assistant secretary as well. So we also have, if you drill into it, some notes about how we think about structure within the different parts of the federal structure to support a coordinated interagency response.
MCMANUS: But this does look like a basket of issues where Defense is going to have strong—where different agencies are going to see the agenda through very different lenses. So Defense is going to have one agenda. Coast Guard is going to have a contiguous but not identical agenda, which is of course in Homeland Security. Commerce is going to have an agenda. EPA, if there’s still an EPA, will have an agenda. Energy will surely have an agenda. That’s why it has to be in the White House.
BRIMMER: Right.
WHITMAN: That’s why we talk about an ambassador in the White House to be the coordinating body to try to bring those things together. You know, we have the National Security Council. We have the Domestic Policy Council. And the Arctic really needs its own focus because it does cross all of the various agencies or require them all to be part of the discussion. And so it is going to be a challenge.
But this last administration raised the awareness of the issue. They raised the visibility of the issue. And we believe that that needs to continue and to go even further.
Q: Charles Doran, one of the members of the group. I must say I enjoyed enormously being part of this.
You might say I’m one of the impatient members because I think that the problem is that we have a hard time envisioning what the situation’s going to be 20 to 30 years down the road because most of us are using linear sort of models of projection, and we see a lot of change, but what’s actually taking place is an acceleration—a very sharp acceleration—such that, in my judgment, it’s not just going to be about the northern route, it’s going to be about a route through much of the—of the center of the Arctic. And the problem—what I worry about is this, that the United States is falling behind. China, Russia, even Germany are ahead in some respects. And what are they betting on? They’re betting on the fact there’s going to be transit through this area and increasingly there’s going to be product taken out. There’s something like 400 sites in the Arctic where mining and oil drilling and so on could take place. Now, the oil price is down currently, so people think therefore this is not going to be something people are interested in. My judgment is once there’s a big—really big find in oil, there’s going to be a gold rush. The firms that have the capacity are going to be up there to get at this. And we, unfortunately, the United States, are simply falling behind in terms of—not in terms of research, necessarily, but in terms of the—of course, the icebreakers, but in fact in terms of support for those who are going to be developing these areas. Our side, as opposed to the Russian side, is going to become kind of a backwater if we don’t take advantage of the opportunities we now have to move forward.
MCMANUS: I saw a question here. Yes, ma’am.
Q: Good afternoon. My name is Ninette Sadusky. I work for the Oceanographer of the Navy, which is part of the CNO staff.
So I wanted to thank the task force members, all the members, for making time to address these important issues. And for the four panelists, if you’re in the elevator with Secretary Mattis and you can make one recommendation—I saw the section with the series of recommendations—I would be interested in your perspectives on what it would be. Thank you.
MCMANUS: I like that question. (Laughter.)
WHITMAN: Read the report.
BRIMMER: Yes. (Laughter.)
ALLEN: I’m a—I’m a contemporary of Jim Mattis. I have great respect for him and I think he’s a terrific individual.
He said—he said two things that have kind of galvanized the country to think a little differently. One of them was when he came out of a meeting with President Trump and said if you give me, you know, a pack of cigarettes and two beers, I can turn these guys without torture. And the other one, he testified when he was still in uniform that the more money we spend on the State Department, the less ammunition I have to buy. So he’s capable of grasping complexity.
What we’re really dealing with here—and we use the canary in the coalmine as a(n) environmental metaphor. I would suggest to you there’s another metaphor out here, and that’s that we’re going to have to learn how to govern in the face of complexity, and it’s not just climate change. You can talk about internet governance. You can talk about a lot of things.
Here’s what drives the bureaucracy crazy: there is no clear statutory lead. Presidents are loath to subordinate one Cabinet officer to another. If there’s a novel event that doesn’t come with a funding source, half the agencies will say I won’t do anything until you give me a supplemental. The American public won’t stand for that. And at the end, there’s a question of how we’re actually going to maneuver this government in the future when we have converging rapidly advancing technology, intersection of the—of the human and the—human-built and the natural environment, and add globalization onto that. This is just a metaphor at a political level that’s telling us we have to learn how to govern, understand, and do things differently.
That’s a perfect—it’s not a—it’s not an existential threat right now. It’s one we can understand and manage if we’re smart enough and have the insight to say what can we learn from what’s going on right now. And whether it’s the executive committee that the ambassador led or some other governance structure, we have to learn how to do this because we’re going to reinvent it with Ebola, Zika, you name it. We’ve got to get better at doing this.
MCMANUS: I am very sorry to say that we have now used up our allotted time. This subject could have taken us—given us an extra half-hour, but the Council never lets us have that luxury. (Laughter.) Please join me in thanking Governor Whitman, Admiral Allen, Esther Brimmer, and all of the members of this task force for the work they’ve done. (Applause.)
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Urgently reverse current and future cuts to the UK Imperial War Museum's annual operating grant in aid so that it can maintain services and preserve its standing as an international centre for study, research and education.
Andy Bye started this petition to Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP (Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport) and 1 other
One hundred years after the outbreak of the First World War, the Imperial War Museum is under threat.
The Museum is facing an annual deficit of £4m because of cuts in government funding.
It has drawn up proposals to:
• close its unique library and dispose of the majority of its collection
• cut important education services
• cut 60-80 jobs
• close the widely emulated ‘Explore History’ facility in London.
The Museum’s library gives ordinary people access to research materials on all aspects of British and Commonwealth involvement in conflict since 1914.
Prospect trade union believes the world's leading authority on conflict will be irreparably damaged by the £4m deficit.
It has launched this petition to help ensure that the Imperial War Museum continues to provide for, and encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and ‘wartime experience'.
Please show your support by signing today.
Imperial War Museum Library
The Imperial War Museum Library is a collecting department in its own right and plays a key role in helping IWM staff do their jobs - curating exhibitions, helping to identify and understand artefacts and furthering their own knowledge.
IWM aspires to be a highly-respected authority on its subject matter, but this will be impossible without a library.
Once the Library and its professional staff are gone, the damage will be done.
It will be impossible to replace this unique collection of primary and secondary printed materials and the dedicated people who care for them and make them available to the public - remotely or in person.
The Library acquired its first item in April 1917 - a programme for a 'Dick Whittington' pantomime staged by the 85th Field Ambulance in Salonika - and has been a vital part of the Museum ever since.
The Research Room, available to all for more in-depth research, will continue to operate but at a reduced level, and without access to library materials.
These materials are vital for providing context to personal papers and interviews and are the most commonly used items in the Research Room.
IWM attracted 433,000 learners in 2013-14 and 256,000 children took part in its on and off-site education programmes.
School educational visits to the paying branches at Duxford, HMS Belfast and Churchill War Rooms, with on-site teaching sessions led by museum and education professionals, are under threat.
The Museum is justifying the cuts at these original historic sites because of changes to the national curriculum and their ‘narrower exhibition focus’.
Formal education bookings at Duxford are steady and IWM London is already full to capacity.
‘Explore History’ attracted 55,000 visitors in 2013. It is a popular resource open to all, seven days a week, allowing the public to explore IWM’s collections and find out about objects or subjects not on display.
Westminster government funding
IWM was founded in 1917 as a place of study and memorial. Its London museum was refurbished at a cost of £40m and re-opened in July 2014. Demand for its services has never been higher.
IWM is successful in generating its own revenue - less than 50 per cent of its funding comes from the Westminster government, but that income is vital to the organisation's future.
IWM has faced funding cuts over several years but has not yet suffered the mass redundancies and reorganisations that have occurred in other national museums and galleries.
But the cuts announced in November 2014 will put the Museum’s educational and research functions in danger and experienced professional staff will be forced to leave.
Prospect fears that this is only the start and that further damaging cuts are likely unless there is widespread public support to maintain adequate levels of funding.
Please sign our petition and consider making a donation to IWM here: https://www.justgiving.com/iwm/ highlighting that your donation is a response to Prospect's petition.
Rt Hon George Osborne MP: Urgently reverse current and future cuts to the UK Imperial War Museum's annual operating grant in aid so that it can maintain services and preserve its standing as an international centre for study, research and education.
Today: Andy is counting on you
Andy Bye needs your help with “Rt Hon George Osborne MP: Urgently reverse current and future cuts to the UK Imperial War Museum's annual operating grant in aid so that it can maintain services and preserve its standing as an international centre for study, research and education.”. Join Andy and 20,778 supporters today.
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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=0F91674869D38BA7B4A8AC90BB026384BD1DEB3B1AEA58F630CA01B838D491D8&s=21&se=1124190172&v=3&f=1931.449_o2.jpg
The Crucifixion with a Carthusian Monk
workshop of Rogier van der Weyden
(Flemish, c. 1399-1464)
Oil and gold on wood
Image: 37.1 x 27.3 cm (14 5/8 x 10 3/4 in.); Framed: 57.5 x 48 x 7 cm (22 5/8 x 18 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 38.4 x 29.2 cm (15 1/8 x 11 1/2 in.)
Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds 1931.449
Carthusian monks can easily be identified by the white scapular or large rectangular piece of fabric, which is joined by bands at the side and has a hood attached to it.
This painting shows a Carthusian monk kneeling in devotion and prayer before the Crucifixion. It is likely that this panel was intended for the cell of a monk in an unknown monastery. The Carthusians were particularly devoted to the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ, and devotional images were provided for each monk’s cell. The Carthusian order was founded by Saint Bruno in 1084 with the purpose of providing the strictest separation from the world. The first Carthusians were dedicated to contemplation through silence, prayer, poverty, penance, and almost continuous occupancy of a solitary cell. The solitary life could only be maintained through the establishment of separate cell houses. Each community of monks was limited to the apostolic number of 12, though exceptions were sometimes made. They were recognized by their white, full-length, cowled habit called the scapular, shown here. The artist has not been identified.
Private Collection, Lower Rhine, Germany
(Paul Drey, Munich, Germany)
(A. S. Drey, New York, NY sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
Destrée, Jules. Roger de La Pasture van der Weyden. Paris: G. van Oest, 1930. vol. I, p. 108
"The Crucifixion," American Magazine of Art vol. XXIV (Feb. 1932). p. 145
"Cleveland Adds Flemish Master," Art News Vol. XXX, pt. 1 (Jan. 9, 1932). p. 5
"American Art Notes: A Flemish "Crucifixion" for Cleveland," Connoisseur, Vol. 89, no. 367 (March 1932). pp. 215-16
"Recent Museum Acquisitions." Parnassus Vol. IV, no. 1 (Jan. 1932). p. 34
Francis, Henry S. "A Flemish Panel of the Crucifixion." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 19, no. 1 (1932) pp. 2, 4-7 www.jstor.org
"Cleveland Gets XVth Century Crucifixion," Art Digest vol. 6 (Jan. 15, 1932). p. 11
Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 24 archive.org
Detroit Institute of Arts. Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization. Catalogue of the Exhibition Masterpieces of Flemish Art: Van Eyck to Bosch. 1960. p. 91
Jolly, Penny Howell. “Rogier van Der Weyden’s Escorial and Philadelphia Crucifixions and Their Relation to Fra Angelico at San Marco.” Oud-Holland 95, no. 3 (January 3, 1981). p. 125, no 34
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Belgium). The Flemish Primitives: Catalogue of Early Netherlandish Painting in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Brussels: Brepols, 1996. p. 148, fig. 100
Fliegel, Stephen N., Sophie Jugie, and Virginie Barthélémy. Art from the Court of Burgundy: The Patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless 1364-1419 : Musée Des Beaux-Arts De Dijon, May 28-September 15, 2004, the Cleveland Museum of Art, October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005. [Dijon]: Musée des beaux-arts, 2004. Cat. No. 71, pp.200, 202
Fliegel, Stephen N., and Stephen N. Fliegel. A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2012. p. 81, fig 62
Weyden, Rogier van der, Lorne Campbell, and José Juan Pérez Preciado. Rogier van der Weyden y España: actas del congreso internacional = proceedings of the international symposium, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, mayo de 2015. 2016. pp. 36-7
Art Through the Ages, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Oct. 30, 1931-Nov. 29, 1931).
The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 12, 1936).
The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
Exhibition of the Month: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 3-August 29, 1949).
Dukes and Angels: Art from the Court of Burgundy (1364-1419). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2004-January 9, 2005).
{{cite web|title=The Crucifixion with a Carthusian Monk|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.449|author=Rogier van der Weyden|year=c. 1460|access-date=15 January 2021|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds
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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=4D4423624D82D59C20B2B113174660052CE3024BCEA4BB4B76BF3A8078AFC5E3&s=21&se=558526053&v=1&f=%5Cd5718%5Cu220457182%5C2020.135_o2.jpg
https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=EBBD78A10260B4ABD83F63C06460BEFD2239C3EF9BCA7FD604F37D567517191D&s=21&se=558526053&v=1&f=%5Cd8030%5Cu220480300%5C2020.135det01_o2.jpg
On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine
Sheet: 42.4 x 56.5 cm (16 11/16 x 22 1/4 in.)
John Marin made this watercolor during one of the last summers he would spend in Maine, at a time when he called most of the watercolors he executed "Movements in Paint."
One of America's most important watercolor practitioners, John Marin spent every summer in Maine from 1914 through 1928, and the state's coastline became a central focus of his work. By the late 1920s, when this work was made, he was experimenting with bold black elements in his compositions and painted frames or borders. On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine shows Marin using dry charcoal to create areas of shocking black over which he layered inky black wash. The technique has the effect of framing the image and leading the eye toward the center. With its strikingly different character from other works made in Maine in 1914 (see 2020.134, 2020.136, 2020.137, 2020.138, 2020.139), the work shows how John Marin repeatedly challenged himself as well as the medium of watercolor with improvisations in color, paint handling, perspective, and movement.
Mr. and Mrs. John C. Marin, Jr., New York, NY
Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
Spanierman Gallery, New York, NY
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
Recent Watercolors: New Mexico and New York. An American Place, New York, NY (1930).
John Marin-A Retrospective Exhibition. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (October 21-November 22, 1936).
John Marin: A Retrospective. Institute of Modern Art, Boston, MA (1947); Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1947); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (1947).
John Marin Memorial Exhibition. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (1955-56); Phillips Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1955-56); San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA (1955-56); University of California Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA (1955-56); the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1955-56); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN (1955-56); Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA (1955-56); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1955-56).
John Marin: Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings, and Etchings. Arts Council Gallery, London, England (1956).
{{cite web|title=On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.135|author=John Marin|year=1928|access-date=15 January 2021|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
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CCU's Athenaeum Press and Arts and Humanities Global Exchange celebrate release of 'Trans/South: Ten Voices of Identity'
by Sara Sobota
The Athenaeum Press and the Arts and Humanities Global Exchange Program (AHGEP) at Coastal Carolina University celebrated the release of the multi-genre project “Trans/South: Ten Voices of Identity” with a panel presentation and reception held in conjunction with Students Advocating Gender Equity (SAGE) on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 6:30 p.m. in the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery.
“Trans/South” is a book and digital installation that explores the complexities surrounding gender identity in the cultural landscape of the South. Creation of the project involved research and interviews with 33 people from around the Carolinas, including trans people, their friends and family, scholars, and policy makers.
The Athenaeum Press is a student-driven, interdisciplinary publishing lab that produces multiple projects per year on regional stories created in innovative genres. AHGEP provides students with transformative experiences regarding global culture, including a Fulbright Speaker Series and a Global Ambassadors program that involves international travel and experiential learning.
The panel presentation, which is held on the national Trans Day of Remembrance, will feature input from community members interviewed in the project as well as student contributors.
Tripthi Pillai, associate professor in the Department of English and director of AHGEP, said the project is designed to facilitate communication and understanding among a variety of populations.
“The fundamental purpose of the project is to present trans individuals’ voices and histories in terms of their personal experiences of being and becoming and, in the process, bring about collaborative projects and thoughtful conversations among trans and non-trans students, faculty, staff, and members of the local and regional community,” said Pillai. “I’m extremely proud of the students’ collaborative and dynamic work.”
Alli Crandell, director of the Athenaeum Press and CCU coordinator of digital initiatives, said the project helps expand the Press’ engagement with lesser-heard voices in the South.
“The Press is always looking for hidden stories that expand our definitions of what it means to be Southern or belong in this region,” said Crandell. “This project showcases some great stories and hopefully gives us a vocabulary to relate to one another along our similarities and respect our differences.”
Shonte Clement, lead designer for the project and digital culture and design major, said the student content and design teams approached the project with thought and care.
“We really wanted it to be sincere and a labor of love,” said Clement. “We wanted to put our best effort forward in representing these stories that are not our own but that we can relate to in some way. We didn’t want to insert our own voices into it; we just wanted to pass the microphone and offer them a platform to tell their own stories, because they know how to tell them better than anyone.”
For James Pulley, part of the design team and graphic design major, determining how to broadcast those voices in words, without the use of photographs, was a challenge.
“The people in the book allowed us to record but not take any pictures, and it’s hard in a context like that, without seeing a person’s face, to connect with them,” said Pulley. “So, we had to solve that problem, and we did it through handwriting.”
Handwritten quotations from interviewees are interspersed throughout the book and on the cover.
Crandell said the experience of creating “Trans/South” was an opportunity for both learning and growth.
“It’s been amazing to see the students evolve their thinking,” said Crandell. “Eight of the ten students don’t identify as trans or nonbinary, so it’s been rewarding helping them navigate the process for respectfully identifying and writing with members of the trans community. The project has made us all better equipped to be allies and advocates, and to understand the unique challenges and opportunities of our region for all gender identities. The students learned to simultaneously hold an audience who might be unfamiliar with trans identities with an audience who has experienced the discrimination and acceptances described in the book firsthand.”
Clement said she hopes the finished product holds meaning for both those represented in it and those who read it.
“I want [participants] to be able to see themselves faithfully represented,” said Clement. “And I hope people who pick it up will read it and share it and say, ‘Oh, there’s a community here. Maybe this is something I should care about.’”
The book can be purchased at the event and, beginning Nov. 20, through the Athenaeum Press website and on Amazon.
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https://www.dartmouth.edu
Dartmouth College is a private Ivy League research university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Named the world’s “most enduring institutions,” Dartmouth was founded in 1769 by Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, a Congregationalist minister from Connecticut, whose mission was to establish an institution for the education of Native Americans. In 1972 – the same year the university became co-educational – Dartmouth reaffirmed its founding mission by establishing a Native American Program, one of the first in the nation. Since that time, Dartmouth has graduated more Native American students than all other Ivy League institutes combined. Consistently ranked among the world’s greatest academic institutions, Dartmouth continues to lead through its outstanding undergraduate liberal arts and graduate education.
Accredited through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Dartmouth awards baccalaureate, master, and doctorate degrees in a wide variety of areas. Dartmouth’s undergraduate programs offer students flexible study plans, consisting of four ten-week terms, which allow students to decide when to schedule on-campus study. Time off campus may be spent gaining work experience, interning, or studying abroad through one of the university’s several foreign study programs. Over forty departments and interdisciplinary programs exist in the Arts & Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. Dartmouth offers more than 55 undergraduate majors and programs and over ten interdisciplinary programs including Linguistics and Environmental Studies Program; Cognitive Science Program; Mathematics and Social Sciences Program; Native American Studies Program and Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
Dartmouth’s three leading professional schools consist of the Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, through which approximately forty different Master’s and Doctoral degrees are awarded. Students have access to a whole host of resources, including Dartmouth’s impressive library system which is made up of nearly ten libraries and centers.
Over 6,000 students are enrolled at Dartmouth, including more than 4,000 undergraduates. Approximately 90% of all undergraduates live on campus in the university’s residence halls, approved co-ed, fraternity or sorority houses, and undergraduate society or affinity houses. Housing for graduate students is offered at the North Park Graduate Housing complex, Tuck School of Business, and Sachem Village. At least five main dining areas are available to students on the school campus and provide an award-winning food service. Students can also catch a snack between meals at one of two cafes located in the Baker-Berry Library.
Approximately 160 undergraduate student groups exist, catering to a wide range of interests, passions, and cultures. Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) is the largest and oldest collegiate outing club in the country and sponsors outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship. Dartmouth is also home to the first collegiate newspaper in the US, The Dartmouth, which was started in 1799. As an NCAA Division I-AA school, more than 75% of undergraduate students are involved in athletics and Dartmouth boasts over 30 varsity teams.
Rankings that feature Dartmouth College
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First aid courses run for mental health
By Jeremy Dunning on February 19, 2010 in Adults, Mental Health
Mental health first aid courses are being promoted across the UK to equip the public to provide immediate help to people in distress.
Helping put a bandage on someone with a physical injury is second nature to most people. But applying the equivalent to someone in emotional distress is more of a challenge.
With one in four of us likely to suffer from a mental health problem at some point and evidence of worsening mental health through unemployment and financial anxiety, there is a strong chance that people will encounter others in psychological pain.
Research by the Mental Health Foundation last year found 92% of us would stop and help someone knocked down and hurt, but only 51% would offer to help someone crying in public.
The survey also found that a quarter of people would not know what to do or say if someone close to them had worries about their own mental health, but 41% of people said they would turn to family if they had a problem with their own mental health.
In response to this situation, mental health first aid courses are spreading across the UK.
First developed in Australia in 2000, the aim of these 12-hour courses is to equip lay people to intervene early when a problem is detected, be it in the workplace or in public.
The courses teach the five steps of mental health first aid, or “Algee”:
Assess risk of suicide or self-harm.
Listen non-judgementally.
Give reassurance and information.
Encourage the person to get appropriate professional help.
Encourage self-help strategies.
Jules Dakin, from the Welsh homelessness charity The Wallich, first heard about the concept two years ago and decided to contact Mind Cymru, which is leading on providing instructor training in Wales.
Now she runs courses mainly for staff at The Wallich but also for other organisations in Wales.
“In order to support someone in a crisis situation you don’t necessarily need to be a professionally qualified person,” says Dakin. “You just need the basic skills in identifying what might be going on and in signposting and supporting them in getting good help.
“What it aims to do is to give people who don’t have knowledge of mental health a little bit of confidence in dealing with all kinds of mental health issues.”
Trainees have been positive about the course. “It might be two days but there’s time for people to explore things that perhaps they’ve been doing for years and to look at how they respond in a crisis and whether it’s the right way,” she says.
“For people who work in a sector that’s peripheral to mental health but see a lot of people with mental health issues, it gives confidence.”
Rhys Bradley, a social worker in the Vale of Glamorgan, took the course run by Dakin a year ago because he felt his social work training left him “with a few gaps” in his mental health knowledge.
Bradley, who completed his training in July 2008, specialised in children and families but ended up working with adults with learning disabilities, where he has found a greater need for mental health awareness.
He recalls one occasion when he used his knowledge in the field.
“One service user experienced mental health problems largely because of alcoholism. I used those five steps in his case. I listened non-judgementally and he’s been encouraged to seek professional support, which he has done, and we’ve tried to identify self-help strategies and things he could focus his mind on other than drinking.”
Courses are available across the UK though funding mechanisms are different.
In Wales and Scotland, where suicide rates are higher historically than in England, courses have been funded centrally by countries’ governments, meaning rollout has been faster than in England.
However, even in England there are now 400 instructors and although they are concentrated in the South East and North East, courses are now available in the South West and in Manchester and Liverpool.
In Northern Ireland the charity Aware Defeat Depression has been awarded funding through the Promoting Mental Health Strategy to offer free courses during 2009-10 for people in Belfast.
Number to have taken courses
England: 11,000
Wales: 2,793
Scotland: 27,000
Northern Ireland: 16 places available for this year’s courses.
Scotland Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid England
Aware Defeat Depression (Northern Ireland)
Suicide prevention strategy launched in Wales
Scotland launches first aid kid for mental health
This article is published in the 25 February 2010 edition of Community Care magazine under the headline First Aid fot the Mind
News round up: National Care Service, cash for graduates
Most suggestions for punishing young offenders rejected
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WATCH: Which Shepherd is Truly Concerned About the Salvation of Andrew Cuomo’s Soul?
April 22, 2020 April 21, 2020 by Peter
Last year, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo jubilantly signed into law one of the most horrific abortion laws in the nation. Cuomo professes to be a Catholic, but has been a long-time dissenter of Church teaching on abortion.
When New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan was asked why he failed to publicly state the obvious fact that Cuomo had excommunicated himself from the Catholic Church and should not be allowed to receive Holy Communion, Dolan danced around the issue.
Contrast Cardinal Dolan’s response with that given by Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas in a recent interview with Catholic News Service. Which shepherd do you believe is truly concerned about the salvation of Andrew Cuomo’s immortal soul?
Cardinal Cupich Dismisses the Power of Prayer in Battling the Coronavirus
Catholic Bishops In England, Wales Put Their Support Behind ‘The Work Of Satan’
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Home BBC Watch Interview that blew the gaff on the BBC’s Remain mania
Interview that blew the gaff on the BBC’s Remain mania
By David Keighley
HOW very predictable. The BBC have never treated Nigel Farage or his core message seriously. During the European elections of 1999, when he was spokesman for the fledgling UKIP, they virtually ignored the party’s plans for withdrawal and gave far more airtime to the pro-Euro Conservative party. In all the years in between, they ignored as much as they could of the Brexit perspective and bracketed it firmly with bigotry, xenophobia and extremism. For example, News-watch surveys show that of 4,275 guests talking about the EU on Radio 4’s Today programme in survey periods between 2005 and 2015, only 132 (3.2 per cent) were supporters of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
And so on Sunday night, as the European parliamentary results rolled in, what was the BBC’s focus? Undoubtedly, virtually from the off, it was to discredit pro-Brexit developments in any way possible. The programme rapidly became the Emily Thornberry/Alastair Campbell show, complete with unchallenged allegations from the latter that the Brexit Party was funded by roubles, and from Lady Nugee that those who had voted for Brexit first time would see the error of their ways at a second poll. Both worked flat out to discredit Nigel Farage and rubbish the strength of the pro-Brexit vote.
It quickly became apparent, too, that part of the strategy was that BBC presenters and reporters crudely lumped together the votes for Greens, Liberal Democrats and the nationalist parties, and claimed they were all Remain.
This was poppycock, and at odds with what election results can indicate. For example, pollster Katherine Peacock said on the Today programme on May 3 when discussing the rise in the Liberal Democrat vote in the local elections, which Vince Cable had claimed was a vote for Remain:
‘You know, Vince Cable said that a vote for them is a vote for Remain. But I think it’s much, much more complex than that. And Lib Dems have a tradition of being that protest vote and of running councils and of making gains in local elections and I think that’s what you’ve seen a return to. Whether this actually can be transferred across to the European Elections is quite challenging. I think the issue of identity with political parties is very interesting. You’ve got only 8 per cent of the public who say they very strongly support a political party. Forty per cent say that they very strongly hold their position on Brexit, either Leave or Remain.’
There is no doubt that many of those who voted Liberal Democrat last Thursday were voting for Remain. But political allegiances are not currently as simple or binary as that, and to lump all the votes for one party together in the way the BBC did was highly questionable.
Yesterday morning Nigel Farage appeared on the Today programme. His interviewer was Justin Webb, and it was obvious from the outset that his mission was, as per usual, to attack and seek to discredit the Brexit Party’s success in every way he could, to the point of belligerence. There is a full transcript of the interview at the end of this article.
Mr Webb’s very predictable first point, continuing the overnight BBC theme, was that with ‘a total of 40 per cent of the vote’ Remain had won. Nigel Farage countered that parties who had entered the election supporting Brexit had won 52 per cent of the votes. Undaunted, Mr Webb resumed the attack. He said: ‘What they don’t accept is a no deal Brexit, which they say would be immensely damaging and what a huge number of the British people fear is a no deal Brexit that would damage their jobs. And that is the point that they’re making.’
And there we had it. News-watch research shows that this is what the BBC has been saying in various ways since the referendum took place. Of course, Corporation journalists have a duty to be adversarial when appropriate. But the overall treatment of the Brexit Party went well beyond that, and the negativity was only one way. On the results programme, by contrast, when a Plaid Cymru spokesman claimed at length that the Welsh vote was without doubt a victory for Remain and reversed the referendum vote, no one challenged him.
To be fair, Mr Farage managed to make some telling points of his own, such as that the two-party system served nothing but itself. But the relentless dogs-of-war onslaught continued, with Mr Webb openly laughing and incredulous at the idea of the Brexit Party standing in the next general election with a full manifesto, and then claiming Nigel Farage’s past policies included ‘a liking for President Putin’ – and no doubt in BBC terms the biggest heresy of all – ‘you don’t want the health service’.
In this one interview, all the BBC’s editorial doubts about Brexit, which have been the focus of their EU coverage for the 20 years that News-watch has been monitoring it, came into play. The difference now is that the BBC is seemingly transforming into what looks increasingly like a campaigning organisation with an agenda of its own – and that, as became crystal clear overnight, is to work all-out to discredit the idea of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, no matter how much the people of Britain might want it.
JUSTIN WEBB: Let us turn to Nigel Farage who’s here in the studio, morning to you.
NIGEL FARAGE: Good morning to you.
JW: Nobody won, did they?
NF: Well, I don’t think we did too badly. I mean, the party didn’t even exist six weeks ago. We set it up and, of course, we had no ground campaign, no branches and yet, with a big simple message which is ‘We’ve been badly let down by two parties who’ve broken their promises’, we’ve topped the poll in a fairly dramatic start.
JW: And with a big simple message on the other side, ‘We want to remain’. They actually did better than you, got 40 per cent of the vote you, you and UKIP got 35 between you.
NF: (speaking over) No, no, no, no . . .
JW: So actually, they . . .
JW: Let me just put it to you . . .
NF: Hang on a second . . .
JW: They can legitimately, on the other . . .
NF: (speaking over) No.
JW: . . . side of the argument, claim victory this morning.
NF: (speaking over) Of course they can’t, because the Conservative Party position is they support Brexit and us leaving, add the Conservative vote are up. If you go around the country . . . do you know what it is? It’s about 52/48. We’re pretty much where we were three years ago. Things haven’t changed, people haven’t changed their minds. Now, actually, you know, that referendum was won by a clear majority of 1.3million. In a democracy, it’s the majority that wins. The problem we’ve got is that for a democracy to really function properly, you need the loser’s consent. And it’s pretty clear, listening to those clips, that the Remain parties still don’t accept Brexit. So these battles will go on.
JW: What they don’t accept is a ‘no deal’ Brexit, which they say would be immensely damaging and what a huge number of the British people fear is a ‘no deal’ Brexit that would damage their jobs. And that is the point that they’re making.
NF: Yeah well, the point is . . .
JW: (speaking over) And that is the point that these European elections have made to you and your supporters.
NF: Well, we couldn’t have been clearer. You know, the next date is 31 October. That will become as big a day in people’s minds as March 29. And all I can say is this: if we don’t leave on March 31 [sic] then you could can expect to see the Brexit Party’s success last night continue into the next general election.
JW: If a Conservative leader, new Conservative leader, new prime minister, comes to power and says, ‘Okay, we are going to leave on October 31 without a deal.’ And some Conservatives, as seems very likely, say, ‘We can’t support that,’ so there is an election. Will you do a deal with that leader to make sure that that side wins the election?
NF: Well, the first thing I want to say is this: that we’ve got a two-month period now during which there’s going to be this Conservative contest. That’s two of the five months we’ve got left until the leaving date. And I absolutely insist that we do have a mandate to now be part of that team. I want the Brexit Party . . . we’ve got some businessmen and women of considerable experience, quite happy to help the government get ready for 31 October by becoming part of that team . . .
JW: (interrupting) You haven’t got any MPs?
NF: Well, we will actually be in Brussels. You know, that’s where, that’s where . . .
JW: (speaking over) Yeah, but you don’t have any standing in this country to be part of the negotiations, any more than the Lib Dems do.
NF: Well, I don’t know, we’ve just won a national election. I would have thought we do have quite considerable standing. And we’ve also got the right people and the right expertise. So that’s the first thing I would say. The second thing I would say is whatever any Conservative leader says, well why would I believe them? Because we’ve heard it all before, Theresa May telling us 108 times we were leaving on March 29 and we didn’t, so . . .
JW: (speaking over) So hang on a second, even if there’s a manifesto then, say for the sake of argument, Boris Johnson is in charge, there’s a manifesto, he’s, he’s brought down by his own party effectively . . .
NF: (words unclear, speaking under)
JW: . . . there is a general election . . . well no, all these things are . . .
NF: (speaking over) We’re a long way from . . .
JW: . . . entirely possibly.
NF: We’re a long way from that.
JW: And they came to you and said, ‘Let’s do a deal, let’s say “no deal” Brexit, but let’s get it across by doing a deal your party’ are you . . . you’re not ruling it out, are you?
NF: I do not believe that the Conservative Party is even capable of producing a leader through this contest with that kind of clear message. I just don’t think it’s going to happen.
JW: But if they do, if they do, and a lot of Conservatives not only think that it’s possible, but think that is likely, and want it to happen, a lot of Conservative members . . . members. What they want to know from you is what then is the electoral setup going into that . . .
NF: (interrupting) If I see a Conservative manifesto at the end of this year, with an autumn election that says absolutely, unequivocally and clearly, ‘We are leaving the European Union with or without a deal and we mean it’, I’d be delighted to see it, but, but again, would they (words unclear due to speaking over)
JW: (speaking over) And, and . . .
NF: But they, but they . . .
JW: (speaking over) No, but you, hang on a second . . .
NF: (words unclear)
JW: (speaking over) No, excuse me, because you were (words unclear due to speaking over)
NF: (speaking over) In 2017 . . .
JW: . . . almost getting there . . .
JW: . . . but then you didn’t tell us what you were going to (word unclear due to speaking over)
NF: (speaking over) In 2017, the Conservatives told us we would be leaving on March 29 with or without a deal, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t . . .
JW: (speaking over) And if they tell you now, at the end of October, what do you do?
NF: I wouldn’t believe them.
JW: What, you’d simply, you’d simply blank them and stand against them?
NF: Firstly, it isn’t going to happen. I don’t think you . . . I mean, we’re not going to get a Conservative leader with that degree of clarity. And secondly, I wouldn’t believe them. How could I, with the track record of the last couple of years?
JW: But, but what you’re doing then is (laughs) suggesting to the country that you are going to stand as a political party . . .
NF: Yeah.
JW: . . . with a whole gamut of policies . . .
JW: . . . and recently, on The Andrew Marr Show, when you were reminded of what those previous policies were, that you’ve held, you didn’t much like it. You are going to have to turn yourself into a full-scale political party?
NF: It’s a heck of a job. You know we’ve done amazing things in six weeks. I’m not pretending that to set up the infrastructure to fight 650 seats, perhaps for an October election is easy, but that, that work . . .
JW: (speaking over) But you’re intending to do it?
NF: . . . that work starts (words unclear due to speaking over ‘this afternoon’?)
JW: (speaking over) With a full manifesto?
NF: Absolutely. (words unclear due to speaking over)
JW: (speaking over) And we’ll be reminded of your previous liking for President Putin . . .
JW: . . . and you don’t want the health service and all the rest of it . . .
NF: (speaking over) Hang on, they were never policies. I mean, I know the job of media is to close down debate, but those things that were talked about on the Andrew Marr programme . . .
JW: (speaking over) No, I’m opening it up, they’re your policies.
NF: (speaking over) were never, ever policies. But we will, of course, talk about policies, to have a policy platform . . .
JW: (speaking over) Right . . .
NF: . . . no question about that.
JW: (speaking over) Right, you are, you are going to stand in the next election with a full set of . . .
NF: (speaking over) But I’ll tell you what’s also, I’ll tell you what’s also very interesting, all the focus this morning is on the impact we’ve had on the Conservative Party. Just look at what happened to the Labour vote in the north-east of England and in Wales, where for the first time in over 100 years the Labour Party have not won an election in Wales. We’re also taking huge numbers of votes from the Labour Party too.
JW: You are going to challenge those two parties, right across the board . . .
NF: (speaking over) Yes.
JW: . . . and you think you can supplant them or live with them . . .
NF: (speaking over) Well . . .
JW: . . . in, in an election?
NF: I think that the two-party system now serves nothing but itself. I think they’re an obstruction to the modernisation of politics in our country, an obstruction to us moving forwards and yes, we’re going to take them on and I accept it’s a hugely ambitious thing to do, but that is what we’re going to try.
JW: So you’re going to stay in politics, because you had said you’d gone. In fact, you had gone.
NF: Well, I was quite happy to have gone . . .
JW: (speaking over) But you’re not any more.
NF: . . . and had we left the European Union . . .
JW: You are sticking with this for the long term?
NF: Yes, absolutely.
JW: Final thought about Donald Trump who’s coming here soon, are you going to see him?
NF: Well it’s difficult because, you know, whilst I’m a friend of his and I saw him quite recently in America, you know, this is an official state visit. And we know that Number 10 are saying, ‘Please don’t meet that person’, so if I do, it’ll be in private.
Previous articleWhat does the Brexit Party landslide really mean?
Next articleMay’s legacy – division, distrust, and democracy in ruins
David Keighleyhttp://news-watch.co.uk
Former BBC news producer, BBC PR executive and head of corporate relations for TV-am. Director of News-watch.
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As in past surveys on the topic, there were notable differences in perceptions by race and ethnicity. Twenty-six percent of African-Americans, 33 percent of whites and 38 percent of Hispanics said they believe race relations are very good or fairly good today.
The deaths of unarmed black men — and their killers' subsequent trials or lack thereof — clearly are a factor in those perceptions. In the survey a year ago, three-fourths of African-American respondents said the grand jury decision not to charge the Ferguson police officer who killed Brown, hurt their faith in the criminal justice system. That view was shared by only one-fourth of whites. A similar schism emerged around a grand jury's decision not to indict police officers involved in Garner's chokehold death on Staten Island.
Today, black men are seven times more likely than white men to die by police gunfire while unarmed, a recent Washington Post analysis found. The reaction to that statistic varies by race — and, apparently, political perspective. This month's survey indicated that 22 percent of Democrats considered the debate about the use of force by police one of the most personally important news events of 2015, compared to 7 percent of Republicans.
Still, there are signs of hope amid the turmoil.
Student protests at the University of Missouri-Columbia this year drew attention to long-running problems with race relations on campus and prompted major changes in leadership.
The June 17 mass murder of nine worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., for which a 21-year-old white supremacist has been charged, shocked the nation. The public response did little to advance the discussion about gun control or improving mental health care, but it did prompt a long-overdue debate in the South about its blithe embrace of Confederate symbols and their destructive effect on race relations.
As Confederate flags and other misplaced homages were removed from public places, a renewed interest in fostering better race relations in the South appeared to take hold, at least in most places.
This summer, Obama said he cautions young people not to overstate the nation's struggle with race relations: 'Do not say that nothing's changed when it comes to race in America — unless you've lived through being a black man in the 1950s, or '60s, or '70s. It is incontrovertible that race relations have improved significantly during my lifetime and yours, and that opportunities have opened up, and that attitudes have changed.'
But, he continued, 'What is also true is that the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives — you know, that casts a long shadow. And that's still part of our DNA that's passed on. We're not cured of it.'
The cure remains elusive, and — at least for now — it appears the public's confidence in progress is wavering. But, as Obama points out and as his presidency illustrates, historic changes have occurred, and they remain within our reach today. But American leaders must seek to unite, not to divide.
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Bioware Is Dead, Is EA Games To Blame?
Posted by: Ryan Keyworth
Recently, the video gaming industry was rocked with the announcement that Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuck, co-founders of the revered RPG developer, Bioware, are retiring from the gaming industry. With their departure, they leave behind a legacy of more than 15 years of some truly inspiring work. It is the end of an era in video games, as the doctor’s leave their company to pursue greener (or perhaps more red, or more blue) pastures. But where does that leave their company, Bioware? A better question may be, is there even a Bioware left anymore?
Bioware made a name for itself for crafting some of the most ground breaking RPG’s in video game history. They are known for telling excellent stories, creating rich universes bursting with compelling lore, crafting deep characters with heart and emotion and pitting players against dark antagonists and insurmountable odds. However, since EA bought Bioware in 2007, there has been a gradual decay in quality from the studio.
Mass Effect 2, while superior in more ways than one to its predecessor, Mass Effect, has been frequently put under scrutiny for its shift from RPG, to more shooter friendly. Many (myself included) argue that Mass Effect 2’s story is significantly inferior to the originals. It also abandoned its RPG features almost completely (which is odd considering it was marketed as a Role Playing Game) and featured a far more limited and linear gaming experience.
Dragon Age 2 was released not long after. The game received overwhelming negative feedback for its (once again) inferior story, scaled back RPG mechanics, heavy emphasis on “kick-ass action” and awesome buttons, and most notably, its horrendous reuse of the exact same levels over and over and over and over and over again.
The game itself resembled very little of its predecessor Dragon Age Origins. Personally, I do feel that the hate for Dragon Age 2 was overblown. It was not a bad game by any stretch of the term. In fact, it was a very good game. However, it was not a great game, and that in and of itself was cause for concern.
Since Dragon Age 2, fans had a wary eye locked onto Bioware. Trust and consumer loyalty was dwindling. Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Old Republic was once again disappointing loyal Bioware fans.
Casting an even stronger shadow of doubt over the company was the staggering amount of the most talented individuals working for Bioware who were departing from the company. Drew Karpyshyn, Brent Knowles, Christina Norman, and many others were all jumping ship. All with Mass Effect 3’s release looming on the horizon.
Bioware initially seemed very much aware of the set-backs they experienced. They told fans that they were listening to their feedback, and promised that Mass Effect 3 would bring the much loved RPG elements back into the game that has always been touted as an RPG. They promised closure, more interaction with companion characters, and a solid end to what was arguably their most cherished franchise. Mass Effect 3, however, did none of what was stated.
The RPG elements that supposedly were returning were only slightly more significant than ME2’s. It featured less interaction with companions than ever before in any Bioware game. The story had no closure and an ending so open to interpretation, that many fans had no clue what had even transpired. Adding to all of that, Mass Effect 3 streamlined its gameplay even further by nearly removing the dialog choices and paragon/renegade reputation system entirely. Though Bioware had adamantly proclaimed to be listening to the feedback from their fans, it would seem that our voices were not heard.
After the release of Mass Effect 3, the backlash was so potent, it made the tidal wave of negativity following Dragon Age 2 look like a toddler splashing in a puddle after a moderate rain shower. Protests began to take flight. Fans began begging for clarity, demanding satisfaction, and in some cases, even threatening developers. Meanwhile, Bioware, the company that claims to listen to and admire the opinion of their fan base, began fighting back.
Virtually every negative topic was closed down on the game’s forum, and some members were even banned permanently. Insults were flung around by Bioware employees. “Entitled,” they said. “Respect our artistic vision,” they said.
One Bioware employee even referred to their fans as, “basement dwelling nerds.” Odd sentiments from a company that claimed for years to listen to the feedback from their fans, regardless of whether the criticisms are positive or negative. Odd sentiments indeed.
Looking at the Mass Effect series specifically, one can clearly see a shift in direction. Mass Effect 1 was released before EA bought Bioware. It was a roleplaying game that allowed players to make deep choices that were promised to have dire consequences. It was a cinematic science fiction tale, painting an idealized utopian future among the stars.
Mass Effect 3 was more of a third person shooter, complete with a multiplayer component. Choices made in previous installments were nullified, and often retconned into a preferred cannon outcome. Rarely in the game were players ever burdened with making any new choices, and the choices you did make had no consequences, and did very little to change the story in any way.
The idealized utopia was scrapped in favor of a dark, grim and desolate wasteland of a galaxy. Looking back, Mass Effect 3 does not resemble Mass Effect in any way. Not in gameplay, narrative tone, or artistic design. Mass Effect 3 was the exact opposite of what fans wanted, and what they had been asking for.
Even in the aftermath, Bioware claimed to have listened to their by releasing an Extended Cut downloadable add-on. Fans wanted clarity, closure, and a better, more fitting end to the trilogy. Though Bioware claimed this is what was being delivered, most fans saw nothing new or significant. The company that once listened to their fans had spurned them in favor of “artistic integrity.”
Bioware once made role playing games that encapsulated the minds, hearts and souls of gamers. They once asked for input from the valued consumer base. They once delivered on that input. Now, Bioware almost looks upon both RPGs and their fan base as if they are a disease to be purged. They focus on the “widest possible audience”, and no longer take risks or make daring moves. They are not the company they once were. And now, with departure of the men who built it from the ground up, no one can say otherwise.
Of course, perhaps I am overreacting. Perhaps this is merely a transition for Bioware. But then again, it has become quite clear to me that Bioware no longer makes, and have not been making for some time, games that I am interested in playing. Some may call me an entitled whiner. Some may say that I am crazy. Some may say that I am cynical and perhaps even unpleaseable.
Perhaps that is true. But, I do know one thing. I know that to me, Bioware has always been a developer that created deep role playing experiences, extremely well told stories, rich and compelling characters, and complex and sympathetic villains. They have always been a company that has valued the opinions and insight of their fans, actively participating with them in discussions about their games. It was a company built by extraordinary talent. Talent like Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuck, Drew Karpyshyn, Brent Knowles, etc. None of this is what Bioware is to me now. The Bioware I know, the Bioware I fell in love all those years ago, when I first loaded Neverwinter Nights into my PC, is no more.
It is easy to blame the shift in direction on EA, but if there is one thing I know, Bioware is keenly aware of choice and outcome. They made their choices of their own volition, make no mistake about that. Any failures the developer makes, they make on their own. It would seem to this humble writer, that Bioware is dead. In fact, they died years ago. Only now, the corpse is finally starting to stink.
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Upgrade Taipei's Status
PRESIDENT Clinton is expected soon to modestly upgrade Taiwan's diplomatic status in Washington. Such a move would inject a note of common sense into United States relations with Taiwan.
Since Taiwan's ouster from the United Nations in October 1971, and since the US shifted its diplomatic recognition of China to Beijing in 1979, Washington's relations with the island have been conducted under increasingly Byzantine rules. Those rules, as well as a 1982 agreement with China to reduce arms sales to Taiwan, didn't prevent the US from selling nearly $6 billion worth of F-16 fighters to Taipei in 1992. Nor did they prevent the US from exporting some $16.25 billion of goods, vs. $8.7 billion to mainland China, last year. Yet the rules do lead to absurdities such as a refusal to allow Taiwan's president to leave his plane or spend the night during a refueling stop in Hawaii on a trip from Taiwan to Central America.
Some details of the new policy are still being worked out. In general, however, the changes will make it easier for US and Taiwanese officials to visit each other's countries and for Taiwanese officials to meet with their US counterparts in federal buildings.
The change comes in a context of gradually thawing political relations and growing trade links between Taipei and Beijing. Representatives of semiofficial organizations from each side (China officially views Taiwan as a breakaway province) signed agreements last week dealing with hijackers and illegal immigration. The negotiator from the mainland was Tang Shubei, vice chairman of the semiofficial organization set up to handle cross-straits issues. He was the highest-ranking official so far to hold talks with his Taiwanese counterparts.
Taiwan is viewed as one of the region's ``tiger'' economies and is undergoing political liberalization after years of one-party rule. While the US is right to defer questions of Taiwan's sovereignty to Bejing and Taipei, relegating Taiwan to the diplomatic back door is a relic that needs to be shed.
China has not renounced the use of force as it pursues the goal of bringing Taiwan under Bejing's control. Moreover, Beijing is concerned about the increasing numbers of Taiwanese who favor independence. The shift in Washington's approach should serve notice that while the US supports a peaceful process for resolving issues between the island and the mainland, it views Taiwan as too important a regional player to write off.
How a pair of US stopovers could reshape Taiwan's ties with US, China
Taiwan ready to buy US missile frigates amid South China Sea spats
Taiwan elections: US must show respect for self-determination
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Published Monday, November 30, 2020 4:17AM EST Last Updated Tuesday, December 1, 2020 2:08PM EST
OTTAWA -- The federal government is unveiling a new round of financial supports to respond to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, as the latest projections show the national deficit is projected to hit a new high: at least $381.6 billion this fiscal year.
The deficit is growing for several reasons: ongoing pandemic supports, $25.1 billion in newly-announced programs aimed at getting badly-hit businesses through the next few months, as well as the early allocations being made to help rebuild the economy once the urgent health crisis passes. The Liberals are also making moves towards boosting transfer payments to the provinces.
That federal deficit projection is considered Canada’s best-case scenario, and is up from the $343.2 billion forecast in July. However, should the pandemic situation continue to worsen and the country experiences extended restrictions, the deficit could hit $388.8 billion in 2020-21, or balloon to $398.7 billion if restrictions are escalated.
Titled “Supporting Canadians and Fighting COVID-19,” the 237-page fiscal update offers the country a revised look at the state of the federal finances and the impact the ongoing COVID-19 recession has had on Canada’s economic outlook, but offers no estimate of when, if ever, the government will balance its books.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled the revised economic picture inside the House of Commons.
“This is the most severe challenge our country has faced since the Second World War. It is our most severe economic shock since the Great Depression, and our most severe public health crisis since the Spanish Flu a century ago. Canadians should know that their federal government will be there to help them get through it, come what may,” Freeland said in her House address.
Speaking to reporters during an embargoed news conference as part of a virtual “lockup” on Monday afternoon, Freeland said that given the country is still in the midst of a second wave, the government’s priority remains fighting the virus and protecting Canadians’ health and safety.
She also said the Liberals’ unprecedented spending to date has helped stabilize the economy, and that’s why the government plans to continue that approach.
“Canada’s spending as outlined today is prudent, it is thoughtful, it is careful. And what we understand is that the job we have to do right now is to be sure that our economy is not scarred, to be sure that our economy is not wounded, so that we can come out of this crisis roaring back,” Freeland said. “We believe that the best way for Canada to honour our credit obligations, is to have a strong and growing economy, that’s what this plan is all about.”
NEW COVID-19 SPENDING
The fiscal update shows that since March, the federal government has spent more than $322 billion— up from July’s total of $231 billion, on direct aid measures to help fight COVID-19 and protect Canadians over the course of the pandemic so far. This includes more than $52 billion in support for co-ordinated federal, provincial and territorial measures.
This has included a reworked Employment Insurance program, and new sick leave and caregiver leave programs for those who have to take time off work due to COVID-19.
Monday’s economic update includes a series of new measures building on the federal government’s ongoing response which has included a suite of emergency response aid programs, the support for local community organizations on the front lines, and the $19.9-billion safe restart package sent to provinces.
Responding in part to premiers’ calls for a boost to health transfers, the Liberals are proposing to nearly triple the maximum fiscal stabilization payment to $170 per resident, up from $60, as part of a review of the program’s terms, last reworked in 1995. Legislation and regulatory amendments are coming to make these changes, which the federal government says will “make the program more generous when provinces need help the most.”
The government intends to introduce legislative and regulatory amendments to implement these changes.
In an effort to respond to the still surging pandemic, the federal government has announced plans to spend more on COVID-19 testing, vaccines, self-isolation support, and procuring personal protective equipment, reduce the cost of face shields and face masks for Canadians by removing sales taxes, and improve ventilation in public buildings.
Canadians working from home will also be getting a boost: The federal government is allowing people with “modest” expenses to claim up to $400, based on their time spent working from their dining room table, or spare room. The economic update states that Canadians can make the claim on their taxes without needing to report itemized expenses and the Canada Revenue Agency likely won’t prod for confirmation from employers.
From an economic support standpoint, the government is also announcing plans to increase the maximum rate of the Emergency Wage Subsidy back up to 75 per cent beginning in late December at a cost of $14.7 billion and extending the current rate of support offered through Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and additional lockdown top-up offered to businesses forced to close, until March at least, at a cost of $2.1 billion.
As well, the federal Liberals will be establishing a $1-billion “Safe Long-Term Care Fund” to help provinces and territories better protect Canadian seniors as part of plans to establish a national standard of care. This program will be contingent on a detailed spending plan, and allocated on an equal per capita basis, conditional on provinces and territories demonstrating that investments have been made. The money will help improve infection prevention and control in long-term care homes and hire additional staff, as examples.
To help Canada’s hardest-hit industries such as the tourism, hospitality, arts, entertainment, and regional air sectors, the government is creating a new “Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program.” This new stream will allow those who need it to access 100-per-cent government-backed loans, with better terms for those who have lost revenue due to people staying home to limit the virus’ spread.
These new loans are being offered for as much as $1 million, for up to ten years, with more details promised soon.
And, the Liberals are moving ahead with imposing the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) on multinational digital giants such as Netflix and Amazon, “so they pay their fair share.”
Referencing the uptick in e-commerce Canadians are conducting and efforts to level the playing field with local brick-and-mortar retailers, the federal government is looking to pick up billions in new revenues over the next five years by proposing a number of changes to ensure that the GST/HST applies to all goods and services purchased in Canada from foreign companies. These changes will be effective July 1, 2021.
STIMULUS, LONG-TERM PLANS
In a best-case scenario the federal deficit could drop to $121.2 billion in 2021-22 and decline considerably over the following two years. In a worst-case scenario with escalated restrictions, the federal deficit will still decrease over the years following, but would sit at $136.7 billion in 2021-22.
Based on the varying federal projections on the deficit—depending on the severity of the pandemic over the next few months—the federal government has unveiled a new economic stimulus plan it intends to roll out over the next three years to boost Canada’s recovery.
Depending on the state of the country’s finances at the time, the federal government says it will spend roughly three to four per cent of the GDP— $70 to $100 billion between 2021 and 2024 -- to “jumpstart” the economic rebound.
The economic update includes planned spending as part of this program billed as a “down payment” on the plan -- largely initiatives focused on green recovery such as new money for home retrofits and tree planting and addressing systemic barriers that COVID-19 has exposed, such as homelessness and racism.
“We know that the coronavirus has done deep damage to our economy. Now, thanks to the hard work of Canadians, and the support our government has given them, we have recovered significantly... But we know that, even today, we are still in a deeper trough than Canada was in the depths of the 2008-2009 recession, so we know we have some work to do to build our economy back, to grow our economy out of this recession,” Freeland said in an interview on CTV’s Power Play.
“This is going to take a growth plan… We're going to take the next couple of months to build out details and have a plan that is there… to build our way out of the coronavirus recession,” she said.
One of the biggest measures foreshadowed as part of this long-term growth plan is the creation of a Canada-wide “Early Learning and Child Care System.”
Billed as one of several endeavours meant to respond to the “she-cession”—the economic effects women are disproportionately experiencing amid the pandemic—the government is announcing the intent to move forward with this child care plan in next year’s budget.
Initially, the Liberals are providing $20 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to bring together governments, experts and stakeholders to design this new national plan.
“I say this both as a working mother, and as a finance minister: Canada will not be truly competitive until all Canadian women have access to the affordable child care we need to support our participation in our country’s workforce,” Freeland said Monday.
As well, the Liberals are promising to provide additional support of up to $1,200 a year in 2021 for each child under the age of six, through the Canada Child Benefit program, and to eliminate federal interest on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans for 2021-22.
KEY ECONOMIC FIGURES
The deficit projection released Monday in the federal government’s fall economic statement is just one of a series of newly-updated figures that show the impact the pandemic has had on the Canadian economy.
The federal government continues to state that Canada’s economic situation would have been much worse without the early introduction of massive aid measures.
That being said, the government says the federal debt will exceed $1.4 trillion by March 2021, up from the $1.2 trillion projected in July’s financial report.
As of the latest update from Statistics Canada on the country’s unemployment rate, nearly one quarter of those who are currently out of work have been for at least six months. In total, 1.8 million Canadians were out of a job in October, and the overall unemployment rate is sitting at 8.9 per cent.
Monday’s document shows that nearly 80 per cent of the jobs lost at the start of this crisis have been recouped, but unemployment is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until sometime in the summer of 2022.
Freeland restated a position held by her predecessor, Bill Morneau: that Canada’s debt-to-GDP-ratio remains the lowest among the G7, and so the debt will be affordable to manage for the many years it’ll take to get closer to balance. The finance minister said that despite the massive deficit, Canada’s current debt-servicing costs relative to the size of Canada’s economy are at a 100-year low.
The federal government now projects its debt-to-GDP ratio will be 50.7 per cent in 2020-21, up from the 49.1 per cent forecast in the July snapshot.
While the update offers no specific fiscal anchor, the government has introduced a new approach: “fiscal guardrails,” with a pledge to have more details on how they’ll work in the months ahead.
Explained as a series of data-based guides that inform the government’s financial approach, the government says it will monitor certain economic indicators like the unemployment rate, hours worked, and other labour market indicators as metrics to decide whether to ease up or dole out more federal dollars.
“Because interest rates are so low the government can afford these sort of deficits, in fact does have the ammunition to do more if required,” said Deloitte Canada Chief Economist Craig Alexander on BNN on Monday. “I think the reality is, they're not going to get away from calls for fiscal guidance around how they're going to rebalance their finances in the years to come.”
Monday’s fiscal update is expected to be followed by a full federal budget sometime in 2021, after the 2020 budget scheduled for March 30 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
OPPOSITION WEIGH IN
All of the proposed new measures will be voted on by MPs in the coming weeks. The measures are set to be considered a confidence matter and if the opposition doesn't support them, the Liberal minority government could fall.
Already, the federal Conservatives have voiced their displeasure, with leader Erin O’Toole saying that the financial document does not include “a plan” to end COVID-19.
“Canadians want their lives back… And they have only asked one thing of this government, one simple thing: What is the plan?” said O’Toole. “As the red ink on our balance sheet turns to dark crimson… There’s no clarity or competence.”
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet also spoke of the need for more to be done to ready Canada for a vaccine rollout, and to support vulnerable groups now, but criticized the Liberals for their spending.
“They have renounced the very idea of controlling deficits. They refuse to speak about it. Each time somebody will say: ‘isn’t the deficit getting a bit high?’ they will be told that this is something that cannot be considered in present time. They basically say that there is no limit to what they will spend,” he said.
In interviews on CTV’s Power Play, both NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Annamie Paul were a bit more optimistic about certain aspects of the fiscal update, but called for the Liberals to quickly flesh out their promises and act on them.
“This is the time for ambition, this is the time to believe in people in Canada and our ingenuity and our ability to really make sure, as I think as a fitting tribute to all the people that have lost so much during this pandemic, that we're never here again. And that's really going to require completing our social safety net,” Paul said.
She said that the promises around long-term care, child care, and post-secondary education are good, but are “not to the scale that they need to be to meet the challenges of the moment.”
Singh, who has been the Liberals’ dance partner on confidence votes—giving them the backing needed to avoid a snap election in some instances—wouldn’t commit to backing the eventual vote on Monday’s fiscal presentation, but overall classified the document as “a swing and a miss.”
This economic statement is all Liberal. Half measures, weak steps, not really committing to help people in a time of need. No real plan, breaking commitments, breaking promises,” Singh said.
Shooting back at the criticism leveled at her first fall economic update in her role as finance minister, Freeland said her constituency is neither the Conservatives, nor the NDP, rather the measures unveiled are for Canadians.
Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland delivers the 2020 fiscal update in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Fall Economic Statement 2020
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Adam Yauch’s Hilarious Alter Ego Epitomized the Beastie Boys’ Michievous Creativity
The story of Swiss music video director Nathaniel Hörnblowér.
by Dan Redding | August 24, 2016
Mike D, Nathaniel Hörnblowér, and Ad-Rock
Frequent Beastie Boys collaborator Nathaniel Hörnblowér has an impressive resume. He directed classic Beasties videos (including ‘So What Cha Want’ and ‘Pass the Mic’) as well as the rap trio’s 2006 live concert film, Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!. He is even credited for the iconic photograph on the cover of Paul’s Boutique. Nathaniel Hörnblowér, of course, was the ludicrous alter ego of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch. The character was an outlet for the group’s mischievous sense of humor –and it symbolized Yauch’s boundless creative presence in the band.
Sometime during the Paul’s Boutique era, a costumed caricature of a Swiss yodeler started showing up at press events. Nathaniel Hörnblowér wore lederhosen, a red beard, a feather in his cap, and always seemed to be packing a pipe. During interviews, Hörnblowér spoke in a ridiculous accent and waxed philosophical about his homeland.
When Yauch was on camera as himself, he delighted in weaving Hörnblowér’s mythology. He told one interviewer that his Swiss cousin was an “old yodeler” who “pretty much invented snowboarding.” Yauch’s ad-libbed bullshitting was almost poetic. He rambled about how Hörnblowér “built his own helicopter out of wood and plays a flugelhorn.”
Related: 20 Things You Didn’t Know about the Beastie Boys
Hörnblowér’s most notorious public moment occurred at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards, where ‘Sabotage’ director Spike Jonze was nominated for a ‘Best Direction’ award. When R.E.M. won the award, Hörnblowér stormed the podium, telling the crowd, “I’m from Switzerland, okay? Let me just tell everyone that. And since I was a small boy I had dreamed that Spike would win this. And now that this has happened, I want to tell everyone this is a farce, that I had all the ideas for Star Wars and everything.”Jonze feigned horror at the incident during an interview with MTV News, saying, “I wanted to stop it from happening, because it was just an appalling situation.”
Jonze was also a coconspirator in the Hörnblowér ruse during a 1994 segment of MTV’s ‘Get Late’ show (hosted by Kennedy), during which he explained, “Nathaniel is one of my early mentors in the film business…. He’s a Swiss filmmaker who started building his own cameras in the early fifties. I’ve learned quite a bit from him.”
The MTV incident wasn’t the only time that Yauch called on Hörnblowér to express his sense of gleeful outrage. In 2004, The New York Times published a sour review of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Ch-Check It Out Video,’ directed by Yauch under the Hörnblowér pseudonym. Reviewer Stephanie Zacharek said the video “shows the Beastie Boys moving as fast as they can but going nowhere at all.” Hörnblowér responded by writing to the Times and demanding that they send him a goat. In the letter, Nathaniel explained that not only was the reviewer mistaken about the quality of the video, but that the newspaper had been couriered to “my homeland, the Oppenzell” by means of a goat, which had died in the process. “Then I had to give the mailman one of my goats,” Hörnblowér explained, “so remember, you owe me a goat.”
In 2011, the Beasties cast David Cross as Nathaniel Hörnblowér for their star-studded ‘Make Some Noise’ video. Yauch also directed Cross in the short film ‘A Day In The Life Of Nathanial Hörnblower.’
David Cross as Nathanial Hörnblower in the ‘Make Some Noise’ video
The absurdism of the Hörnblowér character belied Yauch’s tremendous influence in the Beastie Boys. According to the book The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique (33 1/3) , Yauch “often took the creative lead” during recording sessions. His music video directing career represents an immense part of his contribution to the band’s legacy – and a less humble man might’ve basked in the credit for directing hit videos. Yauch, however, made a joke of his influential role. It was characteristic of the visionary rapper, who was humble, hilarious, and brilliant to a fault.
Tags: Beastie Boys
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At Sotheby’s, New Painting by Lorna Simpson Sets Artist’s First Six-Figure Record
by Victoria L. Valentine on Jun 4, 2018 • 11:58 pm No Comments
Lorna Simpson in her studio with “Day for Night” (2018) panels before they are painted.
AN ARCHIVAL IMAGE of a woman standing precariously on the window ledge of a brick building inspired “Day for Night” (2018), a four-panel painting by Lorna Simpson. The new work sold for $375,000 including fees at Sotheby’s New York on May 17. The price is an artist record and the first time Simpson’s work has exceeded six figures at auction, according to Sotheby’s results and previous auction records.
The record-setting painting was featured in Creating Space, a special auction of 42 works benefitting the Studio Museum in Harlem. Artists closely associated the with the museum donated their works to the sale with the proceeds going to support the institution’s forthcoming David Adjaye-designed building. The lots were offered May 16-17 during Sotheby’s contemporary art sales in New York and yielded 24 artist records, including Simpson’s.
A conceptual photographer who explores a range of mediums, Brooklyn-based Simpson has transformed her practice in recent years and is currently pursuing painting. “Day for Night” is representative her style and approach which invokes vintage photographs, often of women. To make the layered paintings often executed on multiple panels, she experiments with the manner in which the silkscreened images are presented and their relationship with painted elements.
The image of the woman seen from behind on the window ledge was sourced from the Associated Press. Out of context, it is left to the viewer to determine what is going on. Whether she is demonstrating bravery, acting on fear, or expressing hopelessness, the situation is precarious. Simpson has explained that the dramatic images and themes found in her large-scale painting sprout from the modest-sized collages she makes.
The image of the woman seen from behind on the window ledge was sourced from the Associated Press. Out of context, it is left to the viewer to determine what is going on. Whether she is demonstrating bravery, acting on fear, or expressing hopelessness, the situation is precarious.
Lot 320: LORNA SIMPSON, “Day for Night,” 2008 (ink and acrylic on gessoed wood in 4 parts, 67 x 200 inches). | Estimate $250,000-$350,000. Sold for $375,000 including fees. RECORD
“I kind of find out a lot about what I am thinking as I make these collages. There are women on fire. There are women sitting on ice. There are women looking completely calm and collected or dancing while on fire or just bursting into flames,” Simpson said at the opening of her recent Hauser & Wirth exhibition in London, during a conversation with the Studio Museum’s Thelma Golden.
“After a while of making collages… I would pursue those themes that I was coming up with, subconsciously, which is interesting. It provides this window into my own subconscious, for myself, and then those elements help to fuel the paintings and the other works that come out of that.”
“Day for Night” echoes “Montage,” a complementary painting presented at her London show. It juxtaposes the fragmented images of the woman on the window sill with a fleeting image of a woman face down on a bed. When a reporter for the Financial Times visited her studio, Simpson stood before “Montage,” which she had just completed, and offered up an interpretation: “It’s about this psychological landscape of dreaming and waking, or waking and dreaming. There’s lots of anxiety — I don’t know if that’s leaving a gallery and going through a divorce!” (Simpson left Salon 94 to join Hauser & Wirth in April 2017 and recently divorced after 11 years of marriage.)
Simpson’s previous artist record was set in March when “Cloud,” a 2005 serigraph printed on felt in nine parts sold for $70,000 ($87,500 including fees) at Sotheby’s New York.
“Day for Night,” an ink and acrylic painting on gessoed wood that spans more than 16 feet across four panels, was priced to set a record and sold within the pre-sale estimate of $250,000-$350,000. CT
READ MORE A new study suggests how artists might benefit from maintaining a stake in their work
A new volume, “Lorna Simpson Collages,” is forthcoming this month. “Lorna Simpson” is a comprehensive catalogue documenting her body of work over the past three decades. Accompanying an exhibition of the same name, “Lorna Simpson: Works on Paper,” explores her collages and drawings. An earlier monograph simply titled “Lorna Simpson” accompanied a touring exhibition and includes contributions from Okwui Enwezor, Helaine Posner, Hilton Als, and Thelma Golden.
Screen printed panels that will compose “Day for Night.” | From Lorna Simpson: In the Studio, Video by Hauser & Wirth
At left, In progress “Day for Night” panels lean against the wall in Lorna Simpson’s studio. | From Lorna Simpson: In the Studio, Video by Hauser & Wirth
Auction Record: Lorna Simpson ‘Cloud’ Work Sets New Benchmark for the Artist At Sotheby’s, $3.9M White Text Painting Sets Glenn Ligon Record Auction Record: 1968 Beveled-Edge Painting Sets New High Mark for Sam Gilliam Njideka Akunyili Crosby Sets New Auction Record with Non-Figurative Painting, Proceeds Benefit Studio Museum in Harlem
Tags: Day for Night, Lorna Simpson, Sotheby's, Studio Museum in Harlem
Previous postCharles White Retrospective Opens Next Week at the Art Institute of Chicago, Where the Artist Regularly Wandered as a Child Next postArtistic Director Okwui Enwezor Steps Down From Haus der Kunst Museum Due to Health Reasons
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Industry Guest Speakers at Spark
JOCELYN WYATT - CEO at IDEO.ORG
Jocelyn is the CEO of IDEO.org, the nonprofit design organization that she co-founded in 2011 after leading IDEO’s social innovation practice. As CEO, Jocelyn spends her time sorting out the vision, strategy, funding, and growth plans for IDEO.org. She heads up partner development with foundations, nonprofits, and social enterprises; builds networks by speaking widely on how design is changing the social sector; and has racked up more frequent flyer miles than she cares to admit.
Prior to joining IDEO in 2007, Jocelyn worked in Kenya as an Acumen fellow. She also served as VisionSpring’s interim country director in India, where she helped increase the distribution of low-cost reading glasses to the poor. Before that, she did the training, project management, and business development for Chemonics International, a contractor for USAID. Jocelyn earned a BA in anthropology from Grinnell College and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Jocelyn was selected as an Aspen Institute First Movers fellow, was named a Top 100 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine, was a program advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative, sits on the Grinnell College Alumni Council, and serves as an advisory board member to Marketplace the Druker Institute.
DAN HONIG - Founder of HAPPY VALLEY MEAT COMPANY
Dan Honig started Happy Valley Meat to address the communication breakdown between farmers, buyers, and restaurants. His company, which is a certified B Corp, aggregates meat from over 20 farms to maximize output from each head of cattle. He has partnered with the ASPCA to build animal welfare guidelines all farmers partnered with HVM must follow. Momofuku and Dig Inn are among his 180 restaurant accounts in seven states across the Northeast.
SANJLI GIDWANEY, Co-Director of DESIGN FOR CHANGE USA
As the Director and CEO of DFC USA, Sanjli manages a national team of designers, educators and technologists. She has forged partnerships with the YMCA, IDEO, Harvard, Horizons National along with schools and schools network nationally. Sanjli travels state-to-state fundraising, leading professional development workshops, and speaking at various events. Sanjli has spoken at the National Association of Independent Schools, Yale, Harvard, Ashoka, SXSWEdu and the United Nations International School. She is deeply passionate about helping young people strengthen their agency to do good in the world. She received her Master’s in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, loves hip hop dancing and baking, and lives in Boston with her husband and their two children.
OSCAR ROMERO, ACT. Program Director NYCX CO-LABS
Oscar Romero leads the community-driven innovation efforts of the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO). His work focuses on Digital Equity, Participatory Development, and Smart City Public Policy. Before joining MOCTO, Oscar worked for The New School’s Digital Equity Laboratory where he researched how broadband access and privacy protection policies affect vulnerable populations across New York City. Oscar has worked on international cooperation for universities and international development organizations. He has designed experiential learning initiatives for large student communities (100,000+) in the US and Latin America.
Oscar holds an M.A. in International Affairs from The New School and a B.S. in International Studies from the University of Guadalajara. He is an active member of the Research Network on Autonomous Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean (REDIALC). Currently, he is researching the impact on inequality of Smart City Interventions across the US and is interested in collaborating with development organizations to promote dialogue and research on digital equity, cyber-geopolitics, IT public policy and International Cooperation
SARAH HERNHOLM, Founder and President of WIT & SMARTCITYSATURDAY
Sarah Hernholm is the Founder/President of WIT - Whatever It Takes (WIT) and Smart City Saturday (SCS). Sarah's focus is on creating platforms for teens to use their voice, launch businesses, and create a sustainable impact in their communities.
Sarah champions young entrepreneurs who are committed to innovation and to doing “whatever it takes to make the world a better place.” Prior to launching WIT and SCS, Sarah worked in film/tv, starting in Music Supervising department at Artisan Entertainment and working her way onto her first feature film set, ELF. Sarah credits her strong work ethic to her years on set, and her resilience also to her years on set and launching two businesses.
ALINA ZOLOTAREVA, Senior Marketing Manager at AEROFARMS
Alina Zolotareva is a marketing, business, and product development strategist and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) who has built her career working to solve the most pressing issues affecting our global food system with innovation and technology. Her current role is Senior Marketing Manager and Product Champion at AeroFarms, a mission-driven company and Certified B Corporation on a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. AeroFarms has built out the largest indoor vertical farm in the world, based in Newark, NJ, and is one of Fast Company's Most Innovative in 2018 and 2019. At AeroFarms, Alina leverages her education and background in nutrition science and public health to translate nutrition science to consumers, playing a key role in AeroFarms’ mission to combat food deserts and bring fresh, local, nutritious leafy greens to all communities. In addition to marketing and sales, Alina also leads product development and nutrition, working on the cutting edge of leafy greens innovation in nutrition and flavor science. She is passionate about the future of food, agriculture and wellness, and leveraging cutting edge technology to build a better planet for all.
Before AeroFarms, Alina worked in business development and marketing for an innovative culinary nutrition and sustainability consulting firm in NYC focused on improving human and environmental health through great-tasting and responsibly-sourced food. She was responsible for collaborating with their chefs and nutritionists to develop compelling products and services for leading restaurants and retail/foodservice operations. She has also spent time in nutrition and marketing at Unilever and other local food brands. Alina is a graduate of Cornell University and a Presidential Research Scholar with a B.S. with Honors in Nutrition Sciences and Dietetics. She is deeply ingrained in the NYC urban farming community, has an urban farming podcast called Seeds and the City, and also runs an experiential events consultancy in NYC called we are SUPERNATURAL.
Jennifer Kang, Alumna at Learn Serve
Jennifer Kang is a current 3rd year attending the University of Virginia. A LearnServe alumna and now intern, Jennifer enjoys exploring the multifaceted ways of approaching social entrepreneurship and innovation. As a Hackathon Event Coordinator Intern, she collaborates with the LearnServe team and students to coordinate Hackathon events. These events function to introduce social entrepreneurship to students through interactive activities that enable them to brainstorm solutions for social issues. Outside of LearnServe, Jennifer collaborates with Charlottesville community organizers to create workshops and events to facilitate conversation and awareness of social issues, such as immigration.
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At Long Last, Texas International Pop Festival In Lewisville to Receive a State Historical Marker
Robert Wilonsky | September 13, 2011 | 10:46am
Longtime Friends of Unfair Park are by now well aware of my lifetime obsession with the Texas International Pop Festival, held during Labor Day weekend in 1969 in a Lewisville field. The roster, put together by, among others, Angus Wynne, was legendary: Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Ten Years After, Santana, Johnny Winter, Sly and the Family Stone. For starters. It was North Texas's Woodstock -- a place where, as The New York Times noted, "more than 25,000 youthful rock fans gathered in a grassy drag strip ... to shout, clap and groove on the music and each other." Far out.
Richard Hayner, keeper of the Texas International Pop Festival website, has long been trying to commemorate the site or the event with a historical marker. I've just been informed that he was successful:
The Texas Historical Commission (THC) has recognized the Texas International Pop Festival as a significant part of Denton County history by awarding it an Official Texas Historical Marker. A dedication ceremony to commemorate the event will be held Saturday, October 1, at 10 a.m. at the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) Hebron Station in the 900 block of Lakeside Circle in Lewisville. The dedication is free and open to the public.
The full release follows. So too do more photos ... of Robert Plant and Sly Stone. Hayner was kind enough to provide them. In fact, we may have to do a slide show. Which go well with our boxed set. Far out.
Update: Did someone say slide show?!
OFFICIAL TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER DEDICATION FOR
TEXAS INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL SET FOR OCTOBER 1
In 1969, Lewisville, a small farm town of approximately 9,000 residents, was the site of
a music festival that attracted 150,000 hippies, bikers and music lovers
LEWISVILLE, TX - It was 1969 when Lewisville, a small farm town of approximately 9,000 residents, became the site of a music festival that attracted 150,000 hippies, bikers and music lovers. As a result of that momentous event, the Texas Historical Commission (THC) has recognized the Texas International Pop Festival as a significant part of Denton County history by awarding it an Official Texas Historical Marker. A dedication ceremony to commemorate the event will be held Saturday, October 1, at 10 a.m. at the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) Hebron Station in the 900 block of Lakeside Circle in Lewisville. The dedication is free and open to the public.
The 1969 event's original stage was located near the area where DCTA's Hebron Station recently opened. The Dallas International Motor Speedway, which had opened in July 1969, was the site of the three-day event held 42 years ago on Labor Day weekend. The Texas International Pop Festival is the first event that has been recognized with a state marker in Denton County. To qualify for a marker, events must have happened at least 30 years ago.
Richard Hayner, sponsor of the THC 2010 subject marker application, attended the pop festival when he was 16 years old. During the dedication, the Denton County Historical Commission will present certificates of commendation for efforts that led to the placement of the marker recognizing Hayner along with Andie Jones, Swan Song, Soul Sacrifice, Piece of My Heart, Johnny Nitzinger, Bill Winter, Angus G. Wynne III, Ed Cullum and Randy James.
Wynne, a partner in the Dallas-based concert promotion company, Showco, asked Atlanta Pop Festival promoter Alex Cooley to join him in promoting the Texas International Pop Festival. The Atlanta Pop Festival was held in Hampton, Georgia, the weekend of July Fourth in 1969. On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair began near Bethel, New York.
The Texas festival featured 25 musical acts. In Hayner's historical narrative submitted to THC, he wrote:
"The festival opened with an unknown band named Grand Funk Railroad. The line-up included rock and roll and rhythm and blues. B.B. King played all three days. Other blues acts were present such as Johnny Winter, The James Cotton Blues Band, Canned Heat, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Freddie King. Rhythm and blues was represented by Sam & Dave and Sly & The Family Stone. Rock and blues crossover acts Rotary Connection, Ten Years After and Janis Joplin tied the genre together. Jazz was represented by flutist Herbie Mann, and even a bit of Cajun sound was made by Tony Joe White. Mainstream rock music was represented by Chicago Transit Authority, Spirit, Santana, Nazz, Sweetwater and an up-and-coming blockbuster band from England named Led Zeppelin."
In addition, a free stage was constructed at a public campground at Lewisville Lake, which was five-and-one-half miles north of the festival grounds at the motor speedway. Each evening the campground attracted thousands of festival campers. Local bands performed on the free stage along with some of the big name acts after playing the main stage. Famous icon of the 60s, Wavy Gravy, acquired his moniker at the free stage.
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Bedding down, treading water and taking two steps forward: gender equality and the 2019–20 House of Commons select committee elections
Stephen Holden Bates, Stephen McKay and Mark Goodwin assess the gender balance on the newly elected select committees, and their chairs, and find there have been clear improvements in some areas. However, further progress cannot be assumed, and they recommend Parliament considers more reforms to improve representation within its committee system.
Treasury Committee, 15 April 2020 via Parliament Live/Parliamentary copyright
The results of the elections for the UK House of Commons select committees are (nearly) out.
The 2010 Wright Reforms, designed to increase the standing of Parliament in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal, are now a decade old. One of the main reforms introduced was to alter the method of selection for House of Commons select committees from appointment by party managers to election by the whole House (in the case of chairships) and by party caucuses (for membership). This reform has been hailed by many as one of the reasons why select committees have become an ever more prominent and prestigious part of Parliament. There is also evidence that the reform has been good for gender equality within the committee system, particularly in terms of female MPs becoming committee chairs (although it is a moot point whether the reforms have been good for other aspects of equality, particularly ethnic minority representation). For the latest round of select committee elections, in terms of female representation, they are a case of simultaneously bedding down, treading water and taking two steps forward.
Bedding down…
The general picture from these elections is similar to that of previous rounds. The proportion of both female chairs (32.1%) and female members (35.4%) broadly mirrors that of the House of Commons as a whole (33.8%).
Moreover, as can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, female chairs are distributed relatively evenly across committees with different levels of prestige and which cover policy areas that are often (stereotypically) coded feminine, neutral or masculine (for example, Health and Social Care is typically perceived as feminine, with Defence masculine). This welcome pattern of female chairs elected across a range of portfolios and levels of prestige is one that has been emerging over the last decade and appears to be here to stay.
Figure 1: Percentage of female chairs by prestige of committee
Notes: Total number of committees in the high-, medium- and low-prestige categories in brackets. For a full explanation of the categorisation, see the authors’ article ‘Electing to Do Women’s Work? Gendered Divisions of Labor in U.K. Select Committees, 1979–2016’, in Politics and Gender.
Figure 2: Percentage of female chairs by gender category of committee
Notes: Total number of committees in each category in brackets. For a full explanation of the categorisation, see the authors’ article ‘Electing to Do Women’s Work? Gendered Divisions of Labor in U.K. Select Committees, 1979–2016’, in Politics and Gender.
If we look at chair candidacies, a more mixed story emerges. While 31.5% of candidates for all committees in the 2019–20 elections were female, there were no female candidates for three of the five most prestigious committees: the Defence, the Foreign Affairs and the Treasury select committees. Indeed, there have only been two female chair candidates for these three committees since 2010 compared with 48 male candidates. This may partly be a consequence of party matters. Since 2010, these three committees have been chaired by the Conservatives, which today has around a quarter of MPs who are female (compared with over 50% for Labour). However, there is also evidence to suggest that it may be a consequence of long-standing gendered divisions of labour within the select committee system.
As can be seen from Figure 3, the distribution of female MPs across the select committees is not spread evenly; female MPs are over-represented compared to their presence in the House of Commons on some committees and under-represented on others. Indeed, on one committee – International Trade – there are no female MPs at all.
The proportion of female MPs on a number of these committees correspond to what we would expect on the basis of our recently published work on the gendered divisions of labour within the select committee system in the journal Politics and Gender. For example, we found that the Health and Social Care and the Home Affairs select committees were consistently and strongly disproportionately female, and that the Defence and the Foreign Affairs select committees were very strongly disproportionately male. For these committees at least, these gendered patterns have continued.
Figure 3: Percentage of female members for select committees 2019–20 (with 95% confidence bounds shaded in red)
…And taking two steps forward
Taking the above into account, what is perhaps most notable from Figure 3 is the proportion of women on the Treasury Select Committee. This figure of 73% is a historic high for such a high-profile committee and, being categorised as strongly disproportionately male in our research, is not in line with our expectations at all. Notwithstanding the idea that gender parity across committees should be the aim, this is a positive development and, if it becomes institutionalised, raises interesting questions about the drivers behind such a change. For example, it is notable that all the non-Conservative MPs on the committee are female, again raising questions about the role parties play in challenging gendered parliamentary behaviour and outcomes. We may also ask whether the former Conservative MP and now Baroness, Nicky Morgan, who was the first (and remains the only) female chair of the committee during the last parliament, acted as a role model across party lines for this cohort of female members.
Another noteworthy but less obvious outcome is that there are more female MPs than has most often been the case on committees that deal with aspects of Parliament itself – for example, the Procedure and the Backbench Business committees – and whose membership can often act as gatekeepers and guardians of parliamentary process.
Why might this matter and what else needs to be done?
It matters that certain trends in the gendered divisions of labour appear to be persisting and some changing because, although not straightforward, gendered patterns in the descriptive representation of female committee members probably have (continuing) ramifications for the substantive representation of women in certain policy areas. For example, it is almost certainly a very good thing for women – and, by extension, society more generally – that female MPs are no longer in the minority on the Treasury Select Committee. This is especially the case in a (post-)Covid-19 environment. We know that austerity has had – and continues to have – gendered effects in the UK, and the architects of it are already talking about retrenchment and reducing public sector debt in the aftermath of the current crisis. Therefore, it is most likely to be beneficial to women that we have a majority-female Treasury Select Committee to scrutinise the gendered dimensions of any changes to public spending and taxes.
Moreover, it is almost certainly a bad thing for women – and perhaps also democracy – that there are no female MPs on the International Trade Select Committee. Given the extent to which trade deals are critical to successful post-Brexit international relations, the exclusion of women from the committee holding government to account on this policy area is sub-optimal.
It may also matter for committees that focus on Parliament itself because, depending of course on the motivations of the members, the increase in female membership raises the possibility of making it easier to change the culture of Parliament away from a gender regime underpinned by a particular and traditional form of masculinity. The former Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Maria Miller, is now a member of the Procedure Committee for example.
And it may matter for the effectiveness of select committees and the scrutiny and accountability work they undertake because research suggests that diverse groups tend to outperform homogenous groups.
Our research in Politics and Gender showed that gendered patterns across select committee membership are not systematically disrupted because of increases in female MPs. We, therefore, cannot simply just wait for a cohort effect and put our efforts solely into getting more women elected to the House of Commons. Neither can we rely solely on existing reforms because, however positive in some regards, there is at least some circumstantial evidence to suggest that they are often in tension with powerful informal institutions that sustain gendered power imbalances.
We therefore believe Parliament should turn to some of the unimplemented recommendations of The Good Parliament report by Sarah Childs that concern committee composition and chairing:
Recommendation 15: Introduce sex/gender quotas for the election of select committee chairs prior to the [next] general election if, by [a year prior], the percentage of women chairs is less than 40%;
Recommendation 30: Prohibit single-sex/gender select committees, and encourage political parties to be mindful of wider representativeness in the election of members to committees.
Implementing Recommendation 15, the responsibility of the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion, would ensure that women’s leadership positions as Committee Chairs would move considerably closer to parity and may help disrupt some of the persistent gendered membership patterns highlighted above. Implementing Recommendation 30, directed to the Procedure Committee, would prevent all-female or all-male committees, such as has been seen with the composition of the current International Trade Select Committee.
We would like to thank Sarah Childs and Alice Park for their suggestions concerning earlier drafts of this blog. The research was part-funded by the British Academy (SQ140007).
Stephen Holden Bates is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham with research interests in parliamentary power and parliamentary committees.
Steve McKay is Professor of Social Research at the University of Lincoln with research interests in social policy and quantitative methodologies.
Mark Goodwin is a Lecturer in Politics at Coventry University with research interests in the UK Parliament, select committees and British public policy.
When select committees speak, do newspapers listen?
Everyone loves select committees these days. But have they really changed?
Gender diversity among Committee witnesses: the large variations in the Commons and why Holyrood is doing better
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"I feel very proud that at the twilight of my career finally, I managed to win the World Cup.”
Former Pakistan sports legend Imran Khan is one of the greatest cricketers of his generation.
Being the biggest heartthrob in Pakistan, he gave cricket in the subcontinent real sex appeal across two decades – in the 70s and 80s.
Similar to politics, his entry in international cricket went from average to sensational. He finished on a very high note, impressively taking over 300 Test wickets.
Imran was a highly charismatic captain who led his country to World Cup glory in 1992. But more importantly, he was an exceptional fast bowler and one of the finest all-rounders that the world has seen.
His sphere of influence exceeds far beyond the cricket pitch and personal statistics. Khan’s impact on Pakistan and global cricket are amongst the very best in the history of the game.
With Imran becoming the 19th Prime Minister of Pakistan, DESIblitz takes a look at 5 top moments from his cricket career:
1. 1992 World Cup Cricket Triumph
What better way to round off your cricket career by leading your country to World Cup victory in 1992? The inspirational Khan and his Cornered Tigers were crowned champions of the world after defeating England by 22 runs in Melbourne on 25 March 1992.
Imran was very instrumental for this ultimate achievement, especially having introduced the attacking trio of Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
From the brink of being eliminated, they won 5 consecutive matches to lift the coveted trophy.
In his farewell appearance, Khan was the top scorer with 72, whilst his protégé Wasim bowled two of the most magical and unplayable deliveries in the history of International cricket.
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At the post-match ceremony a jubilant Imran said: “I feel very proud that at the twilight of my career finally, I managed to win the World Cup.”
Khan could not have asked for a better finish to his illustrious career.
2. Pakistan’s Maiden Test Series Conquering of India
During his tenure as captain, Pakistan successfully beat arch-rivals India in the 5th and final Test to claim a famous 1-0 series victory.
Hence Pakistan won their first Test series on Indian soil after defeating India by 16 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. This was Pakistan’s third overseas win at the time.
In a low scoring intense affair, Imran’s captaincy was brilliant. He handled his spinners well, with Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim ripping apart the Indian batsmen. They both took 9 wickets each in the match.
Khan also hit 39 vital runs in Pakistan’s second innings as the drama unfolded.
The win was a dream come true for Imran and all his countrymen worldwide. Furthermore, it was probably the most pleasurable and historic victories under his leadership.
Cricket writer R. Mohan highlighting Khan’s cricket diplomacy states:
“Imran’s sporting approach to the niggling problems, which occur on a tour of India helped keep matters from getting out of proportion, including those instances when his own colleagues were guilty of over-dramatisation on the field.”
Khan was awarded the man of the series for his all-round performances and astute captaincy.
3. First Test Series Win in England (1987)
Skipper Imran led his side to their first Test series win in England.
With a unique and swinging action, he took 10-77. This was a domineering display by Khan in the decisive 3rd Test win over England at Headingley.
He claimed 3-37 in the first innings and 7-40 in the second. Thus Pakistan won the match in Leeds by an innings and 18 runs. Imran was the universal choice for player of the match.
Khan also achieved his 300th Test scalp on the third day of this Test match.
Imran spoke to the media about the tour saying: “That tour gave me a lot of satisfaction. England was on a high. Mike Gatting had just won the Ashes, beating Australia in Australia. I mean the team was on the up.
“We struggled in the first two matches. We weren’t really on top. England were doing well. And to suddenly come back and win the third Test.”
“And then the team just lifted themselves and we had confidence in ourselves.”
As a result of Headingley, Pakistan went onto to win the 5 matches Test series 1-0 against their former colonial rulers.
4. Overpowering the Mighty West Indies in 1988
#OnThisDay in 1988, Pakistan became the first visiting team to win a Test in the Caribbean for ten years when they beat West Indies by nine wickets in Guyana. Imran Khan took 11 wickets and Javed Miandad made a marvellous 114. #PAKvWI pic.twitter.com/DDW54j2lfi
— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) April 6, 2018
Upon the insistence of General Zia-Ul-Haq, Khan came out of retirement to play on the 1988 tour of the West Indies.
Despite suffering from a toe niggle, Imran made his return to Test cricket with some imperious bowling. His 7-80 set the tone for the remainder of the match.
In an era when the West Indies were unmatchable, Khan had the edge as his team beat the home side by 9 wickets in Georgetown, Guyana. He ended with match figures of 11-121 and was the unanimous pick for man of the match.
With this victory, Pakistan became the first team to win a Test match in the Caribbean in over a decade. Imran who took 23 wickets was given the man of the series award.
Had it not been for the dubious local umpiring, Pakistan would have comfortably won their first Test series in the West Indies. This prompted Khan to call out for neutral umpires in Test Cricket.
5. The 1989 Nehru Cup Success
Imran guided Pakistan to their first major One Day International (ODI) title, with a 4 wickets win against West Indies in the 1989 Nehru Cup final.
With the exception of New Zealand, the entire Test playing nations participated in the tournament. The event took place as part of the centenary celebrations to mark the birth of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
It was a befitting end to the 80’s with a final involving the two giants of cricket. Pakistan made 277-6 in 49.5 overs, in reply to the West Indies 273-5 in their 50 overs.
In a close contest, Wasim smashed a six off the penultimate ball to take Pakistan over the winning line at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Khan who bagged 3 wickets and remained unbeaten on 55 was declared man of the match. Once again he showed his all-round class on the field of play. He also received the player of the series award.
Other unforgettable moments from his career include 12 wickets routing of the Australians in the 1977 Sydney Test, 1986 Austral-Asia Cup victory and the 191-runs crucial partnership with Wasim Akram at Adelaide Oval in 1990.
Having such a fantastic career, he has a tremendous following all over the globe. His cricket journey ended with 362 wickets in Test cricket and 182 in ODI cricket.
As a cricket star turned popular politician, people love him, admire him and emulate him.
Images courtesy of PA
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Posted on 1.11.2021 in Events
2021 Beef Its Whats For Dinner 300
2021 Speedweeks Presented By AdventHealth
Daytona International Speedway and the Federation of State Beef Councils announced today that the historic 40th season-opening race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the 2.5-mile venue will be known as the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.® 300.
The Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ® 300 is set for a 5 p.m. ET start on Saturday, Feb. 13, the day before the 63rd Annual DAYTONA 500. It will be a part of a doubleheader, which will also feature the Lucas Oil 200 Driven By General Tire for the ARCA Menards Series. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson, who pilots the No. 9 for JR Motorsports, is the defending champion of the race.
The Federation of State Beef Councils, which is housed at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and works on behalf of the Beef Checkoff, is a consumer-focused, producer-directed organization representing the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry. The Federation of State Beef Councils works tirelessly to represent the interests of the nation’s cattle farmers and ranchers, to ensure consumers have continuous access to great tasting beef that Americans know and love, and rely on as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
“We’re excited to sponsor the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.® 300, and provide a showcase for America’s hard-working farmers and ranchers,” said Marty Smith, a rancher from Ocala, Florida and president of NCBA, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. “This is one of the nation’s premiere sporting events and it’s the perfect opportunity to help us promote the nutritional benefits of great tasting beef to millions of consumers in the U.S. and around the globe.”
The Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ® 300 expands a current partnership between beef producers and Daytona International Speedway, where in 2020, the track produced “Race Day Recipes” on digital channels in which Speedway President Chip Wile demonstrated his beef grilling expertise to showcase the NASCAR experience - especially to campers and tailgaters who love to enjoy delicious beef recipes as part of their celebration of NASCAR events.
“We are so excited to grow our relationship with beef farmers and ranchers with the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ® 300,” said Wile. “We’ve had a great time this year showcasing many ways for families to enjoy beef, and this incredible race will help us get the word out to even more millions of consumers. The NASCAR Xfinity Series at the World Center of Racing has been a long-time tradition for 40 years and we’re happy to showcase the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ® 300.”
The 31-degree banked Daytona International Speedway held the first event for the new NASCAR Xfinity Series race in 1982, and the late Dale Earnhardt came home the winner. In fact, Earnhardt won a total of seven Xfinity Series season-openers at Daytona, including five in-a-row from 1990-94.
All guests will be screened before entering the facility for the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. ® 300 as well as all events as part of DAYTONA Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth (Feb. 9-14). Fans will be required to wear face coverings while maintaining six feet social distancing throughout their visit. Information, including all ticket options and safety protocols, can be found by visiting www.DAYTONA500.com/updates or calling 1-800-PITSHOP.
Tickets for Speedweeks events, excluding the DAYTONA 500, and a limited number of premium and extended-stay camping packages, are still available. Fans wishing to attend are encouraged to make their plans early and secure their seats or camping experience now. Excluding the DAYTONA 500, children 12 and under are FREE in the 100 level seating and $10 in all other reserved seating.
For information and a complete schedule of all racing events as part of Speedweeks, including the Tuesday night kickoff Busch Clash on the DAYTONA Road Course, log onto www.DAYTONA500.com or call 1-800-PITSHOP. Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the latest Speedway news throughout the season.
About Daytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a state-of-the-art motorsports facility and was awarded the SportsBusiness Journal’s prestigious Sports Business Award for Sports Facility of the Year in 2016. Daytona International Speedway is the home of The Great American Race – the DAYTONA 500. Though the season-opening NASCAR Cup Series event garners most of the attention – as well as the largest audience in motorsports – the approximately 500-acre motorsports complex, also known as the World Center of Racing, boasts the most diverse schedule of racing on the globe. In addition to at least nine major event weekends, the Speedway grounds are also used extensively for events that include concerts, civic and social gatherings, car shows, photo shoots, production vehicle testing and police motorcycle training.
About the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Federation of State Beef Councils
The NCBA Federation of State Beef Councils Division oversees beef and beef product promotion, research, information, and related activities financed by the Beef Checkoff and similar market development investments. It also functions as the Federation of 45 Qualified State Beef Councils and carries out the duties and responsibilities assigned to the Federation by the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order. In this way, NCBA coordinates state-national efforts to build demand for beef.
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BY-LAWS OF
SANDERSON FARMS, INC.
(As amended as of December 30, 2020)
Article I. Name and the Location
Section 1. The name of this corporation shall be Sanderson Farms, Inc.
Section 2. Its principal office shall be located in Laurel, Mississippi.
Section 3. Other offices for the transaction of business shall be located in such other places as the Board of Directors may from time to time determine.
Article II. Capital Stock
Section 1. The amount of capital stock shall be such amount as is authorized by the Articles of Incorporation.
Section 2. All certificates of stock shall be signed by the Chairman of the Board, the President and the Secretary and shall be sealed with the corporate seal. Such signatures and seal may be facsimile if the certificate is signed by the corporation’s transfer agent or registrar.
Section 3. Transfers of stock shall be made only on the books of the corporation or the books of the duly appointed transfer agent; an old certificate, properly endorsed, shall be surrendered and cancelled before a new certificate is issued.
Section 4. In case of loss or destruction of a certificate of stock, no new certificate shall be issued in lieu thereof except upon satisfactory proof of affidavit of such loss or destruction; and upon the giving of satisfactory security, by bond or otherwise (if the Board of Directors so requires), against loss to the corporation.
Article III. Stockholder Meetings
Section 1. The annual meeting of the stockholders shall be held each year on such day in the month of February, or in such other month, as the Board of Directors shall determine, at the principal office of the Corporation or at such other suitable place, within or without the State of Mississippi, and at such convenient time as may be determined by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors may also hold annual meetings virtually by electronic transmission without meeting in a physical place to the extent permitted by Mississippi law. At the annual meeting the stockholders shall elect directors to serve until their successors have been elected and have qualified.
Section 2. A special meeting of the stockholders, to be held at any place at which the annual stockholders meeting may be held including virtually to the extent permitted by Mississippi law, may be called at any time by the Chairman of the Board, the Vice Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer, or the Board of Directors. It shall be the duty of the Chairman of the
Board, the Vice Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer, or the Board of Directors to call such a meeting whenever so requested or demanded in proper form by one or more stockholders holding 10% or more of all the shares entitled to vote on any issue proposed to be considered at the special meeting. To be in proper form, such request must be in writing, state the purpose or purposes of the proposed meeting, and include all information that would be required to be delivered pursuant to Article III, Section 9 of these By-Laws.
Section 3. Notice of the place, day and hour of all annual and special stockholders’ meetings shall be given by the Secretary of the corporation to each stockholder entitled to vote at the meeting not fewer than ten (10) nor more than sixty (60) days before the date of the meeting by electronic transmission to the stockholder in a manner authorized by the stockholder or by mailing said notice, with postage thereon prepaid, to the address of such stockholder appearing on the stock records of the corporation. In the case of a special meeting, the notice shall also state the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called.
Section 4. For the purpose of determining stockholders entitled to notice of or to vote at any meeting of stockholders or any adjournment thereof, or entitled to demand a special meeting or to receive payment of any dividend, or in order to make a determination of stockholders for any other proper purpose, the Board of Directors of the corporation may fix the record date for such purpose, but such record date may not be more than seventy (70) days before the meeting or action requiring a determination of stockholders. If no record date is fixed for the determination of stockholders entitled to notice of or to vote at a meeting of stockholders, or stockholders entitled to demand a special meeting or to receive payment of a dividend, or for any other proper purpose, the close of business on the day before the day on which notice of the meeting is mailed or the date on which the resolution of the Board of Directors declaring such dividend is adopted, as the case may be, shall be the record date for such determination of stockholders. When a determination of stockholders entitled to notice of or to vote at any meeting of stockholders has been made as provided in this section, such determination shall be effective for any adjournment of the meeting unless the Board of Directors fixes a new record date, which it must do if the meeting is adjourned to a date more than one hundred twenty (120) days after the date fixed for the original meeting.
Section 5. The officer or agent having charge of the stock transfer books for shares of the corporation shall make, no later than two (2) business days after notice of the meeting is given for which the list was prepared, an alphabetical list of the names of all its stockholders entitled to notice of a stockholders’ meeting. The list must be arranged by voting group (and within each voting group by class or series of shares) and show the address of and number of shares held by each stockholder. Such list shall be available at the principal office of the corporation and shall be subject to inspection by any stockholder at any time during usual business hours. Such list shall also be available at the place identified in the meeting notice in the city where the meeting will be held and shall be subject to the inspection of any stockholder continuously through the meeting. The original stock transfer books shall be prima facie evidence as to who are stockholders entitled to examine such list or transfer books or to vote at any meeting of stockholders.
Section 6. The Chairman of the Board shall preside at all stockholder meetings. In the event the Chairman is unable to preside, the next available officer shall be authorized to preside in this order: Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, Vice President (by seniority if more than one is elected), Treasurer or Secretary.
Section 7. Each outstanding share, regardless of class, shall be entitled to one vote on each matter submitted to a vote at a meeting of stockholders, except to the extent that the voting rights of the shares of preferred stock are limited or denied by the Articles of Incorporation, the Board of Directors or as permitted by law.
A stockholder may vote either in person or by proxy appointed by electronic transmission or in writing by the stockholder or by his duly authorized attorney-in-fact. No proxy shall be valid after eleven (11) months from the date of its execution, unless otherwise provided in the proxy.
Shares standing in the name of another corporation, domestic or foreign but not a corporation the majority of the outstanding shares of which are owned, directly or indirectly, by this corporation, may be voted by any duly elected officer, or any duly appointed agent, in person or by proxy, or as the Board of Directors of this corporation may otherwise determine.
Shares held by an administrator, executor, guardian or conservator may be voted by him, either in person or by proxy, without a transfer of such shares into his name.
Shares standing in the name of a trustee may be voted by him, either in person or by proxy, but no trustee shall be entitled to vote shares held by him without a transfer of such shares into his name.
Shares standing in the name of a receiver may be voted by such receiver, and shares held by or under the control of a receiver may be voted by such receiver without the transfer thereof into his name if authority so to do be contained in an appropriate order of the court by which such receiver was appointed.
A stockholder whose shares are pledged shall be entitled to vote such shares until the shares have been transferred into the name of the pledgee, and thereafter the pledgee shall be entitled to vote the shares so transferred.
Redeemable shares are not entitled to vote after notice of redemption is mailed to the holders and a sum sufficient to redeem the shares has been deposited with a bank, trust company or other financial institution under an irrevocable obligation to pay the holders the redemption price on surrender of the shares.
Section 8. A majority of the votes represented in person or by proxy entitled to be cast on a matter by the voting stockholders shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of stockholders. If a quorum exists, action on a matter (other than the election of directors) by the stockholders shall be approved if the votes cast favoring the action exceed the votes cast opposing the action, unless the Articles of Incorporation, the By-Laws or the law requires a greater number of affirmative votes.
Once a share is represented for any purpose at a meeting, it is deemed present for quorum purposes for the remainder of the meeting and for any adjournment of that meeting unless a new record date is or must be set for that adjourned meeting.
An amendment to the Articles of Incorporation that adds, changes or deletes a greater quorum or voting requirement must meet the same quorum requirement and be adopted by the same vote required to take action under the quorum and voting requirements then in effect or proposed to be adopted, whichever is greater.
Directors shall be elected at such annual meeting of stockholders at which their terms expire or at any special meeting of stockholders called for that purpose by the affirmative vote of a majority, and not a plurality, of the shares entitled to vote and represented, in person or by proxy, at such meeting at which a quorum is present. There shall be no cumulative voting.
Section 9. (A) (1) Nominations of persons for election to the Board of Directors and the proposal of other business to be considered by the stockholders may be made at an annual meeting of stockholders (a) pursuant to the corporation’s notice of meeting, (b) by or at the direction of the Board of Directors or (c) by any stockholder of the corporation who (i) was a stockholder of record at the time of giving of notice provided for in this By-Law and at the time of the annual meeting, (ii) is entitled to vote at the meeting and (iii) complies with the notice procedures set forth in this By-Law as to such business or nomination, or with the requirements of Section 12 of Article III of these By-Laws. For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing clause (c) shall be the exclusive means for a stockholder to make nominations or submit other business (other than matters properly brought under Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and included in the corporation’s notice of meeting) at an annual meeting of stockholders.
(2) Without qualification or limitation, for any nominations or any other business to be properly brought before an annual meeting by a stockholder pursuant to paragraph (A)(1)(c) of this By-Law, the stockholder must have given timely notice thereof in writing to the Secretary and such other business must otherwise be a proper matter for stockholder action. If the stockholder, or the beneficial owner on whose behalf any such proposal or nomination is made, has provided the corporation with a Solicitation Notice, as that term is defined in subclause (e)(ii) of paragraph (A)(2) of this By-Law, such stockholder or beneficial owner must, in the case of a proposal, have delivered a proxy statement and form of proxy to holders of at least the percentage of the corporation’s voting shares required under applicable law to carry any such proposal, or, in the case of a nomination or nominations, have delivered a proxy statement and form of proxy to holders of a percentage of the corporation’s voting shares reasonably believed by such stockholder or beneficial holder to be sufficient to elect the nominee or nominees proposed to be nominated by such stockholder, and must, in either case, have included in such materials the Solicitation Notice, and if no Solicitation Notice relating thereto has been timely provided pursuant to this section, the stockholder or beneficial owner proposing such business or nomination must not have solicited a number of proxies sufficient to have required the delivery of such a Solicitation Notice under this section.
To be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be received at the principal office of the corporation not earlier than the close of business on the 120th day and not later than the close of business on the 90th day prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting; provided,
however, that in the event that the date of the annual meeting is more than thirty (30) days before or more than sixty (60) days after such anniversary date, or if no annual meeting was held in the preceding year, notice by the stockholder to be timely must be so delivered not earlier than the close of business on the 120th day prior to the date of such annual meeting and not later than the close of business on the later of the 90th day prior to the date of such annual meeting or, if the first public announcement of the date of such annual meeting is less than one hundred (100) days prior to the date of such annual meeting, the 15th day following the day on which public announcement of the date of such meeting is first made by the corporation. In no event shall any adjournment or postponement of an annual meeting or the announcement thereof commence a new time period (or extend any time period) for the giving of a stockholder’s notice as described above. To be in proper form, a stockholder’s notice (whether given pursuant to this paragraph (A)(2) or paragraph (B)) to the Secretary must: (a) set forth, as to the stockholder giving the notice and the beneficial owner, if any, on whose behalf the nomination or proposal is made (i) the name and address of such stockholder, as they appear on the corporation’s books, and of such beneficial owner, if any, (ii) (A) the class or series and number of shares of the corporation which are, directly or indirectly, owned beneficially and of record by such stockholder and such beneficial owner, (B) any option, warrant, convertible security, stock appreciation right, or similar right with an exercise or conversion privilege or a settlement payment or mechanism at a price related to any class or series of shares of the corporation or with a value derived in whole or in part from the value of any class or series of shares of the corporation, whether or not such instrument or right shall be subject to settlement in the underlying class or series of capital stock of the corporation or otherwise (a “Derivative Instrument”) directly or indirectly owned beneficially by such stockholder and any other direct or indirect opportunity to profit or share in any profit derived from any increase or decrease in the value of shares of the corporation, (C) any proxy, contract, arrangement, understanding, or relationship pursuant to which such stockholder has a right to vote any shares of any security of the corporation, (D) any short interest in any security of the corporation (for purposes of this By-Law a person shall be deemed to have a short interest in a security if such person directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or otherwise, has the opportunity to profit or share in any profit derived from any decrease in the value of the subject security), (E) any rights to dividends on the shares of the corporation owned beneficially by such stockholder that are separated or separable from the underlying shares of the corporation, (F) any proportionate interest in shares of the corporation or Derivative Instruments held, directly or indirectly, by a general or limited partnership in which such stockholder is a general partner or, directly or indirectly, beneficially owns an interest in a general partner and (G) any performance-related fees (other than an asset-based fee) that such stockholder is entitled to based on any increase or decrease in the value of shares of the corporation or Derivative Instruments, if any, as of the date of such notice, including without limitation any such interests held by members of such stockholder’s immediate family sharing the same household (which information shall be supplemented by such stockholder and beneficial owner, if any, not later than ten (10) days after the record date for the meeting to disclose such ownership as of the record date), and (iii) any other information relating to such stockholder and beneficial owner, if any, that would be required to be disclosed in a proxy statement or other filings required to be made in connection with solicitations of proxies for, as applicable, the proposal and/or for the election of directors in a contested election pursuant to Section 14 of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder; (b) if the notice relates to any business other than a nomination of a director or directors that the stockholder proposes to bring before the meeting, set forth (i) a brief
description of the business desired to be brought before the meeting, the reasons for conducting such business at the meeting and any material interest of such stockholder and beneficial owner, if any, in such business and (ii) a description of all agreements, arrangements and understandings between such stockholder and beneficial owner, if any, and any other person or persons (including their names) in connection with the proposal of such business by such stockholder; (c) set forth, as to each person, if any, whom the stockholder proposes to nominate for election or reelection to the Board of Directors (i) all information relating to such person that would be required to be disclosed in a proxy statement or other filings required to be made in connection with solicitations of proxies for election of directors in a contested election pursuant to Section 14 of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder (including such person’s written consent to being named in the proxy statement as a nominee and to serving as a director if elected) and (ii) a description of all direct and indirect compensation and other material monetary agreements, arrangements and understandings during the past three (3) years, and any other material relationships, between or among such stockholder and beneficial owner, if any, and their respective affiliates and associates, or others acting in concert therewith, on the one hand, and each proposed nominee, and his or her respective affiliates and associates, or others acting in concert therewith, on the other hand, including, without limitation all information that would be required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 404 promulgated under Regulation S-K if the stockholder making the nomination and any beneficial owner on whose behalf the nomination is made, if any, or any affiliate or associate thereof or person acting in concert therewith, were the “registrant” for purposes of such rule and the nominee were a director or executive officer of such registrant; (d) with respect to each nominee for election or reelection to the Board of Directors, include a completed and signed questionnaire, representation and agreement required by Article III, Section 10 of these By-Laws; and (e) as to the stockholder giving the notice and the beneficial owner, if any, on whose behalf the nomination or proposal is made, (i) in the case of the stockholder giving the notice, a representation that the stockholder is a holder of record of the stock of the corporation at the time of the giving of the notice, will be entitled to vote at such meeting and will appear in person or by proxy at the meeting to propose such business or nomination, (ii) a representation whether or not the stockholder or the beneficial owner, if any, will or is part of a group which will (x) deliver a proxy statement and/or form of proxy to holders of at least the percentage of the voting power of the corporation’s outstanding capital stock required under applicable law to approve or adopt the proposal or, in the case of nominations, reasonably believed by such stockholder or beneficial owner to elect the nominee and/or (y) otherwise solicit proxies or votes from stockholders in support of such proposal or nomination (in each case, a “Solicitation Notice”), (iii) a certification regarding whether such stockholder and beneficial owner, if any, have complied with all applicable federal, state and other legal requirements in connection with the stockholder’s and/or beneficial owner’s acquisition of shares of capital stock or other securities of the corporation and/or the stockholder’s and/or beneficial owner’s acts or omissions as a stockholder of the corporation and (iv) a description of any agreement, arrangement or understanding (including without limitation any contract to purchase or sell, acquisition or grant of any option, right or warrant to purchase or sell, swap or other instrument) to which the stockholder or beneficial owner, or any of their respective affiliates or associates and/or any others acting in concert with any of the foregoing (collectively, “proponent persons”), is a party, the intent or effect of which may be (x) to transfer to or from any proponent person, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any security of the corporation, (y) to increase or decrease the voting power of any proponent person with respect to shares of any class
or series of stock of the corporation and/or (z) to provide any proponent person, directly or indirectly, with the opportunity to profit or share in any profit derived from, or to otherwise benefit economically from, any increase or decrease in the value of any security of the corporation; provided that notices made pursuant to Section 12 of this Article III shall meet the requirements of that section. The corporation may require any proposed nominee to furnish such other information as may reasonably be required by the corporation to determine the eligibility of such proposed nominee to serve as an independent director of the corporation or that could be material to a reasonable stockholder’s understanding of the independence, or lack thereof, of such nominee.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in the third sentence of paragraph (A)(2) of this By-Law to the contrary, in the event that the number of directors to be elected to the Board of Directors is increased and there is no public announcement by the corporation naming all of the nominees for director or specifying the size of the increased Board of Directors at least one hundred (100) days prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting, a stockholder’s notice required by this By-Law shall also be considered timely, but only with respect to nominees for any new positions created by such increase, if it shall be delivered to the Secretary at the principal executive offices of the corporation not later than the close of business on the 15th day following the day on which such public announcement is first made by the corporation.
(B) Only such business shall be conducted at a special meeting of stockholders as shall have been brought before the meeting pursuant to the corporation’s notice of meeting. Nominations of persons for election to the Board of Directors may be made at a special meeting of stockholders at which directors are to be elected pursuant to the corporation’s notice of meeting (1) by or at the direction of the Board of Directors or (2) provided that the Board of Directors has determined that directors shall be elected at such meeting, by any stockholder of the corporation who (a) is a stockholder of record at the time of giving of notice provided for in this By-Law and at the time of the special meeting, (b) is entitled to vote at the meeting, and (c) complies with the notice procedures set forth in this By-Law as to such nomination. In the event the corporation calls a special meeting of stockholders for the purpose of electing one or more directors to the Board of Directors, any such stockholder may nominate a person or persons (as the case may be) for election to such position(s) as specified in the corporation’s notice of meeting, if the stockholder’s notice required by paragraph (A)(2) of this By-Law with respect to any nomination (including the completed and signed questionnaire, representation and agreement required by Article III, Section 10 of these By-Laws) shall be delivered to the Secretary at the principal executive offices of the corporation not earlier than the close of business on the 120th day prior to the date of such special meeting and not later than the close of business on the later of the 90th day prior to the date of such special meeting or, if the first public announcement of the date of such special meeting is less than one hundred (100) days prior to the date of such special meeting, the 15th day following the day on which public announcement is first made of the date of the special meeting and of the nominees proposed by the Board of Directors to be elected at such meeting. In no event shall any adjournment or postponement of a special meeting or the announcement thereof commence a new time period (or extend any time period) for the giving of a stockholder’s notice as described above.
(C) (1) Only such persons who are nominated in accordance with the procedures set forth in this By-Law, or in Section 12 of Article III, shall be eligible to serve as directors and only such business shall be conducted at a meeting of stockholders as shall have been brought before the meeting in accordance with the procedures set forth in this By-Law. Except as otherwise provided by law, the Articles of Incorporation or these By-Laws, the Chairman of the meeting shall have the power and duty to determine whether a nomination or any business proposed to be brought before the meeting was made or proposed, as the case may be, in accordance with the procedures set forth in this By-Law and, if any proposed nomination or business is not in compliance with this By-Law, to declare that such defective proposal or nomination shall be disregarded. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, unless otherwise required by law, if the stockholder (or a qualified representative of the stockholder) does not appear at the annual or special meeting of stockholders of the corporation to present a nomination or business pursuant to this Section 9 of Article III, such nomination shall be disregarded and such proposed business shall not be transacted, notwithstanding that proxies in respect of such vote may have been received by the corporation. For purposes of this Section 9 of Article III, to be considered a qualified representative of the stockholder, a person must be a duly authorized officer, manager, member of a member-managed liability company or partner of such stockholder or must be authorized by a writing executed by such stockholder or an electronic transmission delivered by such stockholder to act for such stockholder as proxy at the meeting of stockholders and such person must produce such writing or electronic transmission, or a reliable reproduction of the writing or electronic transmission, at the meeting of stockholders.
(2) For purposes of this By-Law, “public announcement” shall mean disclosure in a press release reported by a national news service or in a document publicly filed by the corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Section 13, 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
(3) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this By-Law, a stockholder shall also comply with all applicable requirements of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations thereunder with respect to the matters set forth in this By-Law; provided, however, that any references in these By-Laws to the Exchange Act or the rules promulgated thereunder are not intended to and shall not limit the requirements applicable to nominations or proposals as to any other business to be considered pursuant to paragraph (A)(1)(c) or paragraph (B) of this By-Law. Nothing in this By-Law shall be deemed to affect any rights (i) of stockholders to request inclusion of proposals in the corporation’s proxy statement pursuant to Rule 14a-8 under the Exchange Act or (ii) of the holders of any series of Preferred Stock if and to the extent provided for under law, the Articles of Incorporation or these By-Laws.
(4) A stockholder providing notice of a proposed nomination for election to the Board of Directors or other business proposed to be brought before a meeting pursuant to this Section 9 of Article III of these By-Laws shall update and supplement such notice from time to time to the extent necessary so that the information provided or required to be provided in such notice shall be true and correct (a) as of the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to notice of the meeting and (b) as of the date that is fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof, provided that if the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting is less than fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof, the information shall be supplemented and updated as of such later date. Any such update and supplement shall be delivered in writing to the Secretary of the corporation at the principal executive offices of the corporation not later than five (5) days
after the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to notice of the meeting (in the case of any update and supplement required to be made as of the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to notice of the meeting), not later than ten (10) days prior to the date for the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof (in the case of any update or supplement required to be made as of fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting or adjournment or postponement thereof) and not later than five (5) days after the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting, but no later than the date prior to the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof (in the case of any update and supplement required to be made as of a date less than fifteen (15) days prior the date of the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof). For the avoidance of doubt, the requirement to update and supplement such notice shall not permit any stockholder or other person to change or add any nominee or other proposed business or be deemed to cure any defects or limit the remedies (including without limitation under these By-Laws) available to the corporation relating to any defect.
Section 10. To be eligible to be a nominee for election or reelection as a director of the corporation, a person must deliver (in accordance with the time periods prescribed for delivery of notice under Article III, Section 9 of these By-Laws) to the Secretary at the principal executive offices of the corporation a written questionnaire with respect to the background and qualification of such person and the background of any other person or entity on whose behalf the nomination is being made (which questionnaire shall be provided by the Secretary upon written request) and a written representation and agreement (in the form provided by the Secretary upon written request) that such person (A) is not and will not become a party to (1) any agreement, arrangement or understanding with, and has not given any commitment or assurance to, any person or entity as to how such person, if elected as a director of the corporation, will act or vote on any issue or question (a “Voting Commitment”) that has not been disclosed to the corporation or (2) any Voting Commitment that could limit or interfere with such person’s ability to comply, if elected as a director of the corporation, with such person’s fiduciary duties under applicable law, (B) is not and will not become a party to any agreement, arrangement or understanding with any person or entity other than the corporation with respect to any direct or indirect compensation, reimbursement or indemnification in connection with service or action as a director that has not been disclosed therein, and (C) in such person’s individual capacity and on behalf of any person or entity on whose behalf the nomination is being made, would be in compliance, if elected as a director of the corporation, and will comply with all corporate governance, conflict of interest, business conduct, confidentiality and stock ownership and trading policies and guidelines of the corporation generally applicable to directors.
Section 11. Action required or permitted to be taken at a stockholders’ meeting may be taken without a meeting if the action is taken by all the stockholders entitled to vote on the action. The action must be evidenced by one or more written consents describing the action taken, signed by all the stockholders entitled to vote on the action, and delivered to the corporation for inclusion in the minutes or filing with the corporate records.
If not otherwise set by the Board of Directors, the record date for determining stockholders entitled to take action without a meeting is the date the first stockholder signs the written consent.
A consent signed under this section has the effect of a meeting vote and may be described as such in any document.
Section 12. (A) Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in these By-Laws, the corporation shall include in its proxy materials for an annual meeting of stockholders the name, together with the Required Information (as defined below), of any person nominated for election (the “Stockholder Nominee”) to the Board of Directors by a stockholder or group of stockholders that satisfies the requirements of this Section 12 and that expressly elects at the time of providing the written notice required by this Section 12 (a “Proxy Access Notice”) to have its nominee included in the corporation’s proxy material pursuant to this Section 12. For the purposes of this Section 12:
(1) “Voting Stock” shall mean outstanding shares of capital stock of the corporation entitled to vote generally for the election of directors;
(2) “Constituent Holder” shall mean any stockholder, collective investment fund included within a Qualifying Fund (as defined in paragraph (E) below) or beneficial holder whose stock ownership is counted for the purposes of qualifying as an Eligible Stockholder (as defined in paragraph (E) below);
(3) “affiliate” and “associate” shall have the meanings ascribed thereto in Rule 405 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (such act, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, the “Securities Act”); provided, however, that the term “partner” as used in the definition of “associate” shall not include any limited partner that is not involved in the management of the relevant partnership; and
(4) a stockholder (including any Constituent Holder) shall be deemed to “own” only those outstanding shares of Voting Stock as to which the stockholder (or such Constituent Holder) possesses both (a) the full voting and investment rights pertaining to the shares and (b) the full economic interest in (including the opportunity for profit and risk of loss on) such shares. The number of shares calculated in accordance with the foregoing clauses (a) and (b) shall be deemed not to include (and, to the extent any of the following arrangements have been entered into by affiliates of the stockholder (or of any Constituent Holder), shall be reduced by) any shares (i) sold by such stockholder or Constituent Holder (or any of either’s affiliates) in any transaction that has not been settled or closed, including any short sale, (ii) borrowed by such stockholder or Constituent Holder (or any of either’s affiliates) for any purposes or purchased by such stockholder or Constituent Holder (or any of either’s affiliates) pursuant to an agreement to resell, or (iii) subject to any option, warrant, forward contract, swap, contract of sale, other derivative or similar agreement entered into by or affecting such stockholder or Constituent Holder (or any of either’s affiliates), whether any such instrument or agreement is to be settled with shares, cash or other consideration, in any such case which instrument or agreement has, or is intended to have, or if exercised by either party thereto would have, the purpose or effect of (x) reducing in any manner, presently or in the future, the full voting and investment rights pertaining to such shares, and/or (y) hedging, offsetting or altering to any degree the full economic interest in (including the opportunity for profit and risk of loss on) such shares. A stockholder (including any Constituent Holder) shall “own” shares held in the name of a nominee or other intermediary so long as the stockholder (or such Constituent Holder) retains the right to instruct how the shares are voted with respect to the election of directors and the right to
direct the disposition thereof and possesses the full economic interest in the shares. A stockholder’s (including any Constituent Holder’s) ownership of shares shall be deemed to continue during any period in which such person has (aa) loaned such shares, provided that such stockholder has the power to recall such loaned shares on not more than five (5) business days’ notice and includes in its Proxy Access Notice an agreement that it (I) will promptly recall such loaned shares upon being notified that any of its Stockholder Nominees will be included in the corporation’s proxy materials and (II) will continue to hold such recalled shares through the date of the annual meeting or (bb) delegated any voting power over such shares by means of a proxy, power of attorney or other instrument or arrangement which in all such cases is revocable at any time by the stockholder. The terms “owned,” “owning” and other variations of the word “own” shall have correlative meanings.
(B) For purposes of this Section 12, the “Required Information” that the corporation will include in its proxy statement is (1) the information concerning the Stockholder Nominee and the Eligible Stockholder that the corporation determines is required to be disclosed in the corporation’s proxy statement by the regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act; and (2) if the Eligible Stockholder so elects, a Statement (as defined in paragraph (G) below). The corporation shall also include the name of the Stockholder Nominee in its proxy card. For the avoidance of doubt, and any other provision of these By-Laws notwithstanding, the corporation may in its sole discretion solicit against, and include in the proxy statement its own statements or other information relating to, any Eligible Stockholder and/or Stockholder Nominee.
(C) To be timely, a stockholder’s Proxy Access Notice, together with all related materials provided for herein, must be delivered to the principal executive offices of the corporation within the time periods applicable to stockholder notices of nominations pursuant to Section 9 of this Article III. In no event shall any adjournment or postponement of an annual meeting, the date of which has been announced by the corporation, commence a new time period (or extend any time period) for the giving of a Proxy Access Notice.
(D) The number of Stockholder Nominees (which shall include Stockholder Nominees that were submitted by all Eligible Stockholders for inclusion in the corporation’s proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 but either (1) are subsequently withdrawn (or withdraw) or (2) the Board of Directors decides to nominate as Board of Directors’ nominees) appearing in the corporation’s proxy materials with respect to an annual meeting of stockholders shall not exceed the greater of (a) two (2) and (b) the largest whole number that does not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the number of directors in office as of the last day on which a Proxy Access Notice may be delivered in accordance with the procedures set forth in this Section 12 (such greater number, the “Permitted Number”); provided, however, that the Permitted Number shall be reduced by:
(i) the number of directors in office for whom access to the corporation’s proxy materials was previously provided pursuant to this Section 12, other than any such director who at the time of such annual meeting will have served as a director continuously, as a nominee of the Board of Directors, for at least two (2) successive full terms; and
(ii) the number of directors in office or director candidates that in either case will be included in the corporation’s proxy materials with respect to such annual meeting as an unopposed (by the corporation) nominee pursuant to an agreement, arrangement or other understanding with a
stockholder or group of stockholders (other than any such agreement, arrangement or understanding entered into in connection with an acquisition of Voting Stock, by such stockholder or group of stockholders, directly from the corporation), other than any such director referred to in this clause (ii) who at the time of such annual meeting will have served as a director continuously, as a nominee of the Board of Directors, for at least two (2) successive full terms;
provided, further, that in the event the Board of Directors resolves to reduce the size of the Board of Directors effective on or prior to the date of the annual meeting, the Permitted Number shall be calculated based on the number of directors in office as so reduced; and provided, further, that Stockholder Nominees may only be submitted pursuant to this Section 12 for the class of directors whose terms will expire at the annual meeting. An Eligible Stockholder submitting more than one Stockholder Nominee for inclusion in the corporation’s proxy statement pursuant to this paragraph (D) shall rank such Stockholder Nominees based on the order that the Eligible Stockholder desires such Stockholder Nominees to be selected for inclusion in the corporation’s proxy statement and include such specified rank in its Proxy Access Notice. If the number of Stockholder Nominees pursuant to this paragraph (D) for an annual meeting of stockholders exceeds the Permitted Number, then the highest ranking qualifying Stockholder Nominee from each Eligible Stockholder will be selected by the corporation for inclusion in the proxy statement until the Permitted Number is reached, going in order of the amount (largest to smallest) of the ownership position as disclosed in each Eligible Stockholder’s Proxy Access Notice. If the Permitted Number is not reached after the highest ranking Stockholder Nominee from each Eligible Stockholder has been selected, this selection process will continue as many times as necessary, following the same order each time, until the Permitted Number is reached.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Section 12, the corporation shall not be required to include any Stockholder Nominees in its proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 for any meeting of stockholders for which the Secretary of the corporation receives notice (whether or not subsequently withdrawn) that a stockholder intends to nominate one or more persons for election to the Board of Directors pursuant to the advance notice requirements for stockholder nominees set forth in Section 9 of Article III of the By-Laws.
(E) An “Eligible Stockholder” is one or more Stockholders of record who own and have owned, or are acting on behalf of one or more beneficial owners who own and have owned, in each case continuously for at least three (3) years as of both the date that the Proxy Access Notice is received by the corporation pursuant to this Section 12, and as of the record date for determining stockholders eligible to vote at the annual meeting, at least three percent (3%) of the aggregate voting power of the Voting Stock (the “Proxy Access Request Required Shares”), and who continue to own the Proxy Access Request Required Shares at all times between the date such Proxy Access Notice is received by the corporation and the date of the applicable annual meeting, provided that the aggregate number of stockholders (and, if and to the extent that a stockholder is acting on behalf of one or more beneficial owners, of such beneficial owners) whose stock ownership is counted for the purpose of satisfying the foregoing ownership requirement shall not exceed twenty (20).
Two or more collective investment funds that are (1) part of the same family of funds or sponsored by the same adviser or (2) a “group of investment companies” as such term is defined in Section 12(d)(1)(G)(ii) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (a “Qualifying Fund”) shall
be treated as one stockholder for the purpose of determining the aggregate number of stockholders in this paragraph (E). For the avoidance of doubt, each fund included within a Qualifying Fund must meet the requirements set forth in this Section 12, including by providing the required information and materials.
No share may be attributed to more than one group constituting an Eligible Stockholder under this Section 12. For the avoidance of doubt, no stockholder may be a member of more than one group constituting an Eligible Stockholder.
A record holder acting on behalf of one or more beneficial owners will not be counted separately as a stockholder with respect to the shares owned by such beneficial owner(s). Each such beneficial owner will be counted separately as a stockholder with respect to the shares owned by such beneficial owner, subject to the other provisions of this paragraph (E).
For the avoidance of doubt, Proxy Access Request Required Shares will qualify as such only if the beneficial owner of such shares as of the date of the Proxy Access Notice has individually beneficially owned such shares continuously for the three (3) year period ending on that date and through the other applicable dates referred to above (in addition to the other applicable requirements being met).
(F) On the date on which an Eligible Stockholder delivers a nomination pursuant to this Section 12, such Eligible Stockholder (including each Constituent Holder) must provide the following information in writing to the Secretary of the corporation with respect to such Eligible Stockholder (and each Constituent Holder):
(1) the name and address of, and number of shares of Voting Stock owned by, such person;
(2) one or more written statements from the record holder of the shares (and from each intermediary through which the shares are or have been held during the requisite three (3) year holding period) verifying that, as of a date within seven (7) calendar days prior to the date the Proxy Access Notice is delivered to the corporation, such person owns, and has owned continuously for the preceding three (3) years in the manner required by paragraph (A)(4) above, the Proxy Access Request Required Shares, and such person’s agreement to provide:
(a) within ten (10) days after the record date for the annual meeting, written statements from the record holder and intermediaries verifying such person’s continuous ownership of the Proxy Access Request Required Shares through the record date, together with any additional information reasonably requested by the corporation to verify such person’s ownership of the Proxy Access Request Required Shares; and
(b) immediate notice to the corporation if the Eligible Stockholder ceases to own in the manner required by paragraph (A)(4) above any of the Proxy Access Request Required Shares prior to the date of the applicable annual meeting of stockholders for any reason;
(3) the information that would be required to be submitted pursuant to Section 9 of this Article III for director nominations (except for the information required by Section 9(A)(2)(e)(i));
(4) a description of all direct and indirect compensation and other material monetary agreements, arrangements and understandings during the past three (3) years, and any other material relationships, between or among the Eligible Stockholder (including any Constituent Holder) and its or their respective affiliates and associates, or others acting in concert therewith, on the one hand, and each of such Eligible Stockholder’s Stockholder Nominees, and his or her respective affiliates and associates, or others acting in concert therewith, on the other hand, including without limitation all information that would be required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 404 promulgated under Regulation S-K of the Securities and Exchange Commission if the Eligible Stockholder (including any Constituent Holder), or any affiliate or associate thereof or person acting in concert therewith, were the “registrant” for purposes of such rule and the Stockholder Nominee or any affiliate or associate thereof or person acting in concert therewith were a director or executive officer of such registrant;
(5) a representation that the Eligible Stockholder (and each Constituent Holder):
(a) acquired the Proxy Access Request Required Shares in the ordinary course of business and not with the intent to change or influence control of the corporation, and does not presently have any such intent;
(b) has not nominated and will not nominate for election to the Board of Directors at the annual meeting any person other than the Stockholder Nominees being nominated pursuant to this Section 12;
(c) has not engaged and will not engage in, and has not and will not be a “participant” in another person’s, “solicitation” within the meaning of Rule 14a-1(l) under the Exchange Act in support of the election of any individual as a director at the annual meeting other than its Stockholder Nominees or a nominee of the Board of Directors;
(d) will not distribute to any stockholder any form of proxy for the annual meeting other than the form distributed by the corporation; and
(e) will provide facts, statements and other information in all communications with the corporation and its stockholders that are and will be true and correct in all material respects and do not and will not omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, and will otherwise comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations in connection with any actions taken pursuant to this Section 12 (and the other provisions of this Article III to the extent related to this Section 12);
(f) in the case of a nomination by a group of stockholders that together is such an Eligible Stockholder, the designation by all group members of one group member that is authorized to act on behalf of all members of the nominating stockholder group with respect to the nomination and matters related thereto, including withdrawal of the nomination; and
(g) an undertaking that the Eligible Stockholder (and each Constituent Holder) agrees to:
(i) assume all liability stemming from, and indemnify and hold harmless the corporation and each of its directors, officers, and employees individually against any liability, loss or damages in connection with any threatened or pending action, suit or proceeding, whether legal, administrative or investigative, against the corporation or any of its directors, officers or employees arising out of any legal or regulatory violation arising out of the communications of the Eligible Stockholder (and any Constituent Holder) with the stockholders of the corporation or out of the information that the Eligible Stockholder (and any Constituent Holder) provided to the corporation in connection with the nomination of the Stockholder Nominee(s) or efforts to elect the Stockholder Nominee(s); and
(ii) file with the Securities and Exchange Commission any solicitation by the Eligible Stockholder of stockholders of the corporation relating to the annual meeting at which the Stockholder Nominee will be nominated.
In addition, on the date on which an Eligible Stockholder delivers a nomination pursuant to this Section 12, any Qualifying Fund whose stock ownership is counted for purposes of qualifying as an Eligible Stockholder must provide to the Secretary of the corporation documentation reasonably satisfactory to the Board of Directors that demonstrates that the funds included within the Qualifying Fund satisfy the definition thereof.
In order to be considered timely, all information required by this paragraph (F) to be provided to the corporation must be supplemented, by delivery to the Secretary of the corporation, to disclose such information (x) as of the record date for the applicable annual meeting and (y) as of the date that is no earlier than ten (10) days prior to such annual meeting. Any supplemental information delivered pursuant to clause (x) of the preceding sentence must be delivered to the Secretary of the corporation no later than ten (10) days following the record date for the applicable annual meeting, and any supplemental information delivered pursuant to clause (y) of the preceding sentence must be delivered to the Secretary of the corporation no later than the fifth day before the applicable annual meeting. For the avoidance of doubt, the requirement to update and supplement such information shall not permit any Eligible Stockholder (or any Constituent Holder) or other person to change or add any proposed Stockholder Nominee or be deemed to cure any defects or limit the remedies (including without limitation under these By-Laws) available to the corporation relating to any defect.
(G) The Eligible Stockholder may provide to the Secretary of the corporation, at the time the information required by this Section 12 is originally provided, a written statement for inclusion in the corporation’s proxy statement for the annual meeting, not to exceed five hundred (500) words, in support of the candidacy of each such Eligible Stockholder’s Stockholder Nominee (the “Statement”). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Section 12, the corporation may omit from its proxy materials any information or Statement that it, in good faith, believes is materially false or misleading, omits to state any material fact, or would violate any applicable law or regulation.
(H) On the date on which an Eligible Stockholder delivers a nomination pursuant to this Section 12, each Stockholder Nominee must:
(1) provide to the corporation an executed agreement, in a form deemed satisfactory by the Board of Directors or its designee (which form shall be provided by the corporation reasonably promptly upon written request of a Stockholder Nominee), that such Stockholder Nominee consents to being named in the corporation’s proxy statement and form of proxy card (and will
not agree to be named in any other person’s proxy statement or form of proxy card with respect to the applicable annual meeting of the corporation) as a nominee and to serving as a director of the corporation if elected;
(2) provide the information with respect to a Stockholder Nominee that would be required to be submitted pursuant to Section 9 of Article III of these By-Laws for director nominations;
(3) complete, sign and submit all questionnaires, representations and agreements (including confidentiality agreements) required by these By-Laws or of the corporation’s directors generally;
(4) provide the written representation and agreement (in the form provided by the Secretary of the corporation upon written request) provided for in Article III, Section 10 of these By-Laws; and
(5) provide such additional information as necessary to permit the Board of Directors to determine if such Stockholder Nominee:
(a) is independent under the listing standards of each principal U.S. exchange upon which the Common Stock of the corporation is listed, any applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and any publicly disclosed standards used by the Board of Directors in determining and disclosing the independence of the corporation’s directors;
(b) has any direct or indirect relationship with the corporation;
(c) would, by serving on the Board of Directors, violate or cause the corporation to be in violation of these By-Laws, the rules and listing standards of the principal U.S. exchange upon which the Common Stock of the corporation is listed or any applicable law, rule or regulation; and
(d) is or has been subject to any event specified in Item 401(f) of Regulation S-K (or successor rule) of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the event that any information or communications provided by the Eligible Stockholder (or any Constituent Holder) or the Stockholder Nominee to the corporation or its stockholders ceases to be true and correct in all material respects or omits a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, each Eligible Stockholder (or any Constituent Holder) or Stockholder Nominee, as the case may be, shall promptly notify the Secretary of the corporation of any defect in such previously provided information and of the information that is required to correct any such defect; it being understood for the avoidance of doubt that providing any such notification shall not be deemed to cure any such defect or limit the remedies (including without limitation under these By-Laws) available to the corporation relating to any such defect.
(I) Any Stockholder Nominee who is included in the corporation’s proxy materials for a particular annual meeting of stockholders but either (1) withdraws from or becomes ineligible or unavailable for election at that annual meeting (other than by reason of such Stockholder Nominee’s disability or other health reason), or (2) does not receive at least twenty-five percent
(25%) of the votes cast in favor of his or her election, will be ineligible to be a Stockholder Nominee pursuant to this Section 12 for (a) such particular annual meeting and (b) the next two annual meetings.
(J) The corporation shall not be required to include, pursuant to this Section 12, a Stockholder Nominee in its proxy materials for any annual meeting of Stockholders, or, if the proxy statement already has been filed, to permit a vote with respect to the election of a Stockholder Nominee, notwithstanding that proxies in respect of such vote may have been received by the corporation:
(1) who is not independent under the listing standards of the principal U.S. exchange upon which the Common Stock of the corporation is listed, any applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and any publicly disclosed standards used by the Board of Directors in determining and disclosing independence of the corporation’s directors, who does not meet the audit committee independence requirements under the rules of any stock exchange on which the corporation’s Common Stock are traded and applicable securities laws, who is not a “non-employee director” for the purposes of Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act (or any successor rule), who is not an “outside director” for the purposes of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or any successor provision), in each of the foregoing cases as determined by the Board of Directors in its sole discretion;
(2) whose service as a member of the Board of Directors would violate or cause the corporation to be in violation of these By-Laws, the rules and listing standards of the principal U.S. exchange upon which the Common Stock of the corporation is traded, or any applicable law, rule or regulation;
(3) who is or has been, within the past three (3) years, an employee, officer or director of, or otherwise affiliated with, a competitor, as defined in Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914;
(4) who is or has been a named subject of a pending criminal proceeding (excluding non-criminal traffic violations) or has been convicted in such a criminal proceeding within the past ten (10) years, or who is or has been a named subject of any legal, regulatory or self-regulatory proceeding, action or settlement as a result of which the service of such Stockholder Nominee on the Board of Directors would result in any restrictions on the ability of any of the corporation or its affiliates to conduct business in any jurisdiction;
(5) who is subject to any order of the type specified in Rule 506(d) of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act;
(6) who shall have provided information to the corporation in respect of such nomination that was untrue in any material respect or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statement made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, as determined by the Board of Directors or any committee thereof, in either case in its sole discretion;
(7) who otherwise breaches or fails to comply in any material respect with his or her obligations pursuant to this Section 12 or any agreement, representation or undertaking required by these By-Laws; or
(8) was proposed by an Eligible Stockholder who ceases to be an Eligible Stockholder for any reason, including but not limited to not owning the Proxy Access Request Required Shares through the date of the applicable annual meeting.
In addition, if any Constituent Holder (a) shall have provided information to the corporation in respect of a nomination under this Section 12 that was untrue in any material respect or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statement made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, as determined by the Board of Directors or any committee thereof, in either case its sole discretion or (b) otherwise breaches or fails to comply in any material respect with its obligations pursuant to this Section 12 or any agreement, representation or undertaking required by these By-Laws, the Voting Stock owned by such Constituent Holder shall be excluded from the Proxy Access Request Required Shares and, if as a result the Eligible Stockholder no longer meets the requirements as such, all of the applicable Eligible Stockholder’s Stockholder Nominees shall be excluded from the corporation’s proxy statement for the applicable annual meeting of stockholder, if such proxy statement has not been filed, and, in any case, all of such stockholder’s Stockholder Nominees shall be ineligible to be nominated at such annual meeting.
Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, no Stockholder Nominee shall be eligible to serve as a Stockholder Nominee in any of the next two (2) successive annual meetings following an act or omission specified in clause (6) or (7) of this paragraph (J) by such person, in each case as determined by the Board of Directors or any committee thereof in its sole discretion. In addition, no person who has submitted materials as a purported Eligible Stockholder (or Constituent Holder) under this Section 12, or any of its affiliates or associates, shall be eligible to be an Eligible Stockholder (or Constituent Holder) in any of the next two (2) successive annual meetings following a nomination proposed under this Section 12 if, in connection therewith, such purported Eligible Stockholder (or such Constituent Holder) shall have provided information to the corporation in respect of such nomination that was untrue in any material respect or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statement made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or shall have otherwise materially breached or failed to comply with its obligations pursuant to this Section 12 or any agreement, representation or undertaking required by these By-Laws, in each case as determined by the Board of Directors or any committee thereof in its sole discretion.
Article IV. Directors
Section 1. All corporate powers shall be exercised by or under the authority of, and the business and affairs of the corporation managed by or under the direction of, the Board of Directors, subject to any limitation set forth in the Articles of Incorporation, which shall consist of such number of directors as may be determined by the Board of Directors from time to time, not to exceed fifteen (15) directors. A majority of directors in office at any given time shall be independent directors within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. or the principal stock exchange on which the corporation’s shares are traded or listed. Directors must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age and be citizens of the United States, although directors need not be stockholders of the corporation or residents of the state of Mississippi.
Section 2. The directors shall hold five (5) regular meetings, four (4) of which shall be held on such quarterly dates as the Board or the Chairman shall determine from time to time, and shall be held at the principal office of the corporation in Laurel, Mississippi, or at such other place, within or without the State of Mississippi, as may be determined by the Chairman of the Board. The remaining one (1) regular meeting shall be held immediately after, and at the same place as, the annual meeting of stockholders.
Section 3. Special meetings of the Board of Directors, to be held at the principal office of the corporation in Laurel, Mississippi, or at such other place, within or without the State of Mississippi, as may be determined by the Board or the Chairman, may be called by the Chairman or by any two (2) members of the Board of Directors.
Section 4. Any or all directors may participate in a regular or special meeting by, or conduct the meeting through the use of, any means of communication by which all directors participating may simultaneously hear each other during the meeting. A director participating in a meeting by this means is deemed to be present in person at the meeting.
Section 5. Notice as to date, time and place of all regular and special meetings of the directors shall be given to each director, by the Secretary, at least two (2) days prior to the time fixed for the meeting. Such notice shall be given in any manner to each director at his usual address or location and shall be deemed to be delivered, if mailed, when deposited four (4) days prior to the time fixed for the meeting in the United States mail, so addressed, with postage thereon prepaid. A director’s attendance at or participation in a meeting shall constitute a waiver of any required notice of such meeting, unless the director at the beginning of the meeting (or promptly upon his arrival) objects to holding the meeting or transacting business at the meeting and does not hereafter vote for or assent to action taken at the meeting.
Section 6. A quorum for the transaction of business at any regular or special meeting of the directors shall consist of a majority of the number of directors fixed by the Board of Directors in accordance with Section 1 of Article IV of these By-Laws.
Section 7. The directors shall elect the officers of the corporation and fix the salary and other compensation of the Chief Executive Officer, the President, the Treasurer and the Secretary (or such other officers who constitute the executive officers of the corporation); the Chief Executive Officer, or in the absence of the Chief Executive Officer, the directors, shall fix the salaries and other compensation of all other officers. Election of officers shall be made at the directors’ meeting following each annual stockholders’ meeting.
Section 8. Any vacancy on the Board of Directors resulting from the removal of a director as provided in the Articles of Incorporation shall be filled by the stockholders; provided that, if the stockholders fail to fill any such vacancy within ninety (90) days after the date that the director was removed, then the Board of Directors may fill such vacancy. If a vacancy occurs on the Board of Directors for reasons other than removal by stockholders, including a vacancy resulting from an increase in the number of directors: (A) the stockholders may fill the vacancy; (B) the Board of Directors may fill the vacancy; or (C) if the directors remaining in office constitute fewer than a quorum of the Board, they may fill the vacancy by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the directors remaining in office.
A vacancy that will occur at a specific later date (by reason of a resignation effective at a later date) may be filled before the vacancy occurs but the new director may not take office until the vacancy occurs.
Section 9. The affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the act of the Board of Directors, unless the Articles of Incorporation or the By-Laws require the vote of a greater number of directors.
Section 10. A director of the corporation who is present at a meeting of the Board of Directors or a committee of the Board of Directors when corporate action is taken shall be deemed to have assented to the action taken unless: (A) he objects at the beginning of the meeting (or promptly upon his arrival) to holding it or transacting business at the meeting; (B) his dissent or abstention from the action taken is entered in the minutes of the meeting; or (C) he delivers written notice of his dissent or abstention to the presiding officer of the meeting before its adjournment or to the corporation immediately after adjournment of the meeting. The right of dissent or abstention shall not be available to a director who votes in favor of the action taken.
Section 11. Any action required or permitted to be taken at a Board of Directors’ meeting may be taken without a meeting if the action is taken by all members of the Board. The action must be evidenced by one or more written consents describing the action taken, signed by each director, and included in the minutes or filed with the corporate records reflecting the action taken.
Action taken under this section is effective when the last director signs the consent, unless the consent specifies a different effective date.
Section 12. A director may resign at any time by delivering written notice to the Board of Directors, its Chairman or to the corporation. A resignation is effective when the notice is delivered unless the notice specifies a later effective date.
The stockholders may remove one or more directors with or without cause unless otherwise provided by the Articles of Incorporation. The removal of any director of the corporation elected or appointed by the stockholders of the corporation or by its Board of Directors shall be effected only by the vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the total outstanding Common Stock. Notwithstanding the foregoing, these voting requirements for director removal shall not apply to any director elected by any class (other than Common Stock) or series which may be or become entitled to elect a director voting as a separate class or series, and the removal of such a director shall be governed by the provisions relating to that class or series.
A director may be removed by the stockholders only at a meeting called for the purpose of removing him and the meeting notice must state that the purpose, or one of the purposes, of the meeting is removal of the director.
Section 13. The Board of Directors may create one or more committees and appoint members of the Board of Directors to serve on them. Each committee must have two (2) or more members, who serve at the pleasure of the Board of Directors. The Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee shall be standing committees of the Board of Directors, each of which shall in due course have separate charters approved by the Board of Directors. There shall be such other standing and ad hoc committees as the Board of Directors may from time to time create.
The creation of a committee and appointment of members to it must be approved by a majority of all the directors in office when the action is taken.
The provisions of the By-Laws which govern meetings, action without meetings, notice and waiver of notice, and quorum and voting requirements of the Board of Directors, shall apply to committees and their members as well.
To the extent specified by the Board of Directors, each committee may exercise the authority of the Board of Directors.
A committee may not, however: (A) authorize distributions; (B) approve or propose to stockholders action that requires approval by stockholders; (C) fill vacancies on committees of the Board of Directors; (D) amend the Articles of Incorporation; (E) adopt, amend or repeal By-Laws; (F) approve a plan of merger not requiring stockholder approval; (G) authorize or approve reacquisition of shares except according to a formula or method prescribed by the Board of Directors; or (H) authorize or approve the issuance or sale or contract for sale of shares, or determine the designation and relative rights, preferences and limitations of a class or series of shares, except that the Board of Directors may authorize a committee (or a senior executive officer of the corporation) to do so within limits specifically prescribed by the Board of Directors.
The creation of, delegation of authority to, or action by a committee does not alone constitute compliance by a director with the standards of conduct required by law
Section 14. If at any time the Chairman of the Board shall be the Chief Executive Officer or other officer of the corporation, the directors who meet the definition of independent director under the rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market or the principal stock exchange on which the corporation’s shares are traded or listed shall appoint an independent director to serve as Lead Independent Director of the Board of Directors. Any Lead Independent Director so appointed shall serve for a term ending one (1) year from the date of his or her appointment, or upon his or her earlier death, resignation, removal or disqualification as an independent director.
The Lead Independent Director shall preside at all meetings of the Board of Directors at which the Chairman of the Board is not present, including executive sessions of the independent directors; serve as a liaison between the Chairman of the Board and the independent directors; approve information sent to the Board of Directors in preparation for meetings of the Board of
Directors; approve agendas for meetings of the Board of Directors; approve schedules for meetings of the Board of Directors to ensure that there is sufficient time for discussion of all agenda items; have the authority to call meetings of the independent directors; be available for communications with the corporation’s stockholders; and have such other responsibilities as the Board of Directors may determine from time to time.
The Lead Independent Director may be removed as Lead Independent Director at any time with or without cause by a majority of the independent directors.
Article V. Officers.
Section 1. The officers of the corporation shall be a Chairman of the Board, a Vice Chairman of the Board (if elected by the Board at its discretion), a Chief Executive Officer, a President, one or more Vice Presidents (if elected by the Board at its discretion), a Secretary and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be elected by the Board of Directors. Such other officers and assistant officers as may be deemed necessary may be elected by the Board of Directors or, in the case of assistant officers, appointed by the officers duly elected by the Board of Directors. Any two or more offices may be simultaneously held by the same person.
Section 2. The officers of the corporation shall be elected annually by the Board of Directors at the first meeting of the Board of Directors held after each annual meeting of the stockholders. Officers of the corporation may also be elected by the Board of Directors to serve until the next annual meeting, when a new office is created by amendment to, or restatement of, these By-Laws or, in the absence of a resignation, when an incumbent officer cannot perform the duties conferred upon him by reason of absence or inability or unfitness to carry out said duties. The election or appointment of an officer or assistant officer shall not itself create contract rights. Officers shall serve at the pleasure of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. An officer may resign at any time by delivering notice to the corporation. A resignation is effective when the notice is delivered unless the notice specifies a later effective date. If a resignation is made effective at a later date and the corporation accepts the future effective date, it may fill the pending vacancy before the effective date if the successor does not take office until the effective date. An officer’s resignation shall not affect the corporation’s contract rights, if any, with the officer.
Section 4. Any officer elected by the Board of Directors may be removed by the Board of Directors at any time with or without cause whenever in its judgment the best interests of the corporation would be served thereby, but such removal shall not affect the contract rights with the corporation, if any, of the officer so removed. Any assistant officer appointed by another officer may likewise be removed by such officer.
Section 5. A vacancy in any office because of death, resignation, removal, disqualification or otherwise, may be filled by the Board of Directors for the unexpired portion of the term.
Section 6. The Chairman of the Board shall preside at all directors’ meetings; shall sign all stock certificates (which signature may be by facsimile as provided in Article II, Section 2, of these By-Laws); and shall have authority to sign on behalf of the corporation, bills, notes,
receipts, acceptances, endorsements, checks, releases, contracts and documents of every nature and kind, to issue checks or otherwise draw upon the deposits or credits of the corporation, excepting dividends, and to do such other acts not specifically enumerated herein and which are not inconsistent with the purposes of the business of the corporation and its charter authority or not otherwise specifically delegated to any other officer.
Section 7. The Vice Chairman of the Board (if elected by the Board at its discretion) shall perform all the duties of the Chairman of the Board at such times as the Chairman is unable to perform the duties conferred upon him by reason of absence or inability or unfitness to carry out said duties. The Vice Chairman shall further perform such duties as may be directed to him by the Board of Directors or any of its committees.
Section 8. The Chief Executive Officer of the corporation shall have general supervision over the affairs of the corporation, shall perform the duties generally conferred upon the chief executive officer of a corporation, including the authority to conduct the affairs of the corporation and to carry out the policies thereof; and shall have authority to sign on behalf of the corporation, bills, notes, receipts, acceptances, endorsements, checks, releases, contracts and documents of every nature and kind, to issue checks or otherwise draw upon the deposits or credits of the corporation, excepting dividends, to extend credit to persons and in amounts as he may deem advisable, and to do such other acts not specifically enumerated herein and which are not inconsistent with the purposes of the business of the corporation and its charter authority or not otherwise specifically delegated to any other officer. He shall have general charge of the office and the plant or plants of the corporation, with authority to employ and terminate such office assistants and employees as he may deem advisable and necessary, and to fix and pay salaries for such employment. He shall sign all stock certificates (which signature may be by facsimile as provided in Article II, Section 2, of these By-Laws) and shall perform all of the duties of the Chairman of the Board at such times as the Chairman and Vice Chairman are unable to perform the duties conferred upon them by reason of unexpected absence or the inability or unfitness to carry out said duties. The Chief Executive Officer shall further perform such duties as may be directed to him or her by the Board of Directors and shall have authority to delegate any of the duties herein set forth. The offices of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer may be combined.
Section 9. The President of the corporation shall be the Chief Executive Officer unless the Board of Directors has elected a different Chief Executive Officer, in which event the President shall be the Chief Operating Officer and, in that capacity, shall have such duties and responsibilities as shall be assigned to him or her by the Board of Directors or the Chief Executive Officer and shall perform the duties of the Chief Executive Officer at such times as the Chief Executive Officer is unable to perform them by reason of unexpected absence or the inability or unfitness to carry out said duties.
Section 10. The Board of Directors may elect one or more Vice President(s), who shall perform such duties as may be directed to them by the Chief Executive Officer, the President or by the Board of Directors. If there is more than one vice president, the Board of Directors may designate an order of seniority among them. If the President is unable to perform his or her duties by reason of unexpected absence or his or her inability or unfitness to carry out said duties, then those duties shall be performed by the Vice President if there is but one, or by the most senior Vice President if there is more than one and the Board has designated their seniority; or, if not, by the Vice President specially designated by the Board of Directors to perform such duties.
Section 11. The Secretary shall issue notices of all directors’ and stockholders’ meetings, and shall attend and keep the minutes of the same; shall have charge of all corporate books, records and papers; shall be the custodian of the corporate seal; shall authenticate records of the corporation; shall attest with his signature and impress with the corporate seal all stock certificates (which signature and seal may be facsimile as provided in Article II, Section 2, of these By-Laws) and written contracts of the corporation, but such attestation shall not be limited to the Secretary and the absence of such attestation shall not affect the legal validity of any written contracts; and shall perform all other such duties as are incidental to his office and that may be specifically delegated to his office.
Section 12. The Treasurer shall have custody of all monies and securities of the corporation, and he shall keep regular books of account and shall submit them, together with all his vouchers, receipts, records and other papers to the directors for their examination and approval as often as they may require. The Treasurer, or such other officer, if any, who has been designated as the Chief Financial Officer by the Board of Directors, shall have the fiscal responsibility for the affairs of the corporation, including future operations, and shall from time to time propose or otherwise institute such fiscal policy as may be determined by the Board of Directors.
Section 13. The duties of the Secretary or Treasurer or any part thereof may be from time to time delegated by the Secretary or Treasurer, with the consent of the Board of Directors, to an Assistant Secretary or Assistant Treasurer. The Assistant Secretary or Assistant Treasurer shall have the authority to perform such acts as may be delegated to him by the Secretary or Treasurer with the consent of the Board of Directors.
Section 14. As assigned and directed by the Board of Directors, the Vice President(s), the Secretary or the Treasurer shall perform those duties of the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer or the President at such times as the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer or the President is unable to perform the duties conferred upon him by reason of absence or inability or unfitness to carry out said duties.
Article VI. Indemnification of Directors, Officers and Other Persons
Section 1. The corporation shall indemnify its directors, officers, those employees of the corporation appointed by the President to serve on the corporation’s Executive Committee, and those employees selected by the Executive Committee to be the Division Managers, to the fullest extent permitted by law, except in an action brought directly by the corporation against such person.
Section 2. To the extent permitted by law, the right to indemnification conferred in this Article (a) shall apply to acts or omissions antedating the adoption of this Article; (b) shall be severable; (c) shall continue as to a person who has ceased to be such director, officer or employee; and (d) shall inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors and administrators of such person.
Section 3. This Article may be repealed or amended from time to time by the Board of Directors with or without shareholder approval; provided however, that no such repeal or amendment shall limit the right to indemnification conferred in this Article for liability for acts or omissions which occurred prior to the time of such repeal or amendment.
Section 4. If the corporation indemnifies or advances expenses to a director under this Article, the corporation shall, if required by Section 79-4-16.21(a) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, report the indemnification or advance in writing to the stockholders with or before the notice of the next stockholder meeting.
Article VII. Dividends and Finance.
Section 1. Dividends may be declared from time to time by resolution of the Board of Directors; but no dividends shall be paid if, after giving them effect, (A) the corporation would not be able to pay its debts as they become due in the usual course of business; or (B) the corporation’s total assets would be less than the sum of its total liabilities plus (unless the Articles of Incorporation permit otherwise) the amount that would be needed, if the corporation were to be dissolved at the time of the distribution, to satisfy the preferential rights upon dissolution of stockholders whose preferential rights are superior to those receiving the distribution.
Section 2. The funds of the corporation shall be deposited in those depository institutions designated by the Board of Directors, and such funds may be withdrawn upon the check or demand of either the Chief Executive Officer, the President, the Vice President(s), the Secretary or the Treasurer or by authority granted to some other individual by the Chairman of the Board, the Vice Chairman of the Board, or the President or the Executive Vice President (if any) and one other officer of the corporation by appropriate notice directed to any such banking institution or trust company.
Article VIII. Contracts and Loans.
The Board of Directors may authorize any officer or officers, and any agent or agents to enter into any contract, make any loan or execute and deliver any instrument in the name of and on behalf of the corporation, and such authority may be general or confined to a specific instance.
Article IX. Fiscal Year.
The fiscal year of the corporation shall end on the 31st day of October in each year.
Article X. Corporate Seal.
The Board of Directors shall provide a corporate seal which shall be circular in form and shall have inscribed thereon the name of the corporation, the state of incorporation and the words “Corporate Seal.” The seal may be used by causing it or a facsimile thereof to be impressed or affixed or reproduced or otherwise.
Article XI. Waiver of Notice.
Whenever any notice is required to be given to any stockholder or director of the corporation under the provisions of these By-Laws or under the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation or under the provisions of the Mississippi Business Corporation Act, a waiver thereof in writing, signed by the person or persons entitled to such notice, whether before or after the date and time stated in the notice, and filed with the minutes or corporate records, shall be equivalent to the giving of such notice.
Article XII. Transfer Agent.
The Board of Directors shall be authorized, in its discretion, to contract with and employ a securities transfer agent, either within or without the State of Mississippi for the general purposes of issuing and cancelling stock and other security certificates of the corporation, of transfer processing and of other related security services. The services of any security transfer agent, for which the Board may contract, may include, but not be limited to, all security processing, stockholder record-keeping, election processing, dividend payment, dividend reinvestment, tax information, notices and proxies, securities regulation reporting, and corporate reorganization work related to securities. Any transfer agent, if employed, shall be authorized and empowered to affix official signatures and the seal of the corporation to stock and other security certificates by facsimile and to sign on its behalf any and all stock and other security certificates issued by the corporation.
Article XIII. Amendments.
These By-Laws may be altered, amended or repealed or new By-Laws may be adopted by the Board of Directors at any regular or special meeting of the Board of Directors. Any alteration, amendment or repeal of, or any addition to, these By-Laws which affects classes of directors, the filling of vacancies on the Board of Directors, the removal of directors, super majority voting requirements, cumulative voting and classes of stock including preferences, limitations and relative rights thereof shall require an affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) or more of all the directors in office when the action is taken; provided that such two-thirds (2/3) vote shall not be required for any such alteration, amendment or repeal of, or any addition to, these By-Laws at a time when no person, corporation or entity, other than a member of the Sanderson Family (as such term is defined in Article NINTH of the Articles of Incorporation), beneficially owns (as such term is defined in Article NINTH of the Articles of Incorporation) 20% or more of the outstanding shares of Common Stock of the corporation or 20% or more of the total voting power of the corporation entitled to vote on any such matter at a meeting of stockholders.
Article XIV. Exclusive Forum.
Unless the corporation consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (A) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the corporation, (B) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director or officer or other employee of the corporation to the corporation or the corporation’s stockholders, (C) any action asserting a claim against the corporation or any director or officer or other employee of the corporation arising pursuant to any provision of the Mississippi Business
Corporation Act or the corporation’s Articles of Incorporation or By-Laws (as any of them may be amended from time to time), or (D) any action asserting a claim against the corporation or any director or officer or other employee of the corporation governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be (1) a state court of proper jurisdiction located within Rankin County, Mississippi, (2) if (and only if) no state court located within Rankin County, Mississippi, has jurisdiction, then the federal district court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Northern Division, or (3) if, and only if, neither a state court located within Rankin County, Mississippi, nor the federal court designated above, has jurisdiction, then in any state or federal court of proper jurisdiction located in the State of Mississippi.
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Atul Kulkarni is a true all-rounder
| PRIYA SREEKUMAR
Atul Kulkarni is returning to Mollywood with Bijith Bala’s Nellikka
Actor Atul Kulkarni (Photo: DC archives)
Kochi: Atul Kulkarni needs no introduction. The National Award-winning actor is at ease working in commercial and art house movies. He is also a theatre actor who acts in regional cinema across multiple languages and a familiar face to Mollywood audiences. Atul Kulkarni is returning to Mollywood with Bijith Bala’s Nellikka.
Atul plays a well-to-do banker who lives with his in-laws. The film revolves around events that take place within the family. Speaking about the experience Atul says, “It is a family story and the team is quite young. Scriptwriter Arun and the director are very enthusiastic and have a modern way of looking at films as a craft.”
Atul is looking forward to the start of the third schedule of the film and he mentions, “I had been to Kerala but never to Kozhikode. I had heard about the place, its tasty food, the numerous eating joints and biriyani. Since Arun is from Kozhikode, he took me to all the hot spots and eateries.”
Atul says that the audience, he included, goes to the theatres to listen to a story and as an actor, it is the story that should be attractive to him, including the director.
Comfortable is the word that comes to mind when Atul acts in regional cinema. Atul explains, “My native place is Belgaum and I understand Kannada and have a flavour for acting in South Indian languages. In fact, my earliest films were in Tamil and Telugu and since then I have been acting in all languages.”
Atul will be seen in the upcoming Kollywood film Burma, a thriller, in which he sports a salt and pepper look for the first time.
Atul is also gearing up for the premiere of the Hollywood film Singularity (The Lovers) at the Cannes International Film Festival. Atul plays Raoji, a Maratha Sardar in the historical story set in the 1800s.
Talking about the Hollywood work culture, he says, “The work culture, be it in films or other professions, is very different! There is more equality than we have here, not only in the industry but also in society. I had the opportunity to learn quite a few things.”
The old order is giving way to the new across all the industries and Atul who has worked across seven different industries is only too happy with the shift.
He opines, “This changing order is a reflection of Indian society in general! Be it the software or the marketing arenas, it is the youth who are changing the rules which is definitely a welcome change. The present generation is more evolved, has more freedom and more exposure too; I would term it as a big and wonderful change.”
Atul is also very vociferous in airing his social and political opinions and he states, “We are intolerant and not respectful of the opinions which are offered. If a person does not agree, he becomes the enemy and the space for healthy discussions is becoming narrower.”
A ‘serious actor’ is how Atul is tagged as! Is that tag a limiting one? Atul explains, “Within that image, I have been fortunate to play different roles. I am not playing only antagonist or police officer roles; I cannot be asking for each and every role and be sad if I do not get it!”
Films are not Atul’s only passion, the actor takes his responsibility to the environment very seriously too. He has played an active role in converting a 24-acre barren land in Satara into a forest, a project that kickstarted seven years back.
Atul shares his sentiments, “The project was born out of the thought that living in a city, we are directly or indirectly responsible for the destruction of the land. We are basically letting grass grow in the 24-acres and have planted 2000 trees. Of course the growth is slow and it is patience that is required.”
Tags: mollywood, atul kulkarni, entertainment
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Meet Martin!
Tell us about yourself first! What made you get into photography?
My first real job was with an aerial photography company in Australia in the 1980s. I was already shooting 35mm film, but my photography education didn’t really start until my boss, an English bloke called Tony, and my co-worker, Ian, introduced me to the world of medium and large format photography. Unfortunately, for most of the 90s I took very few photos - I don’t really know why - which is a shame because lived in Japan and Hong Kong. I started again with the advent of digital photography, but I didn’t do anything again with film until last year.
What is your preferred photography style and subjects to shoot?
I’m not much of a people person, so I prefer landscapes and the natural world. However, I discovered street photography after I went back to school and did a journalism degree. I also want to develop my portraiture technique, which is why I’m teaming up with a local photographer soon so she can try the Goodman Zone and I can learn some tips from her.
How did you get into building cameras?
The former manager of my local bookstore and coffee shop, who just happens to be an award-winning film photographer, told me about Dora’s cameras. I wanted to build them right away.
Which model did you choose and why?
I started out with the Goodman One, but in Canada, where I’ve been living since 2010, being so close to the US means that metric hardware is more difficult to source than I ever imagined. When Aaron Tan revealed his version of the Goodman One, I asked him if I could download his files because it used less in the way of screws, rods and inserts. Thankfully, he said yes and that’s how I got started.
Did you made any change in the camera files? If yes, what and how? If not, is there anything that you would be happy to change?
Not in the beginning, but I soon wanted to see if I could come up with an adapter to match Aaron’s Goodman Zone with the the Fujifilm Instax SQ6. It took a lot of work to make my 3D-printed shell mate with the rear shell of the Instax and I’m still tweaking it now. I’m a little obsessive that way.
What was the most challenging part of building your own camera?
I’m a journalist, not a designer, so until 2017, I hadn’t touched any kind of 3D-modeling software. It was a steep learning curve. Even after making the switch to Fusion 360, I still had to work hard at the stuff that experienced CAD people find easy. I knew what I wanted but it took a while to achieve it. Thankfully, I’m much better now than I was just 5 months ago. Aside from that, the bellows on the AXIS was not easy, but I’m glad I did it. It’s the first time I’ve tackled that type of thing and it’s not bad for a second try (the first one failed).
How would you compare this journey to buying a ready made camera?
The best part of building a camera is that is teaches you things that you take for granted in a ready-made camera. It also turned me into a camera historian of sorts, which is something I didn’t expect. I spent a lot of time looking at vintage cameras and appreciating for the first time the beauty, elegance and engineering genius of those early cameras.
Show us some photos what you have made with your new camera!
Do you have any advice for first time camera builders?
Reach out to the community when you get stumped. I’m a firm believer in the idea that there are no stupid questions. That said, make sure you do your research first, and give it a decent try before calling for help.
Do you have any previous projects that you could share with us?
I haven’t built cameras before this, so probably not. I have, however, discovered that I like to design lights, which is a direct result of my experience with modifying my Goodman cameras.
#doragoodmancameras #goodmanaxis #goodmanone #goodmanzone #instax #fujifilm #diy
How to build a medium format film camera with a digital back? A hybrid model by Takuma Ikeda
Meet Perry!
Meet Allan!
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Trump Visits US Troops in Iraq
AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq (AP) -- In an unannounced trip to Iraq on Wednesday, President Donald Trump staunchly defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from neighboring Syria despite a drumbeat of criticism from military officials and allies who don't think the job fighting Islamic State militants there is over.
Trump, making his first presidential visit to troops in a troubled region, said it's because the U.S. military had all but eliminated IS-controlled territory in both Iraq and Syria that he decided to withdraw 2,000 forces from Syria. He said the decision to leave Syria showed America's renewed stature on the world stage and his quest to put "America first."
"We're no longer the suckers, folks," Trump told U.S. servicemen and women at al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq, about 100 miles or 60 kilometers west of Baghdad. "We're respected again as a nation."
The decision to pull U.S. forces from Syria, however, stunned national security advisers and U.S. allies and prompted the resignations of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who was not on the trip, and the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic extremist group. The militant group, also known as ISIS, has lost nearly all its territory in Iraq and Syria but is still seen as a threat.
Iraq declared IS defeated within its borders in December 2017, but Trump's trip was shrouded in secrecy, which has been standard practice for presidents flying into conflict areas.
Air Force One, lights out and window shutters drawn, flew overnight from Washington, landing at an airbase west of Baghdad in darkness Wednesday evening. George W. Bush made four trips to Iraq as president and President Barack Obama made one.
During his three-plus hours on the ground, Trump did not meet with any Iraqi officials, but spoke on the phone with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. He stopped at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany on his way back, for a second unannounced visit to troops and military leaders.
Trump's Iraq visit appeared to have inflamed sensitivities about the continued presence of U.S. forces in Iraq. The two major blocs in the Iraqi parliament both condemned the visit, likening it to a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
The airbase where Trump spoke is about 155 miles (250 km) from Hajin, a Syrian town near the Iraqi border where Kurdish fighters are still battling IS extremists. Trump has said IS militants have been eradicated, but the latest estimate is that IS still holds about 60 square miles (100 square km) of territory in that region of Syria, although fighters also fled the area and are in hiding in other pockets of the country.
Mattis was supposed to continue leading the Pentagon until late February but Trump moved up his exit and announced that Patrick Shanahan, deputy defense secretary, would take the job on Jan. 1 and he was in "no rush" to nominate a new defense chief.
"Everybody and his uncle wants that position," Trump told reporters traveling with him in Iraq. "And also, by the way, everybody and her aunt, just so I won't be criticized."
Critics said the U.S. exit from Syria, the latest in Trump's increasingly isolationist-style foreign policy, would provide an opening for IS to regroup, give Iran a green light to expand its influence in the region and leave U.S.-backed Kurdish forces vulnerable to attacks from Turkey.
"I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strongholds," said Trump, who wore an olive green bomber style jacket as he was welcomed by chants of "USA! USA!" and speakers blaring Lee Greenwood's song, "God Bless the USA."
"We'll be watching ISIS very closely," said Trump, who was joined by first lady Melania Trump, but no members of his Cabinet or lawmakers. "We'll be watching them very, very closely, the remnants of ISIS"
Trump also said he had no plans to withdraw the 5,200 U.S. forces in Iraq. That's down from about 170,000 in 2007 at the height of the surge of U.S. forces to combat sectarian violence unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
Trump spoke on the phone with the prime minister, but the White House said security concerns and the short notice of the trip prevented the president from meeting him face-to-face.
The prime minister's office said "differences in points of view over the arrangements" prevented the two from meeting but they discussed security issues and Trump's order to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria over the phone. Abdul-Mahdi's office also did not say whether he had accepted an invitation to the White House. But Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on the flight back that the Iraqi leader had agreed to come.
Trump said that after U.S. troops in Syria return home, Iraq could still be used to stage attacks on IS militants.
"We can use this as a base if we wanted to do something in Syria," he said. "If we see something happening with ISIS that we don't like, we can hit them so fast and so hard" that they "really won't know what the hell happened."
Trump said it's time to leave Syria because the U.S. should not be involved in nation-building, and that other wealthy nations should shoulder the cost of rebuilding Syria. He also said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to battle "any remnants of ISIS" in Syria, which shares a border with Turkey.
"The nations of the regions must step up and take more responsibility for their future," Trump said, promising a "strong deliberate and orderly withdrawal" of forces from Syria
Trump had faced criticism for not yet visiting U.S. troops stationed in harm's way as he comes up on his two-year mark in office. He told The Associated Press in October that he "will do that at some point, but I don't think it's overly necessary.
Trump told reporters that he had planned to make the trip three or four weeks ago, but word of the trip started getting out and forced him to postpone it.
Iraqi leaders declared an end to combat operations against IS a year ago but the country's political, military and economic situation remains uncertain. It continues to experience sporadic bombings, kidnappings and assassinations, which most people attribute to IS.
On Dec. 15, the U.S.-led coalition launched an airstrike in support of Iraqi troops who were chasing IS fighters toward a tunnel west of Mosul. The strike destroyed the tunnel entrance and killed four IS fighters, according to the U.S. military in Baghdad. The last U.S. service member to die in Iraq was in August, as the result of a helicopter crash in Sinjar.
Trump had planned to spend Christmas at his private club in Florida, but stayed behind in Washington due to the partial government shutdown.
Trump campaigned for office on a platform of ending U.S. involvement in foreign trouble spots, such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The Pentagon is also said to be developing plans to withdraw up to half of the 14,000 American troops still serving in Afghanistan.
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Johnstone's Paint Trophy: Southern Area Final Second Leg Preview
The Southern Area Final second leg of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy takes place on Tuesday evening with Oxford United holding a two-goal advantage over Millwall.
Michael Appleton’s men clinched a 2-0 win at the New Den in the first leg with Kemar Roofe scoring twice on the night.
The Sky Bet League 2 side have never reached the Final of the competition, while Millwall finished as runners-up to Wigan Athletic in 1999.
The second leg promises to be a fascinating encounter, with the Lions unbeaten in their three games since that first leg loss. Oxford, meanwhile, have been victorious in their last three matches on the road - including that win in the capital three weeks ago.
The officials for the Area Semi-Final second legs have been announced.
Click here to see which officials have been selected for this week’s fixtures.
We’ll be covering all the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Area Semi-Final action on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings via our live Twitter feed - @JP_Trophy.
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image courtesy of Elannore Bester
The W.i.S.E. logo, created by senior Elannore Bester, is featured prominently on the group’s site.
While enrolled in a computer science course at EHS, senior Elaine Wei realized that she was only one of three women in her class.
This number motivated Wei to look into the gender gap within STEM fields, and her findings inspired Wei to take action. The belief that inequality in jobs, pay, and opportunities exists between men and women is known as the gender gap.
“…I thought of a project that would not try to equalize the genders in STEM fields, but to guide females through male-dominated fields in STEM,” Wei said.
Wei created Women in Stem Educate (W.i.S.E), a nonprofit website, using the online website builder Wix, which can be located at https://wiseofficial.wixsite.com/nonprofit. The site aims to interview women within the STEM field to educate and inspire young women to pursue careers in those fields, but she needed help to achieve this goal.
“After brainstorming the mission of my project, I started gathering members that might be interested in such a project, and we were able to pitch in ideas that transformed into W.i.S.E,” Wei said.
Senior Paola Arana is one of the nine girls who Wei asked to help manage the website.
“We each have different roles,” Arana said. “Personally I handle outreach and promotion through social media, and the others handle projects such as blogs, interviews, and website updates.”
When Wei asked senior Linnea Turner, who would like to pursue an environmental science or ecology degree in college, if she would participate in the website, she happily agreed.
“As a woman who hopes to go into a STEM career, I was excited to be a part of it,” Turner said.
According to Turner, her role as a blogger for the website entails that she develop and edit articles from the interviews of the STEM women. She works closely with senior Madison Lein who deals with the interviewing process.
“I help seek out prominent women to interview, conduct the interviews themselves, and participate in the podcasts,” Lein said.
So far they have created one podcast, and they have more to come: Lein is scheduled to interview Dr. Noelle Cutter, a molecular biologist the week of Sept. 7.
Deciding on content is something the ten ladies of W.i.S.E do together.
“We have a meeting once a week via Zoom and spend part of it discussing the objectives of the group as a whole and part of it on our own breakout groups based on what we’re working on [such as] website and social media, podcasts, or interviews,” Lein said.
Whether she is a founder, social media promoter, blogger, or interviewer, the group works together to create new content as they aim to inspire young women.
“We hope to teach people about the gender gap and inequality in STEM today, but more importantly we want to inspire young women to pursue a career in STEM despite inequalities and setbacks,” Arana said. “Our website offers blogs, interviews, and podcasts that cover first-hand experiences from women in STEM and the strides females in these fields are making, and we hope viewers will gain insight and support our message.”
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Solar micro inverter market strengthens on PV demand - NEC
18-05-2018 | | By Nnamdi Anyadike
Rapidly falling component and installation costs are encouraging the growth of solar power in key locations across the globe. And solar inverters, which play an important role in the operation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, are expected to witness a solid 15.65% CAGR growth in its global market to 2023.
This is due in no small measure to the fact that although the solar inverter market is still challenged by the high cost of the inverter itself - as well as high maintenance costs - the rising affordability of energy storage devices as a whole is creating ample opportunities for the market. Growth is also being aided by stiffening carbon emission targets introduced by various governments and their policies for promoting renewable energy.
The basic function of the inverter is to ‘invert’ the variable Direct Current (DC) output of the solar panels into Alternating Current (AC). In that regard its relationship with the system’s battery and PV panels is crucial. The inverter, which can be described as the ‘brains’ of the system, plays the role of the solar charge controller.
A solar micro-inverter. By Maury Markowitz - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
It is capable of ‘interrogating’ the energy state of the PV panels and where needed directing energy to users, battery charging or the network. The inverter also allows for meter reading and the analysing of household consumption habits.
Solar inverters are of two types, single phase inverters and three phase inverters. The market can be broken down further into string inverters (also known as centralized inverters), micro-inverters and power optimizers.
But it is in the micro inverter market where much of the excitement is happening. Micro-inverters are solar inverters that are built inside the solar panel itself. They are most suitable for small off-grid power generation and they have helped to entirely ‘revolutionise’ the global residential solar inverter market.
From January 1, 2019 micro inverters will receive an additional boost, at least in the US. On that date, an update to the National Electric Code (NEC) will go into effect in certain US states. This will require that as a safety measure solar systems be capable of a rapid module-level shutdown, instead of the previous array-level shutdown requirement.
Micro inverters and other module-level power electronics (MLPEs) will be invaluable in this regard.
Ahead of January 1, 2019, the German based SMA Solar Technology AG and US Tigo recently released a module-level rapid shutdown unit. SMA plans to bring all its US inverters in full compliance with the code’s update before the end of 2018.
And California headquartered APsystems has unveiled what it described as the “world’s most advanced solar Micro inverter”, in Las Vegas. The first of its kind YC600 was designed to accommodate high output PV panels and offer enhanced capability to meet the latest grid compliance standards like the NEC requirement. It supplies 300VA peak output power per channel and works with 60 and 72-cell PV modules, offering dual, independent MPPT per panel.
Other developments include the announcement in April by California based Enphase Energy Inc. and Solaria Corp. of the joint introduction of their PowerXT-AC module. The module features the Enphase IQ 7+ micro-inverter and Solaria’s proprietary module technology. It is being built by Solaria at its recently expanded manufacturing facility in Fremont, California. Starting in June, the module will be available from Soligent Distribution, the US solar distributor, at locations around the US.
The proprietary PowerXT platform uses Solaria’s advanced cell interconnect and module production processes, which significantly boost power generation while avoiding reliability challenges that can reduce conventional PV modules’ long-term performance. David Ranhoff, chief commercial officer of Enphase Energy said, “Powered by the IQ 7+ Micro, the Solaria PowerXT-AC combines the innovation prowess of two Silicon Valley companies in partnership with a leading distribution partner like Soligent to offer AC module value and performance to both installers and homeowners.” The announcement helped NASDAQ listed Enphase Energy Inc shares jump by 19.2% in early May trading.
Meanwhile, California based Darfon’s recently introduced its third-generation micro inverter. The G320 is compatible with 60- and 72-cell modules with STC power ratings of up to 350 W. The platform has multiple phase configurations, making it suitable for deployment in residential, commercial and industrial applications.
The outlook for solar micro inverters is overwhelmingly positive, not just in the US but also across the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan (APEJ). A study by Future Market Insights forecasts that demand for solar micro inverters in the APEJ region will be boosted by the growing trade of inexpensive inverters in China and India. The residential segment of the global market will continue to dominate over the commercial segment and based on current trends is expected to reach a market share of over 80% by 2018.
However, even in the commercial market space, the forecast is for growth in the demand for solar micro inverters to rise quite substantially as well. This will be due to falling prices and rising commercial scale PV installations.
Read More: Nigerian invention to transform Africa’s power market
By Nnamdi Anyadike
I have 30 years experience as a freelance business, economy and industry journalist, concentrating on the oil, gas and renewable energy, telecommunications and IT sectors. I have authored a number of well received in-depth market intelligence reports. And I have also spoken at conferences.
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Microcontrollers can Tough it out in Extreme Environments
By Ross Bannatyne | 11-10-2016
Best 3D Printer Features: What to Look for When Buying a 3D Printer
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Home » Commentaries » The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, Division of Education: Where Crime Pays And Integrity is A Crime
The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, Division of Education: Where Crime Pays And Integrity is A Crime
Sep 13, 2012 by Kandise Lucas, Ph.D. Columnist EducationViews.org
DJJ Director Mark Gooch
Earlier this year, The Center for Public Integrity, along with The Global Integrity Project, gave The Commonwealth of Virginia an “F” and a ranking of 47th nation-wide regarding integrity and ethics within state government operations. These organizations must have had the Department of Correctional Education, now known as The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, Division of Education, in mind when they rendered this scathing verdict.
Recently, under a state government restructuring initiative, Governor Bob McDonnell accepted the recommendation to dissolve the Virginia Department of Correctional Education, (DCE), and to merge it with Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice, (DJJ). However, rampant corruption, gross mismanagement of state resources, abuse of employee rights, systematic civil rights violations of students, and extensive cover-up measures by division administrators continues to flourish under the leadership of Director Mark Gooch and Superintendent Jacqueline Nelson. Given her credentials and alleged violations of the DHRM hiring process, it is questionable as to “how” Nelson obtained her position as superintendent in the eyes of many within the agency.
The committee’s recommendation and governor’s approval to dissolve this agency is to be applauded. DCE, or “The Department of Corruption in Education,” as it is referred to by is employees, has a long and sad saga of leaders accused, and in many cases found guilty of, sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, waste of public monies, exploitation of employees, and violation of the rights of incarcerated students, specifically those with disabilities, with little, if any, accountability. In fact, the record shows that Superintendent Nelson, Assistant Superintendent Friday, Human Resources Manager Robert Gunn, and Director of Special Education Sharon Trimmer, have utilized DCE for their own personal agendas and have repeatedly violated the trust of the taxpayer by grossly mismanaging state resources, which include monies, employees, supplies, benefits, and much more.
DCE’s mission identified its goal as, “to provide quality educational programs that enable incarcerated youth and adults to become responsible, productive, tax-paying members of their communities.” An additional slogan touted throughout DCE literature is “fighting crime through education.” However, because of the misconduct of DCE administrators, one wonders if the underlying message should be rewritten as “promoting crime by denying education.” While other state agencies are aggressively combating the “cradle to prison pipeline” that impacts significant numbers of African-American males within our society, state agencies such as The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice and its Division of Education, appear to be engaging in systematic tactics to enhance and empower the “cradle to prison pipeline” by violating the agency’s own core values, strategies, and mission. In the process, these agency heads have not only destroyed the futures of thousands of students, negatively impacted the well being of their employees, but they have grossly violated the public trust of Virginia’s taxpayers at every level, and clearly undermine the spirit and intent of Governor McDonnell’s Re-Entry Initiative.
Numerous state-initiated investigative reports have surfaced throughout the years in which DCE’s administration has been reported for violating the educational civil rights of incarcerated youth. These young people have systematically been denied access and participation in alternative education programs, GED programs, and SAT testing for College Bound programs. Reports have surfaced that validate the dissolution of alternative education with the subsequent placement of 17 year olds, or “warehousing” them, into the ninth grade by DCE administration. Other reports indicate that DCE’s administration disregard the requests and recommendations of counselors, judges, parents, and parole officers to enroll students in specific educational programs required for their release and re-entry into their communities. DCE’s refusal to address individual student need has resulted in young people being denied early release, being detained past their release date, and being released with few and meaningless high school credits. Working with incarcerated youth requires teachers to work quickly and effectively for the greater good of the students. DCE administration creates waste of time, human resources, and dashes the hopes and dreams of young adults by chaining them to meaningless schedules and coursework that give the illusion of “education” to ensure that the state and federal monies continue to flow into the agency even if a quality educational programs do not.
Both novice and veteran DCE employees claim that the inability of the agency to achieve its mission by delivering a decreasingly poor quality of education, (as reflected through standardized test scores), is a direct result of the DCE agency leadership. DCE administrators have been described as outdated, misinformed, unqualified, unprofessional, inflexible, indifferent, incompetent, and uncaring with regard to agency mission, student population, and employees. As one educator stated, “working for this division is like living the nightmare of a real-life “Cool Hand Luke or Shawshank Redemption” movie. Allegations of corruption, abuse, nepotism, retaliation, fiscal mismanagement, and cover-up permeate the highest levels of administration. Requests to falsify student records, employee time sheets, grades, credits, etc. seem to be the norm despite employee requests for investigation. Those employees who speak up are labeled as disruptive and insubordinate and are often subjected to formal reprimand, retaliation, intimidation, demotion, transfer, and even termination.
Furthermore, DCE administration has also been the subject of numerous investigations by State Employee Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline. Under the shelter of anonymity, employees feel as if there is a venue for complaints and concerns. Anonymous sources have reported that the Division has averaged, at times, up to ten employee calls per week to the state hotline. As a result, administrative threats and retaliation against employees for making the calls have also seen an significant increase. At no time has administration met with employees, provided a forum for exchange of ideas, or otherwise shown interest in employee conflict resolution, mediation, or feedback. Employees voice concerns about the severity of workplace bullying and intimidation that they are facing, as well as the fact that management is currently on a “witch hunt”, trying to identify who has or has not contacted the hotline so that retaliation and intimidation can be initiated.
Assistant Superintendent Belinda Friday advised through agency email that employees will now be punished by being declared as “essential personnel” for engaging in protected activities and exercising their right to contact the hotline and file grievances. She also made it clear that it was because of the actions of a “few” that the entire division was being punished. One can only surmise that her motive was to curtail complaints while reinforcing blind compliance. “Don’t ask; don’t tell” seems to be Ms. Friday’s covert message. Other employees view the division’s building principals and assistant principals as being “henchmen,” blindly obeying orders and hiding behind the excuses of , “I am just doing as I am told,” without question or conscience, even when the directives are immoral and criminal.
As a result of investigations obtained from the State’s Internal Auditor, Tim Sadler, a Freedom of Information Act Request revealed the following:
1) May 13, 2008-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation of Roy Haliburton, Deputy Superintendent of DCE, in which allegations were made that DCE’s administration “has blocked attempts by staff to contact that appropriate authorities in order to voice their concerns.”
2) June 5, 2008-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation of Roy Haliburton, Deputy Superintendent of DCE, in which allegations were made that poor management, unprofessionalism and intimidation of staff members was conducted by Haliburton. As a result of the investigation, corrective action was taken against Haliburton by the Superintendent of DCE.
3) June 18, 2008-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation of Instructional Assistants, who are not certified to teach, but who were assigned to teach English and History classes. DCE Human Resources took action to place certified educators in these positions following the investigation.
4) June 26, 2008-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation involving Deputy Superintendent of DCE, Roy Haliburton and Assistant Superintendent of DCE, Jacqueline Nelson. Both were accused of making poor and unethical management decisions regarding students with special needs, which included denying students due process, denying access to being awarded credits for graduation, and placing students in academic programs for which they were not academically qualified. Haliburton and Nelson were also accused of repeatedly reversing their decisions, “nearly every six months,” with disregard for the placement of students outside compliance of state and federal guidelines. The allegations by DCE employees also indicated that Haliburton and Nelson, “acted unprofessionally toward staff, berated, used bullying tactics, threatened staff, and directed all staff not to send any correspondence outside of DCE without having approval from school administration”. In response to the investigation, it was determined that Haliburton and Nelson acted outside of state and federal guidelines by directing teachers to “funnel” students with special needs into alternative education programs. In order to rectify their actions, an audit was completed with a review of program qualifications to make sure that guidelines were met. The investigation also caused Walter A. MacFarlane, former DCE Superintendent, to send an email to all DCE Principals, Assistant Principals, and DCE Executive Staff, on January 9, 2008, in which he reiterated the existing protocol that DCE employees do not have to go through the chain of command….”
5) July 3, 2008-John A. Spooner, Virginia State Internal Auditor, completed an investigation regarding allegations of misconduct by Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs for DCE. The allegations were that Mr. McGhee used state-owned vehicles to commute to and from work without proper authorization, and that he did not reimburse the State for his commuting miles. Both allegations were found to be valid, and Mr. Spooner recommended that disciplinary action be taken against Mr. McGhee and that he be required to reimburse the state for his actions.
6) August 20, 2008-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation of the decision of DCE senior administration retaining Dr. Lorraine Monroe as a consultant for three years. Costs incurred included a professional fee of $250,000 per year. The purpose was to train the faculty on The Blackboard Configuration Program (BBC) for designing lesson plans. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Dr. Monroe was retained by DCE administration for two years at a price of $275, 400.00. In addition, it was proven that DCE paid to send all of its principals to New York City in order to attend the training by Dr. Monroe. At a later date, the training was provided at each DCE school. This represented a huge waste of taxpayer money. Finally, it was documented that DCE sent all of its assistant principals to New York City the following year in order to attend the same training by Dr. Monroe that was completed by her at each school. The investigation also uncovered the fact that Title I funds, which are federal monies designated for use for school improvements, were used to pay for the BBC program. The investigation also noted that former Assistant Superintendent, Jacqueline Nelson, opted for this program.
7) September 22, 2008-John A. Spooner, State Internal Auditor, investigated allegations that DCE’s administration had compromised the identity of DCE employees who had reported fraud, abuse, and waste, and then participated in an investigation regarding the report. It was determined that a DCE administrator had listed the names of all the employees involved in the investigation in an email and had sent it to each employee’s principal. While this was done to protect employee leave, the end result was a violation in employee anonymity. Many were left to fear agency retaliation.
8) December 2, 2010-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation about a DCE teacher sleeping on the job. In one instance, while asleep in the classroom, a student defecated on the ceiling tile as a prank. The teacher’s behavior was excused due to a doctor’s note diagnosing narcolepsy, despite Standards of Conduct identifying sleeping on the job as a Group Three Offense.
9) February 10, 2010-Seward McGhee, Director of Legal and Internal Affairs, DCE, conducted an investigation about a DCE special ed. teacher who was reported to be playing basketball in the gym rather than teaching assigned classes. Additionally, he was found to be removing special ed. students from academic classes in order to play ball with them under the pretense of building rapport so that he could “reach” them. Amazingly, the investigation by the attorney concluded that the special educator was operating within his job description.
10) October 1, 2009, John Spooner, State Internal Auditor, as a result of reports of unearned salary increases during a state salary freeze, performed an audit of personnel files of DCE’s executive leadership. Hotline complaints also indicated that they were being awarded unearned and undocumented recognition time. The individuals involved were: Belinda Friday, who received eight hours of recognition leave on October 21, 2008 without any supporting documentation; Mr. Wade, who received sixteen hours of recognition leave on July 5, 2007 without any supporting documentation; and Eddie Weeks, who received a five percent increase without the proper documentation, as a result of a lateral role change. The audit concluded that Robert Gunn, the Director of Human Resources for DCE, had “not performed random file audits or adequately monitored the staff responsible for maintaining accurate personnel file information”. Also, Gunn had approved retention bonuses for employees who brought employment offers from outside employers without verifying the validity of the so-called “offers”. The audit also uncovered the fact that Seward McGhee, former Director of Legal and Internal Affairs for DCE, had completed a salary audit on his own position, and deemed it appropriate to change his own pay band to allow for a salary increase during a time when the entire state was under a salary freeze. After this pay action by McGhee was discovered through the audit, Gunn stated that he “was not comfortable with the internal alignment issues created by this move…..therefore, we are reversing the re-allocation, and placing Mr. McGhee back in the role of General Administration Manager II, pay band 6.” As a final recommendation following the audit, Mr. Gunn was sent to “compensation documentation” training.
11) March 2012, Eddie Weeks, an Internal Investigator, discovered that under the leadership of Ms. Nelson and Ms. Friday, the entire agency had serious record keeping errors and lacked any uniform process for accurately calculating students’ transfer grades. Weeks ruled that years of complaints by agency employees were founded and ordered the administration to develop a uniform protocol for calculating transfer grades accurately. To date, the administration has failed to comply with this directive.
12) July 2012, after years of complaints, grievances, and hotline calls regarding violations of the Fair Labor Standard Law by DCE administration regarding record keeping, time tracking, leave, compensatory time, and overtime for both exempt and non-exempt employees. A source within the division’s administration shared that Nelson and Friday were severely reprimanded for their ongoing violations of employment laws.
Unfortunately, allegations continue indicating that Jacqueline Nelson and Belinda Friday have violated state and federal guidelines regarding the GED program. Recent incidents of denying qualified students the opportunity to participate in the GED testing, continual alteration of eligibility requirements, and denial of special education accommodations for GED testing, has caused grave concern to educators, parents, counselors, and students within the agency. Attempts by Ms. Nelson and Ms. Sharon Trimmer, Special Education Director, to thwart the GED testing program oppose the intent of Governor McDonnell’s Re-entry Initiative for incarcerated youth. There continue to be unanswered questions about the “warehousing” of 17 year olds in the 9th grade with refusal to allow these students to pursue a GED when they are more than willing and capable. During one meeting, in October 2011, when Nelson was confronted about the “warehousing” of students, she responded by stating that students can either “drop-out” of school or get their education when they are released.
Additional reports of professional misconduct include allegations that Nelson directed an entire group of DCE employees to alter a conference program for the annual VACE conference. Eye witnesses reported that Nelson directed the conference attendees to cross out all workshops that she was scheduled to facilitate, and to advise their peers that they were required to attend only one of the conference sessions, being conducted by someone else in the morning and afternoon. It was reported that Nelson advised the group that the workshops were originally listed in the program to justify the use of federal Title I monies for the conference. This represents another possible instance of fiscal misconduct.
Other former DCE employees document the verbally abusive, professionally degrading, illogical, preferential, and unpredictable decision-making of Nelson when managing the academic programs of the agency. Nelson was previously investigated by the Virginia State Auditor for mismanagement regarding student programs due to her frequent changing of program requirements, inconsistency in establishing student eligibility regulations, and violation of the civil rights of students with disabilities. One DCE administrator characterized Nelson’s management style as a “dictatorship of sabotage” due to the fact that she has a constant pattern of imposing her baseless unilateral decisions upon students, parents, and educators that create obstacles to high school graduation, and passing scores on state standardized test scores. “Both, GED and SOL test scores have plummeted, crashed, and burned under her leadership,” one veteran administrator commented. They went on to state that Nelson made it clear that “these students are incarcerated, they can drop out or get an education on the street.” The administrator indicated that they had to remind Nelson that the students within DJJ have the right to an education just like any other student.
Through the Employment Dispute and Resolution agency, EDR, there have been continuing efforts to hold DCE’s administration accountable for violations of agency, state, and federal law. EDR states that its vision is to “help foster a positive, productive workplace, where conflict is addressed constructively, at the lowest level and earliest opportunity, allowing employees to focus on service excellence, and to be known as a valued and impartial resource by employees and agencies throughout the state, who are informed of EDR’s services and comfortable accessing them.” EDR lists as its core values equity, neutrality, confidentiality, integrity, communication, excellence, respect, diversity, accountability, and stewardship. On their webpage, they also commit to promoting a positive work environment, promoting equity and neutrality, maintaining confidentiality of sensitive information and employee personal data, avoiding conflicts of interests, disallowing the giving or receipt of illegal gifts, favors, or kickbacks, and reporting suspected wrongful conduct promptly.
Conversely, EDR’s Director, Claudia Farr, has what appears to be a history of showing partiality in favor of agencies. There are documented incidents of Farr’s grievance rulings that directly contradict the DHRM Standards of Conduct. Because of her repeated inconsistent and pro-agency biased rulings, one can only assume that Director Farr is either unfamiliar with EDR’s Code of Ethics or simply refuses to comply with them.
In recent rulings, Farr reprimanded a state employee who requested EDR compliance rulings. She accused the employee of making meritless requests that were wasting the agency’s resources, even though her view directly contradicted the recommendation of her own hearing officer, Carl Schmidt. In another instance, Farr indicated that EDR was in support of DCE’s decision to file a false report with Attorney Michael Parsons, of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, against an employee. The report threatened criminal prosecution against a vocal educator, who refused to cover up the civil rights violations of students. The teacher was referred for investigation for placing the names of students on a project that was authorized by the building administrator.
In yet another ruling, Farr contradicted her own agency’s core values again when she incorrectly determined that DCE administration was not operating in a retaliatory and discriminatory manner for singling out one teacher for allegedly violating student confidentiality during a student project. The project involved a group of teachers and was approved by supervisors. Only one employee was targeted for reprimand.
In a more recent incident, Farr’s ruling upheld DCE’s decision to refuse to refer a threatening memo from DCE’s administration to an employee for a grievance hearing under the claim of ongoing retaliation by the agency. By blocking the employee from appealing her decision with the Circuit Court, Farr violated EDR’s grievance policy and the employee’s due process rights under the system. In response to her action, on February 15, 2012, Judge Markow, of the Richmond Circuit Court, laughed out loud and directed the employee to “do whatever needs to be done to get that grievance before a court.” Farr’s actions of bias, failure to promote accountability, and demonstrations of conflict of interests were reported her superior, Virginia’s Secretary of Administration, Lisa Hicks-Thomas. Farr’s collective rulings affirm Virginia’s “F” rating for failing to follow their own ethics policies.
The ongoing retaliatory and unethical actions of DCE’s administration have also been reported to Attorney Michael Parsons of Virginia Attorney General’s Office, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Secretary of Public Safety Marla Graff Decker, Chief of Staff Martin Kent, in addition to the Governor McDonnell’s office. Requests to them for meetings and investigations to address the horrific levels of workplace harassment, bullying, and abuse went unanswered.
Reports of the ongoing misconduct, intimidation, bullying, and other violations of agency, state, and federal laws have also been reported to Robert Gunn, DCE’s Director of Human Resources. Gunn himself was investigated by Virginia’s State Auditor. The complaints were “founded” and action was taken against Gunn for incorrectly awarding thousands of dollars in unauthorized raises and undocumented recognition leave to DCE’s highest level administrators. Gunn continues to stonewall employee complaints about equal pay, lack of compensation for overtime, and fostering and falsification of state time records. Gunn also engaged in influence peddling with EDR and DHRM officials to circumvent grievance guidelines. In addition to working behind the scenes, he also sent unauthorized and inappropriate correspondence to EDR in an attempt to discredit the reputation of employees engaged in the grievance process, and rescind the agency’s authorization to hold the hearing. Since the consolidation, Linda Jackson-Shaw is the designated Human Resources Director with Gunn serving as the assistant. Despite receiving numerous complaints regarding workplace bullying, harassment, and intimidation; and having agreed to investigate the allegations; Jackson-Shaw has done very little to address the issue as well; often making commitments to follow-up, but failing to do so.
In response to restructuring measures, DCE merged with the Department of Juvenile Justice on July 1. Most DCE employees welcomed the change in leadership. Many had been frustrated and demotivated by the oppressive, intimidating, and aggressive management style of Superintendent Nelson. While Nelson is a woman of color, she fails to honor concepts of civil rights, justice, and even basic professional workplace courtesies. Instead, Nelson and her sidekick, Belinda Friday, rule DCE with iron fists. Under the leadership of these two women, DCE had become an agency that thrives in an atmosphere of workplace bullying, intimidation, threats, under the protection a system of institutionalized oppression with no checks or balances. In the absence of accountability, both Nelson and Friday assumed absolute power; resulting in absolute corruption.
Untold numbers of complaints to the State Hotline and subsequent investigations include accusations of fiscal mismanagement, conflict of interest, violation of the special education law, gross violation of employment law, unacceptable drops in standardized test scores (both GED and SOL scores), and on it goes. Over all, DCE employees welcomed change with open arms and, for the first time in years, there was a sense of hope that justice, equality, and human dignity would be restored to the agency’s students and employees. As opposed to taking immediate and drastic action to correct the issues and misconduct, the administration deploys its “henchmen,” building administrators to threaten, intimidate, and warn employees against making further calls to the hotline reporting the misconduct. A majority of the principals and other administrators operate under the standard of “blind obedience by doing what they are told regardless of what is right, as opposed to ethics and morality, which warrant doing what is right regardless of what they are told.”
DCE, now the DJJ Division of Education, continues to tout its mission of “fighting crime though education,” but unethical, retaliatory, and irrational academic and operational decision-making has become “promoting crime through intimidation.” At the time of merger, employees were encouraged to submit questions to DCE administrators. As of the present, the questions have not been answered, have not been addressed, and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” stonewalling continues. DCE’s Interim Superintendent Pat Wilson stated, “DCE is the last hope for many of our students.” That being the case, the leadership of Nelson and Friday has driven a stake through the hearts of that hope. Their behavior snatches that hope from our students, punishes employees who advocate on their behalf, and supports their their quest for personal gain in their unrelenting pursuit of money, power, and prestige at taxpayers’ expense and in exchange for the futures of hundreds of students and families.
Following the consolidation of DCE and DJJ, Director Mark Gooch was contacted directly regarding DCE’s extensive history of gross misconduct, investigations, violations, and faltering student performance. In an email communication dated July 15, 2012, he vehemently stated that he would not tolerate any form of abuse, retaliation, or intimidation in DJJ by any employee. Gooch also stated that he was going to send investigators to address the reports. To date, not only has Director Gooch failed to keep his commitment to investigate the matter, but he has issued a directive, which is in direct contradiction to the Governor’s directive and agency policy; requiring that division employees operate through the chain of command, headed by Nelson and Friday, the main violators themselves. This is the equivalent of sending the fox to guard the henhouse. The question that is rampant throughout the agency is when will Nelson and Friday be held accountable for destroying the lives of students and staff as well as wasting and misusing taxpayer’s monies?
Director Gooch’s inaction, indecision, and indifference validate agency consensus that he, like Nelson and Friday, has no intent of eliminating the rampant fraud, waste, abuse, and dismal job performance by agency self-hired and self-promoted “superintendents.” He is empowering a ruthless, corrupt administration that is clearly operating with no regard for education, ethics, policy, accountability, or humanity. Not only has he capriciously dismissed findings of the State Auditor over the years, he is actively engaging in cover-up, akin to that of Penn State officials. Evidently, under Gooch’s direction, Superintendent Nelson, Assistant Superintendent Friday, Director of Special Education Trimmer, Director of Human Resources Linda Jackson-Shaw, and Human Resources Manager Gunn have been allowed to operate with invincibility. In reality, their misconduct and unethical actions warrant termination, and demand exploration into possible criminal prosecution. As one state official shared, “how can this agency help criminals when they are engaging in criminal acts themselves?”
In April 2012, Salim Khalfani, Executive Director of the Virginia NAACP, characterized the administration of one of DJJ’s facilities as “lies, cover-ups, and subterfuge.” He went on to make even harsher condemnations in response to the administration by stating that “this place is a cesspool of corruption, incompetence, and lies.” Khalfani documented evidence at the Richmond Juvenile Detention Facility of unqualified staff, safety violations, forged state records, and refusal of the agency to resolve employee grievances. Khalfani’s final statement embodies what hundreds of abused and intimidated division employees and residents feel. Khalfani went on to state that, “They (DJJ) say they want to do the right thing, but the right thing never seems to happen.” At present, the facility remains closed. When will the academic rights of incarcerated students and those who teach them be protected and those who violate them held accountable.(See:http://www.mobilitytechzone.com/news/2012/04/16/6262217.htm)
During the June 13, 2012 DJJ Board Meeting, as reflected in its minutes,(http://www.djj.virginia.gov/About_Us/Leadership/pdf/board_minutes_June_13_2012.pdf), Sheriff Stole voiced his concerns about certifying one of DJJ’s facilities when the issue of DJJ administrators forging and falsifying documents had not been adequately addressed by the agency, especially since the administrators in question continued to be employed with the agency.
Despite the efforts of the agency’s administration to bully, intimidate, threaten, and harass employees that refused to violate the law and cover-up misconduct, there is a growing revolution within DJJ, on both the security as well as the education side. Employees are no longer willing to be exploited and bullied into compliance with directives that they know to be illegal and unethical by their superiors, nor are they willing to take actions that they know to be detrimental to the welfare of students. While more and more employees are going out on stress-related leave due to the unbearable work conditions, others continue to challenge the administration via the state’s grievance process despite knowing that the agency administration, from the division head to the agency head, will undermine the process to avoid accountability and escalating the conflicts to hearings.
As one educator stated, “My principal ordered me to falsify the seat time of students for the state and when I refused to do it, I was asked me why I could not just “go along” with it.”
A security officer confessed that “we were told to alter the incident reports of residents. We knew that it was wrong, but we were told that we had to do it or loose our jobs.”
Still another educator reported, “We were told to falsify student grades so that failing students could have passing grades. When I refused, the administrator changed the grades themselves.”
A high ranking security officer also shared that, “on any given day, we have less than half the security staff that we need in order to operate the facility safely, but we are still told to do so. The administration knows this and the residents know this.”
Another high ranking security officer stated, in response to questions about operating the facility without the required security staff, “if something happens, then we will shut it down. Until then, we will keep going.”
Another educator stated, “We were told by our principal not to provide special education services for students in our class even though they had educational plans that required it by federal law. We were forced to be insubordinate to our immediate so that we could comply with the law and give our students what they were entitled to in order to achieve.”
Still another instructional staff member stated, “I have witnessed classrooms full of students playing Spades and watching movies for the entire instructional day, and not receiving one minute of instruction, but they were at school. Many of them are begging to be in a class where they can be taught.”
A high school teacher shared, “16 and 17-year olds are warehoused in our classrooms when they cannot return to high school when they are released, and their counselors and probation officers have recommended that they enroll in the GED program. We have been told that our students have to wait until they are eighteen, then they can either drop-out or enroll in GED themselves.”
A GED Instructor with the agency shared that, “our students have been denied their testing accommodations for the GED test. In one case, the request was referred to Director of Special Education, Sharon Trimmer, and sat on her desk/in her email box for months before she even responded. By that time, the students were forced to take the test without their accommodations, and many failed it. The agency is still receiving federal money to provide accommodations for students, but refuses to do it. ”
A Career Technical Teacher stated, “The division closed down the small engine program in the middle of the year when the instructor retired, so the students could not complete their training. Many went home with no certification.”
Another Career Technical Teacher said, “We were told to double the seat time of the students on paper and to teach our curriculums in half the time, which is impossible.”
An administrator shared, “This agency has no integrity. They can cover up for Claude Harris, a former principal at Bon Air Correctional Facility, when he was having sex with an underaged resident, but they refuse to
stand for what is right for our students and the staff that are doing the right things. (Harris was eventually sentenced to four years in prison for ongoing incidents of sexual misconduct that reportedly range from writing love letters to an underaged female inmate to engaging in intercourse with her on his birthday, which were repeatedly covered up by the agency heads. See:http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2009/aug/25/harr25_20090824-212403-ar-33003/)
The accounts of fraud, abuse, neglect, misallocation of funds, mismanagement of student programs, and workplace bullying are the true core values of the agency and the reason that the students continue to fail at increasing rates. The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice is a severely broken system at every level that is producing broken hearts, broken spirits, and broken futures of its employees, and most importantly, its students and families. Immediate action must be taken to restore the futures of our students, who, for many of them, DJJ is their last chance at a new life. In order to do so, the entire leadership team of the agency and educational division must be re-evaluated. Our students, their families, and our employees can no longer be subjected to incompetent and indifferent leadership just because they were the ones that were “next in line for the position.” Instead, Governor McDonnell must be careful to ensure that those that he is placing over our most vulnerable populations are qualified; in spirit, body, mind, and soul, and that he is not just returning a political favor with a political appointment. The agency’s Human Resources Department must do a better job as well to prevent “elevation by elimination” from being the preferred method of promotion within the highest ranks of the agency. Just because one administrator is eliminated does not mean that the one below him/her automatically gets elevated without going through the proper selection and hiring process. Nor should agency administrators, like the ones within the Division of Education, have the ability to put on and take off job titles, with the intent of increasing their salaries, like the rest of us put on and take off our clothes. There must be some form of accountability.
Are you a DJJ employee, (security or education-side), that needs help, support, or representation? Remember you have the right to question authority without being degraded or silenced. You have the right to exercise your rights without fear of retaliation or intimidation. You have the right to work is a safe, secure environment free from harassment, retaliation, intimidation, and any other form of employee abuse are not acceptable. You are obligated to speak up and out for incarcerated youth that are being exploited, abused, and neglected by those that are charged with protecting and nurturign them. You are not alone.
Email us at teachersbehindbars@gmail.com to join our confidential and secured advocacy group, which was developed to provide moral, legal, and economic support for educators within the correctional setting that are being victimized by administrations that are workplace bullies and criminals. Our team is helping educators, students, and parents to file grievances, state complaints, FBI Civil Rights complaints, Department of Justice, as well as Office of Civil Rights complaints.
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Late Summer Driving Trends
Maintaining Labor Day Sanity
The Labor Day weekend promises to provide a 3-day weekend, the firing up of grills across the country, and maddening, bumper-to-bumper traffic in all 50 states. As the summer comes to a close, millions of Americans will take advantage of the extended weekend by hitting the road, making the days that precede Labor Day some of the worst traffic days of the year. According to The Cheat Sheet, “Using GPS data to see which times were the worst to leave during summer 2018 holidays, researchers pinpointed the 10 absolute worst hours to kick off your Labor Day weekend — and most come on Thursday.”
Below are the worst times to start driving in some of the major cities in the United States:
Seattle- Friday at 5 p.m.
San Francisco- Thursday at 4 p.m.
Dallas- Friday at 10 p.m.
Atlanta- Friday at 9 p.m.
Houston- Thursday at 9 p.m.
Los Angeles- Thursday at 12 noon
Miami Thursday at 11 a.m.
Riverside, California-Thursday at 3 p.m.
Boston- Thursday at 5 p.m.
New York- Friday at noon
Labor Day Gas Prices
If you hit the road last Labor Day, you likely enjoyed relatively low gas prices during your journey, as the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $2.35. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of those traveling this year. According to UPI, “AAA reported a national average retail price of $2.84 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, a fraction of a percent higher than Thursday but more or less the same as one month ago. This Friday marks one week before the Labor Day holiday weekend in the United States when many travelers take to the road for the last summer holiday.”
After Labor Day, however, drivers should be in for a break at the pump. Per UPI, “Consumer gasoline prices typically decline after the Labor Day holiday. After Sept. 15, refiners start making a winter blend of gasoline, which is less expensive to make because there are fewer processing steps necessary compared to the summer blend.”
The Aging American Fleet
If it seems like you’re seeing more and more older vehicles on the road, it’s not your imagination. According to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Household Travel Survey, the average age of a light vehicle has spiked from 9.3 years in 2009 to 10.5 years in 2017. According to the data, Americans with the lowest incomes are hanging on to their vehicles for the longest.
According to 24/7 Wall Street, “Households with less than $25,000 in income now keep their vehicles an average of 13 years, up from 11.9 years in 2009. Households with more than $100,000 in income keep their vehicles an average of 8.9 years, up from 7.3 years in 2009. The average age of vehicles has risen more among high-income households than the rise in age of vehicles in low-income households.” There is a clear need and market for an ultra-affordable vehicle in the United States.
https://www.eliomotors.com/late-summer-driving-trends/
Maintaining Labor Day Sanity The Labor Day weekend promises to provide a 3-day weekend, the […]
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Inaugural Meeting of the ERGA
(Article updated on 20 March with a link to the ERGA Rules of Procedures)
The inaugural meeting of the Group of European Regulators for audiovisual media services (ERGA) took place on 4 March 2014 at the European Commission's premises in Brussels.
27 senior representatives of independent authorities responsible for regulating audiovisual media in the Member States of the European Union participated in the meeting. Liechtenstein, Norway and the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) also attended the meeting as observers.
For this very first meeting, the agenda focused on procedural issues with the adoption of Rules of Procedure for the group as well as the election of the “troika” of authorities heading the group.
Olivier Schrameck, President of the French Conseil supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) was elected Chairman of the group; Madeleine de Cock Buning, President of the Dutch Commissariaat voor de Media (CvdM) and Jan Dworak, President of the Polish Broadcasting Council Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji (KRRiT) were elected Vice-Chairs. Their mandate will last until the end of 2015.
During the meeting, EPRA Chairperson Jean-François Furnémont had the opportunity to present the newly adopted Work Programme of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities for 2014.
The ERGA was formally established by a Decision of the European Commission on 3 February 2014. The main objectives for the Group are as follows:
to advise and assist the Commission in its work, to ensure a consistent implementation of the AVMSD as well as in any other matters related to audiovisual media services within the Commission's competence.
to facilitate cooperation between the regulatory bodies in the EU, as provided for in the directive regulating audiovisual media services.
to allow for an exchange of experience and good practices.
The ERGA will coexist with other cooperation networks whose objectives and mode of functioning are complementary, the largest of them being the EPRA.
EPRA will retain its specificity and added-value as an informal and independent platform for cooperation with its unique geographical coverage and practical and pragmatic orientation.
The regulators’ group is planning to hold its meetings mainly in Brussels, where they will be hosted by the European Commission, whereas EPRA meetings will continue to be organised by NRAs on a rotating and voluntary basis.
The new group will have strategic EU policy-oriented discussions and intends to adopt common positions or declarations on the implementation of the audiovisual EU regulatory framework, whereas EPRA will continue holding practically-oriented exchanges of experiences and identifying best practices on media regulation in Europe. EPRA’s engagement with stakeholders will also remain informal.
The level of representation of the new group will be high/executive level, whereas EPRA remains flexible about the composition of the delegations and welcomes regional authorities of federal states.
The group will also complement the work of the Contact Committee, which is composed of representatives of Member States, and was established by Article 29 AVMSD.
"Any step towards enhanced cooperation between media regulators is good news and the formalization of this group in such a setting is certainly a giant leap in that direction, stressed EPRA Chair Jean-François Furnémont. It is my conviction that ERGA and EPRA will be able to develop numerous synergies and have the potential to complement each other not only in view of the implementation of the regulatory framework, but also in the perspective of its review in the coming years. I am looking forward to establishing these synergies with Oliver Schrameck in the coming weeks, in a period full of challenges for media regulation. I also would like to thank the DG Connect – and in particular the Head of Unit Lorena Boix Alonso – for having taken this initiative which was expected not only by some stakeholders but also by several of our members".
Press release of the European Commission
Press release of the French CSA
Press Release of the Dutch CvdM
Press Release of the Polish KRRiT
COMMISSION DECISION of 3.2.2014 on establishing the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services C(2014) 462 final
ERGA Rules of Procedure
Sources: Website of the European Commission and national regulatory authorities /EPRA
Second ERGA meeting: focus on regulatory independence posted on 27 October, 2014
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Today’s gospel proclaims the truth that Jesus is the lord of life. He has power to call us out of our tomb. We do not have to be physically dead in order to be raised up. We can be dead in the midst of life when we remain indifferent (‘globalisation of indifference’ as Pope Francis called it) to the plight of other people and unable to weep with them. Is this not like living in a tomb? Jesus’ voice calls us all away from making the tomb our natural habitat.
Death takes many forms, as does life. Ezekiel addresses a people who are as good as dead - a shattered and captive nation exiled in Babylon. Death was their companion. People in that same place, modern Iraq, have found death a constant companion as have the people in Yemen, Palestine (Gaza) and Syria. Death has a constant companion of people who live with poverty and natural disasters. Death has been a companion of people who were sexually and physically abused as children living with their ‘secret’ until opened up. Death is a companion when people are victims of human trafficking, slavery and other forms of injustice. Death is a companion when gossip kills peoples’ reputations, devaluation, prejudice, negativity, meanness, ignorance, homophobia, racism, sexism, etc. There are people who have stopped living because they have stopped being for others or caring for themselves. Jesus’ voice in the gospel calls us all away from making the tomb our natural habitat.
Ezekiel has coined a very political metaphor of God’s ‘raising the dead’ in referring to Israel’s impending liberation from despair during its Babylonian Captivity. This metaphor reappears in John as depicts the story of Jesus raising Lazarus (dead already for three days) from the grave.
When Mary says to Jesus, ‘the one you love is ill’, we must ask who is the one who is ill. It is not just one person but a church and society that continually rejects people on the margins. What a challenge to us as all of us together face the ravages of Covid-19 and people in power have nothing but warnings for us and others hoard as if they are the only ones that matter!
The situation of Israel seemed hopeless as it had been defeated and humiliated by Babylon (modern day Iraq) with its leaders and a large number of people abducted. Not only was their death and killing but also a cultural slaughter being far from home, dominated by foreigners and feeling abandoned by God. I can feel for the people right now who are far from home in many ports and cities unable to return because attempts stem the tide of Covid-19. Not sharing the people’s despair, Ezekiel coined the idea of resurrection to regenerate hope. For Ezekiel, resurrection was a political metaphor that promised a new vital future despite appearances to the contrary. It was about choosing how to respond to one’s situation and doing life differently. He said that Israel would be liberated from Babylon, return home and experience rebirth. They would come back to life. Does not that life mean to love one another, to see each other as God’s beloved as we have been reminded in recent weeks? Does not that life express itself in the attempts to find justice, harmony, and reconciliation in our Church with all its complexities, full of beautiful and broken people? Does not our hope include moving towards a more loving, vulnerable, and authentic community that cares for each and every part of Christ’s Body?
Pope Francis embraced both Ezekiel’s spirit and the raising of Lazarus from the dead in his Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel (JG). He has rescued Jesus and the Gospel from a version of Christianity that has held centre stage for almost 40 years. Pope Francis strongly implies that this version has metaphorically killed the Jesus of the Gospels, who proclaimed the imminent arrival of God’s Reign - a Reign that belongs to the poor, and not those who prioritise the prosperity gospel. Both Ezekiel and Jesus proclaim life when all appearances indicated that Israel is dead and seemingly unable to escape the heel of the Romans. Jesus described a horizon of hope that enlivened the spirits of the poor who had been crushed by the Romans and rich Jewish collaborators in charge of the temple establishment.
In the face of this hopelessness, Jesus proclaimed an upside down future as characterised by the Beatitudes and Mary’s Song (the Magnificat) where the poor would be in charge; the last first; the first last; the rich made poor and the poor well fed. The powerless and gentle would have the earth for their possession. In his parables, he said that the Reign of God was unstoppable as with the leaven in bread which is unseen but active and transforming; like the mustard seed that sprouts up everywhere impervious to all efforts of eradication; like the precious pearl discovered in a rubbish bin; like a coin a poor woman loses and then rediscovers.
Pope Francis has implied that socio-economic conservatism has killed or hidden the Jesus of the gospel. As much of the world is now living with Covid-19 the same can be said of our capitalist systems that have prioritised the needs the rich and wealthy and powerful over the poor and vulnerable. In both cases, we have lived with this loss in the church and in society because of a subtle and other times a blatant ‘preferential option for the rich’ that embraced free-market capitalism, meritocracy, trickle-down theory of wealth that never occur, cut-backs in social welfare, health care in many places and education. This ‘preferential option for the rich’ is also present in tax avoidance and tax cuts for the wealthy and now health care restrictions to people who are poor living under the threat of Covid-19. Yet, there is enough to enrich the military industrial complex!!
Jesus awakens us to be revolutionary in our fight for the dignity of every person; to be a beloved friend that loves so deeply that is capable of weeping at the deaths people face every day. We have found, as with the abuse of so many innocent children and vulnerable people, many afraid to open the tomb because of the heaviness of the stone or fear of the smell or having to deal with what is inside the Church.
Pope Francis has in The Joy of the Gospel made clear that we cannot claim to follow Jesus when people neglected. The Pope is calling the church back to life from the tomb and shows us the Jesus who calls us to welcome the stranger, respect all people irrespective of gender or sexual orientation, that lives with reality and respects diversity and though all fail, hear that they are loved by God. Pope Francis is calling us back to life as church. It is a completely pro-life vision: overcoming hunger, promoting nonviolence and peace; ensuring full employment for people; providing universal health care, making affordable housing accessible and protecting God’s Earth.
The readings carry a message of hope and rebirth. We are invited to be not onlookers or spectators at tomb but to join Jesus and Pope Francis in making resurrection happen by taking away the stone and unbinding people and freeing them. This is our part in the creation of a world of life. In a time of anxiety as we are experiencing now, let us free each other from fears and doubts about death.
Compiled by Claude Mostowik, msc
Director, Missionaries of the Sacred Justice and Peace Centre
President, Pax Christ Australia
Convenor, Pax Christi Australia [NSW]
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VOCATIONS SUNDAY: THE COURAGE TO SAY YES TO GOD'S CALL
Lydia O'Kane/Vatican News
ROME — Sunday, 3 May, marked the 57th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It is a day that is set aside by the Church to encourage people to reflect and discern God's call to them.
A hospital chaplain during the COVID-19 pandemic
Photo/Vatican News
Over the course of his Pontificate, Pope Francis has spoken many times about the call to priesthood and religious life.
Speaking to seminarians and novices in 2013 the Pope said that “becoming a priest or a man or woman religious is not primarily our own decision … rather it is the response to a call and to a call of love.”
In his message for this year’s World Day, Pope Francis wrote, “The Lord’s call is not an intrusion of God in our freedom; it is not a 'cage' or a burden to be borne. On the contrary, it is the loving initiative whereby God encounters us and invites us to be part of a great undertaking.”
With lockdowns in place in many parts of the world due to the coronavirus, people have had more time in their homes to reflect on their life’s path and how they can connect with God at a deeper level.
Joining the Pope’s call for a promotion of vocations, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland, and the chair of the Irish Bishops’ Council for Vocations, says it takes courage to follow God’s call.
“It does take a lot of courage to say ‘yes’ to a vocation especially in today’s culture. But by the same token people are looking for happiness. And where do they go and seek it? That’s the question, and Jesus is saying to us, ‘come to me’ ”.
The people who truly inspire us in this life, notes the Bishop, are not the people who have taken the easy way out: “They are the people who continue to love in spite of everything”.
“I was happy to be a priest, that was part of my own vocation story”, he says.
Offering advice for men and women considering a vocation, Bishop Cullinan invites people to “pray and trust; don’t be afraid. We are all unworthy; there is nobody who is worthy of priesthood except Jesus Himself.”
In the midst of a global pandemic, many people have been doing inspiring things to help and support others. There are the healthcare workers on the front lines along with hospital Chaplains who are there to comfort the sick and their families. Asked if this could inspire people to follow a call like this, Bishop Cullinan says it could well be the case, because, “the Lord uses any and every situation to mediate his grace, and please God there will be young men and women inspired by that example.”
Over the last number of years there has been a dramatic fall in the number of men and women taking up a vocation to the religious life.
The decline has been especially evident in the Americas and Europe. It seems the days are gone when families would have had at least one son or daughter entering the convent or seminary. Bishop Cullinan notes that the lack of vocations in the western world is a worrying trend.
“Obviously in Africa and parts of Asia things are a lot better as regards the numbers going into priesthood and religious life, but certainly it is a worry here [in Ireland] but we do have to trust that the Lord is still calling.”
There can be little doubt that the abuse scandals that have rocked the Church in Ireland and beyond have affected how some people view the priesthood. Yet, Bishop Cullinan says that people also see the struggles that priests have, and they also see “the faith moving a young man to go against very often social trends and become a priest, and deep down I have no doubt whatsoever that people are so inspired when they see somebody who is prepared to become a priest today; it is such a beacon of light.”
Over the last two months priests and religious have had to adapt to how they interact with their communities. This year Masses for the World Day for Vocations will be celebrated virtually using different media platforms.
Bishop Cullinan says that despite the many forms of communication that are being used at this time, nothing can replace being in front of a congregation.
He does note, however, that the current pandemic has meant that priests are becoming much more adept at using social media and other technologies in order to reach their flock.
Bishop Cullinan commented that, for himself personally, it has made him much more conscious of people in other countries who can never get to Mass because of persecution, fear of regimes, or because their churches have been destroyed.
“I think this pandemic has made us realize what a great blessing it is to have churches, to have priests, to have religious… and this lockdown has made us more conscious of the great blessing that we have in this country, religious freedom."
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Home » Is Your Building Cybersecure?
Building AutomationMission Critical HVAC
Is Your Building Cybersecure?
It’s a new decade, and technology is advancing whether we’re ready or not. We must catch up with the cybersecurity demands — now.
Pook-Ping Yao and Kevin Callahan
KEYWORDS BAS / Building Management / controls / cybersecurity / data / data centers / facility management
This article originally appeared in the October issue of www.automatedbuildings.com. See the original article in its entirety by clicking here.
In late 2019, Alerton hosted a conference for its partners in California. There, Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operative, spoke about cybersecurity in our new age of smart technology and connectivity.
A question came from the audience, “How do we respond to customers who don’t worry about maintaining their operating systems or securing their networks because they aren’t connected to the internet?
O’Neill threw his head back and laughed. “If they think it’s secure, it’s not secure.”
That’s the attitude we need today: a healthy skepticism to fuel our cyber awareness.
We all know cyberattacks are a real threat in today's hyper-connected world, but so many folks don’t realize just what that entails. Unfortunately, cybersecurity techniques for traditional IT systems may not work for connected operational technology (OT) systems, as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shared in a paper last year.
What Does Cybersecurity look like Today?
When it comes to cybersecurity, you can’t rest on your laurels. It’s not a one-and-done process, and there are no half-measures or shortcuts.
Cybersecurity’s a perpetual journey of learning and refining and reiterating. Today, where hacks are commonplace and take so many different forms, there’s no getting out of it.
Many attacks — malware, email phishing, distributed denial of service (DDOS), ransomware, and the like — capitalize on our connectivity. The NIST cybersecurity framework is a tremendously useful resource in guarding against those cyberattacks.
We shouldn’t discount the power of a confidence trick or social hacking. They might seem more old-fashioned, but they’re no less potent. There have also been cases where someone found sensitive information on a slip of paper, or even went dumpster-diving to get the credentials they needed to hack a system. If a hacker sees an opportunity — whether it’s social, physical, or digital — they won’t hesitate to use it.
Cybersecurity’s an evolving concern, but one tenet remains constant: We cannot take for granted that our system is secure. We must expect the worst in order to prepare for it.
Why Should I Update My Software?
Here’s an oxymoron for you: “My system’s mission critical, so I can’t update the operating system.”
That sentiment is oddly commonplace, and it speaks to a real misunderstanding about the importance of software updates.
Companies don’t push software updates for the heck of it. At the very least, software updates improve on the release that came before for a better user experience. More critically, many software updates address technical bugs and security vulnerabilities that might otherwise keep a system from running properly.
The system being critical isn’t an excuse not to push updates. It’s the exact reason to push them. The danger of cyberattacks makes it even more important to maintain and update the system. While we might think our systems are working just fine, vendors often get feedback from different customers on cybersecurity flaws. By updating our systems, we benefit from the result of many different “penetration tests” on other users’ networks.
Of course, we all know that updating software doesn’t always go smoothly. That’s why most large organizations don’t let software updates get pushed automatically as a standard policy. They vet the updates first and ensure it won’t mess up the system before they deploy. They still push those updates even if they’re a week or a month behind.
Dealers and integrators need to adopt that process. Blend software screening into your workflows and ensure that updates won’t affect the network before you push them out. Consider setting up a clone of your customers’ systems to test software updates.
Can We Trust the Cloud?
It’s only in recent years that the perception of the cloud has begun to change, and there’s a long way to go yet. Many people still see the cloud as vulnerable and easily hacked, but, often, the cloud is actually more secure than anything folks are doing on the ground.
Think about it: securing the cloud is Amazon, Google, and Microsoft’s business. They have to be far more diligent about their security than any corporate IT on the ground because if their cloud services aren’t secure, they’re defunct. That’s why even the government has begun to adopt the cloud.
A few years ago, the U.S. government established a program called FedRAMP, which “facilitates the shift from insecure, tethered, tedious IT to secure, mobile, nimble, and quick IT.”
FedRAMP’s goal is to “promote the adoption of secure cloud services across the federal government by providing a standardized approach to security and risk assessment.”
There are still lots of holdouts, but the FedRAMP program indicates a real shift for the cloud. People are increasingly placing their trust in the cloud, because they know Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are the experts. From their software to their server rooms and data centers, these companies take security seriously.
The question of securing data centers and server rooms is significant because many of the biggest hacks in recent years have actually been physical hacks, where someone found a way in. Your own server room is less likely to have the level of monitoring, physical security, and digital security that an organization like Amazon or Google has.
Their facilities are locked down with cameras everywhere. The moment someone adds a device to the network, they know. In fact, they can ensure that no outside, unregistered computers can connect to the network or system. They might even design the facilities so that the comms room is kept separate from the data center, and anyone doing maintenance on the comms room can’t access the data center.
The best of the best makes sure these cloud service companies deliver on their promise of security. How confident are you in your security systems?
Talk with experts about cybersecurity, learn all you can about best practices and ways to safeguard your systems, and approach cybersecurity with an attitude of humility. As Eric O’Neill so eloquently said, the moment you’re confident that your systems are secure, they aren’t.
Recent Articles by Pook-Ping Yao
COVID-19 and the Path Forward for the BAS Industry
Pook-Ping Yao is co-founder and CEO of Optigo Networks.
Kevin Callahan is a product evangelist at Alerton.
Define Your Business Results By Alleviating Your Clients' Fears
Grow Your HVAC Engineering Business Profits While Not Increasing Labor Demands
Why Monitoring-Based Commissioning is a Necessary Tool for Facilities
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Israel / Palestine / Arab World
Arabs Certain Words Essay
Pages: 5 (1655 words) · Bibliography Sources: 2 · File: .docx · Topic: History - Israel
Certain words must be understood not only for maximum clarity, but because misunderstanding those words can actually be a matter of life and death, especially when the meaning of those words are taken for granted. Thus, while defining the term "Arab" is not itself a difficult task, being able to precisely define the term has nonetheless remained important due to the frequent and pervasive misunderstanding of Arabs, especially in the West. In particular, Arab world and the Muslim world have been conflated in the minds on many Western commentators and citizens, such that the two terms function interchangeably despite the fact that they describe two entirely different organizations of people and ideologies. Examining the historical formation of an Arab identity alongside the contemporary development of pan-Arabism (or pan-Arab nationalism) helps to dissolve these misconceptions while revealing an important strain of political and social identity in the Middle East which has influenced many of the major developments of the last sixty years and continues to influence the ongoing revolutions today.Get full access
Essay on Arabs Certain Words Must Be Understood Not Assignment
The formation of the Arab panethnic and cultural identity is discussed by Arthur Goldschmidt and Lawrence Davidson (2006) in their book A Concise History of the Middle East, and a look at their account alongside more recent histories of pan-Arab developments serves to help define "Arab" as well as distinguish between the Muslim and Arab worlds. Goldschmidt and Davidson begin their discussion of Arabs by mentioning "popular legends [which] identify them as descendents of Ishmael, Abraham's son by his Egyptian maid, Hagar," and in doing so, they unconsciously highlight one of the reasons behind the pervasive ignorance regarding Arabs and culture (Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2006, p. 23). The "popular legend" the authors refer to is recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible, and in the story, Ishmael is essentially disowned because his birth results from Abraham disregarding Yahweh's instructions. The authors fail to investigate this story further, and are more interested in providing the concise history suggested by the title, but a look at the ideological work of the story of Ishmael actually serves to inform and contextualize this essay's effort to define the term "Arab."
This "popular legend" regarding the origin of Arab peoples serves to implicitly support a Judaic-Christian tendency to view Arabs with disdain or distrust, and the emergence of Islam centuries after the formation of an Arab identity simply gave the largely Christian ruling powers further justification for the discrimination and subjugation of Arabs. Subsequently, the ideology behind this legend has remained violently virile, because the idea that Arabs are somehow the "illegitimate" recipients of any land or natural resources and a conflation of Arabs with Muslims served as the backbone of everything from the Crusades of the Dark Ages to the United States' contemporary "crusade" in the Middle East (in the words of former president Bush). Furthermore, this legend essentially precludes Arabs from Judaism and Christianity, so while there are Arab Christians and Jews, and there were before the formulation of Islam, it is only reasonable that now the set of imaginary beliefs most heavily represented in the Arab population is Islam. Thus, Goldschmidt and Davidson's first example not only helps to demonstrate the origins of Western ignorance regarding Arabs, but also the ultimately mortal ramifications of this ignorance.
Historical evidence suggests that "Arabs are kin to the ancestors of other people who speak Semitic languages, such as the Hebrews, the Assyrians, and the Arameans," with the tribes that would eventually coalesce into the Arab people likely migrating from the Fertile Crescent into the region eventually named the Arabian Peninsula (Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2006, p. 23). However, when discussing Arabs in a modern context, this geographical delineation does not sufficiently encompass the scope of the Arab population, not only because Arabs live elsewhere in the Middle East and the world, but because in a modern context the term "Arab" encompasses more than any single ethnic group. Thus, over the course of the twentieth century a kind of pan-Arab nationalism evolved arguing for the cooperation and shared national identity of Arabs from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, with the common unifying feature being the use of Arabic as a first language or tracing one's family to the historical tribes of the Arabian peninsula, which were essentially "extended families that migrated together and held their property in common" (Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2006, p. 23). The transformation from a largely ethnic and linguistic identity to a national identity largely occurred following World War II, as leaders of the Arab world attempted to retain control over the future of the Middle East in the face of Western powers intent on carving it up as the spoils of war.
Although two of the most well-known pan-Arab leaders are Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former president of Egypt, and Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, the beginnings of a pan-Arab national identity began when "the Arabs sided with Britain against the great Muslim empire of the Ottomans" during World War I before being summarily disregarded as an independent people and political organization through the Sykes-Picot agreement, "through which France and Britain carved up the post-Ottoman Middle East into new states that suited their interests, despite their earlier promises to create" a state governed by Arabs (Kinninmont, 2008, p. 162). Thus, when Nasser rose to power following World War II, his efforts at encouraging a pan-Arab nationalism were conducted with the memory of this earlier betrayal in mind, and Hussein's eventual use of pan-Arab nationalism as justification for his harsh rule was made possible in large part by the West's behavior throughout the twentieth century. This is not to say that pan-Arabism is by definition oriented against the West, no more than Muslims are by definition oriented against Christians (although, one may say that Islam and Christianity are in opposition, as the set of fictional rules which define either ideology are mutually exclusive). Instead, this is simply a means of noting that the continual marginalization of Arabs by the West contributed to the development of a pan-Arab nationalism, in precisely the same way that American support for brutal dictatorships contributed to the revolutions of the Arab Spring; in both cases, the political and ideological motivation was not the overthrow or destruction of Western power, but rather the establishment of an Arab political power and identity (with the overthrow of Western power being largely incidental, as the West was responsible for the subjugation of Arab identity and potential in the first place).
Although in many ways the Arab Spring might seem to be the successful result of a pan-Arab nationalism, it is important to note that the recent democratic revolutionary movement is not limited to Arab countries (as seen in the case of Iran's Green Revolution) and furthermore, that in most practical cases, pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism "present imaginary political utopias that [...] compete and overlap with each other and are at a remove from actual political practices based on nationalism and more traditional solidarity groups (notably tribes or clans)," such that to speak of a genuine pan-Arab nationalism is to speak of an idea more than a reality (Kinninmont, 2008, p. 164). The Arab Spring, although subsequently supported by established pan-Arab groups, was largely organized by young students more interested in economic and political power and solidarity than a shared ethnic or linguistic heritage. Furthermore, the actual history of pan-Arabism shows an ideology hijacked by external powers, because after the Iranian revolution in 1979, the United States protected and supported ostensibly pan-Arabic dictators on the assumption that a political system focused on Arab solidarity would help preclude the further emergence of political systems focused on religious solidarity. Of course, like all attempts at sowing discord among perceived enemies in order to maintain power, this backfired, most violently in the case of Saddam… [END OF PREVIEW] . . . READ MORE
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How to Cite "Arabs Certain Words" Essay in a Bibliography:
Arabs Certain Words. (2011, October 19). Retrieved January 15, 2021, from https://www.essaytown.com/subjects/paper/arabs-certain-words-understood/59107
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Location of affected unit(s): Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia and Sweden
43.2 - Electrical, plumbing and other construction installation activities
Planned Job Reductions min: 500
Finnish building systems developer and industrial services provider Caverion announced that it will cut 500 jobs worldwide by the end of June 2021 as a part of a major saving scheme. The restructuring programme, which includes staff reduction, reorganisation and operating model development, will affect all Caverion’s locations, with a minor impact on Finland and Austria. A large part of the reductions is planned to be carried out by the end of 2020.
The President and CEO of the company said that 'the reductions are very unfortunate but still necessary to secure our competitiveness in the future'.
The company is to adjust its operations due to the economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The savings resulting from cost-cutting measures are estimated to total at least €25 million for 2021. The company estimates the restructuring costs will total approximately €10 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Some of the savings are expected to be used to grow digital and smart technology businesses in all divisions of the company.
Caverion operates in 10 European countries: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia and Sweden.
05-11-2020 Yahoo Money
05-11-2020 Caverion Press Release
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Wisconsin 16-year-old charged with murder, accused of shooting newborn baby in the head
by: Samantha Jarpe
(Photo from KXAN, KXAN.com)
ALBANY, Wis. — On Tuesday, a 16-year-old in Wisconsin was charged with the first-degree murder of his infant daughter.
According to court documents, Logan Krukenberg-Anderson told police he left the baby to die of exposure in the snow but returned later and shot her twice in the head.
The infant, who was named Harper, was reported missing on January 9. According to documents, a man called police and said his underaged daughter had given birth to a child in a bathtub on January 5 and that Krukenberg had taken the child the same day.
Initially, Krukenberg told police that he had given the baby to a friend named “Tyler,” and that he had not seen the baby since, according to court documents. However, he could not give the police any further details about the friend, such as his last name or a phone number.
Later, he told police that after discussing what to do with the child with the mother, they decided that Krukenberg would “get rid of the infant by simply dropping it somewhere,” the court documents said.
The 16-year-old told police he placed the newborn in a backpack, walked into the woods, and placed the naked child into a small area inside a fallen tree. Then, he placed snow all over the baby’s body and walked away.
“[Krukenberg] stated that as he walked away he could still hear the infant crying,” the court documents said, “which caused him to emotionally break down, fall to his knees, and cry.”
He later admitted to police that he shot the baby twice in the head while it was still alive after a gunshot wound was observed on the infant’s forehead.
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Home / Peru / Points of interest / Choquequirao - "cradle of gold"
Choquequirao is a second “Lost City of the Incas” after Machu Picchu. Choquequirao means "Cradle of Gold" in Quechua. This city is similar in importance to Machu Picchu. Choquequirao is famous because it had a convenient location and was the last bastion of resistance and refuge of Manco Inca Yupanqui (also known as Manco Capac II), the leader of the Incas resistance against Spanish occupants. All tactical approaches to the city were well within view and prevented the Spanish from capturing Manco Inca.
Choquequirao sits 3,085 m (10121 ft) above sea level and situated amongst the spurs of the Salkantay Mountain Range above the Valley of the river Río Apurímac (1,750m (5,741 ft)). This city is similar in structure and architecture to Machu Picchu. It was discovered long ago (the first references are dated 1870), but the first excavations started in the 1970s. The complex is 1,800 hectares, of which only 40% is excavated.
Choquequirao – History of discovery
This huge “eagle nest” kept the attention of romantic historians for one and half centuries. The earliest reference to Choquequirao is notes made by Pablo Jose Oricain in 1790. Later, during the early days of the Republic of Peru some rich landowner senor Tejada, who owned these steep mountainous slopes, was looking for treasure here.
The attraction of this lost city brought the French explorer Eugene de Sartiges to Choquequirao in 1834. The next visitor to Choquequirao was another French scholar Leonce Angrand who made his way to these remote ruins in 1834 through the forests. Angrand was attracted to Choquequirao by legends about “countless treasures hidden in the ruins by the Sons of the Sun who fled to this wild location of refuge”. Angrand measured buildings in these ruins and noticed on one wall in the central square a row of intriguing embedded stone rings. These rings are still there and look like a mooring place in some ancient stone pier. Probably they were used to tie something down and it lead Angrant to suggest that wild pumas were tethered here, as the pumas were the only animals requiring such strong rings.
Interest in Choquequirao reached its peak in the first decade of the 20th century. J. J. Nùñez, prefect of the Province of Apurimac, raised thousands of dollars and led a massive treasure-hunting expedition towards the ruins. He succeeded in reaching Choquequirao, but left without making any dramatic discoveries. Shortly after this, in February 1909, a young American called Hiram Bingham visited the site. He made the giddy descent to the Apurimac, crossed the new bridge and spent a couple of days sketching and photographing the legendary ruins.
The only way to visit the site is to go on a scenic 2-day hike from Inka Trail. Therefore Choquequirao receives far fewer tourists than Machu Picchu and only few people have an opportunity to enjoy the beauty and harmony of Choquequirao in a quiet and relaxed atmosphere.
The difficulty level of Choquequirao trek is higher than the famous “Inca Trail to Machu Picchu”. Often 30 km (18.6 miles) long ascent to Choquequirao starts in Cachora village. This trek passes through various climate zones and has significant elevation changes. Usually, the tours run 4 or 5 days. This trek is recommended only to physically fit people.
The route to Choquequirao is exceptionally picturesque: the travellers cross Apurimac Canyon, pass near glaciers and the ecology passes through those radical Andean changes from tropical to alpestrine. The exceptional variety of flora and fauna species is possible due to special climatic conditions. One can see condors, different species of rabbits, foxes, puma, bear, hummingbirds and even cock-of-the-rock – the symbol of Peru. The most distinguished plants are gigantic ferns and numerous species of orchids.
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Blog »Santa Cruz Should Lead Election Reform for Its Own Good and the Nation’s
Santa Cruz Should Lead Election Reform for Its Own Good and the Nation’s
Posted by Manu Koenig on July 25, 2017
In 2016, election reform went from being a nice idea to an imperative. As a wiry haired genius (Albert Einstein) once said, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.” If we continue to conduct elections in the same way, we will continue to get the same vicious campaigns and polarized government.
Santa Cruz has risen to the challenge with local advocates vowing to bring ranked choice voting (RCV) to the city. This reform gives voters more choice and greater voice by ranking candidates in order of preference. If your favorite candidate can’t win, your vote counts towards your next choice. This means voters are more likely to end up with someone they support in office.
RCV is crucial at the state and national level in enabling third parties like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party to compete without being spoilers. As it stands today, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein flipped key battleground states for Trump in the 2016 presidential race. Steve Phillips explained in the Nation, “in the critical states that enabled [Clinton’s] Electoral College loss—Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida—the progressive vote splintered, allowing Trump to slip through with less than a majority of the votes in each of those states.” As more and more Californians are registering as no party preference, we must ensure that every vote truly counts in our elections rather than succumbing to the spoiler effect.
But will RCV actually improve local elections in Santa Cruz? The Good Times and Sentinel articles that announced the campaign conspicuously lacked any explanation for why this reform would benefit the city. It’s worth pointing out that Santa Cruz voters already select more than one candidate on their ballot. While it would be nice to support the broader movement, unless the reform makes a substantive difference for our city, it will have trouble getting support from anyone but die-hard idealists. Just look at the way public financing of elections went in 2014: Councilman Terrazas called it “a solution looking for a problem” and the proposal died.
It turns out Santa Cruz does have a problem when it comes to elections: too many competitive candidates and a somewhat polarized electorate. Just look at the results from November 2016. Eight candidates received 10% of the vote or more and the winning candidates had no more than 11-13% of the vote. This was a tight race and yet a shocking 49% of voter preference was wasted because we called it after the first round.
Using RCV, an “instant runoff” would clearly reveal the top four candidates. The threshold to win with four open seats is 20% under RCV. The instant runoff proceeds in rounds. In round 1, the candidate with the fewest votes, the write in candidates, would be eliminated and their votes would be reallocated to their supporters next preference. In round 2, Jim Davis would have been eliminated and his supporters next preference would then get the votes. This would repeat in subsequent rounds until four candidates reached the 20% threshold to win. If a candidate receives more than 20%, extra votes are fairly distributed to voters’ next choice so no vote is wasted.
It’s impossible to predict exactly how RCV would have affected the political outcome of the 2016 Santa Cruz City Council race, but it’s fair to say it would have benefited bridge builders. Santa Cruz holds non-partisan elections without party titles like Democrat and Republican. However, there are sizable blocs of both liberal and moderate voters. RCV won’t change that. It will create opportunities for candidates who can win votes from both groups. This would become especially important in later rounds of elimination. Winning candidates would be the ones who received second or third choice votes from both liberal and moderate voters. This is consistent with research by FairVote that shows ranked choice voting leads to more civil campaigning because candidates are asking for a voters’ backup choices, not just their first choice.
Santa Cruz politics is prone to divisive rhetoric. RCV would force candidates to start building bridges in-order to get elected, not once they get elected. This will ultimately lead to candidates who are more prepared to govern.
If and when the people of Santa Cruz decide on ranked choice voting, the country will be watching. However, we should implement this reform because it would more accurately represent voter preference, promote bridge-building, and eliminate vote splitting. It would improve Santa Cruz City government. Setting an example for the rest of the state and the country is a nice afterthought.
If you support RCV for the City of Santa Cruz sign the petition today.
About the Author: Manu Koenig is a Santa Cruz entrepreneur and political activist. He Co-Founded Civinomics with Robert Singleton in 2011 and was a founding board member of tech education non-profit Digital NEST. He is a volunteer digital content manager with FairVote CA. He attended Stanford University and Mount Madonna School and is a native of Santa Cruz County. Follow him on Twitter.
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WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Free PC Game Download (Update)
WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Free Download Full Version for PC (Updated for 2020)
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 is the game based on wrestling developed by THQ. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Free PC Game Download is a third person game and is supported on Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles as well. Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 was published by the Yuke's, and the game had lots of positive feedback and was a success because of the HD graphics the game was having. The World Wrestling Entertainment mostly and famously known as WWE is a TV show now converted into a video game for PC and other platforms. Smackdown vs. Raw is a long series and has many different titles which are out to free download.
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 has made quite a lot of changes in the new game they have now added online multiplayer gameplay along with campaign missions like the ones on Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. The other great thing which was added to this come is the different fighting modes which are:
Wrestle Mania
Inferno Match
All these ways are not the same each of them had unique characters to choose from and changed maps and rings where the fighters will do the game. There are all the favorite wrestlers in the match from Triple H, Undertaker, CM Punk and much more which can be chosen during Career mode.
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Gameplay:
In WWE 2009 you can do lots of new things as the features have increased in along with the controls and the body movement a player was allowed like in Bloody Roar 2. Players can adjust the settings of the keyboard and mouse manually for better performance. Every player in the game has a health and power meter which increases and decreases depending on the amount of damage done during a match. You can also create your own mode in Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 game by adding the features and fighters you like in Tekken 4. There are championships held in the match which you can participate in and move forward and win the game.
While playing Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 online players can also send and receive text messages to each other, and at the same time do voice chat. Also, there is a new feature that allows the player to create his own wrestler by combining 2 or more characters in one and make a compelling character so he can win more matches. WWE 2009 automatically saves the gamer's progress so the next time when the player will open the game, he will start from where he left. During the gameplay, there is a significant audience watching and supporting their favorite wrestler. There is a referee at all times which takes care that everyone is following the rules.
Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Screenshots:
More WWE Games For You To Download:
System Hardware Requirements:
Processor needed is Intel Pentium 4
RAM has to be 1.0 GB
VGA Card must be robust and from Nvidia or ATi
Operating system required is Windows 7
Optical Drivers: CD or DVD
Software needed to run the game in DirectX 11
Game Details (Update: 2020 Upgrades Added / Compressed Setup):
This is the Demo Version of the game
To play the full version you must buy it for $7.85
Developers are THQ
The size of it depends on the platform you are playing it on
Update: New setup files and updated game modes have been added, enjoy!
April 22, 2020 Action-Games, Fighting Games, WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Free Download Full Version for PC, WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Free PC Game Download 2 comments Shaheer
Shaheer July 18, 2016 at 12:54 PM
Have you tried all the instructions on properly installing the setup?
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New Releases: March 22, 2013
1. The Croods (Dreamworks/Fox, 4,046 Theaters, 98 Minutes, Rated PG): So, like the Flintstones, only with a bigger family and as a road picture? Okay then.
Dreamworks has always been a step or two behind Pixar when it comes to their animated films. It’s not as though they haven’t had successes. Heck, at the box office, they might be way ahead when it comes to grosses. But in the quality of what they put upon the screen, they are definitely second to Pixar.
Although, I doubt even Pixar would have been able to do much with this subject. The film focuses on a prehistoric family that has to travel to new lands when their home is destroyed.
The film is co-directed by the director of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon, which is a good sign. . But the other co-director worked on Space Chimps, which isn’t.
2. Olympus Has Fallen (FilmDistrict, 3,098 Theaters, 120 Minutes, Rated R): And now, we come to the Die Hard knock-off. Not only that, but it’s the first of two “Die Hard in the White House” films coming this year (the other, White House Down, starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, will be along in June).
They both have similar plots too: terrorists take over the White House and it’s up to one man to save the president. What separates this one is that the one man is Gerard Butler, the president is Aaron Eckhart, and Butler’s character is a disgraced former Secret Service Agent instead of a current one.
I always find it interesting when two movies make it so far into production with such a similar premise. Of course, based on the trailers, this one seems to really be working from the Die Hard template. It will be interesting to see how different White House Down turns out to be.
3. Admission (Focus Features, 2,160 Theaters, 117 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Tina Fey is now at a crossroads of her career. 30 Rock is done, and now the question is what she will do next.
It’s not like she doesn’t have options. She is a successful author, a great comedian, and has the makings of a good film career. But will she be a movie star? Can she be a movie star?
In this film Fey plays a strict Princeton admissions officer whose world is turned upside down when she is introduced to a potential student who might be the son she gave up for adoption years earlier. The things she does might cost her job, but might garner her so much more.
Is Allison Williams In The Running For A Part In The FANTASTIC FOUR Film Reboot?
The GIRLS actress is rumored for a role in the restarted franchise. Could she be the new Invisible Girl? [click for more]
New Releases: October 5, 2012
October 4, 2012 William Gatevackes Movie News
An eye for an eye leaves one supremely irate Liam Neeson. [click for more]
New Volume Of Pixar Shorts In Works
So what short films do you think will comprise this volume? [click for more]
Tura 177
Speaking of reviewing this info plenty will believe the above since its valid so it’s pleasant to read from a writer thats telling it for us to look at
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January 7, 2021 January 7, 2021 Fenil
RAM GOPAL VARMA’S HORROR FILM TO TRY IT’S LUCK AT THE BOX OFFICE TOMORROW
The year 2021 has started on an unexciting note. Till now, no big Bollywood film has been scheduled for release. The smaller films continue to release, that too, not every week but after long intervals. Last Friday, that is January 1, Seema Pahwa’s directorial debut Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi released in cinemas. As expected, the film hasn’t set the cash registers ringing. But surprisingly, it was a downright disaster either. Many multiplexes recorded fair occupancy of around 15-20%, even going to 35-40% in some shows. This is great since many feared that it might not even find an audience.
And tomorrow, Ram Gopal Varma’s horror film 12 “O” Clock will be released in cinemas. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Makrand Deshpande, Manav Kaul, Dalip Tahil, Ali Asgar, Ashish Vidyarthi and Krishna Gautam. The film was shot last year, when the lockdown restrictions were lifted. In short, it went on floors less than 6 months ago and is now ready for release. However, the film looks extremely poor. Its poster makes one feel that it’s a B-grade film. There’s hardly any awareness about the film. Most ardent moviegoers have not even heard of the name of this film. There are no songs and there have been no promotional activities surrounding the film. The makers only released the trailer and few posters are expecting that it’ll do the trick.
The opening of 12 “O” Clock hence will be disastrous. It may find some acceptance in single screens or in the ‘B’ and ‘C’ centres where such films work.
Thankfully, the industry has a reason to smile next week. Tamil superstar Vijay’s much awaited film Master will be making it’s way to cinemas. It’s the first big Indian film to release since the lockdown was announced in March 2020. It will also be released in dubbed Hindi version and is expected to have a wide release. The excitement for it is tremendous and the trade is hoping that it’ll finally help in reviving the business. More on this film next week!
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" I feel most deeply that this whole question of Creation is too profound for human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton! Let each man hope and believe what he can' Charles Darwin, 1862. Introduction is by Richard Dawkins"
"Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shropshire, England. He was educated at Edinburgh University and Christ's College, Cambridge. Between 1831 and 1836 he travelled in South America aboard the H.M.S Beagle to explore the geology and natural history of the area, and published his journal of findings in 1839. His most famous book On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, appeared in 1859 and is arguably one of the most important scientific works ever published. The theories of evolution and natural selection proposed in this book and The Descent of Man (1871) are still the subject of intense debate and scrutiny today. Charles Darwin died on 19 April, 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey."
Originally published in 1859, Darwin's revolutionary idea is revisited in this spirited and profoundly enthralling reading by Professor Richard Dawkins, who in reading Darwin's material aloud manages to rediscover old ideas and unearth some dramatic subtleties in his prose. Dawkins offers a well-pronounced, pitch-perfect delivery and smartly never attempts to turn the reading into a performance from Darwin's point of view. Instead, Dawkins delivers the material from his own context as a modern-day interpreter of the classical work. Dawkins also splendidly adapts this abridgment, leaving out sections of Darwin's original theories that have been discredited by modern science. Dawkins says he believes his alterations are what Darwin himself would have wished for the recording, and the final result is an absolutely astounding glimpse into life as we know it. (Aug.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
As a milestone not only in the history of science but also in cultural history, On the Origin of Species belongs in every library, high school and above. Nature writer Quammen (The Reluctant Mr. Darwin) offers a gloriously illustrated and richly annotated volume, which testifies to the book's enduring legacy. Throughout the text, relevant sidebars from other of Darwin's writings, including his Autobiography, field notes from the HMS Beagle, and his myriad letters, are presented for their insight. Illustrations include historical images, such as sketches, woodcuts, and portraits of people and places, but also included are contemporary photographs of the flora and fauna that Darwin described. Between the contextual additions and the edifying illustrations, there is no comparable volume. For all libraries. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
The most important book ever written * New Scientist *
No other book has so transformed how we look at the natural world and mankind's origins * Sunday Telegraph *
Why does Darwin's theory matter now? Because it is the basis of modern biology and much medical research; it provides a tool with which to understand the natural world; it offers a deeper, if imperfect, understanding of our behaviour, about where we came from and where we might be going * Observer *
Home » Books » Science » Biology » Evolution
Origin Of The Species Books
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Everyman Darwin Books
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Online Bachelor of Science Degree in Business in Montgomery, AL - Faulkner University
Faulkner University > Online > Online Bachelor Degrees > Online Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Page
Business degrees are a highly desired credential with employers in an expanding list of industries and fields, including healthcare, human resources, media and advertising, and more. With a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, you can potentially work in business operations, management, sales, accounting, finance, or a wide variety of other disciplines. Best of all, the Bachelor of Science in Business program is offered as an online business degree, which allows you to achieve the degree, studying from home, in as little as one year.
The Benefits of Studying Business Online with Faulkner University
The advantages of completing a degree online are becoming more and more apparent. Studying from home offers flexibility, letting students juggle work, classes, and other responsibilities. And no matter where you live, if you have access to the internet and a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet, you can earn your degree while studying with top experts and leaders in the field.
The online business degree from Faulkner University’s Harris College of Business and Executive Education is an affordable, convenient way to improve your skills in accounting, economics, marketing, and financial management. Our Bachelor of Science in Business program can help launch your career, advance the career you’re already in, or help you shift careers, no matter your age.
The Bachelor of Science in Business Program at Faulkner University
An online business degree from Faulkner University lays the foundation for working in a wide variety of fields. With studies in accounting, economics, and marketing, plus an examination of Christian values and ethics in business, the online Bachelor of Science in Business program prepares students for rewarding careers.
The online business program requires students to complete 60 upper-level semester hours that are provided in six defined modules. You can choose from three different elective areas, including business management, logistics management, and health administration, which allows you to focus on areas that are aligned with your career goals.
To decide whether the Faulkner University online Bachelor of Science in Business program is right for you, you can browse the course requirements and calendar as well as our admission requirements and tuition information.
After completing your Bachelor of Science in Business degree with Faulkner University, you may want to consider pursuing an Executive MBA and other graduate programs.
Achieve Your Goals with an Online Business Degree from Faulkner University
There’s never been a better time to earn an online business degree from a reputable university. If you’re ready to earn credentials that can help you achieve your career goals, contact us for more information or apply online today. If you are an adult learner, the official transcript request form will also need to be completed.
Faulkner University offers more than 70 degrees with on-site classes available at our campuses in Montgomery, Mobile, Birmingham, and Huntsville. Many of our degrees, like the Bachelor of Science in Business, are now being offered online for the convenience of our students and faculty. We look forward to welcoming you to the Faulkner University online student community.
Apply Online Course Requirements Course Calendar
Ask Us More About this Program
Complete and print the Official Transcript Request form and submit it to all previously attended schools with the appropriate fee.
Prospective students enrolling in the Bachelor of Science in Business program must meet the following admission requirements:
2020- 2021 Financial Information
About the Bachelor of Science in Business Program
Consisting of 60 upper-level semester hours taking place in six defined modules, the online Bachelor of Science in Business program can be completed in just one year. To round out your business skills, the program includes an introduction to international culture and allows you to choose from three available elective areas – business management, logistics management and health administration – to align with your future career goals.
Why Choose an Online Business Degree from Faulkner University
Whether you’re looking to work in business operations, management, sales, accounting, finance or another area, a business degree from Faulkner University lays the groundwork for successful careers in dozens of high-demand fields. Plus, business degrees are becoming increasingly desired in an expanded list of industries, including human resources, healthcare, media and advertising.
Those interested in furthering their education can also pursue an Executive MBA and other graduate programs with Faulkner University upon completion of their Bachelor of Science in Business degree. Additionally, graduates are well prepared to provide financial management services in their own faith community and to offer leadership in the form of financial stewardship.
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Watch The Brand New Video For Janet Jackson’s “No Sleeep” Featuring J. Cole
by Brent Lambert • July 24, 2015 • Music, Video • Comments (0) • 2790
Janet Jackson’s first new music in seven years landed on June 22nd with the release of the debut single “No Sleeep” from her highly anticipated new album, Unbreakable, which is set for release in fall 2015. Back in May, Jackson announced the list of North American cities selected for her world tour which kicks off in Vancouver on August 31st, and you can see them all at RollingStone.com. For all things Janet be sure to visit JanetJackson.com. Jackson collaborated with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on the album’s debut single which you can buy via iTunes. And moments ago Jackson released the single’s music video which features appearances by J. Cole. You can watch it in full above. In related news, Michael Jackson’s sound engineer says he recently discovered 20 brand new Michael Jackson songs on his computer. You can read the full story at BusinessInsider.com.
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Today we're chatting with Fergus Scottish Festival Coordinator, Elizabeth Bender about the upcoming digital Fergus Scottish Festival & Highland Games.
This year would have marked 75 years of tradition in Centre Wellington, but Elizabeth calls this year “74.5”
On this episode, we chat about the recent tough decisions, what it means for the future of the Festival, plus we get insight for what to expect at this year’s digital celebration, the Wee Digital Ceilidh (pronounced “Kay-lee”)
If you ask Google “What’s a Scottish Ceilidh?” you discover it’s a traditional social gathering.
I asked twice and was told, “...simply means a social visit.”
The Festival Scottish Festival and Highland Games present this year’s Wee Digital Ceilidh to their faithful patrons, guests, and over four hundred volunteers who contribute their hard work and time year-after-year.
The result of their efforts has given our community an amazing gift that brings over 24,000 people to Centre Wellington in a single weekend.
This year they hope to do the same-- albeit virtually.
Trusted traditions, modernized.
Let’s jump in on this conversation with Elizabeth Bender, the Fergus Scottish Festival Coordinator for the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games
👉 PS: I have been thrilled to be part of some of the filming and production for the event and I'm very proud of the moments we captured for you! Make sure to tune-in, share, comment and engage! Ohhhh and the best way you can show your support is to sign up for the Festival’s newsletter here.
Do you love Elora & Fergus? Subscribe to the Elora Fergus Podcast in your favourite podcast app!!
Important Show Links
➡ Sign up for the Fergus Scottish Festival & Highland Games Newsletter
https://fergusscottishfestival.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FergusScottishFestival/
https://twitter.com/FergusScotFest
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNa6fOXqSr72cqVWdNxainQ
Read the Statement regards this year’s cancellation: https://fergusscottishfestival.com/cancellation-faqs/
Did you see this post: We put a GoPro on top of a Caber-- and tossed it.
Elizabeth Bender: Do you know, we have around 400 volunteers. So we, and that includes a range from our board of directors who are all volunteer to our venue chairs. Like those leads in each area, um, right. To the people who on the weekends are on the ground doing the hard work, but the fun work. And, uh, so yeah, 400 ish.
Ryan Joyce: Yeah. That's a lot of volunteers and it's required because normally on a, I mean, this would have been the 75th, the big, a big year. Normally you see over 20,000, right? What's what is the attendance usually? Like, what was it last year?
Elizabeth Bender: Last year was like 20, 22,000 people. And it felt like they all came Saturday. Maybe it was, but over the course of the weekend, yet that is easy for us to hit those those targets. Well, what is your official title then? So my official title is Festival coordinator. Okay.
Ryan Joyce: And how long have you been with the Festival?
Elizabeth Bender: This would have been my fifth festival. So I've been with the Festival bout six years. I'm not always in this capacity, always as the coordinator, but it started, um, a little more part time and it's grown and so, yeah, six year, but fifth Festival this year.
Ryan Joyce: Wow. And how many have you been to, how many festivals have you been to? Can you,
Elizabeth Bender: Oh my goodness. Probably before I started with the Festival probably at least 10 or 12, I was going to, um, it just, I lived in the community for about that long and a little bit longer than that. So it was just something I that's what you did. Um, it was Festival time.
Ryan Joyce: It certainly is a kind of a big deal in this area. It's usually, I mean, and of course, given the circumstance, now we were in different times, of course, but for you, where did you come from? Ferguson?
Elizabeth Bender: So I grew up in a little town close to Woodstock and then moved to Toronto. So I moved to Fergus from Toronto and it was actually, there were, was a buy one, get one free coupon in the welcome wagon bag that was delivered to my house. And, uh, so I went and I was so old from that point on it, uh, I mean, you know what, we still do those coupons just as a thought it was hell. And so that's how it started. And, um, it was horrible. Weather froze through an entire tattoo, but the rest of the weekend was beautiful. And, uh, yeah, like I said, I been sold ever since, and I just am lucky enough to now work with the Festival. Wow.
Ryan Joyce: And so how, how did that come to be? How did it go? Just, did you start volunteering first and
Elizabeth Bender: Actually, no, I was working with the township of Centre Wellington and, uh, the Festival, um, was at a point in their lifespan where they needed a little extra help. And so they approached the town and said, we need someone to kinda help pull together and help us. Uh, and, uh, so that was me. And, uh, so I did both jobs for a while and now I've I'm with the Festival full time. Um, so that's how it all started is just helping out a little bit through, uh, through my other job.
Ryan Joyce: And it is, I would imagine a big deal I toured for forever. And we had seven people with us at the height of it. S and I know what a little workload that was. I can't imagine what 400 volunteers is like, what is a weekend look like for you normally, like not a normal weekend? I mean, a Highland game weekend.
Elizabeth Bender: Yes. So a Highland Games weekend starts about July 1st. So it's, it's funny, we plan all year for these three days. Um, but it gets really crazy starting may and June, but hit July 1st, right after Canada day, then we are running full speed. So lots of the planning is done, but that's when we're kind of on the ground really doing things. Um, so Festival weekend is just literally running, running, running it. Um, I sometimes acquaint myself to a fire person where I'm like, Nope, fires all over the place. Um, but also just, you know, a GoTo person and making sure that everything is going well and checking in and making sure everyone has what they need. Things are following schedule, um, revising, revamping, all that kind of coordinating piece. And we're really lucky with the Festival like our volunteers, uh, are so passionate and so full of energy and really that weekend means a lot to them. So it's, it's not just me. There are leads in every single area who have put a lot of hours, um, and sweat equity and energy and time into pulling off the so really kudos to all of them and our board of directors for providing that direction and making sure we're and we're kind of on an even keel. Um, I just try and keep the boat afloat.
Ryan Joyce: Can't imagine to be honest with you, what your life would be like, do you have any idea how many steps you get in a day over the weekend?
Elizabeth Bender: What I don't, but it is one of the best weight loss plans ever.
Ryan Joyce: I would be curious in the future, we we've got a, we've got a log, that information, I would imagine you get a ton of steps. Well, it certainly is something that our community has staked its entire reputation on. Yeah. It's a big part of our, like our culture and our heritage here Scottish culture. So everyone has a lot of respect for what the Festival has done for the community. And so I, I, I really, I know what the workload would be like. So my hat goes off to you and the team is someone who can hopefully appreciate what
Elizabeth Bender: Yes. Well, and we joke in the office leading up, we have a humongous like wall size white board and it is all the days for June, July into August of all the, to do list and they all get checked off. We've got a coding system and it's not unusual to be standing in that office. And I have every summer, we have some great summer students who join us, good to have 20 people in there talking to you all at the same time, all about different things and the energy. I love that energy. Um, by comparison sitting at the dining room table has been very loneliness. The energy leading up is amazing and it certainly requires that giant to do list, um, to keep us organized. But it's, uh, it's pretty fascinating how we can work through that. Where's the office located? So we are typically all year long. We're usually at the chamber of commerce. We have an office in there, but starting in July, we moved up to the sports Plex, which is our Festival ground. So the community sports bikes, and we take one of the boardrooms and we turn it into command central quite literally. And that's where everything happens out of, out of that zone meeting up. And then on the weekend we rarely get in there, but on the, on the lead up, it's very it's that happened in place.
Ryan Joyce: Yeah. Wow. I w I couldn't recall seeing the office anywhere, so. Okay. I see. So you're, you're tucked up over there now, cause that's a perfect location because it is sort of head central. I remember when it used to be down at the seniors area, down in the center of town. Again, I agree with that is that I imagine
Elizabeth Bender: Yes. Esentially and, uh, you know, even when you look at the sports plaque, that's a huge property, but we are also starting to grow that, which is exciting. Um, just takes lots of good because
Ryan Joyce: The other aspect that I guess a lot of the locals might not consider myself included. I've learned along this process. Is there a camping aspect of this? Yeah, that's a huge part of it. I never really understood before. And I see now that I think, what did I hear? 600 camper,
Elizabeth Bender: There are 300 and I think 24 camp sites or something for 300 plus camp sites. And then on those camp sites, you've got all of those people. So we literally have our Festival grounds where all of these activities and the Games and the competitions take place. And then adjacent to that, we have a huge camping area and people come and spend the weekend and, and decorate their camp sites. It's all very Scottish and it's a, it's a great place. So people can spend the entire weekend with us and enjoy everything that's going on. Um, a lot of our competitors stay there are, uh, and, uh, so it's very convenient.
Ryan Joyce: There's, I mean, I've learned along a lot along this process. Um, it's really much secret, but there's going to be content coming out for you this weekend. I was thrilled to be a part of. So, um, and I've learned a ton and you guys base your structure on about five different events at the Games right? Is that right?
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah. Four key pillars. Yes. And lots of other great things that go on, but our four key pillars are the heavy events, the Highland dance, the pipes and drums and our clans and heritage area. So that's been a really big focus for our online event this weekend. And then also we've got, you know, our McKinney's area and our performing tent and our concessionaires and vendors. So our featured guests, all of those are additions to those, those four pillars.
Ryan Joyce: Do you have any stories about people traveling far distance? I'm sure people come from all over the world because we're touted as among the largest second largest is what I say on stage. Am I going to get corrected here? Are we
Elizabeth Bender: No, I know in North America, I think for the largest continuously running Highland Games
Ryan Joyce: Okay. Cause I onstage, like I built this into my show and not that I will be on stage much anymore in the future, but, and that's kind of my intro, as I say, we're the second largest guys Festival uh, and people always yell out Fergus
Elizabeth Bender: And everybody seems to know Fergus, which is amazing. And yet we, we have people come from all over the world. So, and if you think in terms of even just our competitors and our performers loads from Scotland, um, but lots coming from that direction. But also we've got a lot of like our heavy events competition, uh, in 2021, which was supposed to be this year. And we're very pleased that we're able to host it next year. Um, but yeah, we have like your as a competitor, I think from the Czech Republic and like people are coming from all over the world to compete, but also to attend. So it's great. We love it. And um, for those more local we call it Scotland's out. The airfare is our tagline, so that, uh, you know, they know, um, that they get that little worldwide experience without having to leave Ontario or Canada, but yeah, definitely worldwide.
Ryan Joyce: So obviously this year is different. This was different. I liked, I don't know you were the one that told me the joke, so I'm not sure who it was, but you said 74.5, is that
Elizabeth Bender: Yes. Right off the hop, we were so excited about the 75th anniversary. And, um, when the decision was made that we were going to have to, um, cancel this year's event, uh, we decided immediately, and it was unanimous across the board. We were going to postpone, um, postpone our 75th anniversary to 2021. So this year is happening. Um, but next year is our 75th anniversary.
Ryan Joyce: Yeah. Oh boy. What a time? I, it certainly is. There's not much to say about it. I mean, who could have predicted any of this? And so in the interim you have been working around the clock to get next week. Well, this week, gosh, can you believe that it's this week? Okay.
Did you hear this episode:
Elizabeth Bender: No, it always goes so fast. Yeah. It's been very busy. Like when I think back in the timeline, it was the beginning of March where we both the board and I were kind of like, Hmm, there's a little something here. We should probably pay attention too and start thinking about, and then within a week we were having emergency meetings and was continued, um, until a decision was made. And now it seems like no time has passed and we're here and we, um, are able to produce this. We digital Kaylee. Um, and we're lucky we're going to have, um, be able to still have a bit of fun in our community. Cause that really the goal of this weekend is a give back because we are overwhelmed by the support that as a Festival we received, um, you know, anxious to put out a notice that we weren't going to be able to go forward, but outpouring from so many people about how sad and they were and great memories that they have.
So we thought that this was the right thing to do was to put something out there as our thank you to our supporters. Um, maybe garner some new fans and supporters, uh, and just, you know, what we're used to being busy and planning and Festival, so it made sense to do this. So we'll be able to do the online Kaylee. Are we digital Kaylee? Uh, but also we've got a house business and volunteer decorating contest that's going on. So the community will be, we're calling it paint, the Tam tartan. Uh, the newspaper has jumped on board. They've got a huge four page spread that they're putting in. So there'll be activities and fun things to do. And we're still gonna have a little presence downtown. So there will, you're going to hear Pipers on weekend that for 74 years, you've heard Vipers downtown. You're still gonna hear pipe down, down. Um, and it's, and there's going to be some Highland dancers. Uh, obviously we're being really careful around the restrictions that are in place, but it's just not Festival weekend without the sound of pipe.
Ryan Joyce: And we'll see a lot of tartan face masks too.
Elizabeth Bender: Yes. Hoping. So actually we will have some that will have downtown. If anyone is interested, I'm popping by our booth.
Ryan Joyce: That's super, I got to see some of them this week. Cause we have been dancing around the community in our masks, uh, and filming a bunch of things. Uh, and I mean, I am excited to see the rest of the kind of intent. I've only gotten this chance to see like the stuff that we've collaborated together on. So I can't imagine all the rest of it, but what a yeah. And it's all, um, it's all for those listening. It's, it's fun. Bite-sized stuff. It's not this w we together and tried to make this like really engaging content. That was something you would want to watch and, and blast through everything. So we see everything from dance to heavy events, uh, and we took a camera and put it on the top of.
Elizabeth Bender: I did gave her jaws. That was a goal even before all this happened. So I got to check off the bucket list.
Ryan Joyce: Oh gosh. And that's, if those was watching, that's going to be in the last day. It's the ending credits you've got to, you got to check that out. You're going to check.
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah. It's kind of hilarious.
Ryan Joyce: And so, so much, uh, I enjoyed all of the filming and being part of all of this. It was so nice to meet so many people. The one thing I enjoyed, if I had to pick one thing that was perhaps the most moving, I think it was the, the, her wedding ceremony was, was amazing. Can we share any hints on that? On the,
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah. If I can get through it without being totally choked up and it really hurts lighting. Um, and you know, since I've worked with Festival, I haven't actually been able to see her fighting cause usually I'm scurrying around, but the Hertz lighting always happens on the Friday evening at our tattoo. And it is a very moving ceremony and the clans line up and they light the Hertz and it's very much, um, you know, it's that, that moment, uh, friends and family and loved ones and gathering and going back and tradition, it was the idea of when someone moved, you would take a coal from your Hearst for your new home, and then you're friends and loved ones would bring a coal from their Hertz. So it's very much my goosebumps, very much about that companionship and, and gathering together and supporting. Um, so it seems a perfect thing to do. So we were man Abel, um, no restrictions were really tight at the time, but we were able to do that with our board of directors and uh, in the heart of downtown Fergus and it is gorgeous. Um, it really is gorgeous. And,
Ryan Joyce: And we did it one, take two and see the video buddy. I mean, we had to establish in our mind, we're going to probably do this twice. Yeah. Run through it the first time. And then boom, just beginning down. And it's about a six minutes
Elizabeth Bender: It's video and four minutes, four minutes. I think it is. I guess it's very moving and very much a tribute to, um, you know, what has happened this year. It's our tribute to the people who've worked so hard to get us through Kobe, to the people who've lost, loved ones through COVID to our Festival family. Every year, we have so many changes and we've lost some dear people in the past year. Um, so it's our tribute to them. It's our tribute to those of us who are still here to be healthy and strong and continue to be supportive and that we will gather again. And, um, it, it honestly turns out better than I had ever imagined. It's gorgeous.
Ryan Joyce: And was it I'm thrilled. And I, when I put the piece of music that we selected, I get chills when I heard it. Like I saw the visuals together. So everyone will get a chance to see this Friday, this coming Friday. So this is really exciting. I'm anxious about it. I can't imagine how you are in the bar.
WATCH: A list of movies and television shows filmed in Elora & Fergus? (VIDEO)
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah. Oh, I think everyone's really excited. And I think, um, this year, when we first started talking about it, you know, the idea was all, well, we'll just do a bunch of videos on our phones and we'll put them on the website and it has turned into something beyond anyone's wildest dreams, certainly beyond expectations. And we're calling it, you know, an extraordinary Festival for an extraordinary time. Um, I truly believe it's so much new content, so I know I've had lots of people say to me, Oh, so you're just, you know, playing favorite videos from the past. No, this is brand new content and our venues and our four pillars all pulled together to produce things, um, within restrictions safely, but fun and engaging and touching. And, um, it really, and we've produced these new videos with you. Ryan it's it really is. You asked about what it's like this, my phone is ringing.
Ryan Joyce: And so I can't imagine it's crunch time and here you are a gifting me to some of your time. I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
Elizabeth Bender: But yeah, lots of new content, but when I kind of look had a chance to maybe see a few things, I feel like this is a memory making year for many reasons, not just because of COVID, but because of some of the content that we have, it's different than what you would get at the Festival. So there's learning components in interviews and really up close and personal. And like, I now know more about heavy events than I ever have just by getting to spend some time with those guys.
Ryan Joyce: And I feel the same. And I guess one of my favorite pieces to w I am not sure if this was your idea of where this came from, but it was amazing is that the teaching session, and we won't give too much away on this, but it's a very young Scottish dancer and, and a teacher or a dance teacher, and it was just priceless the visual, Oh, I love that moment.
Elizabeth Bender: So many great things and things you just don't think about from footwear. Yeah. To dance steps to the Hearst, what the meaning behind the hurts. Even just some of the interviews with our boards of directors, it's fascinating to see everyone's different perspective and where they come from. So it's a bit of a behind the scenes. And then the other really touching part is we have so many Festival favorites, especially with our performers who usually are entertaining us all weekend, right? They are getting geared up right now to camp and be on our main stage and in the Highland pub, um, and singing and dancing and playing all weekend long. And the touching words and tributes from some of them, uh, really amazing too. Like the Festival is well and truly loved, but the people who attend and our supporters are also truly loved. So that, that was really great as well.
Ryan Joyce: It really is going to be a trend setting, digital Kaylee. I don't think there's going to be any other, I don't know. I'm proud of it. That's all I'll say. I think, I think you guys are doing an incredible thing and I was thrilled.
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah, I agree. I, um, I'm really proud of all of the folks and this happens every year. So this is not a new trend this year, but people step up to the plate to deliver the best that we can deliver. And so that world class Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games, and that is probably one of the most emotional parts for me is whether things are going great or things are falling apart, which no one knows because we try to make it look. I can say that in those moments, you, everyone counts on each other and the relationships, um, to bring this to the masses, it's it really is incredible. And this year is no exception. You truly, around the clock I'm working on, you think online was easier. It is. There's a lot involved with doing an online Festival and then adding some of the community components as well.
Ryan Joyce: Well, you had 20 plus 24 plus thousand last year. Let's see if virtually we can get a whole bunch more this year.
Elizabeth Bender: I hope so. I think that people will be able to enjoy this from the comfort of their living rooms and feel like they're still there. It's neat in that we've set it up like a Festival grounds. You want to go, I hope I'm not telling too much, but if you want to go to the heaviest tent and see what's going on, you can, and then you can go over to Pike's and John, and then you can travel through the festival grounds. Um, you can do it at your leisure. So if you want to do something with morning coffee, you can, and then come back and catch a great concert or show in the afternoon. Uh, it really it's made for everybody. I hope it pours like crazy. not too hard that the hydro goes there for this year.
Ryan Joyce: That is absolutely awesome. And let's see what happens. I will be checking the weather cause I know you have a ritual where you don't look at the weather. I know that's a thing.
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah. I don't. I used to be really obsessive about it at the beginning. And you obviously you have to know a little bit, but um, I like to pre prepared for whatever's going to happen. So, um, and I think the Festival team does a great job with that. So we kind of have our plans from everything from extreme heat to tornadoes, because we've seen it all in my five years, we have seen it all. Um, so beyond that, you can't even imagine. So yeah, we just were ready. We were ready to go. Whenever people will arrive and whatever happens, weather wise or other where we're ready for it.
Ryan Joyce: And how do people follow? How do people tune in? And
Elizabeth Bender: Yes. So definitely check out our website, which is Fergus, Scottish festival.com, but also all of our social media channels. So if you haven't liked us yet on Facebook, this is a great chance to do so. We also honored website have a newsletter, so you could sign up for our newsletter and you will get constant updates and reminders all year long about great things that are going on with Festival and death. So good going into next year, too. You'll find out about what's happening and take it
Ryan Joyce: One of the best ways to keep in touch is the newsletter.
Elizabeth Bender: Yeah, absolutely. So I would recommend highly people sign up for that, but yeah, we will be all over that website and all over those social media channels and you know what like S and share us and, and spread the, spread the word.
Ryan Joyce: If you see something that you enjoy, share it with the rest of the world, that's absolutely. I am excited and anxious, so we'll have to do another, we'll do another follow up. I'd like to chat with some of the board as well on, on the wrap and yourself as well for a little follow up to see how it goes. So thank you. Elizabeth I really appreciate the time you took today. Cause I know how busy you are.
Elizabeth Bender: It is my pleasure. And this is my favorite thing to talk about.
Tell me how many Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games have you attended?
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Home / Italia / Final Cut in Venice III
Final Cut in Venice III
africa,eventi,film,italia
The African, Asian and Latin American FF is glad to announce the 3rd year of the collaboration with the workshop FINAL CUT IN VENICE in the framework of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.
The Venice International Film Festival, in collaboration with the Festival International du Film d’Amiens and the Festival International de Films de Fribourg, presents the third edition of the workshop FINAL CUT IN VENICE, which will take place from September 7th to 8th 2015 as part of the Venice Film Market.
The African and Arabic films, all in post-production, selected for the third edition of Final Cut in Venice are:
ALI, THE GOAT AND IBRAHIM by Sherif ELBENDARY (Egypt, France) – work-in-progress copy: 44’
SYNOPSIS. Ali loses his fiancée Nada and refuses to accept her death. He believes she has been reincarnated as a goat. The neighbourhood gossip becomes unbearable and his mother drags Ali to a healer, who gives him some stones to throw into the sea off the two coasts of Egypt to lift the “curse”. While with the healer, Ali meets Ibrahim, a depressed sound engineer who hears “voices” he can’t understand. Ali, his goat and Ibrahim then set off on a walk of self-discovery that will seal the growing bond of friendship between them.
HOUSE IN THE FIELDS by Tala HADID (Morocco) – work-in-progress copy: 52’
SYNOPSIS. The film examines the life of an isolated rural Amazigh community in the south-west region of the High Atlas Mountains. The thousand-year history of the Amazigh in Morocco has been, for the most part, recounted, preserved and transmitted by bards and storytellers in oral form among Tamazight speaking pastoral communities. Tigmi Nigren continues this tradition of transmission, in an audio-visual form, in an attempt to faithfully document and present a portrait of a village and community that has remained unchanged for hundreds of years despite being confronted with the rapidly changing sociopolitical realities of the country at large. The film follows the lives of certain villagers, most specifically two teenage sisters, one who must give up school to prepare for her wedding, and the other who dreams of being a judge. The film is at once a tableau and an intimate portrait of a farming community at the crossroads of change, a portrayal of a vanishing way of life that not only is profoundly defined by the relation between man and nature, but also holds the key to an entire heritage of local dialects and culture.
PATH OF PARADISE by Atia Al-DARADJI (Iraq) – work-in-progress copy: 74’
SYNOPSIS. Distraught over the loss of his wife, Essa goes on a pilgrimage from Bassora to the holy city of Karbala in the attempt to find a miraculous cure for his daughter Maryam’s illness. The father and daughter meet many other pilgrims on the way, all going to the same place and all looking for their own miracle. Essa is quarrelsome and is not given to comforting Maryam, who can’t understand why her father is so cold. So she finds relief in learning the history of their spiritual journey. More and more pilgrims begin to flock towards Karbala and Essa and Maryam lose sight of one another among the thousands of walkers.
ROOSTERS OF BEIRUT by Ziad KALTHOUM (Syria, Lebanon) – work-in-progress copy: 44’
SYNOPSIS. In Lebanon, Syrian workers live like ants in underground pits. Each morning at sunrise, they climb the construction sites and with their first hammer stroke, they wake up the country. For this reason they are nicknamed “Beirut roosters.” A country they only know from a distance, being banned from moving around freely or swimming in its sea. And while the “Beirut roosters” rebuild the Lebanese houses, the war in Syria destroys their own homes. It is this war in Syria that leads to the encounter of Ziad, the director of this film who defected from the Syrian army to find refuge in Lebanon, and his fellow compatriots the Syrian workers in the city of Beirut; a city in which they share the same feeling of being alienated and unwanted and reduced to a negative Syrian identity by Lebanese society. Jointly, they share the pain and fear of losing their home country forever while being unable to construct a life in a city built on oblivion and resentment.
SEPARATION by Hakar ABDULQADIR (Iraq) – work-in-progress copy: 70’
SYNOPSIS. After fleeing their town, Shingal in Iraq, which is under siege from Isis, thousands of Yazidi Kurds find themselves without food or water at the top of Shingal mountain. Faced with no other choice, three men leave to seek sustenance for their families, unaware that an almost safe passage to Kurdistan has been recently opened. Destiny has thus separated these men from their loved ones. The documentary reveals the story of their wives and children who, having reached the refugee camp, remain anxiously awaiting news of their husbands, while at the same time learning to adapt to life in a new setting.
ZAINEB HATES THE SNOW by Kaouther BEN HANIA (Tunisia, France) – work-in-progress copy: 84’
SYNOPSIS. 2009. Zaineb, a nine-year-old Tunisian girl, has lost her father. Her mother tries to rebuild her life with another man in Canada. Zaineb has been told that when she gets there she will be able to see the snow at last! But in fact she wants nothing to do with this new man or his country, because she has decided to hate the snow. Following the life of this charismatic young Tunisian and her itinerant family over a five-year period, Zaineb takrahou ethelj is shot as a captivating and moving coming-of-age documentary told through the sharp eyes of a young migrant.
The Venice Film Festival intends to provide concrete support to complete films coming from African countries and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. The Final Cut in Venice workshop consists in a two-day session during which the work-in-progress copies of the 6 selected films will be presented to producers, buyers, distributors and organizers of international film festivals, to facilitate their post-production process, promote possible co-production partnerships and access to the distribution market. There will be opportunities for networking, encounters and gatherings in which the directors and producers of the films can meet the participants in the workshop.
Final Cut in Venice is held in collaboration with Laser Film, Mactari Mixing Auditorium, CNC, Knightworks, Titra TVS, Sub-Ti Ltd, Rai Cinema, Festival International du Film d’Amiens, Festival International de Films de Fribourg, Institut Français and starting this year SANAD (Development and Post-Production Fund of twofour54 Abu Dhabi) and MAD Solutions.
The workshop will end with the award of prizes in kind or in cash, intended to provide financial support for the films during post-production. Two more prizes have been added this year:
• € 10,000 to support the cost of post production provided by SANAD film fund of Abu Dhabi;
• marketing, advertising and distribution in the Arab world offered by MAD Solutions for an Arab plan (with the exception of projects already covered by MAD Solutions).
Prizes from the last edition are confirmed:
· €15,000 euro for the color correction of a feature-length film offered by Laser Film (Rome) for up to 50 hours of work (technician included);
· Up to € 15,000 offered by Mactari Mixing Auditorium (Paris) for the sound mixing;
· € 10,000 for post-production costs to be carried out in France, offered by CNC –Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (Paris);
· Up to € 10,000 for visual effects and special effects, offered by Knightworks;
· Up to € 10,000 for digital color correction, for the production of a DCP master and French or English subtitles, offered by Titra TVS (Paris);
· €10,000 for post-production costs offered by Abu Dhabi’s film fund SANAD.
· Up to € 6,000 for the production of a DCP master and the Italian or English subtitles, offered by Sub-Ti Ltd. (London).
· € 5,000 for the purchase of two-year broadcasting rights by Rai Cinema;
· A 35mm print (without subtitles) or the participation in the production costs of a DCP, offered by the Festival International du Film d’Amiens;
· A 35mm print (without subtitles) or the participation in the production costs of a DCP, offered by the Festival International de Films de Fribourg.
· Marketing, publicity and distribution in the Arab World for one Arab project is offered by MAD Solutions (except for projects already attached to MAD Solutions)
The prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the Director of the Venice Film Festival, assisted by the partners in the project, and the executives of the institutions and service companies underwriting the prizes. All decisions will be final.
FINAL CUT III: THE PALMARES
The partners of the third edition of Final Cut in Venice (72nd Venice International Film Festival) have decided to give their support to the following films in post-productions:
ZAINEB HATES THE SNOW / ZAINEB TAKRAHOU ETHELJ by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia) has been supported by:
Abu Dhabi’s Film Fund SANAD is giving € 10,000 for post-production costs
Sub-Ti Ltd. (London) is giving up to € 6,000 for the production of a DCP master and Italian or English subtitles,
Rai Cinema is giving € 5,000 for the purchase of two-year broadcasting rights
Amiens International Film Festival is giving a participation in the production costs of a DCP
Fribourg International Film Festival is giving a participation in the production costs of a DCP
ALI, THE GOAT, AND IBRAHIM / ALI MEA’ZA WE IBRAHIM by Sherif Elbendary (Egypt) has been supported by:
CNC – Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (Paris) is giving € 10,000 to be spent on post-production in France
Knightworks is giving up to € 10,000 for visual effects and special effects
Titra TVS (Paris) is giving up to € 10,000 for digital colour correction, for the production of a DCP master and French or English subtitles
HOUSE IN THE FIELDS / TIGMI NIGREN by Tala Hadid (Morocco) has been supported by:
Laser Film (Rome) is giving € 15,000 for the colour correction, for up to 50 hours of work (technician included)
Mactari Mixing Auditorium (Paris) is giving a discount of € 15,000 for the sound mixing
SEPARATION / HAVIBON by Hakar Abdulqadir (Iraq) has been supported by:
MAD Solutions is giving a participation in the marketing, publicity and distribution in the Arab World to the film
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Danny Masterson is Off ‘The Ranch’ Amid Multiple Rape Accusations
Netflix has dismissed Danny Masterson from the cast of its comedy series The Ranch in light of multiple accusations of rape against the actor.
“As a result of ongoing discussions, Netflix and the producers have written Danny Masterson out of The Ranch,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday, published by Variety. “Yesterday was his last day on the show, and production will resume in early 2018 without him.”
Four women have accused Masterson in separate incidents of spiking their drinks and violently raping them during blackouts. The women say the evens occurred in the early 2000s. Calls for Masterson’s dismissal have grown louder over the past few weeks – particularly when the streaming service responded swiftly to allegations of sexual misconduct by Kevin Spacey, firing the actor from House of Cards and cancelling the release of his feature film Gore.
But the network remained mum over Masterson. That inaction blew up yesterday, when Huffington Post’s Yashar Ali published an account of a Netflix executive explaining, of Masterson’s accusers, “We don’t believe them.” He was unaware that the woman he was speaking to was one of said accusers.
Netflix acknowledged the conversation in a statement: “While he was coaching a youth soccer match today, Mr. Yeatman ― a Netflix kids’ programming executive ― was approached by a stranger who did not identify herself or explain her connection to Danny Masterson. Mr. Yeatman’s comments were careless, uninformed and do not represent the views of the company. Further, he would have no insights into decision making on The Ranch. We are aware of the allegations against Danny Masterson and we are following the current investigation, and will respond if developments occur.” So, apparently, that’s what it took.
And Masterson has responded with a statement of his own: “I am obviously very disappointed in Netflix’s decision to write my character off of The Ranch. From day one, I have denied the outrageous allegations against me. Law enforcement investigated these claims more than 15 years ago and determined them to be without merit. I have never been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one. In this country, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, in the current climate, it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused. I understand and look forward to clearing my name once and for all.”
The LAPD re-opened its investigation nearly a year ago, and it was turned over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in April. According to the Huffington Post, sources inside both agencies have described the evidence as “compelling” and “overwhelming.”
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Busquets: Xavi is Spain’s greatest
By livio - 28 March 2015, 9:29
Sergio Busquets has claimed that Barcelona teammate Xavi Hernandez is the best Spanish player of all time.
The veteran formed the core of the Spain team which were crowned European champions in 2008 and 2012 and world champions in 2010, leaving his fellow Cule to hail him as the greatest footballer La Roja have ever produced.
“Since I started [my career], I've always been close to [Xavi],” Busquets told reporters.
“We've always been successful together, and [Xavi] has always been an example to us all. For me, he's the best Spanish player of all time.
“We have very good crop of players, and hopefully we can meet all the conditions [needed] to win titles again and be back among the top teams.
“[On the topic of his No 5 jersey]. I also had a great rapport with [Carles] Puyol, and he asked me if I'd like to take his number.
“For me, it was flattering that someone like him, both personally and in football, would say that.”
Tags Carles Puyol Sergio Busquets Spain Xavi Hernandez
Sergio Busquets hails Barcelona’s progress in 2021
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Covid-19: How the digital wave gripped India Inc, startups
Across sectors in India, the Covid-19 crisis pushed businesses to embrace technology at a rate they wouldn't have thought possible otherwise. Will it sustain?
By Harichandan Arakali, Forbes India Staff
I'm the Technology Editor at Forbes India and I love writing about all things tech. Explaining the big picture, where tech meets business and society, is what drives me. I don't get to do that every day, but I live for those well-crafted stories, written simply, sans jargon.
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In November, the state government of Maharashtra launched a programme called Swadhyay to improve the online education of children around the state. The programme tapped WhatsApp to provide weekly assessments and learning activities to students in classes 1 to 10. Six weeks into the programme, some 1.1 million students in the state were using the service, according to ConveGenius, a Noida-based education tech-social enterprise.
Maharashtra tapped the expertise of ConveGenius and Leadership For Equity, an organisation working to bring positive change to education systems. A cloud services company, Cloudstrats, is helping the state put the programme on the internet. The programme is open to students of schools affiliated to the state education board and is run by the State Council for Education Research and Training.
Poor households even shared smartphones among themselves so that their children could access these tests and activities, said ConveGenius in a press release.
In such ways, ‘digital transformation’, a term commonly associated with large businesses looking to use technology to improve their operations, is slowly becoming a reality even in small-town India, driven by the sheer need for innovation during a global pandemic. Swadhyay is also an example of how grassroots initiatives in India are playing a role in transforming the country into a market for digital services that investors around the world are increasingly interested in.
“Covid-19 is really providing a tailwind for the segment. In the last six months a considerable amount of demand has been brought forward and broader use has emerged. The amount of progress in a short period of time is really stunning,” said Bob van Dijk, CEO of Naspers, in November, discussing the company’s performance in the six months ended September 30.
South Africa-based Naspers, a multi-billion dollar internet economy group with investments around the world, is a leading investor in ed-tech startups, including Byju’s in India. Helped by the pandemic, “Byju’s saw 180 percent growth in students on top of very high growth rates over the last few years,” van Dijk said at a conference on November 24.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses and governments to embrace digital transformation with an enthusiasm they had never been able to summon before. From enabling remote working for hundreds of thousands of employees, in some companies, to increased automation of customer support with artificial intelligence (AI)-based bots, businesses and governments have adopted many digital technologies at a rate they never would have accepted earlier. Consulting doctors on the phone zoomed. Students enrolling for online classes surged. The smallest shop owners have taken to selling online and accepting payments through smartphones.
Years of adoption of digital technologies at pre-Covid rates have been compressed into days, a survey by the consultancy McKinsey has found. Many of those changes will be permanent, the survey’s respondents say. In combating the pandemic itself, technology companies are attempting to build ‘digital twins’ of the entire vaccine production process, allowing for rapid simulation of multiple scenarios, with the resulting data helping in accelerating the time to approvals and mass production. And new-age startups have built software to manage the entire supply chain of getting the vaccines out to the world.
In health care, a natural partnership arose with governments tapping even startups to help get the word out on Covid to the masses. For example, an early respondent was Yellow Messenger, a Bengaluru-based AI-based virtual assistant provider. In response to the pandemic, Yellow Messenger, in partnership with Facebook Messenger, was appointed by the National Health Authority of India to provide chatbots to several state governments, including Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan to assist with citizen engagement over WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
In the wake of the pandemic, technology that was only being used in the back-end is now at the forefront of this health crisis through tools like telemedicine, says Practo Technologies, in an email to Forbes India. This has encouraged countries to implement long-term telehealth tools and enhance the interoperability of electronic medical records.
There is greater acceptance and attention for digital health solutions during the coronavirus crisis and Practo expects that the trend will continue even after the pandemic. Doctors have never been more supportive of digital technologies than now, and patients are slowly getting used to telemedicine as an option of accessing health care. Practo’s telemedicine platform has witnessed a growth of 10x since March 1, the Bengaluru startup says.
As the world sought to develop vaccines and drugs to combat the pandemic, technology companies offered their expertise to accelerate the development and approval processes. An example is the ‘digital twin’ solution built by Atos, a tech services provider, and Siemens, an engineering company.
The two companies together are working with the pharmaceutical industry to improve manufacturing processes with a solution based on a digital replica of the drug production process. This ‘process digital twin’ is currently being pilot tested. It utilises sensors, installed in an actual pharmaceuticals factory, which generate volumes of complex data that are fed to predictive models and real-time analytics programmes to come up with ways to improve the production process.
By equipping each stage of the vaccine manufacturing process with in-line sensors, it’s now possible to collect diverse sets of rich data to understand exactly what is happening in real-time, wrote Niels Thomsen, a group vice president and head of insight for internet of things and AI at Atos, in a blogpost in May. By combining this data with physical, chemical and biological models, it’s possible to build a ‘digital twin’ of the whole vaccine production process.
This digital twin works as a live replica of all physical processes, so that every part of every stage can be fine-tuned and any changes to any process can be simulated in order to understand and test the effects. Thanks to the very latest AI and machine learning (ML) techniques, predictive and prescriptive models can be produced that generate new insights into all aspects of vaccine production.
In research and development, continual simulation at each step makes it possible to test and optimise new processes without losing precious time or resorting to costly investments, Thomson wrote. Scientists can simulate changes in order to test them before they are implemented. In-line measurement using innovative new ‘quality by design’ models ensures that processes are robust and produce best-quality results. Crucially, this new ability to monitor quality and make adaptations during production reduces waste and accelerates times-to-market.
As various drug companies came closer to getting their Covid vaccines into the market, it was time to figure out the logistics of getting the antidote out to the world. LogiNext, a logistics and supply chain automation and intelligence provider, has built a vaccine supply-chain management and tracking platform.
Dhruvil Sanghvi, CEO of LogiNext, says, “We have been working hard for a while now on this vaccine-tracking solution, including some key features for the cold chain. We’re very proud to launch the first solution to manage a complex supply chain around the Covid vaccine from manufacturing facilities all the way till the last mile.”
The solution is based on the company’s flagship platform called LogiNext Mile, an all-mile transportation automation platform that can be used for tech-enabled management of vaccine distribution. The software-as-a-service platform can be deployed for complete visibility and tracking of the vaccine distribution from the point of origin at the manufacturing plants to the last mile, Loginext said in a press release on December 15.
The solution can be used for the entire chain or a part of the solution can be used for visibility and tracking, demand forecasting and order scheduling and detailed analytics.
“Talks are ongoing for pilots with several organisations and our team of engineers has worked round the clock to get the best-in-class solution available,” says Manisha Raisinghani, CTO of LogiNext.
In the meantime, as people wait to get their vaccines, remote working and working-from-home is a reality for hundreds of millions around the world. In India’s IT outsourcing sector, companies had to not only scramble to get their own employees equipped to work from home, but also help their customers—some of the biggest companies around the world—do the same.
In a matter of weeks in March, Infosys got 93 percent of its quarter of a million staff equipped to work remotely; over the next months, that number went up to 99 percent.
“We were huge beneficiaries of the technology investments that we’ve made over the years and the security investments that we made,” said Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys, India’s second-biggest IT services company, in an interview to Forbes India in August. In a matter of weeks, starting the second half of March, Infosys got 93 percent of its quarter of a million staff equipped to work remotely. Over the next few months, that proportion went up to 99 percent.
Even after the world has come to grips with the pandemic, a hybrid model of working from offices for some time and working from homes for the rest of the time is here to stay, said Rishad Premji, chairman of Infosys’s rival Wipro, to analysts in November.
Such shifts are bringing up the need for new technologies as well, such as ‘desktop-as-a-service’ or DaaS. In 2021, demand for DaaS will contribute to a projected 30 percent increase in spending on public cloud services, says Ananda Mukerji, founder and chairman of Anunta Tech, a cloud services provider.
“We expect to see huge adoption of DaaS solutions by organisations of all sizes to increase productivity and maximise return on investment, while keeping employee safety and convenience at the core,” says Mukerji. With the gig economy booming in the country, companies will start to depend more on staff working in freelancing or contract-based models, and this will need solutions like DaaS so that these workers can access business applications reliably and securely, he adds.
While the IT and enterprise software sectors predominantly focus on markets such as the US, 2020 also saw the rise of startup tech providers to India’s millions of small- and medium-sized businesses. Such companies ranged from those providing digital ledgers to small merchants or just helping them get online, to those using sophisticated software algorithms to give loans to people without adequate credit history. And funding for such startups rose too.
Dukaan, for instance, was started in 2020. It is a do-it-yourself platform for a small merchant with no programming skills to set up his own online store within 30 seconds, according to the startup. Each merchant gets a unique store link on which to showcase products or services and further share this link with customers on social media platforms.
With the pandemic acting as a tailwind, Dukaan was used by over 2.7 million merchants in the three months since its launch. Merchants have generated over 600,000 orders, resulting in a total gross merchandise value of over `100 crore, the tech startup said in a press release in October, announcing it had raised $6 million in seed funding from venture capital firms Matrix Partners India, Lightspeed India Partners and a clutch of other investors.
“Our mission is to enable each and every small retailer to launch, compete and grow their business online, without ever worrying about technology,” says Suumit Shah, CEO and co-founder of Dukaan.
“What got us most excited about Dukaan was the team and their missionary zeal in enabling small retailers to go online. We are proud to support the Dukaan team from day one, as they create this platform and leverage the digital tailwind that almost every industry and sector is seeing today,” says Akshay Bhushan, a partner at Lightspeed India.
Another example is payments and banking technology company, Cashfree, which registered a surge in the adoption of its payment solution for lenders during the pandemic-induced lockdown period. Launched in March 2020, Cashfree’s lending suite saw over 5 million transactions through November. Cashfree has signed on over 300 NBFCs and lending companies this year, it said in a press release on December 22.
Cashfree’s lending suite is used by businesses to facilitate instant loan disbursals from a lender’s bank account via IMPS or UPI, verify a borrower’s bank account and allow borrowers to authorise lenders to debit their accounts through an automated loan repayment collection system in the form of subscriptions via e-mandate and UPI.
Akash Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Cashfree, says, “With our lending payments suite, we have tackled the surge in loan requests by speeding up the process of lending and collection while enhancing the end customer experience. Growing steadily month-on-month, we saw the highest jump in August when we recorded a 187 percent growth in the gross merchandise value in our lending suite.”
Sinha adds: “Our aim has always been to provide flawless experiences and unparalleled services across the board, including lenders, agents, banks and borrowers. We see a lot of potential for the growth of digital payments in the NBFC sector and we are also working directly with lending platforms and banks to bring more efficiency, to both assist the lending business and to strengthen the payments infrastructure.”
Another area in which the rapid adoption of technology has helped businesses expand and changed consumer behaviour is in India’s growing ecommerce sector. Flipkart witnessed new user growth of close to 50 percent right after the lockdown, with tier 3+ regions registering the highest growth of 65 percent during the ‘Unlock’ (July-September) phase. Consumers from tier 2 and tier 3+ regions also spent the most time on the platform, signalling a continuing rise in user engagement and a shift in shopping preferences, the company said in a press release on December 18.
Flipkart saw increased demand from customers in tier 2 and tier 3+ towns
Especially to help first-time users, Flipkart introduced two new capabilities—a voice assistant in its online grocery store, and vernacular interfaces in languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. As more consumers took to ecommerce in 2020, a growing preference to shop in their local language was seen. The adoption of native languages saw a 2.5x increase from pre-Covid to the festive season (January to November 2020), Flipkart said.
The increased adoption of ecommerce also helped digital payments, according to Flipkart. Adoption of India’s Unified Payments Interface on the Flipkart platform increased nationally by 4.5x between January and August, Flipkart said.
The Covid crisis has brought about years of change in the way companies in all sectors and regions do business, according to a survey by McKinsey and Co, which released the results of the survey in an October report. Companies have accelerated the digitisation of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years. “And the share of digital or digitally enabled products in their portfolios has accelerated by a shocking seven years,” McKinsey said in its report. Nearly all respondents said that their companies have implemented at least temporary solutions to meet many of the new demands on them, and much more quickly than they had thought possible before the crisis.
Some of the most telling findings of the survey are about how quickly companies implemented workable solutions in various areas. For example, among all the respondents to the survey, it took their companies an average of only 10.5 days to increase remote working and collaboration capabilities. In pre-Covid times the same would have taken 454 days, the survey found.
It has been a year of digital discovery.
Digital Tranfsormation
How 2020 altered customer behavior forever, by Kunal Bahl
German Manager Vladislav Vodatinskij on impact of pandemics for business worldwide
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Malawi has a total of 21 diplomatic missions including 3 consulates around the world. Below is a brief outline of the missions.
1. AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
The Malawi High Commission in Maputo, and the Malawi Consulate in Tete, Mozambique, mainly facilitate strategic trade; transportation (transit) route; political, consular, and cultural cooperation; defence and security cooperation.
The Mission in Maputo also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Swaziland and Madagascar on a non-residential basis.
No.75 Kenneth Kaunda Avenue, P. O. Box 4148,
Tel:(258) 21 492 676
Telex: 6 300 MWEMB MO
TELEGRAM: MALAWIAN, MAPUTO
Website: https://www.malawihcmz.com/
Malawi Consulate, Tete, Mozambique
Av. Liberdade
Oposto Primeiro Esquadra Policia e Casa 058, P. O. Box 264
Tete, Mozambique
The Malawi High Commission in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, mainly facilitates strategic trade; transportation (transit) route; and political, consular, and cultural cooperation.
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Burundi, Comoros, Rwanda, and Seychelles on a non-residential basis.
Rose Garden Road,
Mikochenu B, P. O. Box 7616,
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
Website: http://www.malawihctz.org/
The Malawi High Commission in Lusaka, Zambia, mainly facilitates trade; political, consular, and cultural cooperation; and defence and security cooperation.
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Angola, Congo - Brazzaville, and DRC on a non-residential basis, and coordinates Malawi’s integration efforts under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
31 Bishops Road, P. O. Box 50425
Kabulonga, Lusaka, Zambia
Tel: +260 211 265 768/69
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., lusaka.malawimission.gov.mw
Website: https://www.lusakamhc.gov.mw
The Malawi High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya, mainly facilitates trade; political and consularcooperation; and Malawi’s multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), and UN Habitat which are hosted in Kenya.
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Central African Republic, Eritrea, Israel, Somalia, and Uganda on a non-residential basis.
Waiyaki Way- Westlands
Tel: +254 20 444 3805/6/7
The Malawi Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, facilitates trade, investment, political and technical cooperation between Malawi and Egypt.
As the main gateway to the Arab World, the Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Algeria, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia on a non-residential basis.
Villa 70,
Al-Bostan Street Block 3,
10th Settlement,
Sheik Zayed,
Giza, Cairo
Website: http://www.malawiembcairo.com/
9-11 Duthie Road
Alexandra Park, P. O. Box 321
Tel: 263 4 798 584-6, 799 005
The Malawi High Commission in Pretoria, and the Malawi Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, facilitate strategic trade; strategic transportation (transit) route; political, economic and social cooperation; and consular matters. The Mission’s consular service in South Africa is particularly important in view of the large Malawian Diaspora that has settled in that country. The High Commission also facilitates Malawi’s participation in activities of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, and Namibia on a non-residential basis.
770 Government Avenue
Arcadia, 0083, Pretoria, P. O. Box 11172
Hatfield 0082
Tel: 27(12) 430 9900, 342 0146/1759
Fax: 27(12) 342 0147
Malawi Consulate, Johannesburg, P. O. Box 3881, Rivonia 2128
Tel: 27 (0) 11 803 4919 /
Fax: 27 (0) 11 807 7790
Website: http://www.malawiconsulate.co.za/
Corner Sunshine/Maani
Tel: 251 116 620295
Fax: 251)116 620299
Website: https://www.addismwembassy.gov.mw
Consulate General of the Republic of Malawi
Office No 2702, The Prism, Business Bay,
Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: http://www.malawiconsulatedubai.com/
The Malawi Embassy in Kuwait City, Kuwait, mainly facilitates development cooperation (financing) and consular matters.
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Bahrain, Iraq, Omar, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen on a non-residential basis.
Al- Shuhad’aa – Block 5,
Street 512- Villa 34,
P.O Box 5761-Safat 13058
Tel: +965 25235416,
Website: https://www.malawiembkuwait.com
2. AMERICAS
The Malawi Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil, mainly facilitates technical cooperation, and investment.
The Mission is Malawi’s Gateway to South America. In this regard, the Mission serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, and all other Caribbean Islands on a non-residential basis.
SHIS Q1 15 Conjunto 03 Casa 01 Lago Sul,
CEP 71635-230,
Tel: 55 (61) 3364 3186
Website: http://www.embaixadadomalawinobrasil.com.br/
Malawi Embassy in Washington DC, USA
The Malawi Embassy in Washington DC, USA, mainly facilitates development cooperation; trade, investment, and tourism cooperation; training; and consular matters. The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico on a non-residential basis.
2408 Massachusettes Avenue, NW,
Website: http://www.malawiembassy-dc.org/
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Malawi to the United Nations, New York, USA
The Malawi Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York, mainly facilitates multilateral diplomacy at United Nations. It supports Malawi’s participation in global negotiations aimed at shaping world affairs.
Tel: +1(212) 317 8738 / 8718
Fax:+1(212) 317 8729
Telex: 421807
Website: https://www.un.int/malawi/
3. ASIA, AUSTRALIA AND PACIFIC REGION
F-63, Poorvi Marg,
New Dehli-110057
Email-This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Malawi Embassy in Berlin, Germany, facilitates development, trade, investment, and tourism cooperation; and cultural relations.
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, The Holy See, Hungary, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine on a non-residential basis.
Tel: 49 (0)30 8431 540
Fax: 49 (0)30 8431 5430
Website: http://www.malawiembassy.de/index.html
The Malawi High Commission in London, UK, facilitates development cooperation; trade, investment and tourism cooperation; training; and consular matters. The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden on a non-residential basis. It also facilitates Malawi’s participation in multilateral diplomacy in the Commonwealth.
London W CIN 2AT
Tel: 44 207421 6010
Fax: 44 207831 9273
Website: https://www.malawihighcommission.co.uk/
The Malawi Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, mainly facilitates multilateral diplomacy in the context of the European Union (EU), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO).
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Andorra, France, Italy, Luxemburg, Monaco, and the Netherlands on a non-residential basis.
46 Avenue Hermann - Debroux
Tel: 32 (2) 231-09-80
Telex: 24128 Mabel B.
Fax: 32(2) 231-10-66
Website: https://www.embassymalawi.be/
Malawi Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland
The Malawi Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland, mainly facilitates Malawi’s multilateral diplomacy in the context of the following organisations: UN, ILO, IOM, ITU, UNCTAD, UNHCR, WEF, WHO, WMO, WTO.
The Mission also serves as a base for Malawi’s management of bilateral relations with Cyprus on a non-residential basis.
Nations Business Centre
Rue du Pre-de-la-Bichette 1
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Posts for: November, 2017
During his former career as a professional footballer (that's a soccer star to U.S. sports fans) David Beckham was known for his skill at “bending” a soccer ball. His ability to make the ball curve in mid-flight — to avoid a defender or score a goal — led scores of kids to try to “bend it like Beckham.” But just recently, while enjoying a vacation in Canada with his family, “Becks” tried snowboarding for the first time — and in the process, broke one of his front teeth.
Some fans worried that the missing tooth could be a “red card” for Beckham's current modeling career… but fortunately, he headed straight to the dental office as soon as he arrived back in England. Exactly what kind of treatment is needed for a broken tooth? It all depends where the break is and how badly the tooth is damaged.
For a minor crack or chip, cosmetic bonding may offer a quick and effective solution. In this procedure, a composite resin, in a color custom-made to match the tooth, is applied in liquid form and cured (hardened) with a special light. Several layers of bonding material can be applied to re-construct a larger area of missing tooth, and chips that have been saved can sometimes be reattached as well.
When more tooth structure is missing, dental veneers may be the preferred restorative option. Veneers are wafer-thin shells that are bonded to the front surface of the teeth. They can not only correct small chips or cracks, but can also improve the color, spacing, and shape of your teeth.
But if the damage exposes the soft inner pulp of the tooth, root canal treatment will be needed to save the tooth. In this procedure, the inflamed or infected pulp tissue is removed and the tooth sealed against re-infection; if a root canal is not done when needed, the tooth will have an increased risk for extraction in the future. Following a root canal, a tooth is often restored with a crown (cap), which can look good and function well for many years.
Sometimes, a tooth may be knocked completely out of its socket; or, a severely damaged tooth may need to be extracted (removed). In either situation, the best option for restoration is a dental implant. Here, a tiny screw-like device made of titanium metal is inserted into the jaw bone in a minor surgical procedure. Over time, it fuses with the living bone to form a solid anchorage. A lifelike crown is attached, which provides aesthetic appeal and full function for the replacement tooth.
So how's Beckham holding up? According to sources, “David is a trooper and didn't make a fuss. He took it all in his stride." Maybe next time he hits the slopes, he'll heed the advice of dental experts and wear a custom-made mouthguard…
If you have questions about restoring damaged teeth, please contact our office to schedule a consultation. You can read more in the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Trauma and Nerve Damage to Teeth” and “Children's Dental Concerns and Injuries.”
“Less is more” is a truism for much of life. It’s also an important feature of an emerging approach to treating tooth decay known as minimally invasive dentistry (MID).
MID updates another revolution in dental care that occurred in the early 1900s. Treating decay took a quantum leap thanks to techniques developed by Dr. G. V. Black, considered the father of modern dentistry. Dr. Black’s approach (known as “extension for prevention”) involved not only removing decayed tooth structure, but also adjacent areas deemed vulnerable to decay, which made them easier to clean. On the downside, though, it also created larger than normal fillings.
As the practice prevailed through much of the Twentieth Century another weakness became apparent—the approach could not guarantee a treated tooth would not experience decay again. This became the real impetus toward MID—to find more comprehensive ways to treat decay with as little impact on the tooth structure as possible.
These efforts received a real boost from emerging technology. This was especially true in diagnostics with the rise of new devices like intraoral cameras and techniques like laser fluorescence that can enable dentists to detect decay much earlier. It’s now possible to catch the disease at an earlier stage before substantial damage to the tooth occurs.
MID has also led to new treatments that preserve more of the tooth structure. Traditional drilling is increasingly giving way to air abrasion, the use of a fine particle stream of aluminum oxide, glass beads or baking soda directed precisely at decayed structure and minimizing damage to healthy structure. We’re also using new filling materials like composite resin for restorations after treatment that are strong yet still life-like and attractive.
We also can’t forget the role of the twin daily hygiene practices brushing and flossing to remove bacterial plaque, the main source of dental disease. And regular dental cleanings and checkups round out the MID approach, helping to ensure that decay doesn’t get too far. The end result of this revolutionary approach: your teeth can experience less impact from treatment and remain healthier and more attractive in the long-run.
If you would like more information on minimally invasive dental care, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Minimally Invasive Dentistry: When Less Care is more.”
December (2) October (2)
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Metro Detroit school closings for Monday, February 10th
Snow expected to return Sunday
The snow is back Sunday with a chance of seeing 2 to 3 inches of snow by the time it's done.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - With more snow falling Sunday, it's possible some schools in southeast Michigan cancel classes on Monday, February 10th.
Snow has returned to Southeast Michigan as we get ready to start another work week. We expect to get 2 to 3 inches of snow with some places farther north getting 4 inches.
Because of this, it's possible your school may be out as busses struggle in the snow.
A Winter Weather Advisory is also in effect until 10 p.m.
The latest closings will be posted at fox2detroit.com/closings.
FOX 2 News will be live Sunday evening at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday morning, we're up bright and early at 4 a.m. until noon so you can get the forecast from the FOX 2 Weather Authority. Watch it at fox2detroit.com/live or the News or Weather app.
Before you leave for work, check traffic and get the latest news in our FOX 2 News app. And, if you've got any plans today, you'll need to know what kind of weather you'll be dealing with. That's why you need the FOX 2 Weather app - the free app has live radar, hourly and daily forecasts, plus video from the Weather authority. It's 100% FREE. The FOX 2 Weather app is available for free to all iPhone, iPad and Android users.
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Matter of: Allied Van Lines-Claim for Reimbursement of Amounts Collected by Setoff for Lost Computer and Software File: B-270007 Date: June 20, 1996
A prima facie case of carrier liability is established where lost items bear a reasonable relationship to items shown on the inventory as having been packed in the carton containing the lost items. Software that are compatible parts of a single personal computer arrangement bear such a reasonable relationship to each other. 2. Where specific items are listed on the DD Form 1840. The fact that the shipper may have mistakenly failed to identify the correct box number in which the allegedly lost items were located does not negate otherwise timely notice of the loss. Was broken into. Some items were stolen. The remainder of the shipment was delivered to Memphis. Based on a finding that the evidence of tender of those items to the carrier was deemed insufficient.
Allied Van Lines, through its agent, Resource Protection, requests reconsideration of our Claims Settlement Z-151685(95), September 5, 1995, to the extent the settlement disallows reimbursement of the offset from funds otherwise due Allied. The setoff arose from loss during storage and shipment of the household goods of Odis Braxton, government bill of lading No. 768-577. We affirm the Claims Settlement.
The record shows that the carrier picked up the shipment of household goods on April 8, 1992, from San Pedro, California. On April 10, 1992, the shipment, while in temporary storage in San Diego, was broken into, and some items were stolen. The remainder of the shipment was delivered to Memphis, Tennessee, on September 25, 1992.
The Army paid the shipper for items lost in the theft and filed a claim with Allied for $4,946. Allied offered to pay $2,672. The Army offset the entire $4,946 and Allied requested a refund of $2,719. Our Claims Settlement allowed refund of $739 for a color scanner and fax modem which had been claimed by the shipper, based on a finding that the evidence of tender of those items to the carrier was deemed insufficient. The settlement denied reimbursement for the balance of the offset, $1,980. Allied requests refund of that amount.
According to the Military-Industry Memorandum of Understanding, (MOU) upon delivery, a carrier is responsible for providing the member a copy of the Joint Notice of loss or damage at Delivery (DD Form 1840, hereafter referred to as the 1840). The reverse side of this form is the Notice of Loss or Damage (DD Form 1840R, hereafter referred to as the 1840R) which is used to report damage discovered after delivery. The MOU provides that the carrier will accept written notice on the 1840R as overcoming the presumption that the delivery receipt was correct so long as the form is dispatched to the carrier within 75 days of delivery. The carrier then has 45 days from the dispatch date to inspect the loss or damage. The shipper then fills out a List of Property and Claims Analysis Chart (Form 1844) which is completed by the claims office and which is dispatched to the carrier with the Demand on Carrier/Contractor (Form 1843).
At issue in this case is inventory item No. 63, a box, 3 cubic feet in size, which is listed as missing on the 1840. Box No. 63 is identified on the 1840 as containing "Pack Bell Print/K board, software." At a later date, on the 1844, the shipper claimed that the computer, keyboard, laser printer, a color scanner, mouse, modem and 22 software programs were shipped in that box. /1/
The main issue raised by the carrier is that since it would be physically impossible to place all the items listed by the shipper in a box of that size, either the items were not tendered or were not missing, and thus the carrier is not liable. The Army asserts that the computer is listed on the 1840, and that the carrier was on notice from the 1840 that the entire computer system was missing. In addition, the Army asserts that all of the items listed were not in one box, but were divided between boxes No. 62, 63 and 136. A statement from Mr. Braxton, dated July 17, 1995, indicates that he mistakenly identified all the items as having been in box No. 63, when he should have noted that some of the items were missing from box No. 136. Allied asserts that since it received no notice that box No. 136 was missing during the applicable 75 day time period, the notification is not timely.
The Army argues that since the items themselves were identified on the 1840, the fact that Mr. Braxton may not have identified the correct box does not relieve the carrier from liability. The Army found evidence of tender of the remaining items. The computer, keyboard and printer are listed on the inventory. The software and mouse, while not listed, bear a reasonable relationship to the computer system and might reasonably be shipped in the same cartons. This Office has held that a prima facie case of carrier liability is established where items allegedly lost, bear a reasonable relationship to the items shown on the inventory as the carton's contents. Andrews Forwarders, Inc., B-255697, Apr. 22, 1994. A main computer unit, associated peripheral equipment, and software that are compatible parts of a single personal computer arrangement, even if some of the smaller components are not individually listed, bear such a reasonable relationship to each other. Since the carrier packed the shipment and was responsible for preparing the inventory, it is reasonable to conclude from the carrier's own labeling and inventory documentation that items specified on the inventory were tendered, and that related items were also included in the shipment.
The carrier's allegation that the items listed as lost could not all have fit in a single carton is supposition only. A large component of the computer system, its monitor, was apparently packed in a separate box; the other components, including the main unit, printer, keyboard, and software, may have fit into a single box. However, even if these items were packed in more than one box, their listing on the 1840 establishes they were missing on delivery. Our reading of the items listed in abbreviated fashion on this form is that the missing items included a main unit (listed as "Pack Bell"), a printer (listed as "Print"), a keyboard (listed as "K board"), and software (listed as "software").
Although the carrier and the Army disagree about some facts in this case, we conclude that the Army has established a prima facie case of liability, and that Allied has not provided evidence sufficient to relieve itself of liability. McNamara-Lunz Van and Warehouses, Inc., 57 Comp. Gen. 415 (1978). Accordingly, we affirm the Claims Settlement and deny further refund to the carrier.
/s/Seymour Efros
for Robert P. Murphy
1. The computer monitor is listed on the inventory and 1840 in Box No. 62.
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PNG images: Pear
The pear is any of several tree and shrub species of genus, in the family Rosaceae.
It is also the name of the pomaceous fruit of the trees. Several species of pear are valued for their edible fruit and juices, while others are cultivated as ornamental trees.
We currently have 40 Pear PNG images.
Free Pear PNGs
The word “pear” is probably from Germanic pera as a loanword of Vulgar Latin pira, the plural of pirum, akin to Greek apios (from Mycenaean ápisos), of Semitic origin ("pirâ"), meaning "fruit". The term "pyriform" is used to describe something pear-shaped.
The pear is native to coastal and mildly temperate regions of the Old World, from western Europe and north Africa east right across Asia. It is a medium-sized tree, reaching 10–17 metres (33–56 ft) tall, often with a tall, narrow crown; a few species are shrubby.
The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, 2–12 centimetres (0.79–4.72 in) long, glossy green on some species, densely silvery-hairy in some others; leaf shape varies from broad oval to narrow lanceolate. Most pears are deciduous, but one or two species in southeast Asia are evergreen. Most are cold-hardy, withstanding temperatures between −25 °C (−13 °F) and −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter, except for the evergreen species, which only tolerate temperatures down to about −15 °C (5 °F).
The flowers are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, 2–4 centimetres (0.79–1.57 in) diameter, and have five petals. Like that of the related apple, the pear fruit is a pome, in most wild species 1–4 centimetres (0.39–1.57 in) diameter, but in some cultivated forms up to 18 centimetres (7.1 in) long and 8 centimetres (3.1 in) broad; the shape varies in most species from oblate or globose, to the classic pyriform 'pear-shape' of the European pear with an elongated basal portion and a bulbous end.
The fruit is composed of the receptacle or upper end of the flower-stalk (the so-called calyx tube) greatly dilated. Enclosed within its cellular flesh is the true fruit: five cartilaginous carpels, known colloquially as the "core". From the upper rim of the receptacle are given off the five sepals, the five petals, and the very numerous stamens.
Pears and apples cannot always be distinguished by the form of the fruit; some pears look very much like some apples, e.g. the nashi pear. One major difference is that the flesh of pear fruit contains stone cells (also called "grit").
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The Foundation emphasizes the importance of communication activities to disseminate and raise awareness of its initiatives and publications in the sphere of bioethics.
During 2019, the Foundation worked closely with the media to inform society about its activities, awards and publications.
Q&A communications agency provides the Foundation with support in the sphere of media relations and press monitoring. Articles mentioning the Foundation can be viewed in the press cuttings Library section on the website. The Foundation has a licence from Cedro, a body that manages authors' rights in books, journals and other media, authorizing it to publish press cuttings from the previous three months.
WEBSITE AND NEWSLETTERS
In 2019, the Foundation website received an average of 1,200 visits per month, a slight increase compared to previous years. Many users currently find out about the Foundation's activities through social networks or newsletters, and only visit the website when they need to register for activities or download publications. Despite the lower number of visits, there has been an increase in registered users.
During 2019 the Víctor Grífols i Lucas Foundation sustained its commitment to social media, with a particular focus on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Foundation had 2,403 followers on Twitter at the end of 2019, with an average of 28 new followers per month. The Foundation's followers on Twitter are interested in politics and current affairs, with 88% living in Spain, of whom 50% are female and 50% are male.
On Facebook, 65% of the Foundation's followers are female and 33% are male (the rest do not specify their gender). Of the Foundation's 982 Facebook followers at the end of 2019, 82% live in Spain, with the rest resident in countries including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and the United States.
In April 2016 the Foundation established a LinkedIn profile, which had 600 followers by the end of 2019.
Finally, this year the Foundation has uploaded to YouTube the video of the María Ángeles Durán conference "Soledad, enjevecimiento y final de vida", (Loneliness, ageing and the end of life) in the Egozcue Lectures, with 916 views in the 2019.
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Gaffer | "It was a long evening"
Steve Evans admits Gills were not at the races in second half at Cambridge.
Gills boss not happy with second half display at the Abbey Stadium.
Steve Evans saw his Gillingham side eliminated from the EFL Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday night after falling to a gutsy Cambridge United, who struck twice in the second half without response at the Abbey Stadium.
Although disappointed, Evans immediately set his focus back to the Sky Bet League One and their away visit to Doncaster on Saturday.
Despite resting a number of first-team regulars, Evans felt his side contained enough quality to make it past The U’s. The lost cup tie, however, has given the Gills boss another opportunity to assess players on the fringes of the team as he weighs up transfer options.
He said after the game: “I wish Cambridge United all the very best; they are a good club. They have been as strong as they can be tonight, good luck to them in the competition. We now have to prepare for what is important to us, League One.
“I don’t think there was much between the sides in the first half. I think we were cancelling each other out. In the second half they wanted to win more. They were sharper to the ball, they had more of it and it could have been a lot more to be honest. Too many players didn’t perform in the second half. If you don’t work hard you’re in for a long evening, and it was a long evening.
“That side was good enough to beat Cambridge tonight but you have to match their effort, commitment and passion to want to win. We didn’t. You can see what it meant to the Cambridge lads. They were shouting, balling and screaming as they went up the tunnel, credit to them. I have nothing but praise for a team with that attitude.
“They have gone strong, but we made the decision to protect players for league. We need to prepare as best we can for Saturday (away to Doncaster), we have a lot of injuries and a lot of situations that I hope will clear up for us.”
Upcoming opponents Doncaster sit eighth in Sky Bet League One, a point above Gillingham, albeit with a game in hand, are a side hotly tipped for promotion and have impressed under the leadership of former Rovers player Darren Moore.
Evans said: “I love big Darren. He’s a good manager, how he got the sack at West Brom is beyond everyone in football. He’s gone into Doncaster and he’s carried on the great work of Grant McCann. He’s put a real good side together. I’ve watched a rerun of their win at Northampton and it was very, very comfortable. We will be fully tested when we go there but we will have a plan. We have had a plan for the last few weeks, when we beat some good sides as well.
“We will be playing against a team which I feel will be competing for automatic promotion. But we can see where we are in the table next to them and if we can add to our points tally.”
The Gillingham manager says he has busy been preparing for the January transfer window and expects to be active as he lines up some potential targets.
He said: “I’ve sat with the Chairman. We know the players we want and we know the back-ups if we don’t get our first choices. We are not talking a major overhaul. Overall the boys have done brilliant to be where we are.
“We will do our best to get our targets in. Conversations are happening with clubs and the agents to see what we can do.
“We want to bring in players that will start,” Evans added. “That will improve the players in our team who are currently holding the shirt.”
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