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collected contributor
The Flash Recap: “Trajectory”
Taking short cuts, particularly when dealing with superpowers, is never a good idea. Sometimes the repercussions of your actions outweigh the desired effect in a deadly way.
**** NEWS FLASH – SPOILERS AHEAD ****
Collected Contributor March 26, 2016 Spoilers, TV/Film
The Flash Recap: “King Shark”
Owning the consequences of our actions is a huge step to making things right, but it is usually preceded by a lot of guilt, which puts the weight of the world on our shoulders.
The loss of Jay weighs heavy on all of Team Flash, but none as deeply as Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) who was finally to the point where she was willing to open her heart and let someone in again after the tragic loss of Ronnie.
No one is more aware of this than Barry/Flash (Grant Gustin), who blames himself not just for Jay’s death, but everything that has gone wrong since he decided to travel back in time to save his Mom.
That’s a lot of bad stuff to feel guilty about and it shows. In addition, Harry (Tom Cavanagh) tells Barry and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) they need to stay quiet about everything that happened on Earth 2, especially about Joe, Iris and Caitlin’s doppelgangers. If they knew, it could potentially change the course of things on Earth 1.
Collected Contributor February 27, 2016 Spoilers, TV/Film
Oscars 2016: A Review of “The Big Short”
Hello, you lovely Collective readers. Do me a favour and paint a mental picture in your head as […]
Collected Contributor February 27, 2016 TV/Film
The Flash Recap: “Escape From Earth 2”
Love is the ultimate motivator. We never know just how far we’ll go in the name of love until we are tested or pushed to prove our devotion.
Zoom (Tony Todd) knows Harry (Tom Cavanagh) is back on Earth 2 and didn’t come alone. He is one pissed off villain and will stop at nothing to track down Harry and eliminate him. This just makes the clock tick faster for Harry and Cisco (Carlos Valdes), whose mission to rescue Jessie is now twice as tricky since Flash is also a captive of Zoom’s.
As if that’s not bad enough, they almost forgot about Barry (Grant Gustin) from Earth 2 who was tied up in a closet. He’s awake and not happy about his treatment. He wants an explanation, but there’s no time for that, Zoom is in Star Labs and can smell blood.
The Flash Recap: “Welcome to Earth 2”
You’re going to go through the looking glass. Don’t be distracted by what you see and hear.
After methodically closing all the breaches/portals except the one in Star Labs, Harry (Tom Cavanagh), Barry (Grant Gustin) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) set off on their journey through the “rabbit hole” to Earth 2. Once there, they have 48 hours to find Zoom, defeat him, save Harry’s daughter Jessie, and return to Earth 1. If they don’t return, that means the mission failed and Jay needs to close the portal, leaving Barry and Cisco trapped on Earth 2.
Oscars 2016: A Review of “Brooklyn”
Hello again, lovely Collective readers. I am back once again to go over one of the Best Picture nominees; this time, it’s Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the story of Eilis Lacey (Saiorse Ronan), a young woman who is unable to find work in Ireland in the 1950s. Her sister Rose arranges for her to emigrate to Brooklyn, New York where she will live in a boarding house and work in a department store. Despite her homesickness at the beginning, Eilis falls in love with Tony (Emory Cohen) and starts to feel at home in America. But when a family tragedy strikes, she returns home to Ireland and catches the eye of Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). Who will she choose in the end? Which country will she choose? While it has the makings of a dramatic love triangle story, Brooklyn is actually a very sweet and happy film, which is why it is one of my favorite nominees of the season.
The Flash Recap: “Fast Lane”
Sometimes doing the right thing comes with great heartache and consequences.
With Patty gone, Barry (Grant Gustin) focuses on mending his broken heart by burying himself into his work. Nothing like trying to find a way to close the 52 breaches all over Central City to take your mind off a failed relationship.
Barry is enthusiastic about working with Harry (Tom Cavanagh). It feels like the good old days, before Wells turned out to be the bad guy. If only Harry felt the same way.
Collected Contributor February 6, 2016 Spoilers, TV/Film
The Flash Recap: “The Reverse Flash Returns”
No matter how fast you run, the truth will always catch-up to you, even when you’re the Flash.
Collected Contributor January 30, 2016 Spoilers, TV/Film
Oscars 2016: A Review of “Spotlight”
Hello again lovely Collective reader, That Geek Online here again with a Best Picture nominee film review; Spotlight. I just got home from seeing this film, I have sat down with my tea, and the Spotlight soundtrack is playing on my headphones. Yes, this is my Oscar’s season ritual, and yes I know I am super weird. Being only the second film (out of eight) that I have seen, I can’t say it is my favorite YET, but it did catch my attention. And not only did it catch my attention, it KEPT my undivided attention for two hours and 7 minutes. Directed by Tom McCarthy, this true story of a team of reporters uncovering a child molestation cover-up scandal will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.
Spotlight has six Academy Award nominations this year: Best Picture, Directing, Supporting Sctor (Mark Ruffalo), Supporting Actress (Rachel McAdams), Film Editing, and Writing (original screenplay). As far as acting goes, Mark Ruffalo shines in this film at Michael Rezendes. Both Ruffalo and Michael Keaton put extensive research into their roles, as this is a true story and it’s important that the actor be as similar to their real-life counterpart as possible. For example, Michael Keaton was able to get ahold of video and audio of Walter Robinson and did an impression of him on their first meeting. “How did you know everything about me, we just met?” was Robinson’s response. Mark Ruffalo was just as detail oriented with his character, asking the real Michael Rezendes to say his lines for him during every break. Their dedication to the performance is the driving force of this film and Ruffalo’s competition is tough for supporting actor, but he has a solid shot at the win. Walter Robinson summed it up perfectly when describing Keaton in the film; “It’s like watching yourself in a mirror, yet having no control over the mirror image.”
Collected Contributor January 27, 2016 Current Events, TV/Film
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Interview with Andy Weir
Steve Davidson for Amazing Stories: Welcome to Amazing Stories Andy.
In interviews elsewhere, you mention that you’re a science fiction fan. When did you start reading science fiction?
Andy Weir: I started back when I was a kid. I don’t remember any time in my life when I wasn’t a fan.
ASM: Could you mention a few of your favorite authors or particular works that you found compelling?
AW: The classic authors of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Heinlein, Clarke, and Asimov were my favorites.
ASM: Do you attended conventions?
AW: I have been to lots of conventions. Some were focused on a specific show (like Star Trek or Dr. Who) while others were general SF gatherings. Also I go to boardgaming conventions, which tend to have a lot of overlap with fans.
ASM: You seem to prefer Dr. Who to Star Trek or Star Wars. Is there a reason for this preference or is it just one of those things?
AW: It’s just one of those things. I started watching Doctor Who when I was about 11, and I really got in to the mythos. Also, I’ve always loved time travel as a concept. It’s probably my favorite SF plot.
ASM: You’ve also stated that you’re a space nerd and did a fair amount of research into orbital mechanics, astrogation, systems, etc. Your Mars Mission profile largely follows the Mars Direct plan*. You seem to feel that such a mission profile is our best chance for exploring Mars. Why that approach and not another, such as the Mars One mission?
AW: Yes, Mars Direct (with a few changes) is the only plausible way we could have a manned mission there.
I don’t take Mars One seriously at all and I don’t understand why it gets so much press. For starters, their plan is to strand people on Mars in a living space worse than prison. More importantly, the funding concept is ludicrous.
ASM: You did make a few changes to the mission profile. Could you detail those?
AW: I made several changes:
I added a separate Earth-Mars transfer ship. I think it’s unrealistic to expect a single craft to serve as both transfer and lander. The transfer ship has to be large to accommodate the crew on their long mission, and can be reused for more missions in the same series. A lander just has to keep them alive for the trip from orbit to the surface. There’s a separate ascent vehicle, so the lander is a one-use item.
I have the Earth-Mars transfer done via ion engines.
ASM: Would you volunteer for Mars One – do you want to go to Mars?
AW: As I mentioned I don’t take Mars One seriously. If there were a real manned mission in the planning, I would love to be part of it. But not as an astronaut. I’m not brave enough and I don’t have The Right Stuff. I’d rather be one of the thousands of hardworking engineers who make spaceflight possible.
ASM: Do you think that human exploration of the solar system is necessary – or should we be doing it all with robots?
AW: It’s hard to justify risking human life when you can just send a robot. Robots can sit in an inert shell for eight months on their way to Mars. Humans have to be kept alive.
While I enjoy writing about astronauts, I don’t see a compelling reason to send them to other planets. There is one good way of looking at it, though. You have to consider it a national luxury. Something that isn’t strictly necessary for anything other than society’s enjoyment. Like the National Endowment for the Arts. To this day, we still consider the Apollo landings to be among the greatest accomplishments in human history, and Americans are proud of it. We wouldn’t feel nearly so proud if there had simply been a series of well-executed robotic sample-return missions.
So the question becomes: What price do you put on national pride? Or, if it’s an international effort, what is the value of that global sense of accomplishment and cooperation among nations?
ASM: Apollo was, in the final analysis, a political action. Barry Malzberg is considered to be quite the prognosticator for having predicted that the missions would end once the US was considered the “victor” in the cold war. It sounds as if you are largely in agreement with Malzberg.
AW: Yes, I think national pride is reason enough. And not for flag-waving patriotism. Just for the simple reason that it makes people happy. Like I said, we’re still proud of the Apollo program. And when we talk about it, we don’t say “It was a great day for America because we beat the Soviets!” We say “We had people walking around on the Moon. How freakin’ cool was that!?”
ASM: What was your intention – to write a ‘novel’ or to write a ‘science fiction’ novel?
AW: I guess “write a novel”. I was focusing on what could be done with the technology we have right now. So I wasn’t thinking too much about speculative technology or anything like that.
ASM: Other interviews have invoked Heinlein in reference to The Martian. Were his works particular favorites of yours?
AW: Yes, his earlier works were. Especially Tunnel in the Sky and Have Spacesuit Will Travel and Starman Jones, just to name a few.
ASM: Would you care to weigh in on the current “fad” of criticizing Heinlein as a war-mongering, fascistic, womanizing misogynist?
AW: I think it’s unreasonable to compare someone from the past to modern morals. He started writing almost 70 years ago, when ideals were different. Like it or not, what we consider misogyny was normal treatment of women in that era. As for war-mongering, a lot of his books were written in the middle of the Cold War and the Red Scare. So, while those beliefs have no place in our modern world, you can’t get mad at him for not having ideals that hadn’t even taken root in society yet.
I do, however, find it annoying when an author uses a novel as a pulpit for political ideologies. When I read a book I want to be entertained, not preached at. So there are some of his books that I didn’t like because they had heavy handed political messages. Notably The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
I’m not saying I agree or disagree with any of Heinlein’s ideas, I’m just saying I’d rather read about a guy shooting at space pirates than a plodding explanation of economic libertarianism and group marriages.
ASM: In some respects, The Martian is fairly “Heinleinesque”; you feature a “competent man” in your main character Mark Watney; there isn’t a lot of literary fluff nor dwelling on deep emotional analysis and most of the other characters are somewhat stereotypical of their type – astronauts, administrators, technicians. Was that just the way the story wrote itself or some kind of emulation of a Heinlein-like technique?
AW: It’s just how the story came out. My ideology is simple: At all costs, prevent the reader from putting the book down. Make them stay up late reading and then only stop because they had to sleep.
I can’t speak for other readers, but I am extremely impatient when reading. I don’t like flashbacks, long periods of exposition, or deep character analysis. For the most part, I don’t care what the character’s motivations are. And I definitely don’t want to read a ten page description of a mountain range. I just want something interesting to happen.
So all I can do is write books the way I’d want to read them.
ASM: Did you watch the Apollo moon shots while growing up? There are a few scenes in the novel, a docking sequence, the “mutiny”, that seemed to be close analogues to the film of the Apollo 13 mission; did you crib those from the movie?
AW: I was only six months old when the last Apollo mission took place. So they were never a live event for me. However, I’ve been a space enthusiast my whole life. I definitely used events from the real space program as inspiration for plot elements. Especially Apollo 13.
ASM: Apollo 13 was described as a “successful failure”. The Martian seems to take that kind of situation and turn it on its head a bit: The Apollo 13 astronauts certainly had a direct hand in effecting their own recovery, but The Martian emphasizes the work and solutions of the astronaut over the contributions of the ground crew and others. Was this a deliberate inversion of the relationship between astronauts and mission control?
It wasn’t as deliberate as all that. The efforts of NASA were critical to the story. Though, for drama purposes, I wanted to have it be one man vs. Mars all by himself, so I engineered a way to make that happen. So it did end up being mostly an effort by Mark, but that was for storytelling purposes.
ASM: Do you think that astronauts ought to be given more autonomy while in space?
AW: They’re the ones with their lives on the line. I think the final decisions should rest with them. Consider how air traffic control personnel interact with pilots in an emergency. The pilot makes all the decisions, and that’s how it should be. I think in practice that’s already how it is with astronauts. But for non-emergency situations, I definitely think NASA knows best.
ASM: You took a not common trajectory to publication publishing the novel yourself . Why didn’t you leave it as an indie work?
Because a publisher offered me a bunch of money for a print deal. I’ve always wanted to get a book published in print and I’m a big fan of money.
ASM: What is your opinion (if any) of the divide that’s been experienced between indie and traditional publishing? Should would-be authors continue to try the traditional route, or go it themselves from the get-go?
AW: Indie publishing has removed the barriers to entry in the publishing world. Now, anyone can write a book and put it out there for people to read. If it’s good, it’ll sell well. If it isn’t, well at least they got to try. I think it’s fantastic.
That being said, I consider self-publishing to be a starting point, not a goal. It gets you in to the industry, but I don’t think you should stop there. I definitely prefer traditional publishing. Publishing companies have centuries of experience in how to market and sell books. Whether you’re motivated by money or motivated by accumulating readers, traditional publishers are better at making either one happen.
If you go it alone, you have to be your own marketing and publicity department. Some people are good at that (Like Hugh Howey, who is a good businessman as well as an excellent writer). But I just don’t have those skills. I’m happy to have professionals take care of all of that for me.
ASM: Do you think that partnering with a traditional publisher directly contributed to your novel making it to the NYTimes best-seller list?
AW: Absolutely. There is no way it would have happened otherwise.
ASM: Did your previous e-book publication help it get there?
AW: I don’t think those numbers counted toward the total. However, the prior publication did get me a lot of readers who then turned around and bought the hardcover as a show of support (pretty awesome, eh?). That drove up sales, I’m sure.
ASM: Did you make any substantial changes between your original e-book version and the one published this year?
AW: No, the main plot points remain unchanged. It was all polish, fixing awkward sentences, adding depth to minor characters, etc. I did change the final scene. But again, no changes in plot or resolution.
ASM: Did you use any first readers or hire an editor for your original version?
AW: I initially posted the story chapter by chapter to my website as I wrote it. I had a few thousand regular readers so you could say there were a lot of “first readers”. I hired a copyeditor to make a pass before I posted it to Kindle.
ASM: Did you find working with an editor at Crown to be beneficial to the process?
AW: The Crown editor, Julian Pavia, was the first person to make serious editorial comments and request changes. I definitely think the process with Julian was beneficial to the book. It’s a lot more polished and much better than it was when we started.
ASM: You were very clever with Watney’s solutions to problems, but I suspect that you had to give Watney a couple of ‘gimmes’ – such as shipping actual potatoes to Mars . Where there other similar gimmes that were necessary to move things along?
The RTG was probably the biggest “gimme”. It was extremely useful and solved a number of mundane problems that wouldn’t have been interesting to narrate. Most notably, it saved an enormous amount of energy because Mark didn’t have to deal with keeping the rover warm. I had a plot idea at one point where he has to abandon the RTG because it started leaking. But I just could not find a way for him to survive without it, so I had to give up on that plot.
(The RTG is a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator – Ed.)
ASM: Another technical question: wouldn’t mission control normally have the ability to override the Herme’s systems from the ground and prevent or abort their course change?
AW: Definitely, and that was covered in the book. The Hermes crew talks about it when they decide to “mutiny” and Johanssen reprograms the onboard computers to disable Houston’s remote control.
ASM: Once Mission Control learns that Watney is still alive, they choose not to tell the other mission astronauts as they believe the psychological toll will be too great. This is reminiscent of Glenn not being told the condition of his heat shield during his Mercury orbital mission. Do you think that “He’s a pilot. You tell him the condition of his craft” is correct? (The Right Stuff).
AW: A pilot needs to know everything about his craft so he can make informed decisions. But the psychological effects on the Hermes crew of knowing Mark was still alive are an entirely different thing. Knowing wouldn’t help them in any way and would serve only to ruin their already low morale.
ASM: A lot of the novel is reminiscent of the CO2 scrubber scenes in Apollo 13: ‘we’ve got to make this work with this using only these (parts)’. Did you start with a list of equipment and materials for the Mars mission, set your problems up and then work through them? Or did you back-end things, having the solution in mind and figuring out the tools and materials that would have to be present in some form?
AW: I started with the problem and then worked out the solutions. If I couldn’t figure out the solution, I just wouldn’t have that problem come up, or I’d adjust the problem to something that could be solved.
ASM: As I was reading (and the book is quite the page turner) I was confident that Watney would manage to survive – until I got about three quarters of the way through. Then I began to suspect that he’d come really, really close but not quite make it. Was that deliberate pacing on your part? Or merely a consequence of trying to increase the tension right up until the very end?
AW: I’m surprised at how many people weren’t sure if he’d survive. I’m glad people were that on the edge about it and that the ending was so exciting for them. Despite the dire circumstances, it’s a light-hearted story without much seriousness in it. So I figured people would just assume Mark will survive and I focused on making how he does it the main focus.
ASM: You’ve remarked in other interviews that Watney’s ascerbic sense of humor is largely your own. Do you think you’d actually be thinking those same things under similar circumstances?
AW: Mark has my smart-ass personality, but none of my flaws. If I were in Mark’s situation, I would not be able to handle the stress. I would crumble under the pressure and probably die. Mark isn’t me, he’s more what I wish I was like. He has the bravery and courage under fire that I’ll never have.
ASM: If Watney makes it back to Earth, what would be the first thing he would do?
AW: First thing he’d do would be get a hamburger, pizza, or some other delicious food he’d been denied for so long. Also, he’d want to spend some time outside in the sunlight. And he would have no desire to ever go in to space again.
ASM: So what’s next?
AW: I’ve quit my day job and am taking a shot at being a full-time writer. I’ve worked up a pitch for my next novel and I’ll be sending it to Crown soon to see what they think. If they like it, I’ll write it. If they don’t, I’ll shop it around or work up a different pitch.
ASM: Thank you very much Andy. Good luck with the possible movie and with your next novel.
Andy Weir’s website can be found here.
*Mars Direct is a proposal for a manned mission to Marsthat is designed to be both cost-effective and possible with current technology. It was originally detailed in a research paper by NASAengineers Robert Zubrinand David Bakerin 1990. (Wikepedia entry for Mars Direct.) The plan hinges on return vehicles that make their own fuel from the Martian atmosphere and on utilizing Martian natural resources to reduce the supplies that must be shipped to the red planet.
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What do The Martian, Austin Mahone and a 3D printer have in common? - iQ UK May 5, 2016 At 1:53 pm
[…] can’t speak for other readers,” the author told Amazing Stories, “but I am extremely impatient when reading. I don’t like flashbacks, long periods of […]
TIME MACHINE: Popular Posts - Amazing Stories April 24, 2016 At 11:01 am
[…] Interview with Andy Weir […]
Amazing Stories | TIME MACHINE: Popular Posts - Amazing Stories September 20, 2015 At 11:01 am
The Martian // Book Chatter | Fika Chatter March 28, 2015 At 7:42 pm
[…] The Links: There is a lot of material about the book and author online. For discussion questions and a Q&A check out the books webpage. If you want to read interviews with Andy Weir, I recommend the articles by Ars Technica, Amazing Stories and Air&Space. […]
Martian by Andy Weir – Out of the world, literally | Rationally irrational March 22, 2015 At 7:35 am
[…] https://amazingstories.com/articles/interview-andy-weir/ […]
Indie Published Novel Soars to New Heights: The Martian | ePublish Yourself! January 4, 2015 At 7:32 am
[…] an interview with Amazing Stories, Andy framed self publishing as an entry point to the industry, not the end goal, but admits some […]
A Rollicking Self-Publishing Success: Andy Weir’s The Martian | Lightspeed Illuminati January 4, 2015 At 7:16 am
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Obama’s Former Secretary of Defense Tells CNN, Joe Biden ‘Has Some Issues’
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates under President Obama reaffirmed that he believes former Vice President Joe Biden has been “wrong on most foreign policy issues” in the past 40 years.
Gates added ‘I think vice president did have some issues with the military.’
Obama’s Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was being interviewed by David Axelrod on CNN’s “The Axe Files” reaffirmed what he stated previously that he and Joe Biden butted heads more than a few times on foreign policy.
“[Biden] clashed with the Pentagon and with the leadership over Afghanistan, and you’ve been fairly critical of him at one point, saying he was wrong every foreign policy issue for 40 years,”
Axelrod asked Gates:
“Would you be comfortable with him [Biden] as Commander in Chief?”
Gates replied that he thinks he will have to “wait and see” and if Biden is fit for the office.
Gates has criticized Biden’s foreign policy expertise before, first in 2014 and then again in May during an interview with CNN’s Margaret Brennan.
Gates also criticized Biden’s age, saying that the prospect of either former Vice President and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) taking the presidency at their age was “problematic.”
“You don’t have the kind of energy that I think is required to be president,” Gates said. “I think… I’m not sure you have the intellectual acuity that you might have had in your 60s. So, I mean it’s just a personal view… for me the thought of taking on those responsibilities at this point in my life would be pretty daunting.”‘
Biden has come under fire in the past from his more liberal opponents for supporting the Iraq War, support of NAFTA and his flip-flopping on the Hyde Amendment.
David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s apologist-in-chief, tried to save the interview by throwing in a last second softball question, which we all know how every dishonest dogmatic democrat would answer… Except Gates who, two thumbs up, stuck by his principles.
“Are you comfortable with the current Commander-in-Chief?”
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Television sets...and Jackie Robinson
This is about television sets, in 1950--and one of baseball's greatest players, Jackie Robinson, of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
I remember, during childhood (the 1960s), that it was not uncommon to read or hear that baseball players (in my case, players for the Red Sox) had "regular" jobs during the off-season. The game, years ago, was very different, in economic terms.
I have a souvenir program, from the first game of the 1967 World Series--played at Fenway Park, between the Red Sox and the Cardinals. (It is the sole World Series game I've attended.) Part of the souvenir program was devoted to the players' biographies--which included this detail about Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski: that, during this period, he worked as an "off-season printing salesman."
Recently, in an e-mail newsletter, The New Yorker presented a group of stories from its archives. One of the pieces--a brief article from January of 1950--concerned Jackie Robinson. In 1947, of course, Robinson had made history--by breaking the Major League's barrier against African-American players, when he was hired by Dodgers executive Branch Rickey to play for the team. In November of 1949, less than two months before the New Yorker article appeared, Robinson had been named the National League's Most Valuable Player, for the 1949 season.
The article in The New Yorker was about the off-season, part-time job Robinson had at the time: he sold televisions, in a Queens appliance store.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1950/01/07/success-john-graham-rex-lardner
Television, at this time, was still in its relative infancy--but television sets were selling quickly. At the start of 1947, a few months before Robinson's debut as a Major League player, there were just 16,000 television sets in the country. A year later, there were 190,000. By the start of 1949, there were approximately one million sets in use--and by the beginning of 1950, at the time of the New Yorker article, there were some four million (in 9% of American homes). Sales, during 1950, were brisk. By January of 1951, there would be more than ten million sets in use (in nearly 24% of American homes).
Lastly, here is a piece about the subject of ballplayers and off-season jobs, from the website of The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It is by Lenny DiFranza, the Hall of Fame's assistant curator of new media.
https://baseballhall.org/discover/when-the-offseason-meant-job-season
Peter Falk biography
Listened, last night, to my friend Morgan White, Jr., on the overnight show on Boston's WBZ Radio. Morgan has his own show every Saturday night on WBZ (The Morgan Show, 10 to midnight, Eastern time), and he hosts the station's weekend overnight program (Fridays and Saturdays) every third week.
Last night, he conducted an enjoyable and informative interview with the authors of a book, published earlier this year, about the actor Peter Falk. I hope to read the book--Beyond Columbo: The Life and Times of Peter Falk--sometime soon.
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Columbo-Life-Times-Peter/dp/1521881499/
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Tony Charmoli (1921-2020)
(Tony Charmoli, at Your Hit Parade rehearsal. Photo via Paul Manchester, from the Tony Charmoli archive)
I've written previously, in this space, about the well-known, critically-admired, and Emmy-honored television choreographer and director Tony Charmoli.
Paul Manchester, who edited and designed Mr. Charmoli's 2016 memoir, Stars in My Eyes, and who was friends with Mr. Charmoli for many years, announced earlier this week that Mr. Charmoli died on August 7th, at age 99.
On his Facebook page, Mr. Manchester shared the above photograph of Mr. Charmoli, from the period, in the early-to-mid-1950s, during which he staged and choreographed the NBC-TV program Your Hit Parade. (The photograph also appears in Stars in My Eyes.)
Here are two of the posts I'd previously written about Mr. Charmoli:
https://andrewleefielding.blogspot.com/2019/12/tony-charmoli-early-television-and.html
https://andrewleefielding.blogspot.com/2014/08/television-advertisement-1949.html
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b.b. king, b.b. king's, davy jones, deana martin, ed sullivan, gene cornish, micky dolenz, mike nesmith, peter tork, the beatles, the monkees, tommy james
Tribute to Davy Jones
There was a stirring tribute to singer Davy Jones at B.B.Kings that truly moved the crowd to laughter, tears, and of course to their cell phones/cameras to perhaps save the moment. Jones is best known as a singer with “The Monkees,” and two “Monkees” performed near the end, first Peter Tork and then Micky Dolenz (no e in Davy or Micky but with Peter and Mike Nesmith, the latter who broke from the group, never to return, but had truly kind words about Davy).
Two of Davy’s four daughters, Annabel and Talia, were on stage at various moments and performed admirably. Each waited after the performance which ended around midnight and was over three hours in duration to sign and pose for pictures. Both Annabel and Talia are adorable women, who spoke passionately about their father. They really went “overtime” to comfort fans and told them how much that affection for their father was appreciated.
Davy Jones was in Oliver on Broadway, playing “The Artful Dodger” and coincidentally appeared with members of the cast on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 when the country stopped and watched The Beatles for the first time. Two years later, The Monkees burst on the scene, a fictional band, a garage band if you will, composed of four guys who wanted to be The Beatles. While no one has matched The Beatles, The Monkees had extraordinary success and the night was a fitting tribute to a great talent and person in Davy Jones.
The crowd which was treated to a rendition of “Everybody Loves Somebody” by Deana Martin and tributes to Davy from Tommy James and Gene Cornish really had a great time. Deana, one of Dean Martin’s seven children talked of how she was Dean’s daughter but also Davy Jones’ girlfriend. Both Dean and Davy liked horses and really got along well. Deana joined Annabel, Talia, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and the wonderful band that played with Davy for so long on stage for the big finale. The song was “Daydream Believer” and the song provided a rousing end to a great evening.
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August 3, 2017 August 3, 2017 alternativelypop
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Jen Gloeckner
The music industry has always been a rather corporate machine, where those who lucky view rise to the top. In recent years, it has advanced, becoming even more calculated, with the formula tweaking and altering as time passes and a new hit is made. However, there is still room for artists that just make music for the love of it, success or not. Artists like Jen Gloeckner.
Hailing from the shores of Dubuque, Iowa, Gloeckner has steadily crafted a respectable and inspired back catalogue. Her music is immersive, seductive and haunting, incredibly personal yet unhinged. Recorded and produced by the artist herself in her bedroom, her latest offering “VINE” comes seven years after her last album “Mouth of Mars”, yet she doesn’t miss a beat producing something that she hopes allows her listeners to “find their own meaning in the record”.
However, music wasn’t always the plan, or even an idea. Gloeckner began her venture into the industry by accident. She credits her beginnings to “a digital work station [she] had at the time” which she began messing around with, before eventually “the songs came together, so I sent it off to a record label”. Miraculously, despite her worry that they would “want to re-record everything” they didn’t and released it as she had sent it. That messing around has culminated in a career spanning over a decade with her debut being released way back in 2004, followed by “Mouth of Mars” in 2010 and finally, 2017’s “VINE”. The gap between releases, which Jen credits to an unfortunate back injury, has lit a fire beneath her, saying the time lost to the injury are “still needs to be made up for”.
However, while she may have lost time, she has lost any of her brilliance. “VINE” has received rave reviews, being called “weird and wonderful” by The Irish Times and “A poetic work” by Rolling Stone, with latter making comparisons to Björk, an artist who Gloeckner has “always had a lot of respect for”. The album, a sweeping and cinematic record, isn’t calculated according Gloeckner. The album’s wonder and off-beat nature wasn’t intentional as she doesn’t “consciously know how a record is going to sound, or have a specific direction in mind”. Instead, her music’s wonder and off-beat nature stem from ideas which she has the bravery to “let them develop and give them the time they need to go where they need to go”.
Gloeckner isn’t an artist who can be defined. She isn’t trying to be something, she just is. She doesn’t actively distance herself from the corporate machine that is a lot of the industry she inhabits, nor does she actively pursue it. As for the future, she says “a music career in the traditional sense is kind of out of the picture, which is probably a good thing, because that creates many more opportunities”.
Jen’s album “VINE” is available on iTunes and Spotify
Follow Jen on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jengloecknermusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jen_gloeckner
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/jengloeckner
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jengloeckner
Bandcamp: www.jengloeckner.bandcamp.com
Official Website: www.jengloeckner.com
jen gloeckner
Previous Five Female-led Tracks That Deserved To Be Hits
Next ALBUM REVIEW: Rainbow – Kesha
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Manus the flip side
Manus Island is be best known for its immigration detention centre, but surfer photographer Joel Coleman reveals the unbridled beauty of the province in which it lies.
There’s an old copy of the Papua New Guinea Lonely Planet guide sitting next to me: outdated, dog-eared and tattered. The opening line of the introduction reads: “PNG is the last frontier for travellers”.
In 1998, I was living on Lord Howe Island, in New South Wales, working as a dive instructor. The captain of the dive boat told me about time he had spent in PNG with the legendary Jean Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques).
The captain spoke of some of the most incredible diving in the world, amazing tropical locations and friendly people. His descriptions of Manus Province sounded like he had found paradise. I promised myself that one day I would get there.
It took 16 years, but it was worth the wait. Surfing is what took me to Manus: no surprise, it takes me pretty much everywhere.
Perspective is defined as: “A particular attitude towards, or way of regarding, something; a point of view.”
Most people’s perspective of Manus Island is what they gather from the media. Very few tourists go there, as very little infrastructure exists to entice them. But surfers have a different perspective on the world. If there is a wave worth surfing, it’s a place worth visiting. From the frozen Arctic waters to the doldrums of the tropics, surfers are out there, looking for waves.
Many who surf want to have a taste of the pioneering days. They want to come around a headland, expecting nothing and finding a new wave; to have it to themselves, to soak it up, to name the break, to own the story.
While most people will tell you that’s what they want to do, they really don’t. It’s kind of like a fantasy that, if lived out, may just cause more problems than it’s worth. And then there are the real explorers, those who will push into a new area, take a punt, go around the next headland just to see what’s there, and if the elements align, they will strike what they are looking for.
The captain and crew of the PNG Explorer are those people.
They have spent years going where other
people won’t; running a charter business where others say it is too difficult.
While this is not the first time they have taken the Explorer to Manus, it still has the feel of an exploratory trip.
The swell, winds and tides can throw a lot of curve balls at you, so you never know when a reef may go from lying dormant to rising into a propert, “stand-up-barrel”, kind of wave.
For the first part of this trip, however, we do not get a
lot of swell. What we do get is the sheer natural beauty
of the islands. It’s easy to forget about the surf when you are floating in gin-clear, 30oC+, water. The islands are so idyllically beautiful and the water so amazingly clear that they redefine my perspective on what a tropical paradise really is.
What we lack in swell during the first half of the trip is more than made up in the second half. I’ll let the photographs do the talking for just how good the surf in PNG can be. Barrels like this really can’t be described in words.
Unless you are completely detached from the news, you will have heard of the asylum-seeker processing centre established on Manus Island that the Australian government.
Before leaving on this trip I mentioned to a few people that I was heading to Manus. I might have even posted something on Facebook or Twitter. Quite quickly, I was hit with several emails from people wanting information on what I was going to do there, questioning whether it was safe and whether I would try to visit the processing centre.
As it turns out, I do end up going to the facility. We anchor for a few nights just off the naval base that has been extended to accommodate the facility, and are invited into the “wet mess” (workers’ bar) for drinks.
I am sure there are journalists and human rights activists who have been doing their utmost to gain access to the facility without success. All we have done is show up with a bunch of surfers, say hello and we are invited in. I am, however, requested not to take any photographs of the facility, so I comply.
What strikes me more than anything is the large amount
of construction work. Talking to some of the people who work there is interesting. The Australians I chat to are not allowed off the base without special permission. They are being paid “danger money” on top of their salaries, and living a life separated from the town of Lorengau, where the facility is located. This may not be the case for everyone who works there, but it was for the people I met.
Given that, earlier in the day, we had absolutely no problems walking through the town, going to the markets and generally hanging out in Lorengau, the danger money received by the workers seems a little over the top. Yet, I am not an expert on such things, merely a photographer that likes to surf.
Essentially the people who I speak to have a narrow perspective on what Manus is really like. They’re shut out from the rest of the islands, the perfect beaches, the crystal-clear water, the surf, the diving and the giggling children of the villages.
I can only hope that there are more people in the world like Captain Andrew Rigby of the Explorer, willing to show how amazing this place really is; people willing to take others there, to let them surf the waves, dive the reefs, get the fine white sand between their toes and the tropical sun on their shoulders, to drink straight from the freshly cut coconuts and dive into the crystal blue water and maybe, just maybe, people’s perspective will start to change.
Don’t limit your perspective, that’s all I’m saying.
Paradise Magazine, May/June 2015
history, surfing
← Meet the Huli Wigmen
Into the wild →
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Major Andre Andrews
Preceded by Ebenezer Johnson
Succeeded by Ebenezer Johnson
Name Major Andrews
Children eight children
Spouse(s) Sarah Mehitabel Hosmer
Died August 18, 1834, Buffalo, New York, United States
Major Andre Andrews (1792–1834) was the second mayor of Buffalo, New York, serving 1833–1834. He was born at Cornwall, Connecticut on July 8, 1792, and named after Major John André. He studied law and became a lawyer, practicing in Middletown, Connecticut before moving to Buffalo about 1820. While at Middleton, he married Sarah Mehitabel Hosmer, granddaughter of General Samuel Holden Parsons. He amassed a 79-acre (320,000 m2) property on which he built his home. His residence was located on the site now occupied by the Electric Tower.
In 1826 he was elected to his first political position as a Trustee of the Village of Buffalo. He held this position again in 1827. In 1829 he campaigned unsuccessfully, for a seat on the New York State Assembly. In 1830, he became a founding member of the first Bank of Buffalo, along with Benjamin Rathbun, Hiram Pratt, and William Ketchum, the latter two future mayors of Buffalo. During Mayor Johnson's first term, Andrews served on the Streets, Alleys, Canals and Ferries committee and the Police committee.
In 1833, the Common Council voted Major Andre Andrews Buffalo's second mayor. In 1834, cholera returned to Buffalo and, on August 18, 1834, claimed Mayor Andrews. Andrews is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Major Andre Andrews Wikipedia
Burglar (film)
Aurélien Mazel
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Malcolm Sheppard
Position: Defensive tackle
Roster status: League suspension
40 yard dash time 5.11 seconds
Place of birth: Augusta, Georgia
Name Malcolm Sheppard
Role American football player
Education Bainbridge High School
Undrafted: 2010
Date of birth: (1988-02-13) February 13, 1988 (age 27)
Parents Ricky Sheppard, Evelyn Sheppard
Siblings Ricky Sheppard Jr., Zenard Sheppard
Malcolm sheppard houston texan
Malcolm Sheppard (born February 13, 1988) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He played college football at Arkansas.
Sheppard also played for the Tennessee Titans.
Sheppard attended Bainbridge High School in Bainbridge, Georgia.
Sheppard started the first four games at defensive tackle in 2007 for the Arkansas Razorbacks, but started for the last eight games of the season at his normal position of defensive end. He made 42 tackles, 0.5 sacks, and 10.5 tackles-for-loss in 2007. He moved from defensive end to defensive tackle in the 2008 offseason. Sheppard was named Razorbacks defensive player of the year in 2008 after he made 7.5 sacks, the most by a defensive lineman in the Southeastern Conference. He earned second-team preseason All-SEC honors following the 2008 season. In 2009, head coach Bobby Petrino named Sheppard a team captain.
Sheppard was signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent following the 2010 NFL Draft on May 7, 2010. He was waived during final cuts on September 3, but was re-signed to the team's practice squad on September 5. He was promoted to the active roster on October 25 to play in the week 8 game against the Indianapolis Colts, but was inactive for the following four weeks before he was waived on November 30. He was re-signed to the team's practice squad on December 7.
Sheppard was signed off the Texans' practice squad by the Tennessee Titans on December 14, 2010.
Sheppard signed with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League on May 28, 2013.
Sheppard nearly lost his left eye when he was seven years old after his brother, Zenard, accidentally shot him with a wooden arrow. He now sees out of his right eye only due to the blurriness of the left.
Malcolm Sheppard Wikipedia
Jorman Aguilar
Jamie Masson
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18th Century gold posy ring
Collectors Items > Posy Rings
18th century solid gold posy ring of a very high grade of gold and a pale lemon colour. Circa 1750. The exterior is a plain band with a slightly curved shape. The inside of the ring is struck firmly with the makers mark - J W with mullet between, although the first letter is now somewhat worn. Although the inscription is now very worn in parts, it would seem that it reads:- In unity with thee my comfort be.
The posy ring was the most common type of love ring in use since the Middle Ages. The name posy was derived from the amatory inscription which this type of ring bears and which is usually in rhyme or poesy. These rings were widely used in the Middle Ages (but are now hard to find). Posy rings were usually given by both men and women as an expression of regard, friendship, attachment, or even love. The posy ring reached its peak of popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. The posies on medieval rings were usually inscribed on the outside of the hoop (which was flat). In later times, they were usually inscribed inside and the hoop was more rounded. By the 17th and 18th centuries, most posy rings were used as wedding rings. Although some of the inscriptions were originated by the donor, there were also a number of standard inscriptions which could be bought already engraved on the rings.
Maker :- J W with mullet between
Good condition considering its age. The makers mark is well struck except for the first letter. The inscription inside the ring was lightly engraved in very delicate 18th Century script from the very start and is now very difficult to read in parts.
Enquire about 18th Century gold posy ring
VICTORIAN Sterling Silver Candle Douter by Francis Boone Thomas. London 1877.
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Robert Alexander's "I Ain't Yo' Uncle: The New Jack Revisionist Uncle Tom's Cabin" 6/12-28 (Nashville)
I want to thank you for all you've done to support Amun Ra Theatre in our Step Into The Future 2009 Season. It's been a great ride and it continues with our 3rd show of the season: Robert Alexander's "I Ain't Yo' Uncle: The New Jack Revisionist Uncle Tom's Cabin."
It's the kind of piece you'll see in the big cities (New York, Chicago, L.A., etc.), in the black box environment, and we're bringing that flavor to the Music City.
We're only doing 8 shows, so don't miss it. Pass it along to your friends who are patrons of the arts, and I look forward to seeing your face in the place.
Soon your odd artistic friend,
Jeff Obafemi Carr
The Media Scientist
To visit the Amun Ra Theatre website, please click the post's title.
Labels: Amun Ra Theatre
Ella Turenne's GRAY debuts 5/30 (Harlem)
I hope you will join me for my debut as a playwright. In addition, I am performing in the piece. This story is close to my heart (it's semiautobiographical) and deals with family, love and forgiveness. I hope you will come out and support! All proceeds are going towards the completion of our webisode pilot which we will be premiering this Fall.
*Please spread the word!*
A note - both Sunday's will feature a talkback with the playwrights. I encourage you to come and give your feedback!
"Gray" is featured as part of the "Come Celebrate The Glory of Sugar Hill" Theatre Festival. The Theatre Festival is sponsored by Heritage Health and Housing, Inc.
Life and death collide in this tale of redemption and forgiveness. What does it take to forgive someone? Is it easier to forgive someone you don’t really know that well? Someone you think you hate? Or someone who is a member of your own family? This dramatic piece explores the relationship of a racially diverse family: a granddaughter and grandfather’s quest for forgiveness, redemption and the ability to make peace with the past and present. Irene, a young Haitian American woman, hardened by the death of her mother and absence of her father and maternal grandmother, struggles to define her relationship with her grandfather Samuel. A Haitian white man who allowed himself to fall victim to his cultural history, Samuel has long since reconciled his past and tries incessantly to make amends with his granddaughter. An unforeseen tragedy forces Irene to rethink the importance of this man in her life.
"Gray"
Written by Ella Turenne
Directed by Jessica Hartley
Lucinda Carr
Temple M555
West 141st Street
Take the 1 train to 137th Street
May 30 - 1 pm
June 6 - 6 pm
Tix: $18 through http://www.smarttix.com/
art or die
http://www.blackwomyn.com/
http://www.sistapac.com/
http://www.andremauricepress.com/
Cassandra Medley's DAUGHTER 6/5-27 (NYC)
6/5: 7:00pm
6/6: 2:00pm, 7:00pm
6/12: 7:00pm
6/20: 2:00pm, 7:00pm
General admission tickets: $18.00
Carlease Burke's FIFTY! World Premiere 6/5 (LA)
FIFTY! It Doesn’t Look This Good on Everybody
Created and Celebrated by Carlease Burke
Directed by David Jahn
The Actors Group
North Hollywood , CA 91602
Four consecutive weekends in June
Opening: Friday, June 5, 2009
Closing: Sunday, June 28, 2009
Performances: Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM
(Q & A following Sunday performances)
TICKETS: $15. General Admission
$12. Students and Seniors
For reservations call 800-838-3006 or
To visit Ms. Burke's website, please click the post's title.
Labels: Carlease Burke
Levy Lee Simon's THE STUTTERING PREACHER and DAD 6/12-7/26 (LA)
NJOY PRODUCTIONS and THE LIONS' DEN
Proudly Presents the West Coast Premiere of Two One-Act Plays
by Levy Lee Simon
THE STUTTERING PREACHER and
Directed by Niva Dorel
Co-Producer: Vanoy Burnough
The Stuttering Preacher and Dad (2 one-act plays)
(running time 2 hours / each one-act 1 hour each)
June 12, 2009 through July 26, 2009
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
The Complex Theatre
Tickets: http://www.plays411.net
RSVP: 818-731-7885 or njoyproduction.com
Cast: Richard Brooks and Eddie Goines in DAD
Javon Johnson and Fylicia Renee’ King in
THE STUTTERING PREACHER
Synopsis for DAD: Stuck on a deserted highway on a cold winter night, a father and son attempt to come to terms with their strained relationship. The drama unfolds as the two men discuss life including marriage, infidelity, manhood, drugs, and education. Another day in the life of Black men in America searching for hope and love.
Synopsis for THE STUTTERING PREACHER: The story revolves around Clarence Jackson, III, Pastor for the New Zion Baptist Church and Efay. As the pursuit for sex, love and happiness takes us on a ride with a stuttering preacher and a stubborn woman. Is it a game of win or lose, or will they both end up with a box of chocolates?
NIVA DORELL (Director) - is a writer, director and producer, including: two award-winning short films Kings and Milk and Honey (for Showtime), What About Your Friends, a television movie starring Keisha Knight Pulliam and Lou Gossett, Jr., Skid Row, a feature documentary, and two music videos. A USC film graduate, she has shadowed on David Mamet's TV show The Unit and was a finalist for the ABC/Disney Television Writing Program. As a theater director, Niva has worked with Harry Lennix, Ella Joyce, Loretta Devine, Cece Antoinette and Juanita Jennings. Niva is currently producing her first feature (w/David Mamet), preparing to direct a documentary, writing a female-driven action script and producing three music videos.
LEVY LEE SIMON (Playwright) Award winning playwright, actor, screenwriter and teacher. Levy Lee Simon is the author of over twenty plays which have received productions in the US and Caribbean. He is an Audelco Award Winner, Lorraine Hansberry Award Winner, Eugene O’Neill Fellow, Two Time NAACP Best Playwright Nominee and an Ovation Nominee.
MARJORIE KILPATRICK (Producer) is CEO & President of NJoy Productions. The Stuttering Preacher & Dad marks Ms. Kilpatrick’s debut as an Executive Producer. Her professional relationship with Levy Lee Simon, award winning playwright, has resulted in much success. Kilpatrick Co-Produced The Bow Wow Club (2006 NAACP Theater Award Winner). She starred alongside John Marshall Jones (Smart Guy) in the NYC production of The Guest of Central Park West (2007 Audelco Award Winner). Kilpatrick was inspired creatively by her late father, Lincoln Kilpatrick, a great actor and her mentor Edmund Cambridge of The Lincoln-Cambridge Theater Arts School in Hollywood.
Cast Credits: Richard Brooks (Lie to Me, Law & Order), Eddie Goines (Marco Polo, My Name is Earl), Fylicia Renee’ King (Momma Was A Bad Mutha…Shut Yo Mouth, Stellina Blue, Sideline Confessions), Javon Johnson (Barbershop 2, Prison Break, Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls, House of Payne).
Media/Press Contact: Publicity4you. com – Lynne Conner - 818.749.9695
Publicty4you%40yahoo.com
Labels: Levy Lee Simon
Before They Die! Benefit Screening 5/31 (LA)
Please join Reggie Turner, Mportant Films; Clarence Otis, CEO Darden Restaurants, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters as we honor Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. and the living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
May 31, 2009 is the 88th Anniversary of America's least known and worst act of domestic terrorism. Come see the LA Premier of our Feature Documentary Film Before They Die! which chronicles the survivors journey for justice in their own words. Meet 106 yr. old Otis Clark, 94 yr. old Dr. Olivia Hooker, 91 yr. old Wess Young. They will be joined by the 5 survivors living here in Southern California for a post screening reception and Talk Back moderated by Professor Ogletree and Congresswoman Waters. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see, experience, touch and change history. Help Us, Help Them....Before They Die!
Tickets/Donation $20.00 Adults, $12.00 Students W/ ID, Children under 6 Free Available at Box Office, RSVP appreciated below. All tickets and Donations are tax deductible.
For more information on the film, event sponsorship or on making a Donation please visit the Before They Die! website by clicking the post's title or call Reggie Turner at 323 798 8634. The Tulsa Project, Inc is a 501(c) (3) public charity.
Will the Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Get Justice Before They Die?
Los Angeles, California - May 26, 2009 –
At 106 years old, Mr. Otis Clark has been waiting 88 years for justice. He and the other survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot have never been compensated for what they lost during that horrific event. Mr. Clark remembers being shot at while he and a friend were trying to get an ambulance to help wounded people, lying in the dusty streets. When Dr. Olivia Hooker asked her mother if it was hailing, her mother showed her the machine gun the National Guard has set up on the side of the hill, and said that her country was shooting at them. These are but two of the stories that survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot tell. Before the September 11, 2001 tragedy, the Oklahoma City bombing, the internment of Japanese-Americans in camps in the U.S. during World War II, there was the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, the least known and worst act of domestic terrorism in the history of America. In less than 24 hours over 42 square blocks of the black section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street,” were burned to the ground by a white mob that had been deputized by the sheriff. More than 10,000 people were displaced overnight and an estimated 300 killed. The photographs look like a war zone.
In 1999 the State of Oklahoma set up a commission to look at the issue of reparations for the Survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot. Despite the Tulsa Race Riot Commission 2001 recommendations that the Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot should receive reparations for what they lost during the riot, the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma have not offered anything in the way of compensation. They have appropriated $5 million in funds for monuments and a museum but not for direct payments to the survivors. It appears that the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma are waiting for the Survivors to die and along with them any claims for reparations.
Armed with the 2001 findings and recommendations of the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, the Survivors took their case against the City and State to Federal Court. They were represented by a high powered legal team lead by Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree and the late Johnnie Cochran. At each step along the legal process, the courts acknowledged that a great wrong had been done to the victims of the Tulsa Race Riot. But their case was denied, nevertheless, based on a technicality. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. How ironic, that when viewing a clip of the new documentary, “Before They Die!” that follows the Survivors case through the courts, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer would say that he was "moved to tears by the event, the film and the stories of the Survivors".
The victims of ‘9/11’, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Japanese-Americans from the World War II internment camps have all been compensated. The Survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot are still waiting, hoping that they will see justice and compensation before they die.
May 31, 2009 marks the 88th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. To commemorate the anniversary a series of events have been scheduled in Los Angeles May 31.
At 8:00 AM on Sunday May 31, 2009 the survivors, Prof. Ogletree and the films Producer/Director Reggie Turner will attend First AME morning worship. At 11:00 am they will be guests at West Angeles COGC. They will be joined by religious and civic leaders from across America and the other living and able survivors. At 7:30 PM there will be a screening of the documentary Before They Die! The story of the Survivors’ 6 year odyssey through the Federal courts to the Supreme Court to Congress last year in search for legal recourse, remedy and justice will Premiere. Proceeds from the film will go to the Tulsa Project, Inc. a non-profit organization created to provide direct cash payments to the living survivors... Before They Die! Immediately after the film a Town Hall “Talk Back” will be held to discuss the film and how it will be used to inform the public about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, the legacy of the riot and what it holds for the future.
The film is the cornerstone of an effort to generate knowledge of this hidden historical event, and to stimulate Americans to contribute online to provide compensation directly to the victims. The non-profit, Tulsa Project Fund. Inc. has been established specifically for that purpose. Our goal is to accomplish what the legal and legislative branches of our government have failed to do. To right this wrong, to no longer simply look backward: To Step Forward from our history, by embracing our present responsibility to make life better for these victims while we have to opportunity to do so.
Labels: Before They Die
The AAPEX Interview with playwright JAMAL WILLIAMS
One of AAPEX's most prolific and productive members is Jamal Williams. Orginally from the San Francisco Bay area, Jamal did a stint in New York but has recently relocated to Atlanta. Today he is headed back to NYC for a produciton of his play EULOGY FOR THE BLACK MAN. I asked him to share his story and here it is.
Except for being "hijacked" into performing in a play at the local recreation center in the Fillmore District of San Francisco when I was 12 years old and a role that called for counting from one to ten in Spanish, I didn't have any exposure to live theater. As a matter of fact, I was booted from that role because I have a horrible time with foreign languages including English. I couldn't remember what came after cinco. I was a loner who lost himself in reading novels, especially Robert Lewis Stevenson's Call of the Wild & White Fang and Edgar Rice Burrows' Tarzan adventures. In fact as I lost myself in their tales, I thought that one day I would write adventure stories about wild wolf/dogs and traveling through jungles on foot.
My real evolution as an artist started when I was serving in a navy ship off the coast of Vietnam. The only reading material that I could find was Readers Guide and as I read their condensed stories and found that these writers were paid real money for this crap, I thought that when I got the chance I too would make a few extra dollars submitting them stories with more flair and imagination than those they'd already published. In fact, when I got back stateside, I submitted a story or two and got no response whatsoever. Either they weren't looking for the stuff I was writing or I didn't have the skills to know what I was writing. For a long time, in my early twenties, I forgot about writing and just ran the streets living the life of an oversexed and happy young man.
Then the Beginning-of-the End happened. My next door neighbor and street-running partner, who was also stationed on my Navy Reserve Ship, talked me into checking out a new black writers group down the street that had only two members, himself and the Founder. After one visit where someone read parts of a new short story, the ghost-of-I-can-do-that whopped me upside the head and I was hooked. The group grew very fast with everyone attempting to write short stories, but Evolution transformed many of them to writing poetry. I could never master poetry, so I became the only member writing it. Then the Evolution turned to writing plays. Again I resisted and stayed the lone short story writer.
Unlike today where it's difficult to get the money to rent a space and produce a play, in those San Francisco days the hippies, the Black Panthers, weren't the only renaissance going on. With no formal training Black folks were doing all kinds of Art and most of it, with the help of the Arts Commission, was being performed live. Actors, Ted Lange (The Love Boat) , Shabaka Henly (Stella Got Her Groove On). Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) was just beginning his acting career getting his "chops" in a community group called Black Light Explosion Company. Many well known movie and television actors were caught up in this Arts Explosion. And the beauty of it all was that most of the groups supported and worked with one another. My group, The San Francisco Black Writers Workshop, would write plays and Black Light would provide the Actors, and another group that taught Directors, would provide the Directors. And the City would provide the venues, at no cost, for these events to happen. Yes, those were some heady times. One of our playwrights would finish the first draft of a play and two weeks later it was being performed. And because everyone was a poet or a playwright except me, their art came to life in living color and my short stories went into my dresser drawer. That is until...I was asked to write a 1st play for a college professor's convention coming to San Francisco. Just on a whim and because I was encouraged by the other writers to join the "fraternity" of the produced, I wrote a short play that was in titled: "Where's What?" Everybody asked me what the fuck did Where's What mean?!!! It was a satirical answer to the Panthers so-called food program. The first major revision was to retitle the play "Where's the Revolution".
To me it was to be a one-time shot. I was an artiste, not no simple playwright. Anybody could write a simple play. I just didn't know any better in those days. :) Anyway, I was so pumped up on seeing real people watching real people bring my real words to life, that for the next ten years or so I wrote plays full-time. The irony is that so many years (decades) have passed since then and I think I am the only playwright out of that group that is still writing plays. Out of all the many cities I have lived in this many years (Los Angels, New York, Atlanta) and all the many groups I have belonged to, I am a fervent and true believer in the workshop process. I can't believed that there are many true geniuses that sit alone in their rooms and write and then have their work go straight to producer to the stage without any feedback from other writers. Never be your own unflinching admirer. You might think that you don't want others rewriting your shit for you or giving you negative feedback so that you become discouraged. You want to bounce your work off others because most of us aren't able to smell our own shit. The theater in its true self is art in a collaborative world. The first to believe in your art are those that are part of the collaborative circle that makes it come to life. They are the real ones that have a true stake in it and you. Of course the people who pay to sit in those theater seats to experience what comes from your inner soul, want to experience your brilliance. But brilliance is a subjective thing sometimes. What smells like roses and to you is sweet as honey, might stink and taste like shit. Despite how brilliant you think you are, your art will be judge by many different objective observers. To me it's in the workshop environment where those first objective observers come in first contact with your art. And it will definitely be a mixed bag. You'll get those that have same artistic dreams as you and hate your work for it and will try their best to belittle your work just because that's who they are. You'll have cheerleaders telling you that your shit is brilliant and wonder when it'll be produced on a live stage knowing that all the time the audience will want their money back. You'll have those that care more about the quality of the art than they do personally about you as a human. And it's this hodgepodge of fellow thespians that makes workshops so very much indispensable to a playwright that wants to perfect his craft and not his damn ego. You will get all kinds of criticisms in that cramped environment. And if you want to learn to be able to survive and grow a strong "hide" as well as a strong belief in yourself and be able to let BS go through one ear and out the other and also allow meaningful criticism to make you pause and evaluate it to make a revisit to your "brilliant" play to see something you didn't see before-- then a workshop is an invaluable tool to make you a better artist. Wherever I go in my Gypsy-like life, I search out writers workshops. When I was in N.Y. I belonged to many and each served a purpose in the growth of my career as a writer.
As a new transplant in Atlanta, I have found myself faced with a dilemma, there are not a lot of playwrights workshops and exactly NONE that exclusively nurtures black writers. I can't with all honesty say that Atlanta is not a theater town because there is theater going on here. Just not a lot of my type of theater. All theater isn't inclusive. There is something to the commonality of the human species as well as uniqueness of different cultures. I could be wrong, but there are no black theater groups that have there own theaters in Atlanta. Most of the black theater I'm aware of here constantly rehash Black Classics or they are relatively new and inexperienced theater groups that specialize in church and gospel themed plays. I have to give my props to those latter groups because at least they are experimenting with actually producing NEW plays in a nurturing collaborative way. As for The Classics they are our "pride" of the past excellence of our theater art, but how much time and money is being diverted from advancing our art by producing new and exciting plays and emerging playwrights? If Classics are the majority of the "black plays" being produced in any year and any city, doesn't that prevent the "future" black classics ever from becoming future Classics because nobody is producing them too? Does that mean that black theatre as an art form becomes stagnant, almost a decadent art form because we're not actively seeking out and nurturing new blood and exciting new theater pieces by bringing them to life? The life blood of any culture is new innovative genius.
Despite my frustration as a successful playwright, I think of Atlanta as a new frontier with enormous possibilities. I believe that there are many secret playwrights and theater actors, directors, stage designers, lighting, and lovers of black theater that are looking for someplace; some collaborative meeting place of the black Art community from which to hone our distinctive form of theater and make Atlanta the next artistic center in America. I could just be a dreamer, but I've seen it happen before and had been an active part of it.
Labels: Jamal Williams
Crossroads Theatre Company Celebrates 30 Years! 6/7 (New Brunswick)
Click post's title to visit Crossroads Theatre Company website.
JUNE 25: A.C.T4life Presents a Double-Headline Evening (Atlanta)
Pull out your best headshot and update that resume because A.C.T.4life is bringing it to you straight, no chaser!
Hollywood South Music & A Movie Filmmakers' Showcase returns Thursday, June 25 to ENGINE 11 Firehouse Tavern with an Atlanta All-Star evening.
First up: multi-hyphenate Actor-Writer- Producer- Director, Charles Van Eman. Van Eman will discuss his multi-tiered career path, why he has made his home in Atlanta and what it took to get "High Rise The Series" off the ground. Go to www.highrisetheseries.com to preview the show before June 25 so you can have your questions ready for the Q & A.
You asked for it and now we got him: head writer, Steve Coulter, of Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" and "Meet the Browns." Tyler Perry's award-winning HOP is one of the most successful shows in cable history. Come hear actor/writer Coulter speak on his work behind the scenes at TP Studios, what being a head writer/executive story editor entails and what has been his road to success in the Atlanta film and television market.
And still there's more, but you'll have to come down to find out what else we have in store!
Mark your calendar: Atlanta's premiere entertainment networking event returns Thursday, June 25, 2009 to ENGINE 11 Firehouse Tavern, 30 North Avenue, Midtown Atlanta at 7:00 p.m. A $10 entry fee guarantees you access to Hollywood South's best and brightest in the film and television market (and includes a $5.00 drink ticket.) Remember: come to network, network to create ideas, create ideas to produce and produce to take to network!
Discover WritersCorps! (DC)
Hear stories of how the written word transformed the lives of people in shelters, prisons, hospitals, inner city schools, etc.
Come to my upcoming book discussion and giveaway at 6:30 p.m. on June 16, 2009 of Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry & Prose (to the first 20 people to show up). It's at the old Carnegie Library. Not only free books - but free food, if you get there in time. I also have books for youth - the Writerscorps teen anthology Tell the World, will be given away free to young folks who attend. Several DC writers will be presenting: Kenny Carroll, Ryan Grim, Monica Hand, Livia Kent, Uchechi Kalu, Melisssa Tuckey, Greg Bargeman and of course, me. See details at the following sites: The San Francisco Arts Commission - Writerscorps: http://www.sfartscommission.org/WC/days-i-moved- dc- june-16/. Here's the listing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/editevent.php? success=1&picture&eid657871695&new&m=1#/e vent.php?eid657871695. Here's the listing on Goodreads:. ht tp://www.goodreads.com/event/show/40228-days-i- moved-through-ordinary-sounds-dc-book-launch . And here's a review of the book from the San Francisco Weekly that features me! http://sfweekly.com/events/days-i-moved-through- ordinary-sounds-1418454/
The State of Theatre in America: Philly
Recently, I asked for feedback regarding theatre in some American cities. Here's one encouraging response from Philadelphia, PA:
The theater scene in Philly is terrific. We have more LORT companies than any city in the country (Chicago, LA, NY excluded -- all have other kinds of contracts) and a lot of SPT's. There are about 90 companies in our Theater Alliance, and you should check out their web site for more info. Philly has a large and vibrant acting community -- virtually all equity -- and actors here buy houses, have families, live middle class lives, and have for a dozen years. Unlike many cities that have large regional theaters, Philadelphia alone among big cities has regional theaters that cast locally. There is also a strong technical community, an established playwriting community and an up-and-coming playwriting community, and decent opportunities for entering artists. There is a terrific fringe festival every fall that is competitive with any American Fringe, and I would argue better than most. (I have been to several of them.) The Fringe Festival has spawned many young companies and is also the yearly venue for both established and new experimental companies -- two of which are Obie Winners: Pig Iron Theater Company and New Paradise Laboratories. One of the nation's premiere black companies is here, Freedom Theater Company, and while they have struggled in recent years they are still producing new and classic work. InterAct Theater Company is one of the premiere new play theater companies in the nation and was among founding theaters of the National New Play Network. The Wilma Theater is a 25 year old company that does new work and European work, often edgy and exciting. The Arden has done amazing work over the years as well, and People Light, about 25 miles west of the city as well -- new plays and classics. I have been the Literary Manager and Dramaturg in house at InterAct Theater Company (1998-2005) and freelance since then. I have worked as a dramaturg at PlayPenn (2005-2009), at Seven Devils in Idaho (it is possible to have a national career from Philly) and at the Lark this past fall. A new company I have gotten involved with this spring is taking a show to Edinburgh this summer and has commissioned a new musical from two amazing young artists. As a playwright, I have had my work produced in world premieres here by InterAct and Theater Catalyst, and I have been commissioned to work from here on pieces for other companies and institutions. I hope I am communicating my basic exuberance for the scene here to you. There are glitches and bad seasons, but over all over the past 15 years, way more positive than negative.
Larry Loebell
Playwright and Dramaturg
Career Voice-over and Demo Development Intensive Master Class with Jean Barrett (Atlanta)
This professional career development intensive is for entertainment professionals who are looking to develop their skills and/or transition from the stage or camera to being a working, professional voice-over artist. The Career Voice-over and Demo Development Intensive Master Class will be directed by Jean Barrett, who has worked as a professional voice talent since the mid-nineties on acclaimed national and international advertising campaigns for Ford Motors, Coca-Cola, Mountain Valley Spring Water and CNN, just to name a few. Barrett started her career as a stage actress and singer after majoring in theater at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She is known for being able to bring a script to life with warmth, believability and subtlety in one or two takes.
The Career Voice-over and Demo Development Intensive is a four (4) sessions long master class that will be held in-studio to prepare students for the world of voice-over recording. Students will be apprised of the various forms of voice-over (i.e., announcer, narrator, soft-sell, conversational, etc.), instructed on auditioning techniques, professional recording etiquette, setting up a home studio and the technical aspects of audio equipment and how to build a career as a professional voice-over artist. Each student will also record professional- quality reads, solo and with a partner, that can be used for the start of a demo reel or in addition to a current reel. This master class will be limited to 12 students in order to provide the tutelage needed to cover the above-mentioned areas. If you are ready to acquire the skills to become a go-to, working, voice-over talent then this is the class for you!
WHEN: 6:30-9:30 p.m. (Wednesdays, July 15, 22, 29 and August 5)
WHERE: Captive Sound Studios, 1442 Tullie Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30329
FEE: $400.00 ($200 down to reserve your seat)
For more information on how to enroll in the class, please contact info@act4lifeatl.com or call (404) 627-6690
CANCELLATION POLICY: Please be aware that A.C.T.4life offers full refunds for classes (minus a $25 administrative fee) up to one (1) week (12:00 pm) prior to first day of the class session. Cancellation anytime during the week prior to start of class will credit full amount to another session or class. *All returned checks will incur a $39.00 return check fee.
Please click post's title to visit Ms. Barrett's website.
Source: Roman James, A.C.T. 4life
SHOULD WE HOLD THE PLAYWRIGHT RESPONSIBLE FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY
Dear Jaz,
I hold no ill will towards Tarell Alvin McCraney, this is a young upcoming multiple award winning playwright, but I do take exception to when he was confronted about the historical inaccuracies of his work, which embraces that which is closest to my spiritual discourse, he claimed that he received the misinformation from a priest who he refuse to name. It is my opinion, that as African American playwrights in this Eurocentric paradigm, we have an obligation to at least maintain the integrity of characters that are representative of our African Spiritual Traditions. We as a writing community can't afford to take artistic license with our ancestral spiritualities because most of our audiences are unaware of their true essence and dynamics. And this misrepresentation of the Orisa of the Yoruba Pantheon, is exactly what happened to the Vodun as it was presented in the Broadway production of Voodoo Macbeth adapted by Orson Wells during the Depression which led to many misconceptions about Vodun and Zombies. Subsequently a little bit of knowledge becomes a dangerous thing.
Technically the play "The Brothers Size", was well written and brilliantly executed. Yet it left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Three other Yoruba Priests, and I, being the fourth, approached the playwright during the Q&A after the production and expressed our concerns and offered to provide him accurate historical accounts of the deities he chose to represent in his contemporary version. The accolades of the European presenters and audience, apparently caused him to be made deaf to the voices of those who know.
So my question is: "Should we hold the playwright responsible for historical accuracy?"
This is a response from Michael Bradford, The University of Connecticut:
Hey Jaz,
I wanted to respond to the question put forth concerning Historical Accuracy. I am a true believer that it is ultimately the audience who gives the play immortality. The audience, at the end of the day, decides whether the artistic work has any merit, has any weight in their lives, has any importance in the world of ideas, has any capacity to make them "feel."
When is the artist's work ever about replicating reality? Even the photographer seeks to place a certain "artistic" perspective on the subject at hand. In my opinion the artist's work has always been about searching for a particular truth, and as Pirandello tells us in "Six Characters in Search of an Author," "facts are like an empty sack that must be filled up and given shape by truth."
I am sure that we are all well aware that governments, through time immemorial, have drowned the public under an avalanche of facts, all in the attempt to bypass the truth because the facts and the truth are two different animals.
And is not theatre itself a beautiful lie we tell in order to get to a particular truth?
So this brings me to the question that I am sure many will want to castigate me for, and that is who of us was there when the "historical moment" happened so that we can speak to the actual truth of it? Who of us was there when the world was formed and the God or the gods first began to make their presence known in the lives of humankind so that today we can speak to the actual truth of it?
Maybe it is best that historical societies write their own plays that speak to their own truths and religious societies write their own plays so that they can speak to their own truths. Harken back to the days of Liturgical and Morality and the Cycle plays of the Roman Catholic Church, only in this contemporary setting, close your doors so that your truths cannot be corrupted.
But for the secular world of ideas, for the secular world of theatre, where we purposely tell beautiful lies in order to approach a truth that is beyond the history book and the religious text (if that is possible) let the audience say if such a truth has been approached or not.
Without any disrespect to the true believers of all faiths, congratulations to Mr. McCraney for approaching his particular truth. It appears a good many (see below) have agreed with him.
TARELL ALVIN McCRANEY WINS FIRST EVER NEW YORK TIMES OUTSTANDING PLAYWRIGHT AWARD Princeton, NJ—
Tarell Alvin McCraney, a rising star in the theatrical world, has added yet another accolade to his growing list of awards and honors: the first ever New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, a prize honoring an American playwright with a recent professional theater debut in New York City. The award was given for The Brothers Size, which was seen at The Public Theater and is currently being presented at McCarter Theatre as part of McCraney’s groundbreaking trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays.
In a statement, chair of the award selection committee chair Sylviane Gold said: “The committee was impressed by the sheer poetry of the language and the play’s vibrant blend of richly specific contemporary characters with archetypes drawn from West African myth.”
In addition to Gold, the selection committee included Tony Award-winning playwrights Edward Albee, Richard Greenberg, and James Lapine; Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage; and The New York Times cultural news editor Sam Sifton, theater editor Katherine E. Bouton, and Arts & Leisure theater editor Andrea Stevens.
Tarell Alvin McCraney stated of the award: “It is an honor to be the first recipient of The Times Outstanding Playwright Award. This prize makes me smile with my heart, and bends my mind towards the Most High.”
McCraney will receive the award at a ceremony on May 27 at The New York Times Building in Manhattan.
A May 2007 graduate of Yale School of Drama, 29-year-old Tarell Alvin McCraney is a playwright whose exquisite and groundbreaking work has put his career on an extraordinary trajectory. Already, productions of his plays have been mounted in New York, London, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, Dublin, Barcelona, and New Orleans, as well as at McCarter’s IN-Festival of New Works. In addition to The Brother/Sister Plays, his other plays include the Hurricane Katrina-themed The Breach and the drag house drama Wig Out!, which recently completed a highly successful run at New York’s Vineyard Theatre. A Princeton University Hodder Fellow, McCraney has been honored with the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Whiting Writing Award, and London’s prestigious Evening Standard Award, and he was recently named the International Writer in Residence for the Royal 20 Shakespeare Company.
The Brother/Sister Plays premiered at McCarter Theatre Center on April 24, 2009, as the final show of the theater’s 2008-2009 Season. Part 1 of the trilogy, In the Red and Brown Water, is directed by Tina Landau; Part 2, comprised of The Brothers Size and Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet, is directed by Robert O’Hara. Both parts can be seen on the McCarter stage from now until June 21, after which they will travel to The Public Theater for an off-Broadway run.
For tickets to The Brother/Sister Plays, call (609) 258-2787, visit http://www.mccarter.org/, or visit the McCarter Ticket Office at 91 University Place, Princeton.
To Kindle or Not to Kindle...
For a playwright, that is the question. At this point, the cost of the Kindle ($359.00) means there won't be enough to go around even for a small play with few characters-- much less one like mine. Once Upon A Time In Harlem is a big sprawling three-act cast heavy period drama (or "dancical" as Jaz Dorsey, founder of the African American Playwrights Exchange, likes to refer to it since it is NOT a musical) and just to outfit the main characters with a Kindle would bankrupt most productions.
AAPEX has always encouraged playwrights to be pro-active in their careers. Getting your play "Kindlesized" is one way of doing that. Why? Because it puts it "out there" in one more iteration and the more you got, the better your chances are at getting discovered.
But who's going to read it?
The cognoscenti with a jones for the digital. Like the brother in the picture above. With luck, one of them might be a Broadway producer or director needing something to read on the subway. He or she looks up a list of Kindle books on theatre and discovers...your play. At this point there aren't many but yours is there. And it only costs $1.60 at Amazon.com for an instant download*. Such a deal! By the time the person who can change your life steps off the train, he or she has read enough to want to buy the rights.
In any event, if you have the time, it's worth the effort. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain since the only cost to Kindlesizing your play is time. Reformatting is a bitch but it will become easier-- there is talk that PDF files will soon be accepted.
And there is competition. A Canadian company is introducing its own take on the ebook. ShortCovers.com's reformatting is extremely easy to do compared to Kindle. It needs your work in text format. If your play is in Word, do a "Save As" in .txt and it's basically done. Both company models include color covers for listing on the Net. What sets ShortCovers apart from Kindle is that its ebooks are able to be read on most mobile devices like cell phones and are not restricted to one digital platform like Kindle. Also, it supports downloading shorter content such as chapters, articles, blog entries, etc. Of, course, Kindle's got Amazon.com going for it and all those eyeballs searching for something to read. But, as Bob Dylan once said, "times they are a changin'."
That means reaching that hip, connected producer, director, or literary agent just go a whole lot easier.
*For the "Radio Play," a shortened reading version.
Labels: Kindle
Here's another example of independent filmmakers looking for scripts with limited locations. In most instances, that means they're probably looking for something you've written for the stage. This "heads-up" is free and comes once a week as an email via InkTip.com provided you're registered. You can visit the InkTip website by clicking the post's title.
Rock On! Films Inc - Continuous Single-Location
We are looking for completed feature-length scripts that take place in just one location that can be shot in real time. What this means is we’re looking for screenplays that are more like stage plays adapted for the screen that we can rehearse the script and then just roll cameras through the story - i.e. something in the vein of “Glenngary Glen Ross” or “American Buffalo.”
Budget will not exceed $250K. Only non-WGA writers should submit.
Our credits include "High Hopes" and "Champion."
To submit to this lead, please go to:
http://www.inktippro.com/leads/
Copy/Paste this code: 1b5efu0txs
NOTE: Please only submit your work if it fits what the lead is looking for exactly. If you aren’t sure if your script fits, please ask InkTip first.
Labels: Call for plays, InkTip
Dennis McIntyre's SPLIT SECOND 6/12 (Nashville)
Click post's title to visit Collards and Caviar's website.
Jamal Williams' EULOGY FOR THE BLACKMAN opens 5/29 (Harlem)
Call for AA Writers (Brooklyn)
Writers wanted! (Brooklyn)
Reply to:TDenine@aol.com
We are building an in-house writing team (African American) to create our own plays. Tyler Perry look out! The plays will be showcased at the Actors' Playhouse. Please reply to this email.
Compensation: Will be discussed with Owner/Director
Actors Theatre of Louisville and Miami's City Theatre have joined forces to co-sponsor the National Ten-Minute Play Contest. Each playwright may submit only one script. No scripts will be returned—save postage. No SASE required. Entries will be acknowledged by postcard in January and all playwrights will be notified when or before the winner is announced in the fall. Each script must be no more than ten pages long. Previously submitted plays, plays that have received an Equity production, musicals, children's shows, and any unsolicited longer one-act or full-length plays are not accepted and will be returned. Plays that have received Equity waver showcase productions are eligible. Each manuscript must be typed and individually bound or stapled. Title page must include name, address and phone number. Please include an e-mail address if possible. No electronic submissions. All ten-minute plays will be considered for the Heideman Award ($1000), the Humana festival of New American Plays, City Theatre’s Summer Shorts Festival and the Short Cuts Tour. Plays that meet the following criteria will also be considered for the annual Actors Theatre Apprentice Showcase: age range 18-28; minimal sets, minimal props, minimal costume requirements. Playwrights must be citizens or permanent residents of the USA.
Submission postmark by 11/01.
Send submissions to:
NATIONAL TEN-MINUTE PLAY CONTEST
Actors Theatre of Louisville
For more info about City Theatre’s Summer Shorts Festival and Short Cuts tour, please call 305/755-9401 or visit http://www.citytheatre.com/.
Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is now accepting submissions for the Going to the River Festival 2009. Going to the River (GTTR) was founded to produce and support African-American female playwrights by providing a major New York City forum in which to develop, refine, and present their work.
• Ten-minute plays by female playwrights of color;
• Limit of two plays;
• Estimated running time of no more than ten minutes;
• Plays must address one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins (lust, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, pride, greed);
• Please be mindful of cast size.
The submission deadline is 6/1 at 5:00pm EDT.
Ten plays will be selected and produced on EST’s main stage in September 2009. Only e-mail submissions addressed to gttr@ensemblestudiotheatre.org will be considered. To be considered submissions should be in the form of one Microsoft Word document and organized as follows:
• Page 1 cover page to include: the title page, estimated running time, the playwright’s name, address, city, zip code, phone numbers;
• Page 2 a biography of the playwright;
• Page 3 Character Breakdown;
• Page 4 Begin the body of the play.
No phone calls. Address inquiries to e7vandyke@aol.com.
To visit the Ensemble Studio Theatre website, please click the post's title.
CALL FOR WORKS BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTS
Producer/Director Jackie Alexander is seeking script submissions by African-American playwrights for production in the winter/spring 2010. Works can focus on any topic, but should require a cast of no more than eight. Playwrights will be compensated if their work is selected for production. To be considered, email jalexander@acrossthetracksproductions.com the following information:
• Subject line containing the phrase 2010 SUBMISSION, the PLAY’S TITLE, and PLAYWRIGHT’S NAME;
• Character breakdown;
• Synopsis of play;
• Page count/Estimated running time;
• History of the piece; productions, workshops, readings, etc.;
• Brief bio of the playwright.Please type or paste all information into the body of your message; no attachments will be opened.
Submission deadline is 6/1.
If interested, a complete script will be requested at a later date.
To visit Jackie Alexander Productions website, please click the post's title.
Alonza Knowles' YOUNG PUGILIST 5/21-24th (NYC)
You're invited to the premiere of the "Young Pugilist", an autobiographical play by ex-professional heavyweight boxer Alonza Knowles and starring James Gary Jr. an ex running back for the Seattle Seahawks. The play opens tomorrow 8pm at The Shooting Star Theatre, 40 Peck Slip, 3rd Floor (direction below). This production is brought to you by Struglife Productions and Montauk Theatre Productions.
Young Pugilist takes us on a tour of the life of Warren, a professional boxer who, after two consecutive losses, abandons the ring and its spotlight for the sanctity and tranquility of the Church. But soon after, he realizes that he will not be able to keep quiet the demons and passion he developed for the sport. His younger brother Robert becomes the conduit through which Warren opts to continue chasing after his unrealized dreams. Directed by Theirry Saintine.
Mr. Knowles made several TV appearances such as the Donahue Show with Mohammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, and Larry Holmes. He made his professional debut on E.S.P.N. During his boxing career he has fought two World Champions, Riddick Bowe in his first amateur bout and Inamu Mayfield in his last professional bout. He also fought the French Champion Youssef Debah and Norwegian Champion Arve Breidal.
For tickets and reservation please call (646)323-4078
Directions to the Shooting Star: Shooting Star Theatre is at 40 Peck Slip (between Front and South Sts), on the South side of Peck Slip, 3rd Floor. Take the 2, 3, 4, or 5 to Fulton Street, or A or C to Broadway/Nassau. Walk East on Fulton (towards the South Street Seaport). Turn left on to Pearl Street, walk two (2) blocks (Beekman and then Peck Slip). Turn right on to Peck Slip.
To visit the Shooting Star Theatre website, please click post's title.
Labels: Shooting Star Theatre
Call For Submission for New Plays (East Village)
Reply to: gigs-q3etw-1176157851@craigslist.org
The Movement Theatre Company (TMTC) is looking for submissions for its fall 2009 Elevator Reading Series located in NYC. The Elevator Reading Series is designed to nurture playwrights interested in creating new representations of artists of color in the arts and the media. By paring a playwright with a director and actors, TMTC aims to forge the dialogue between playwright and director to continue the development of new work.
We are looking for submissions from playwrights from all backgrounds and ethnicities, whose work continues to explore themes of race, class, culture, identity, politics, family, in this ever changing and diverse world. We are looking for non-published one-acts, full length plays and short plays.
Submission deadline is June 14, 2009.
To submit a piece, please email a copy of the play, artist's resume, and application (found on our website) to themovementtheatrec@gmail.com, subject titled: ELEVATOR 2009. For more information about TMTC, our mission and the 2009 Elevator Reading Series Application please visit our website by clicking the post's title.
Seeking Monologues and Dialogues (van nuys)
Reply to: gigs-j5sds-1163730946@craigslist.org
I am looking for a writer to provide me with monologues and dialogues. These are scenes similar to audition material. I must have permission to create youtube videos with these dialoges/monologes. The pay is not much, I am working with a small budget. This is for you if your interested in getting your material out there.
SINGLE LOCATION PLAYS / SCRIPTS (LOS ANGELES)
Reply to: gigs-k6vsb-1174169538@craigslist.org
I am an independent producer looking for single location scripts that can be shot on a low budget. (Outer space is not a single location) I am open to plays that can be adapted to the screen. Please email only a short synopsis as craigslist replies tend to come by the thousands. Those with stories that seem appealing will get a response. I know everyone's biggest pet peeve is blind posts, so I have placed my IMDB link below so you know I'm legitamite. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3406916/ This will be done on a low budget. Pay TBD.
Petronia Paley's I THE ACTOR SHOWCASE 5/31 (NYC)
I the Actor Showcase
Petronia Paley Invites You
Empowering Your Creativity
LOVE, LOSS And THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Ripley-Grier Studios
520 Eighth Ave. (Bet. 36th & 37th)
Studio 16U
Sunday May 31st 2009 Time: 3:30
Hope Harley
Alice Garcia
Beverley Prentice
Karina Fernandez
Amanda Mobley
Segun Akande
Norman Small
Althea Vyhuis
Pax and Power,
Click post's title to visit website.
Tyler Perry's new 34th Street Films has purchased its first property
Tyler Perry's new 34th Street Films has purchased its first property - an as-yet-untitled feature pitch from the writing team of Jennifer Heath and Michele J. Wolff ("Ella Enchanted"). The storyline is being kept under wraps, according to Variety. But the shingle's president Ozzie Areu described it as "the ideal launch for our company, speaking to a mainstream audience while appealing to the sentiment of Tyler's loyal demographic." Perry formed 34th Street Films last fall to produce projects under his banner but written and directed by outside talent. Matt Moore will head the division and serve as Executive Vice President Production and Development, Poppy Hanks as Vice President Production, and Amber Rasberry as Creative Executive. Tyler Perry Studios renewed their first look deal for three more years with Lionsgate last July.
Labels: Tyler Perry
SEEKS PLAYS FOR STAGED READINGS
The nonprofit organization Women in Theatre, located in Los Angeles, is seeking new plays for our series of monthly staged play readings. We welcome male and female playwrights' submissions.
The Monthly Writers Reading Series- FREE for everyone – The last Sunday of every month. Refreshments are provided. Casting is preferred to WIT members, non-members may be cast as needed. Scripts are picked ahead of time, some evenings monologues and scenes are also welcome. Non-Members are welcome to attend two events before joining.
If you are interested, please send a cover email plus the first 20 pages of your play to Julia, the coproducer, at julia@lct2039.com.
Please click post's title to visit Women in Theatre website.
ECHO THEATRE NEW PLAY CONTEST
FOR WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS
Deadline: 9-30-09 (Postmarked by)
Winning Playwright receives $500 and a 2010 Workshop Presentation of her script by Echo Theatre in Dallas, Texas. Winner and Honorees notified by FEBRUARY 27, 2010 Selected Finalists will be featured in our Echo Reads… staged reading series in 2010.
Playwright must be female. * Entry must be in English and unpublished at the time of submission. * Submission should be a full length, completed script only; no queries please. * There are no restrictions on cast size or production requirements. * No musicals or children’s shows.
Please include a cover letter with playwright’s bio, production history and contact information. No fee is required.
MAILED ENTRIES MUST BE POSTMARKED BY CONTEST DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2009. Submit Via U.S. MAIL to: Echo Theatre’s BIG SHOUT OUT! PO Box 670849 Dallas, Texas 75367 Note: Mailed scripts cannot be returned. Include S.A.S.E. for confirmation of script receipt if desired.
Click post's title to visit Echo Theatre website.
PJ Gibson's "Diana Sands Project" Reading 5/20 (Harlem)
Diana Sands
DIANA SANDS PROJECT
By PJ Gibson
Directed by Reggie Life
The Schomburg Center
515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street
(2 or 3 train to 135th St.)
When the American actress Diana Sands died in 1973, she left behind a remarkable body of work that spanned stage, screen and television. Ms. Sands played Benethea opposite Sidney Portier in the seminal film A Raisin in the Sun and appeared in groundbreaking TV shows such as I Spy and Julia.
As a stage actress she was an original member of the acting company at Lincoln Center, and she broke the then very powerful color barrier in live theatre, playing roles such as Joan of Arc and appearing opposite Alan Alda in The Owl and the Pussycat on Broadway in 1964. Simply put, she achieved a transformational career in the history of American acting. Yet few people today know her real story, perhaps because she was a figure 20 years ahead of her time, living and working well before the terms “color blind” and “non-traditional” casting became common parlance in the theatre industry. Noted author P.J. Gibson (Daughters of the Moon)has been commissioned by CTH to bring this story to the stage. This is the first dramatic treatment of Ms Sands’s life and work, and it is being created with the participation of Ms. Kathryn Leary, her first cousin and head of The Diana Sands Project, an organization dedicated to keeping her memory alive.
P.J. Gibson (playwright) has written over thirty plays, including Long Time Since Yesterday,which had had upwards of sixty productions. Her other works have been presented throughout the United States, Europe and Africa. A published writer, Ms. Gibson also has numerous poems and short stories to her credit. She has been the recipient of many honors including the Bushfire Theatre of Performing Arts Seventh Annual "Walk of Fame" where her signature and hand print are imprinted in their Sidewalk of Fame, a Shubert Fellowship, a playwriting grant from the National Endowment forthe Arts, two prestigious Audelco Awards, two PSC-CUNY Research Award grants and six playwriting commissions. She has been an Artist in Residence at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She holds a proclamation from the city of Trenton, New Jersey and a Key to the City from Indianapolis, Indiana.
Labels: Diane Sands, P.J. Gibson
Minority Screenwriters Needed For A Project in Chicago (Chicago, IL )
Reply to: gigs-a9phx-1164153386@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-05-10, 5:22PM CDT
A Chicago based Film/TV Production CO is seeking experienced screenwriters for several projects that we have slated for 2009. If interested in learning more of these opportunities then please respond back with your name and contact information and an associate producer will return your call within 24-72 HRS.
STAGEWORKS LONGJOHNS STAGED READING SERIES (FL)
Deadline: 05-15-09 (Submit by)
Material: Full-Length Plays for Florida Playwrights ONLY
STAGEWORKS 21st YEAR INTRODUCING FLORIDA PLAYWRIGHTS
STAGEWORKS Theatre is now accepting submissions of original, previously un-produced and unpublished full-length plays for consideration for a STAGED READING during our 2009 – 2010 Season. Preference is given to plays that encourage multi-racial casting. Three (3) plays will be selected. Playwrights will receive, if their play is chosen, a staged reading with the assistance of a dramaturg.
GUIDELINES: (One Submission per playwright, please)
1. Previously unproduced and unpublished original work (no adaptations)
2. Comedies & Dramas
3. Minimal Set/Tech
4. Cast: maximum: 6-8
SUBMISSION FEE: Waived: paid by Anonymous donor
AWARDS: A Staged Reading at the TBPAC’s Shimberg Playhouse & a Dramaturg assigned from the Playwrights Center, Minneapolis, or Chicago Dramatists
NOTIFICATION: June 15, 2009
MAIL TO: STAGEWORKS
120 Adriatic Avenue
To visit STAGEWORKS website, please click the post's title.
Ed Bullins' FOR YOUR LOVE...SUCKER! Miami Herald review (5/13)
The cast includes, clockwise from top, Larry Robinson,
Stacey Morrison, André L. Gainey and Janet ‘Toni' Mason.
Photo by JUAN E. CABRERA
Prolific playwright Ed Bullins has had a singular artistic journey, from serving as minister of culture for the Black Panther Party in the 1960s to becoming a professor and distinguished artist in residence at Boston's Northeastern University.
Bullins also had an ambitious idea that August Wilson later embraced in his own way: He wanted to write a series of 20 plays, dubbed the ''Twentieth-Century Cycle,'' about the ways black Americans live their lives.
Wilson completed his own 10-play cycle before his death; the Obie Award-winning Bullins is still writing but has never drawn the widespread attention (not to mention Pulitzer Prizes and Broadway productions) that Wilson did, no doubt because he isn't the writer Wilson was.
Still, companies like Miami's African American Performing Arts Community Theatre (AAPACT) continue to find contemporary resonance in Bullins' vintage plays. The company has already produced his best-known work, The Taking of Miss Janie, and now it is taking a walk on the wild side with the playwright's For Your Love . . . Sucker!.
For Your Love has almost nothing to do with black politics, other than the sporadic pronouncements of a boldly drawn character called Count (Larry Robinson), the ganja-smoking ''landlord'' who oversees a quartet of illegal studio apartments carved from a larger building somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area.
The real subject of For Your Love, with its '80s references to then-emerging AIDS and that faddish dance known as the lambada, is sex. Crazy sex, obsessive sex, jealous sex: Bullins explores the passions that fuel fulfilling and foolish behavior.
His focal character is Arthur (André L. Gainey), a struggling freelance writer and novelist involved in a hot 'n' heavy romance with Renee (Janet ''Toni'' Mason), a San Francisco businesswoman. We learn, during breaks from the couple's torrid romps on Arthur's futon, that it took awhile for Renee to break off with her ex and give herself to Arthur. And it is also clear that Arthur's intrusive ex Lydia (Stacey Morrison) is far from being over him.
The play seems to speak to the AAPACT company's audience. Theatergoers hoot, react, talk back to the trouble-making Lydia and to sex-crazed Renee after she has a predictable lapse when Arthur jets off to a writers' conference in Texas. For Your Love is a little like a Tyler Perry play without the moralizing and the more deftly crafted laughs.
Truth be told, For Your Love -- the play and this production -- is something of a mess. Monologues interspersed with multicharacter scenes don't illuminate the speaker's character; instead, they reel off plot developments and simply cement scenes together. Characters behave in ways that seem extreme or incomprehensible, as when Renee -- who feels guilty but ostensibly loves Arthur -- dismisses his ability as a novelist.
The acting is decent, if often inaudible (except for Robinson, who projects so well that his fellow actors seem to be whispering), but director Teddy Harrell Jr. does nothing to counteract the script's messiness by keeping the libidinous action rolling along. Over and over, in fact, For Your Love screeches to a dead halt. But that final screech doesn't come soon enough.
Miami Herald theater critic.
To visit the AAPACT web site, please click the post's title.
Crossroads Theatre Company Celebrates 30th Anniversary 6/7 (New Brunswick)
To visit their website, please click the post's title.
Fernando Manon's STRAMA BABY 5/22 (NYC)
Reginald Edmund's SOUTHBRIDGE 5/20-23 (Athens, OH)
The 2009 Ohio University Seabury Quinn, Jr., Playwrights Festival
proudly premieres Reginald Edmund's
Ohio University, one of the nation's pre-eminent playwriting programs, proudly announces the opening of Reginald Edmund's Southbridge, directed by Vanessa Mercado Taylor, May 13-16 and 20-23. Named national runner-up for the Lorraine Hansberry and the Rosa Parks Playwriting Awards, Southbridge, is the true story of an almost unknown incident that occured in the small town of Athens, Ohio. In 1881, a widowed white woman is assualted, an angry mob screaming for blood outside the jail house door. The only way to untangle the truth about events is for the accused, Christopher C. Davis to look into the events that lead him to a tree stump in Athens, Ohio in the year 1881.
Starring: Tyler Rollinson (Christopher Davis), Clara Jackson (Nadia), Georgia Mallory Guy (Lucinda Luckey), Eric Lynch (Edwin Berry) Adam Meredith (Sheriff Warden).
This production is funded in part by the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, supported by the Kennedy Center Education Department.
PLAYWRIGHT'S BIO: REGINALD EDMUND (Playwright) authored Redemption of Allah Black, Juneteenth Street, The Ordained Smile of Saint Sadie May Jenkins, Picnics, Southpark: A City of The Bayou Story, and A Love Story. An MFA at Ohio University, Reginald Edmund-- the chosen Prince of Houston Urban Theatre, the Prophet of Southern Fried Culture-- is quickly rising as an emerging new voice for the American Theater. To find out more check out http://www.reginaldedmund.com/
Labels: Reginald Edmund
New Professional Theatre's KEITH JOSEF ADKINS Interview
An interview with playwright Keith Josef Adkins
By Mark Dundas Wood
NPT Literary Manager
Keith Josef Adkins, author of Safe House, the first play featured in New Professional Theatre's 2009 Writers Festival, was originally commissioned by the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Relating the story of a family of "free People of Color" living in Kentucky in 1843, the play is based on the lives of some of Adkins' real-life ancestors.
Becoming a playwright was a serpentine journey for Adkins. He started out as a communications major at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. When he wrote a news story and added some stuff that wasn't necessarily true, he was nudged into creative writing and he soon became interested in acting, as well. After graduation, he moved to New York City, where he found work acting incommercials, industrials, and independent films. But he subsequently went through an anti-capitalist phase that took him away from commercial acting. "I refused to wear deodorant, because it was man-made," he adds, with a laugh.
Like a latter-day Flower Child, he headed west to San Francisco and eventually to Oakland where he taught fourth-graders. In the classroom Adkins had his students reenact the stories they read. He also formed his own writing group for adults. Although he was initially interested primarily in fiction and poetry, a fellow writer noticed his penchant for monologues and suggested that he turn to drama. After some success in the genre, he eventually studied playwriting at the Universityof Iowa, which is where we pick up his story:
Mark Dundas Wood (MDW): I know you told me that in Iowa there was the largest per capita number of writers anywhere in the country. What was that like being in Iowa, as a student and a writer?
Keith Josef Adkins (KJA): At first it was very difficult for me because, even though I was raised to pursue this, I had come out of Oakland and Berkeley, and had become this really hyper-socially- conscious guy. And so when I came to Iowa, it was like culture shock. The people were cool, and all that. But it was just very white. So I kind of kept myself alienated for maybe a whole year. I just came to class and really didn't talk to people. Finally when I started warming up a little bit, I realized that they were just like me, and I was able to enjoy Iowa more. I loved the land. It was kind of barren with the cornfields. And the sky was really big. That gave me a sort of comfort, and a pace that let me sit down and write and be creative. It was like the ideal place. It was cloudy a lot, and it was kind of gray. So you always wanted to be warm- and drinking something warm.
MDW: You worked a while for the TV series Girlfriends, and I'm wondering what effect that had on the way you work as a playwright.
KJA: Before I started with Girlfriends, and I was here in New York again after gradschool, I understood that I wanted to write a particular story. But I wasn't that confident about why I wanted to tell the story. I wasn't at a place where I was confident about why I was even a writer, to be honest with you. I could tell you that that's what I did, and that I loved it. But I didn't really know why it was important for me to express myself through writing. So when I got to Girlfriends, I realized that [writing for television] was not a creative atmosphere. First and foremost it was a business. I also realized that it was a collaborative effort, where everyone is feeding another person's vision. It's not your vision; it's not your ideas. I was no longer using all my creativity. I was giving my creativity to someone else, so that made my own creativity in a way speak louder. It was banging in my head: "Hey, I wanna talk, I wanna talk." It forced me to be really clear about what it was I was doing, why I was writing, and what I was writing about.
MDW: And did you discover, then, why you were writing?
KJA: It became clear to me that I was committed to stories that were about independence and individuality among a group of people, particularly black people.
MDW: Are you the kind of writer who spends some time developing an idea in your head about a play you're going to work on? Or do you just set to work and see where the writing takes you?
KJA: I think I used to be the latter. I would just start writing because I had a feeling and discover what it was maybe a year later. But now I'm a lot more specific going in. I don't want to waste any time playing around. I want to be very clear and contained.
MDW: Let's talk a little bit about Safe House. I know you were commissioned to write it. But where did the germ of the idea come from? I know it had partly to do with your own family history. But why did you decide to write this particular play at that particular time?
KJA: The Alliance Theatre, when they commissioned me, said I could write anything Iwanted, but to keep in mind their audience. I thought about the other plays that I had in my "canon" and all the other kinds of plays I see produced, and I decided I would either write a musical or a historical piece. I made a choice, pretty quickly, that I was going to write a historical piece that was going to be my family's story. The information I'd found out about the free People of Color in Kentucky, I'd never seen that on stage before. I knew that that was it. This was pre-Obama. I wanted to tell a story about two brothers, one who is very interested in investing in social progress, and the other one who is more interested in individuality, and how the two would crash in this world. I always feel that in plays where the characters are slaves, there's limitation as to how they view the world and what they can talk about. To me it feels sometimes like a jail, they can't really speak. So for me the fact that these people are free People of Color means they have a lot more access, and there's a lot more opportunity to explore their view of the world, their romance, their humanity.
MDW: I know these characters are based on people in your own family. What did you discover about your ancestors when you began researching the play?
KJA: They were free People of Color, they were not enslaved while living in Kentucky.They had been in Kentucky when it was still part of Virginia-Kentucky County,Virginia, which I thought was amazing. I realized they probably came over at the same time as Daniel Boone, when Kentucky was wilderness and the western frontier. So that was fascinating to me. I also discovered that, in the line of the family that I'm descended from, they were shoemakers. And there was guy in particular, Leander Ayers, he was free born. I guess he had come from Maryland, probably right before the War of 1812. All of his sons also learned the trade. They were making shoes for the white community. When you're a free Person of Color, obviously you're not serving the black community because most of the black community is enslaved, so you have to survive by finding a trade that is something that people have to have. So it's either cutting hair or making shoes.
MDW: What was it like looking in the records and finding these people who were your ancestors and learning about them? Did you see yourself and other family members in them?
KJA: That's a very good question. They were artisans, and most of them were Methodists, African Methodist Episcopal. I wasn't surprised that I had come from this because I've always been encouraged to think bigger than what everyone around me was encouraged to think. I was always asked to think, to step forward and not worry about what the other person is doing or saying or wearing, to always look ahead. For example, my mother and my grandmother would not allow us to say the -N- word in the house. When I look back at it now, that was pretty radical, because a lot of kids in my neighborhood would say it all the time, as a term of endearment or however you want to look at it. But my mother and her family, they never said it. It wasn't like they were trying not to say it. It just wasn't part of how they lived and how they thought about themselves. So when it did creep into the house, it was almost like, "You have brought in a foreign disease." You know what I mean? So looking through those records and seeing how much those people had and how they were able to maintain this certain status for centuries, for some reason it kind of connected to me- My ancestors were black people, but they were not part of the larger black community. They were always kind of separate.
MDW: You said you were always looking ahead. What's next for you? What projects are you working on and what do you have upcoming?
KJA: I'm actually working on a commission for the Public Theater, a piece called The Dangerous. It's about an aging minister who lives isolated from the black community although black. [Laughs.] His son is a middle-aged professor who is his caretaker, and in a way almost his servant. They get a knock on the door from this teenage boy who claims to know them both. He comes to their world and basically turns it upside down.
MDW: Those plays where outsiders come in are always interesting, when they come into an established setting and disrupt the status quo. They're always interesting to watch. They must be interesting to write, as well.
KJA: Even Safe House has that, because Roxie [a character in the play who is a runaway slave] is kind of like that. But yeah, I love it. I love turning it upsidedown. I like challenging in a play what is supposed to be institutional or "normal."
To visit the New Professional Theatre website, please click the post's title.
Source: The Black Theatre Digest
Labels: Keith Josef Adkins, New Professional Theatre
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Jamal Williams' EULOGY FOR THE BLACKMAN opens 5/29...
Tyler Perry's new 34th Street Films has purchased ...
PJ Gibson's "Diana Sands Project" Reading 5/20 (Ha...
Ed Bullins' FOR YOUR LOVE...SUCKER! Miami Herald r...
Crossroads Theatre Company Celebrates 30th Anniver...
New Professional Theatre's KEITH JOSEF ADKINS Inte...
Robert Johnson Jr's MOTHER G opens 5/27 (Boston)
Joan Baker's BONFIRE NIGHT Opens At the cell (NYC)
Brett Hollands' NOSTALGIA AND DREAMS now thru 5/24...
FROM U STREET TO THE COTTON CLUB-- Only two shows ...
Final Weekend for SHEILA'S DAY (New Brunswick)
Final Weekend for Kermit Frazier's KERNEL OF SANIT...
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Filters: Author is Nyman, Monte S. [Clear All Filters]
Nyman, Monte S.. Zoram In Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
Nyman, Monte S.. Book of Mormon In Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
Nyman, Monte S.. "Come to Understanding and Learn Doctrine." In The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 19-37. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989.
The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989.
Nyman, Monte S.. "To Learn with Joy: Sacred Preaching, Great Revelation, Prophesying." In The Book of Mormon: Jacob Through Words of Mormon, To Learn With Joy, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 193-208. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1990.
Nyman, Monte S.. "Abinadi's Commentary on Isaiah." In The Book of Mormon: Mosiah, Salvation Only Through Christ, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 161-186. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1991.
Nyman, Monte S.. "The State of the Soul Between Death and the Resurrection." In The Book of Mormon: Alma, The Testimony of the Word, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 173-194. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992.
Nyman, Monte S.. "The Restoration of Plain and Precious Parts: The Book of Helaman." In The Book of Mormon: Helaman Through 3 Nephi 8, According to Thy Word, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 147-161. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992.
Nyman, Monte S.. "The Designations Jesus Gives Himself in 3 Nephi." In The Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 9-30, This is My Gospel, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 41-58. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993.
The Book of Mormon: Mosiah, Salvation Only Through Christ In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1991.
The Book of Mormon: Jacob through Words of Mormon, To Learn with Joy In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1990.
The Book of Mormon: Helaman Through 3 Nephi 8, According to Thy Word In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992.
The Book of Mormon: Alma, the Testimony of the Word In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1992.
The Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 9–30, This Is My Gospel In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993.
Nyman, Monte S.. "The Judgment Seat of Christ." In The Book of Mormon: Fourth Nephi Through Moroni, From Zion to Destruction, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 199-213. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1995.
The Book of Mormon: Fourth Nephi Through Moroni, From Zion to Destruction In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1995.
Nyman, Monte S.. "The Sacrament: Building Upon Christ's Rock." In The Book of Mormon and the Message of The Four Gospels, edited by Ray L. Huntington and Terry B. Ball, 125-137. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 2001.
Nyman, Monte S.. "Lehi and Nephi: Faith unto Salvation." In The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., 67-77. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1988.
The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, the Doctrinal Foundation In The Book of Mormon Symposium Series, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr.. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1988.
Nyman, Monte S.. "Abinadi's Commentary on Isaiah." In A Book of Mormon Treasury: Gospel Insights from General Authorities and Religious Educators, 223-245. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2003.
Nyman, Monte S.. "Other Ancient American Records Yet to Come Forth." Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 10, no. 1 (2001): 52-61, 79-80.
Nyman, Monte S.. "I Have a Question: Why is the Book of Mormon the ‘most correct book,’ and how does it contain the fulness of the gospel?" Ensign 6, no. 9 (1976): 87.
Nyman, Monte S.. "I Have a Question: Why were the Book of Mormon gold plates not placed in a museum so that people might know Joseph Smith had them?" Ensign 16, no. 12 (1986): 64-65.
Nyman, Monte S.. "The Most Correct Book." Ensign 14, no. 6 (1984): 20-23.
Nyman, Monte S.. "“I Am Jesus Christ the Son of God”." Ensign 29, no. 12 (1999).
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The ambitious package announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) last weekend is seen as a reflection of the government’s much-touted bid to spur the economy and to hit the...
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Rising rents for students in Athens this fall
University students seeking to rent houses in Athens this autumn will have to shell out as much as a third more in rent compared to last year. Contrary to expectations, however, short-term rentals through Airbnb...
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artsbeatamanda May 3, 2018 Festivals, Film
Derby Film Festival hosts special guests
Picture by Dean Stockings
A host of special guests, film previews and events as well as over 50 feature films will be part of Derby Film Festival this month.
Actress and singer Toyah Willcox will discuss her career in film and television; Sir John Hurt’s widow, Anwen, will introduce a preview screening of That Good Night – Hurt’s final leading role; and television director Mandie Fletcher will tell anecdotes about her career involving classics, from Butterflies and Blackadder to Only Fools And Horses, and Absolutely Fabulous.
Exclusive film previews will include: Redoubtable, from the Oscar winning director of The Artist; L’Amant Double, the latest release from French auteur director François Ozon; Jeune Femme, the debut film of director Léonor Serraille; Edie, starring Sheila Hancock; Ismael’s Ghosts, starring Marion Cotillard and Mathieu Almaric ; On Chesil Beach, adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan; The Suffering Of Ninko, from Japan, a unique tale which blends live action and animation; and The Bookshop, starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy.
One film with local interest will be Portrait Of A Village – an affectionate portrayal of the semi-rural village of Spondon – by local filmmaker Mark Rivers. It is a snapshot of life in modern Britain and explores the themes of home, community and belonging.
A programme of short films, In Sign Languaage, curated and tailored specifically to the needs of D/deaf cinema-goers, will include Oscar-winning The Silent Child.
This year the festival welcomes a new strand called Paracinema as part of the main event. Including horror, sci-fi and fantasy films, it will also be exploring other genres outside the mainstream.
Among the festival’s special events will be a screening of the silent vampire tale Nosferatu at Derby Cathedral, accompanied by a live score on the Cathedral’s Compton organ.
Closing the festival is the unique Five Lamps Films 24-hour Challenge, which is returning for its ninth year. Entrants will make a three-minute short in just 24 hours, over the weekend of May 5-6.
The screening and prize ceremony takes place on May 13 at 8.15pm.
For more information on how to take part please go to fivelampsfilms.co.uk
The Derby Film Festival runs from May 4-13 and all the events will be at QUAD except the screening of Nosferatu, which is on May 5 at 7.30pm.
Toyah will be in conversation on May 5 at 5pm; John Hurt’s That Good Night preview is on May 9 at 6.30pm and Mandie Fletcher can be seen on May 13 at 2pm.
For full details of times and dates please click here.
Posted in Festivals, Film and tagged Derby Film Festival, Five Lamps Films 24-hour Challenge, Mandie Fletcher, quad, Sir John Hurt, Toyah Willcox. Bookmark the permalink.
Ian Gregory: Landscape photographer
Lyndon Evans: artist
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The Rest Is Noise 10: Politics and Spirituality
To the South Bank for the tenth study weekend in their year-long The Rest Is Noise festival based on the fabulous book about twentieth century classical music by Alex Ross. This weekend it investigated the widespread revival of religious or ‘spiritual’ compositions by composers behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ ie in Russia and East Europe, in the 1970s and 80s.
I was aware of the most famous of these composers – the Estonian Arvo Pärt, the Poles Penderecki and Gorécki – and came to learn more. But I had several reservations before I even arrived:
a) To adapt a quote – when I hear the word ‘spirituality’ I reach for my Luger. Most of the people I’ve ever heard talking about spirituality lack the moral discipline and intellectual consistency which one can at least admire in practising Christians, let alone practising Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus etc – and instead are sappy, post-religious Westerners describing their own vague feelings of uplift and wonderfulness. The phrase “I’m a very spiritual person” usually boils down to”I’m a very special person – my feelings are finer, my sensibility is nobler, my soul is superior, to the ordinary unthinking masses”. As one speaker said, this vague sense of reverence for something bigger than us, Nature, the Universe, God, whatever, was some time ago labelled New Age religion.
b) The rise of ‘spiritual’ music among Eastern composers is often described as a special and unique phenomenon which I find odd because most composers in history have been Christian and written religious music. Until the end of the 19th century this was taken for granted. But even in the twentieth century, Mahler is deeply religious, so is Schoenberg, so is Stravinsky. Even in supposedly atheist Britain, in the supposedly atheist 20th century, Vaughan Williams writes Christian-ish music, Benjamin Britten is an Anglican, John Tavener, James MacMillan, John Rutter write devout religious music. Even Stockhausen became dottily mystical in later life, Ligeti wrote his Requiem etc.
Ie classical music composers writing religious music is the norm not the exception. Therefore what makes this group stand out must be the type of religious music they create, and I think it is the return of Gorécki and Pärt in particular to very simple, repetitive, harmonic music which makes their music so very palatable and acceptable to a music-hungry, serious music audience which, for a generation, had been offered only the very challenging sounds of Boulez, Stockhausen, Nono, Berio, Ligeti, Xenakis et al and, at home, the perplexities of Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle et al.
Example: Gorécki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Some speakers speculated that the soulful, mournful music of Pärt and Gorécki speaks to deep longings in the human soul etc, and a great deal of speculative discourse can be and has been generated on this premise. But I believe their popularity stems from a different cause. As one speaker pointed out, Gorécki’s third symphony became a surprise bestseller in the early 1990s giving fuel to the ‘Westerners need religion’ argument – but then undermined it by explaining that the bestselling Dawn Upshaw recording (1992) had been produced and packaged by the commercially savvy Elektra-Nonesuch label and heavily promoted by the new Classic FM radio station (launched in September 1992 and looking for sounds and names to associate with its new brand).
“The recording climbed to number 6 on the mainstream UK album charts, stayed at the top of the US classical charts for 38 weeks, and in the chart as a whole for 138 weeks. The Zinman/Upshaw recording has sold over a million copies and probably counts as the best selling contemporary classical record of all time.”
When asked why it was so phenomenally popular, Gorécki speculated: “Perhaps people find something they need in this piece of music… Somehow I hit the right note, something they were missing. Something, somewhere had been lost to them. I feel that I instinctively knew what they needed.” (Wikipedia)
He, and the many, many commentators on this music, this period and these composers, like to think that what they needed was more religion in their lives, that what the people who bought the CD were missing was a bit of Polish Catholicism or – to be a bit more sympathetic – a sense of something larger than our petty worldly concerns, something transcendent, something to feed our longing for the numinous, the lasting and meaningful etc etc.
I take the jaundiced view that, if the million-plus purchasers of the Dawn Upshaw were looking for anything, it was a fashionable piece of music on the cool new CD format which could be played safely in the background of a hundred thousand dinner parties. What they were missing was not a new devotion to the Virgin Mary; they were looking for something new and fashionable which you could actually listen to with pleasure, that you could play in the car and the kitchen.
The 1990s were not an era of notable spiritual revival in Britain; they were a further step in the post-Thatcher rise of a narcissistic consumerist culture and it is no coincidence that the tremendously simplified, slow and repetitive music of Pärt, Gorécki and John Tavener could be easily packaged and sold to the Classic FM classes (cf the popularity of Tavener’s Song to Athene after it was played at the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997). My point is: the buyers and listeners aren’t hungering after religion; they are hungering after accessible music with more depth and seriousness than the pap provided by X Factor and Beyoncé.
This service is provided by the wonderful new music of Gorécki et al but to say composers writing religious music is unusual ignores the history of Western classical music; to say it is special in the Eastern bloc is to overlook the deepseated religious traditions of Poland and Russia; to say it was unusual under Communism is obviously untrue, since this whole weekend is devoted to the fact that the 70s and 80s in the communist bloc are entirely characterised by religious music – what is unusual is to find a decent atheist composer: were there any? Schnittke?
As usual Saturday and Sunday were packed with lectures, workshops and film screenings on all aspects of the dominant theme, all leading up to an evening performance of key works from the topic or era. I only went to Saturday as Sunday’s events seemed to be mainly about the political background in Britain, which I lived through and don’t need reminding of.
Timetable for the Politics and Spirituality weekend
1. Opening Lecture: Catherine Merridale
Like many if not most of the speakers at these events, Catherine, Professor of Contemporary History at University of London, author of Ivan’s War, was plugging a new book, in her case Red Fortress. She gave an elegant and insightful talk, packed with information and anecdote, and making one overriding point: The twentieth century was one of mind-boggling violence for Russia. At least 27 million Russians died in the Great Patriotic War, maybe 60 million Russians in all died in the Great War, Revolution, Civil War, various famines, Stalin’s pogroms and Terrors, then the Nazi war, then more terror until well into the 50s and the Gulags still overflowing in the 60s and 70s. Merridale’s point is that all the grief and guilt at these horrors was swept under the carpet. the populace had to smile and smile. In 1964 Brezhnev came to power determined to make Russia the most successful nation in the world, happy, smiling faces, Tchaikovsky’s ballet music on every radio. After the initial efforts to destroy it the communists came to an uneasy truce with the Orthodox church and then, later, came to be proud of its Russian-ness, and so the churches with their gold and icons and incense remained one of the few places Russians experienced a genuine, not staged, sense of community and where they could express their deep feelings of loss and tragedy. In this context, for a composer to write religious music was a daring act of rebellion against the State authorities, to risk the loss of his income and career, but at the same time an opportunity to connect with the great subterranean feelings of the people.
Only casually, at the end of the talk, did Merridale mention that the special conditions which gave rise to the dissidents and the samizdat press and the impulse to write religious music have all gone now. The USSR ceased to exist at the end of 1991. We have had 21 years of the jolly Russian Federation. Church attendance in Russia is now the lowest of any European country. 4% compared to 41% of American citizens, 15% of French citizens, 10% of UK citizens. (Source: Wikipedia). So much for the Russians having something to show the decadent west about religion and spirituality.
Merriday said now when she goes back to Moscow, the people she discussed Dostoyevsky and spirituality with as a student are now millionaire property developers or selling armoured cars to mafia bosses.
And so, talking about the special ‘spiritual’ quality, character or culture of Eastern Europe is itself a nostalgic exercise, it is already looking back at a long-vanished era. They are more atheistically materialistic than we are.
2. Gubaidulina: String Quartets 3 & 4
In the Purcell Room, Sofia Gubaidulina was presented and sat onstage to be interviewed: I didn’t pick up on the religious motivation for her work but heard her talk about specific technical problems to do with trying to create contrasting sounds – plucking versus bowing in the third quartet – and the challenge of using a pre-recorded tape of the material for the players to play against in the 4th quartet and of working with film projection which led to comparisons with Skriabin who also requested that colour projections be played at concerts as part of the work. But the programme note and the Wikipedia entry are very eloquent about her deliberate religious intentions for her music, its association with transcendence and spiritual values etc.
I didn’t have the slightest religious feeling while listening to it, I was impressed by the way she’d manage to get new sounds, new sonorities and combinations, out of a very old format. I liked.
Sofia Gubaidulina – String Quartet number 3
3. Listen To This Professor Jonathan Cross played clips from half a dozen pieces which are featuring in this part of the festival:
Henri Gorécki Third Symphony: the listener relaxes in an aural bubble bath of long, slow, repeated and hushed phrases. Religious it may be intended to be – that 90% of Poland’s Jews were exterminated, that 6 million Poles died in WWII, we may learn – that the extended grief over these holocausts required deeper outlet than the communist authorities permitted in their workers’ paradise we may be told – and that this work includes the prayer of an 18 year old woman on the wall of her Gestapo prison cell we may shudder to read – but a reassuringly accessible aural comfort blanket is what this music actually provides.
Arvo Pärt In Memoriam Benjamin Britten from his most popular period, the 1970s the period of tintinabulation ie experiments with bells and bell-like sonorities encountered in church rituals. Professor Cross explained how three sets of strings – violas, violins, double basses – played the same descending scale of A minor but at different speeds to create the overlapping patters, recreating the overtones and partial notes of a ringing bell.
Shostakovitch’s Fifteenth Symphony his final symphony and a very puzzling use of motifs from other composers including Wagner and the William Tell overture. But it ends on strange syncopated fade out.
Galina Ustvolskaya A pupil of Shostakovitch and, I learn from Wikipedia, very close to him; he proposed marriage to her at least once, and asked her opinion of his later scores. She developed her own unique sound characterised by percussion.
Cornelius Cardew was an English radical composer who rejected the entire concept of bourgeois music and composition and founded the Scratch orchestra where nobody could play particularly well and there was no hierarchy or leadership. He set the works of Confucius in an open-ended score called the Great Learning.
Louis Andriessen was also a political radical. His work De Staat sets words of Plato about an ideal society.
Stockhausen’s Tierkreis is based on the numerology of the Zodiac and can be performed by a wide variety of instrumentations. Prof Cross played a version recorded by the composer’s son, the trumpeter Marcus Stockhausen.
4. Music and Spirituality in Eastern Europe Professor Adrian Thomas gave an academic and authoritative review of mostly Polish composers. He took from Robert Scholl a grid comparing and contrasting Modernity versus The Spiritual, with modernity having attributes like rational, worldly, monetary, calculating and The Spiritual ones like supernatural, transcendent, timeless etc. But in a tough-minded way he concluded that the Spiritual doesn’t necessarily mean religious, the sacred, the holy: it can just mean NOT worldly. It is anything which escapes us from the mundane.
He pointed out the deepness of religion, of Catholicism, to the Poles and the tremendous impact the election of Pope John Paul II, the Polish Pope, in 1978. All Polish composers have written at least on religious work. Also the Poles were among the earliest of the Soviet satellites to cast off the doctrine of ‘Socialist Realism’, as early as the 1950s.
Lutoslawski said his cello concerto dramatises the fight of the individual (the cello) against the oppressive collective state (the orchestra); it is designed to end in an other worldly transcendence.
Gorécki Thomas played the early work ‘Elementi’ (1963), an abrasive early piece. On YouTube there’s a tape of Professor Thomas introducing ‘Elementi’.
Wojciech Kilar – I had never heard of him before.
Penderecki – I was interested to learn that P has been criticised for not really being spiritual, but writing about politics and remembrance. I heard the Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima back in school 30 years ago. I learned along the way that it was originally a purely experimental piece with the title 8’37” but renaming it after Hiroshima helped make it and Penderecki famous and, according to some critics, he has been living off that reputation ever since. I was lucky enough to see it earlier this year conducted by the composer and it really was one of the few genuinely hair-raisingly dramatic experiences I’ve had in the concert hall.
Prof Thomas took some time to explain the lives and aims of the two Russian women composers I’ve learned about today:
Galina Ustvolskaya She wrote only 20 or so pieces including four symphonies, number 4 being as short as 6 minutes.
Gubaidulina is Russian and unshamedly spiritual in intent: “there is no more serious purpose in writing music than the spiritual”.
Prof Thomas then mentioned two younger Polish composers of whom I have never heard and played some intriguing excerpts. Must find out more about them…
Paweł Szymański – Miserere (1993)
Paweł Mykietyn – St Mark Passion
5. Alain de Botton – consumerism and spirituality
Popular philosopher of everyday life, bestselling author (see his dedicated Amazon page), radio and TV presenter, de Botton is fearsomely clever and articulate. speaks in captivating paradoxes, bristling with counter-intuitive insights. As the author of Religion for Atheists he disbelieves that this supposedly ‘spiritual’ music is playing to religious impulses in us.
De Botton started by saying our modern society is very odd in historical terms: we have narrowed the meaning of our lives down to just two concerns: Love and Work. We must succeed in both but rarely do, giving rise to permanent anxiety and envy, the invention of the Self Help culture. With the decline of religion there is no-one to turn to with our deeper concerns and worries, isolating us, destroying community, setting us against each other leading to an atomised society of alienated consumers always hoping that the next purchase will make us happy and content, failing to understand that the entire system is designed to make us feel restless and buy more books, more dvds, bigger TVs, more clothes, go on expensive holidays etc. The TV and media bombard us with ‘news’ which keeps us anxious and depressed and cynical, rendering us incapable of the kind of peaceful deep reflection into our own lives which is psychologically required and which is available in all pre-technological societies.
Therefore he sees the music we’ve been learning about and listening to as fulfilling not a religious but a deep psychological need in human nature, a need to feel something bigger than us, transcendent, enduring, lasting. This music – which at its most calm in Gorécki and Pärt is a kind of pastiche of medieval music Gregorian chant, but with modern twists and tics – provides an immediately obvious calm and clear and accepting environment in which to be more calm and contemplative.
There was then a question and answer session with the audience and, as so often, the Q&As made things simpler and clearer: AdB returned to the idea of art being therapy, art offering us the consolations previously offered by religion, artists as the new priests etc. This struck me as very old – AdB had mentioned that the notion that Culture could replace dying Christian belief was first floated by Matthew Arnold in the 1870s; the Symbolists and other fin-de-siecle movements took it for granted that art was the new religion in the 1890s; Yeats talks about it freely, all before the First World War.
But it’s just not true. Most 20th century Art hasn’t been very consoling, especially the music, but neither the visual arts or architecture. If something terrible happened to me I wouldn’t go to a Damien Hirst exhibition to help me cope. And if I needed some music it would probably be the reassuring pop and rock music of my youth to cheer me up.
A theory of reception
What the weekend lacked, for me, was a Marxist view of the way this product is produced and consumed; how it is packaged and sold, to who, and how, and why. No doubt Pärt and Gorécki and Tavener are very devout religious believers. But almost none of their fans and listeners are. We are something else and we like and listen to this music for completely non-religious reasons and simply attributing their popularity to suppressed religious feelings isn’t enough.
It is the unspiritual aspect of this spiritual music, how it has been produced, packaged and sold in the godless West, which I would have liked to see analysed and explained a bit more deeply.
Thanks to the South Bank
Still – an enormous Thank You to Jude Kelly and the many staff at the South Bank who have organised and administrated this superb year-long festival – hopefully thousands of other people have found it as stimulating and informative as I have and have come away bristling with questions and ideas and criticisms and compliments about subjects and musics and composers we didn’t even know existed beforehand.
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin (Wikimedia Commons)
Posted in Books, Christianity, Classical music, Concert, Contemporary classical music, European History, History, Second World War
Tagged Arvo Pärt, Cornelius Cardew, Gorecki, Henri Gorecki, history, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Louis Andriessen, music, Pärt, Penderecki, Shostakovitch, Sofia Gubaidulina, south bank, Stockhausen, The Rest Is Noise, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Ustvolskaya
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/the-rest-is-noise-10-politics-and-spirituality/
Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence (1913)
A Timeless Beauty @ Royal Festival Hall
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McDonald, Sir James, b. 1957, Principal of the University of Strathclyde, 1 results 1
Only top-level descriptions McDonald, Sir James, b. 1957, Principal of the University of Strathclyde Engels
Records relating to the conferral of an honorary doctorate upon Professor Sir Jim McDonald by Lodz University of Technology, Poland
GB 249 T-MIN/38
Invitation to the Senate's Special Session on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the Lodz University of Technology and the conferral of the degree of doctor honoris causa upon Professor Sir Jim McDonald, 24 May 2013; invitation to Ronald Crawford to post messages for Sir Jim McDonald in the Book of Congratulations at the office of the Rector of Lodz University of Technology; menu for a luncheon in honour of Professor Sir Jim McDonald, annotated with attendees' signatures and notes for a speech or toast given by Ronald Crawford at the luncheon; bound volume containing a facsimile of the honorary degree parchment, a Curriculum Vitae for Professor Sir Jim McDonald, a Laudation Speech by his 'Promoter' [presenter], Professor Slawomir Wiak, an Opinion on the scientific achievements, accomplishments and contribution of Professor Sir Jim McDonald by Professor Zygmunt Mierczyk of the Military University of Technology, Warsaw, a Review of Professor Jim McDonald's achievements by Professor Jan Szmidt of Warsaw University of Technology, and photographs of the highlights of Sir Jim McDonald's life and career.
Łódz University of Technology
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Authorities in Albania to continue probe into former chief prosecutor
Court for Serious Crimes in Albania has overruled the motion filed by the country’s former Attorney General, Adriatik Llalla who asked this court to suspend investigations taking place on him.
The court upheld the prosecutor’s office decision and the probe on former Attorney General will continue for another three months. Amongst others, Llalla also faces charges of money laundering.
2 months ago, the court decided to extend the period of investigation by three months and the former Attorney General filed a motion on March 25 asking for the inquest to be ended.
Former Attorney General, Adriatik Llalla was placed under investigation following accusations made against him after his resignation as chief prosecutor.
Authorities in Albania have launched a reform of the judicial system, which aims at putting an end to corruption and other abuses within the system. So far, this drastic reform has led to the resignation or impeachment of a number of judges and prosecutors, while the justice system in the country is not functional due to the fact that judges still need to be replaced. This in turn has triggered a political debate with the opposition questioning the effectiveness of this reform. /ibna/
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Fourth Circuit Strikes Down Partial Birth Abortion Ban Nearly Identical to Federal Ban Upheld by USSC in 2007
In what appears to be an unprecedented manifestation of judicial activism, the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday struck down Virginia’s partial-birth abortion ban—a ban that is almost identical to the federal ban upheld last year by the United States Supreme Court (USSC) in Gonzales v. Carhart. First, the Court engaged in a circular pattern of logic to conclude that, while both statutes utilize the same definition, the Virginia statute is somehow unconstitutional. Further, while the Virginia statute clearly excludes D&E abortions from its prohibition, the Fourth Circuit found that the statute prohibits all D&E abortions. The Circuit also pandered to abortionists’ claims that a “small fraction” of D&E abortions accidentally result in D&X abortions (or partial birth abortions)—without requiring such claims to be backed up with real medical evidence. In all, the Circuit propagated a decision wrought with anti-life semantics and purpose—a decision that should and will, in all likelihood, result in USSC action.
Two Statutes, One Clear Meaning
In prohibiting “partial birth infanticide,” or “dilation and extraction” (D&X), Virginia’s statute possesses a definition identical to the federal statute’s definition of “substantially expelled or extracted from its mother”: in the case of a headfirst presentation, the infant’s entire head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the infant’s trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother. This definition was undisputedly upheld by the Court in Gonzales.
Moreover, Virginia’s statute explicitly excludes other forms of late-term abortions from its prohibition, stating particularly that D&X shall not under any circumstances include the dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedure involving dismemberment of the fetus prior to removal from the body of the mother.
Thus, for all intents and purposes, the Virginia statute and the federal statute proscribe the same act.
Yet the Fourth Circuit did not agree. When the Circuit’s opinion is examined, however, it becomes clear that the Circuit engaged in linguistic gerrymandering—it had an already-determined conclusion in mind, and utilized all forms of circular logic in order to support its unabashedly anti-life agenda.
Examples of Linguistic Gerrymandering and Circular Logic
The Fourth Circuit relies heavily on the USSC’s determination in Gonzales that the federal statute “prohibits a doctor from intentionally performing an intact D&E,” but “does not prohibit the [standard] D&E procedures in which the fetus is removed in parts.” The Circuit focuses on the fact that the Virginia statute does not [allegedly] protect abortionists from “accidentally” performing D&E, because the statute does not [again, allegedly] include an “intent” requirement. The Circuit then goes on to make the extraordinary claim that, because any D&E abortion can accidentally result in a D&X abortion, the statute prohibits all D&E abortions.
This is a red herring. As already mentioned, the Virginia ban specifically excludes other late term abortion procedures, including D&E. In fact, the Virginia ban is in essence more protective of physicians than is the federal ban in this enumeration. In no way can the Fourth Circuit declare that the Virginia ban will “chill” the practice of D&E abortions, because on the face of the ban those abortions are excluded from prosecution.
In other words, despite the fact that neither the federal nor the Virginia statutes prohibit D&E abortions, the Fourth Circuit struck Virginia’s statute because it does not do so in the same manner in which the federal statute does. The Fourth Circuit disregards the fact that the end is the same: D&E abortions can still be performed. It instead focuses on the means by which Virginia accomplished this standard. This is not at all what the USSC had in mind.
Another example is the Circuit’s continual reference to the “small fraction” of D&E abortions that result in the head of the unborn child becoming lodged, forcing the abortionist to resort to D&X. This “small fraction” language is used throughout the opinion, but never does the Circuit report that any witness before the trial court could actually provide a percentage or ratio of abortions to support that claim. Without such evidence, the simple claim of one abortionist witness that a “small fraction” of D&E abortions end in D&X is purely hypothetical—and the USSC made clear in Gonzales that such hypothetical claims are not proper in facial challenges.
A third example of the Fourth Circuit’s blatant refusal to abide by USSC precedent is its failure to abide by the customary rules of statutory construction—namely, that a court should do everything in its power to preserve the constitutionality of a statute. Here, the Circuit could have easily “read” into the act an “intent” provision. This would have been particularly easy given the statute’s clear provision that D&E abortions are not prohibited. But instead, the Circuit decided to ignore this possibility and strike the entire statute.
It is significant here that the partial birth abortion statutes of Missouri and Utah were also enjoined pending litigation when the USSC decided Gonzales. However, contrary to the Fourth Circuit, those courts found the states’ prohibitions constitutional, and the prohibitions are now in force. The Fourth Circuit is the only court since Gonzales to hold a partial birth abortion statute unconstitutional.
In light of the clearly constitutional language and the precautions taken by the state of Virginia to exclude other abortion procedures, the Fourth Circuit’s decision on Tuesday is nothing short of judicial activism. Thus, the Circuit’s decision should, and in all likelihood will, result in further action by the United States Supreme Court.
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Indiana Prosecutor Wants To Expand State’s Red Flag Law
Posted at 11:00 am on February 4, 2020 by Cam Edwards
Indiana’s red flag law has been on the books since 2005, but a prosecutor in the state says the law needs some changes if it’s going to work as intended. Marion County DA Ryan Mears says under the existing law, someone who’s had their firearms seized can still purchase a gun at retail while they’re appealing the temporary order, and he says that needs to change.
Indiana’s Red Flag Law — also known as the Jake Laird Law — allows officers to seize a person’s gun if law enforcement thinks he or she is dangerous or mentally unstable. A hearing is then set within 14 days.
However, Mears said often times the person whose firearm was taken wants to present evidence and testimony. So the case goes to trial. Mears explains that the process sometimes can take months, and in that time period, the person can legally purchase another gun.
“I think we need to have the courage to say it doesn’t make sense for this person to have the ability to purchase a firearm literally an hour later after they go through this stressful situation,” he said.
Funny, I think prosecutors need to have the courage to say people shouldn’t be stripped of their constitutional rights without due process, and that’s exactly what Mears’ proposed changes would do.
Indiana’s red flag law is named after Jake Laird, an Indianapolis police officer killed in the line of duty, but even Laird’s father isn’t embracing Mears’ proposal.
Laird’s father, Mike, is torn on whether he supports closing this loophole.
“With anything, with any law, there is always going to be a way to skirt the issue,” said Laird. “I would much rather him not be able to get a gun, but I don’t know if it is against his constitutional rights.”
What Mears is calling for simply turns the legal system on its head by putting the punishment ahead of a trial, as Fox 59 in Indianapolis explains.
When a judge signs a Jake Laird order, the order may be forwarded to the FBI as a NICS disqualifier to prevent the person from making future purchases from a licensed firearm dealer. The order must specifically prohibit the person from purchasing, possessing or acquiring firearms.
Mears said this only happens after the trial is over.
I’m sure it would be easier for law enforcement if they didn’t have to worry about things like due process or violating the civil rights of residents. Fortunately, that’s not how it’s supposed to work in the United States, and Mears is way off base by advocating for stripping people of their rights before a trial has even concluded. The prosecutor may see his proposal as a simple shortcut for law enforcement, but it’s far more dangerous to civil liberties than he lets on.
Tags: IndianaMarion Countyred flag law
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Home > Arts & Culture > Music > Taking Music East: Cultural Regeneraon in Glasgow’s East End
Taking Music East: Cultural Regeneraon in Glasgow’s East End
Last week’s Restless Natives cross-venue festival was an attempt to bring music and film to Glasgow’s neglected East End and invest in the area. Was it a doomed exercise or a hint that there are better things to come?
The East End of Glasgow still suffers from endemic inequality. In many parts life expectancy is low, the number of benefit claimants is high and poverty is rife. There are few music or arts venues on this side of the city – in contrast to the leafy west end where even places like Finnieston have been gradually gentrified.
Even the legendary Barrowland Ballroom feels like a lonely island, surrounded by few pubs or venues that could encourage any kind of nightlife.
These are all points that Restless Natives co-organiser Chris Cusack acknowledged in an interview with The Skinny before the festival, promising that they wouldn’t try to “bring in £3 cappuccinos or alienate people.” One of the festival’s stated aims was to “reinvigorate the cultural reputation and commercial prospects of The Barras and Calton areas of Glasgow’s East End”, and to their credit they went the right way about it.
Some of the venues used were admittedly more established and based closer to the city centre, which is understandable given the resources available. However, there were opportunities to explore venues near The Barras like the new event space Collective Studios and the recently converted church St. Luke’s.
I was also impressed by the events that directly tackled the issues at hand. The screening of ‘Bombay Beach’, a powerful documentary that illustrates the sense of despondency that’s so prevalent in neglected areas, was followed by an interview with Darren ‘Loki’ McGarvey.
It felt appropriate that a discussion about cultural and community restoration in Glasgow was led by an artist and youth worker from the city itself. Loki was typically blunt, arguing that arts organisations that are parachuted into local communities tend to accomplish very little in the long term.
His point that “cultural sophistication is not about knowing loads of art but being able to engage with people from different walks of life” also served as reminder that long-standing attitudes remain a huge barrier in the Scottish arts.
It was an informative and inspiring session that was regrettably attended by few. With so many different events on each night it’s possible that my experience wasn’t reflective of the week as a whole, but, generally speaking, the Q&As on local issues drew far fewer numbers than the international music acts.
It was at least encouraging to see Glasgow’s DIY networks so well represented. GMAC Film’s YouTube screenings opened me up to an entire scene that I was less familiar with. Makeup tutorials, artsy dramas and comedy vloggers were all given space to give feedback and connect with each other. Lack of funding, the audience were told, is no barrier, especially as YouTube is no longer looked down upon as a suitable platform.
Elsewhere, some of Scotland’s best music labels hosted showcases: we were treated to lo-fi indie from Fuzzkill Records, madcap punk from No One Knows and Struggletown Records, and a whole range of styles from the ever-impressive Song, By Toad.
Based on the Hot Gems Tunes night, Glasgow’s electronic scene is in particularly fine fettle. HQFU’s set meshed 80s and 90s sounds – from deep house to old school techno – with soaring vocals layered behind for a dynamic contrast. Nightwave was similarly intense; her primal snare-led drum sounds felt like the dominant instrument.
On the other end of the spectrum, Mono’s jazz bill was equally impressive. While The Quarks boasted alt-rock influences and progressive songwriting, BBC Radio 3 regulars the Gus Stirrat Band were a sprawling madness. Their sound was dynamic and constantly moving with their combination whirling saxophones and meaty grooves causing multiple facial spasms in the crowd.
Whether they hail from the East End or not, Glasgow’s clearly not short of talented musicians. Though many of the events weren’t sell-outs, there was certainly a wide array of scenes represented at the festival. Sure, Wu Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah and emo luminary Into It. Over It. drew in distinct audiences of their own, but there were local acts from pretty much every genre imaginable.
From that perspective, Restless Natives was undeniably successful in its aims. The city’s base of musical talent is as strong as it’s ever been; the festival demonstrated that holding gigs in the east end of the city won’t deter people from attending because they expect quality.
To build a festival predominantly off a city’s DIY arts community and make it last for a whole week is an incredible achievement. The fact that it was held in one of the city’s most impoverished areas is even more commendable. Admittedly, the festival’s more serious attempts at rousing debate about local rejuvenation maybe needed wider promotion, but that’s not to denigrate their efforts, especially as I understand that much of the profits have been donated to certain East End charities.
It’s important to remember that Restless Natives isn’t the first festival to ‘look east’; it’s easy to praise such initiatives without recognising that serious long term investment is what’s needed to reinvigorate areas like Calton and The Barras. Still, it’s heartening that there those who recognise that the East End has a rich musical and cultural history of its own. I just hope that the right seeds have been planted and the right connections have been forged – it could make a real difference.
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By Jonathan Rimmer
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By Brian Collins Jan. 22, 2020
As it turns out, perhaps the key to making a successful Bad Boys film in the year 2020 was to confine Michael Bay to one side of the camera. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah took over directorial duties for Bad Boys For Life, the long-awaited (seventeen years!) follow-up to 2003's Bad Boys II, but the explosion master wasn't completely MIA (spoiler?) as he makes a quick cameo as a wedding DJ in the film, prompting cheers and applause from those who recognized the man (it's unknown if he's playing the same shitty car owner character from BB2). It was a nice surprise and relatively sweet gesture from the filmmaker, to pass the torch onto his successors for a film he was at one point slated to make himself.
But the real surprise is that it's actually quite fun (Leigh agrees!), and in my opinion better than Bay's entries, though it's possibly unfair to compare it to the original since that film didn't have much money to spend (Bay said only about half of its 19 million budget went to the actual production). However, it's superior to the second film by any measure - it's got the money to provide the explosive action the first film sometimes lacked, but actually seems like it was made by human beings, an element absent from the last one. Bad Boys For Life essentially offers the best both worlds, a happy medium that retains the over the top action we now expect (the motorcycle chase and out-of-control helicopter climax being two prime examples), but with the heart and humor that made the first film as memorable as it was. Add in the returning characters (Reggie!) and the series' first interesting villain and you get a truly satisfying sequel, the likes of which are few and far between these days.
Adding to the fun, at least for those who have it nearby, is a 4DX presentation, a format that didn't exist the last time Will Smith and Martin Lawrence terrorized the vehicle owners of Miami (hell, we didn't even have Blu-ray back then). For the uninitiated, 4DX adds motion seating, elemental effects (fog, mist, etc) and even smells (N/A) to add to the experience, and as you can expect it works best with action movies. When there's an explosion, your seat will rattle like an earthquake, and when there's a shootout, little puffs of smoke go off near the screen to immerse you in the chaos. It's goofy, yes, and not for everyone (the guy next to me left after five minutes, and no it couldn't have been the movie's quality as it opened with a car chase and if he showed up for a Bad Boys movie only to be surprised by a fast car racing around Miami, he's just a moron), but when it's working well, it's just as much of an enjoyable "gimmick" as well-implemented 3D.
Incidentally, it kind of matched this film's quality in comparison to Bad Boys II, in that it knew when to tone it down a notch and just let things go relatively quiet (I'm not sure I would want a 4DX experience for an unfiltered Bay film). I've been to other presentations where the seat motion was distracting, as if the programmers were afraid that the audience would forget that their seat could move unless it constantly did so, and it was kind of a turn-off. But here, they mostly only used it for the action scenes (with some mild swaying during establishing shots of Miami), and even then didn't turn it up to 11 - in fact, that poor guy that left got the worst of it, I think, as it seemed more "shaky" during that opening sequence than the others. The elemental effects were also used sparingly as opposed to bombarding us; it seems that the people in charge of deciding when to spray us with water and fog are capable of realizing that restraint can be a good thing, a concept Bay is unfamiliar with. Yes, it's a shame that this isn't the 4th film because it would justify the title AND the tech ("Bad Boys 4 Life in 4DX" is the best marketing no one can use), but if the endless development for this film meant that the actors' ages (the first film was their first big star vehicle; they're both in their 50s now) got to play a part and make it a more involving film, then it was a blessing in disguise.
Unlike 3D, which just requires a projector and someone to hand out glasses, 4DX theaters need to be outfitted with the seats (which take up a bit more space, limiting the number of potential tickets sold somewhat) and various gadgets required to deliver all of the atmospheric effects, so it's unsurprising that it's still limited to only about thirty or so screens in the US - retrofitting takes time and money, and it's potentially too niche to end up as ubiquitous as 3D once was. If no one wants 3D, fine - the theater just keeps that lens off and puts the glasses in storage somewhere, but if the 4DX appeal dies, then your multiplex is left with expensive fancy seats that aren't doing anything to justify the tradeoff (they do not recline). So I know it's out of reach for many of you, but if you do happen to have it nearby, it's definitely worth splurging on occasion for the right movie, and if you ask me, Bad Boys For Life qualifies.
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE Review: Growing Up Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Have Fun
By Leigh Monson, Jan 15, 2020
In which the Bad Boys become Good Men.
BAD BOYS: Before “A Michael Bay Film” Was A Thing
Back when "Bayhem" meant only a handful of explosions!
BIRTH.VIDEO.DEATH: The Top 10 Fun Facts About Michael Bay
Featuring Michael Bay's official hype beast, Bayhem.
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This Friday the New York Yankees travel to Kauffman Stadium as they open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals. There will be many a discussion about the “old days” and how at one time the Royals and Yankees had one of the biggest rivalries in baseball. But in 2018 that is no more and hasn’t been for a very long time.
Back in the late ’70’s/early 80’s the Royals and Yankees hated each other as much as Rob Manfred hates anyone standing still. The two teams battled it out in the American League Championship Series from 1976-1978 and then again in 1980. While the feud was mostly based on competition and the desire to reach the World Series, there was also a real built-in hatred there.
Let’s start with 1976 and the series deciding Game 5. In the Top of the 8th inning, George Brett would come up and put the game into a 6-6 deadlock:
Unfortunately for Kansas City, Chris Chambliss would break the hearts of Royals fans everywhere with this walk-off home run to win the series:
In 1977, the play on the field would get even rougher thanks to one of Hal McRae’s patented slides:
This was from Game 2 of the ALCS and it showed that both teams would do whatever it took to come away victors. That would get ramped up even more during the 1st inning of Game 5:
So at this point it is pretty easy to see that the Royals didn’t like the Yankees and the feeling was mutual from the Yankees. The Yankees would rally for three runs in the Top of the 9th and would seal the deal in the bottom of the inning:
The two teams would meet again in the 1978 ALCS and would split the first two games in Kansas City. For the Yankees to win Game 3, they would have to stop George Brett:
Despite the three home run day for Brett, the Royals would fall short again, losing both Games 3 and 4 as the Yankees would once again punch their ticket to the World Series:
While the Yankees were always the team ending up on top during those three years, the truth was that Kansas City was right there with them in most of those games. The two teams would face off 14 times in the playoffs during that three-year stretch and 6 of the 14 games would be decided by two runs or less. Finally in 1980, the Royals would get their revenge:
While many consider Brett’s homer off Gossage in the ‘Pine Tar Game’ to be the most iconic homer of Brett’s career, he would never hit a bigger shot than the one in Game 3 of the ALCS in 1980. After years of falling just short of New York, sweeping the Yankees in 1980 was the definition of things finally coming back around.
The two teams would continue to battle for American League dominance over the next few seasons but wouldn’t ever meet back up in the playoffs. In fact maybe the most remembered moment of their feud was the aforementioned ‘Pine Tar Game’:
After years of feuding, Billy Martin was still looking for a way to stick it to Brett and the Royals. As most of us are aware, this would eventually backfire on Martin, as the American League President Lee MacPhail would uphold the Royals protest and the home run would stand. The Royals would end up winning the game when they restarted the game almost a month later.
After that? Well, the feud pretty much dissipated. The Yankees would have a long playoff drought and not return to the playoffs until 1995. While it would have been great for the Royals and Yankees to continue this rivalry, the truth is that the two teams were hardly ever relevant at the same time. With the main players in the feud gone and retired, the hatred and animosity trickled away as well.
Now in 2018, it’s just business as usual when these two teams meet up. Many of the players not only know each other but are friends with the other side and there is a different aura when the two clash. If anything the only real vitriol that remains is from us, the fans.
In fact if I am being honest, it is mostly from us older fans. As a kid I was trained to hate the Yankees. It wasn’t because they were a big-market team or because they would sign our players when they hit the free agent market. No, we hated them because they were the team the Royals had to jump over to get to the World Series. We hated the Yankees because of all the times they broke our hearts.
While there is still a vile taste left in the mouth when mentioning the Yankees, for younger fans it is more of a ‘Big Market vs. Small Market’ hatred than anything else. Over the last 20 or so years, there are very few moments of the Yankees personally doing something to the Royals to really make us despise them.
I guess you could be mad at former Yankee Robinson Cano for not picking Billy Butler in the Home Run Derby in 2012 or be mad at Derek Jeter for being Derek Jeter. But actual, legit beef for doing something dastardly to our boys in blue? It just isn’t there.
To be honest, it saddens me that this feud has tapered off. There is nothing quite like a healthy competition between two teams that want to win and will do anything to do it. Call it David vs. Goliath, or to modernize it a bit maybe Thanos vs. the Avengers.
There is nothing quite like a good underdog story and for years the Royals played that tune ‘to a T’. Sometime in the future it will happen again and these two teams will rekindle their venom for each other. But for now, it’s just two teams trying to win a nice game of baseball. It’s compelling, but it just doesn’t have the same bite to it.
History of the Game, kansas city royals, playoffs, Uncategorized
2012 All-Star Game, American League Champions, baseball, billy butler, Billy Martin, Chris Chambliss, Derek Jeter, George Brett, Goose Gossage, hal mcrae, kansas city royals, Kauffman Stadium, Lee MacPhail, Major League Baseball, New York Yankees, Pine Tar Game, Robinson Cano, World Series
Should the Royals Use an ‘Opener’?
2 thoughts on “The Royals and Yankees Just Don’t Hate Each Other Like They Used To”
Chambliss and Pine Tar.
Great memories. Thanks.
I wish more of these memories went KC’s way. Alas, we’ll take what we can get…
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You are here: Home1 / Google and Facebook to Build Transpacific Submarine Cable
Google and Facebook to Build Transpacific Submarine Cable
afeeshost
Facebook has partnered with Google to pay for construction of what will be one of the highest-capacity submarine cable systems stretching across the Pacific Ocean, connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong.
This is a second such partnership Facebook has gotten involved in and yet another example of changes happening in the submarine cable industry, which has traditionally been dominated by consortia of private and government-owned carriers.
Operators of mega-scale data centers who deliver internet services to people around the world – companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon – have reached a point where their global bandwidth needs are so high, it makes more sense for them to fund cable construction projects directly than to buy capacity from carriers.
In May, Facebook announced it had teamed up with Microsoft on a submarine cable across the Atlantic, linking landing stations in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Bilbao, Spain. The future transatlantic system, called MAREA, will be operated by Telefonica.
Both Europe and Asia Pacific are important markets for the internet and cloud services giants. The Los Angeles-Hong Kong cable will help improve connectivity between both companies’ data centers in the US and Asia.
The cable will be called Pacific Light Cable Network, taking its name from the third partner on the project: Pacific Light Data Communications.
Both MAREA and PLCN systems will be built by TE SubCom, one of the biggest names in the submarine cable industry.
In addition to simply increase the amount of bandwidth between the US and Asia, the 120Tbps PLCN system will provide greater diversity in transpacific cable routes, Najam Ahmad, director of technical operations at Facebook, wrote in a blog post announcing the project.
“Most Pacific subsea cables go from the United States to Japan, and this new direct route will give us more diversity and resiliency in the Pacific,” he explained.
The FASTER cable system, backed by Google and several Asian telecommunications and IT services companies, came online earlier this year. Another big submarine cable project is the New Cross Pacific Cable System, which is backed by Microsoft and a group of Asian telcos. NCP is expected to come online in 2017. Both will land in Oregon on the US side.
Also this year, Amazon Web Services made its first investment in a submarine cable project, agreeing to become the fourth anchor customer necessary to make the planned Hawaiki Submarine Cable between the US, Australia, and New Zealand possible.
One big way in which PLCN and MAREA will be different from traditional transoceanic cable systems is they will be interoperable with a variety of network equipment, rather than being designed to work with a specific set of landing-station technologies, according to Ahmad. Not only will each user be able to choose what optical equipment fits their needs best, they will be able to upgrade that equipment as better technology becomes available.
“This means equipment refreshes can occur as optical technology improves, including taking advantage of advances made during the construction of the system,” he wrote. “When equipment can be replaced by better technology at a quicker pace, costs should go down and bandwidth rates should increase more quickly.”
November 19, 2017 /by wale
https://blog.afeeshost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/google.jpg 440 660 wale https://blog.afeeshost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/logo.png wale2017-11-19 14:41:512018-08-10 15:41:36Google and Facebook to Build Transpacific Submarine Cable
Why a good website design is so crucial for business growth
What Is Website Hosting?
10 Reasons Why You Needs A Website For Your Small Business
Will Google’s Most recent Update Affect Your Site and Business?
afeeshost Websites Vulnerable To Hackers
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October 27, 2015 February 6, 2018 Andre Calilhanna Disc Manufacturing & Design
A complicated history – and future – for the world’s simplest song
If you’re not following the saga of the song “Happy Birthday To You,” the piece on the Future Of Music Coalition’s site titled “Happy Birthday to You – A Chapter Closes in A High-Profile Copyright Saga” sums up the legal situation in some detail. The story itself gives insight into how complicated copyright ownership can be, and amidst other stories explaining how the original composers, Mildred and Patty Hill, actually wanted the song to be part of the public domain, the question of who should own the rights to the song get even more convoluted.
As the Future of Music article points out: “To fully understand the case history, it must be observed that the copyright of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ may be traced to three separate entities, all of which may give a different answer on the extent of the protection. First, there is the melody of ‘Good Morning to You,’ composed in 1893. Second, there are the birthday lyrics, which were not included in the original classroom version. And finally, there is the 1935 piano arrangement published by Sammy Co. that includes the ‘Happy Birthday’ lyrics, but gives no reliable indication of their origin. It is from this last date that Warner/Chappell has traced its alleged copyright of the song and calculated it to last until 2030 in the U.S.”
Vinyl sales continue to make headlines
Vinyl records’ continued ascent in the past few years has many people thrilled, others predicting the end is nigh, and artists from every echelon of the music industry getting in on the action. Here at Disc Makers we’ve proudly dusted off the lathe and re-introduced vinyl packages to indie artists. Whether this points to a cultural shift back to the long-form record, as the article “Vinyl sales generate more revenue than free Spotify, YouTube, and VEVO combined” (Digital Trends) suggests, is questionable – particularly as the headline’s comparison is to ad revenue from free streaming services and not paid streaming services, which is where the bulk of streaming’s revenue come from.
“Still,” the article contends, “considering a recent report that most music listeners aren’t likely to subscribe to a paid streaming service in the next six months, this leaves plenty for industry members to mull over. Many artists have been critical of the lack of money generated through free — and even paid — music services, where it can take hundreds of millions of plays to generate any sort of notable income. If these numbers hold, more and more of those musicians will continue to work the rebirth of vinyl as part of their solution to that problem.”
JVC and Taiyo Yuden to stop producing optical media – FalconMedia remains a reliable option
In other music news, Victor Advanced Media announced it will cease operations, closing all of its affiliates, including JVC Advanced Media in the US, Europe, and China. The parent company of all these organizations is Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. of Japan. Citing changing market conditions due to “the larger storage capacity of hard disc drives (HDDs) and the use of cloud computing,” the company announced it would exit the market in December 2015.
For everyone using optical media (CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, and BD-Rs), Disc Makers recommends FalconMedia, “the industry’s most reliable and highest quality blank optical media.” Made by Falcon Technologies, Inc. the discs are rated AAA in reliability and compatibility, feature a low error rate, excellent compatibility, and hub-printable surfaces to get maximum results from thermal, inkjet, and silkscreened printers. FalconMedia is playback compatible with home stereos, disc drives, and DVD players. Disc Makers offers free ground shipping via UPS on all FalconMedia blank discs.
A musician, writer, and marketer, Andre Calilhanna manages and edits the Disc Makers and BookBaby Blogs. Follow Andre on Twitter @dre_cal. Email him at andre@discmakers.com.
Making Money With Music Licensing – Part I: Copyrights and Revenue
Music publishing and how Michael Jackson came to own The Beatles’ songs
Back in the vinyl records business after 15 years!
From mastering audio to manufacturing: the steps in CD production
Disc Manufacturing & Design, Music Business, Music Industry News, Music Licensing, Copyrights & Publishing copyright, copyright music, copyrights, custom vinyl, digital music, disc makers, future of music, indie artists, JVC, LP record, Making Vinyl Records, Music Business, music industry, music news, music publisher, music publishing, music rights, record sales, Taiyo Yuden, vinyl record pressing, vinyl record sales, vinyl records permalink
Virtual instruments – the secret ingredient of film, TV, and video game music
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Jackson Harris says Team has Done A Good Job Blocking Out Hype
Jackson Harris focused on Saturday’s contest against Notre Dame.
The Bulldogs will face the Fighting Irish for the second time in the team’s history and the team has done a good j0b of blocking out the hype for this game.
Tight end Jackson Harris said the team has done a good job of focusing on the game and playing Georgia football, not letting the hype around the game distract the team. However, this does not mean that Harris does not see the unique opportunity he is getting with the Bulldogs upcoming game.
“It’s gonna be a fun thing,” said Harris. “It’s gonna be a game we remember for the rest of our lives, but at the end of the day it’s still a regular football game.”
One player that Harris and the other members of the offense will need to not get locked up in the hype is freshman quarterback Jake Fromm, who will be making his first collegiate start. Fromm took over as the Bulldogs quarterback in the team’s opener as sophomore quarterback Jacob Eason went down with a knee injury.
Having a freshman earn his first start in such a high profile game is usually a cause for concern, but Fromm has quickly earned the offense’s trust. One way he has done that is how he has trained and the work he puts in, day in and day out. Harris agreed with this notion and complimented the freshman quarterbacks preparation.
“Jake has definitely done a great job coming in,” said Harris. “He’s the type of guy that even when he wasn’t the starter, he prepared like one so he’s definitely ready, he’s definitely prepared, and done his work up to this time.”
The Bulldogs offense will have to rely on Fromm in some situations and he seems to be ready to lead the offense in this big time college football contest.
Jackson Harris Kirby Smart UGA vs. Notre Dame
Author / Michael Pope
Michael Pope is a Journalism student in the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, with an emphasis in sports. He enjoys covering all sports, especially basketball, football, and baseball.
prev Practice Report- Offense Utilizes Noise Machines in Indoor Facility
Huck’s Corner Podcast: Will Georgia prevail against Notre Dame in South Bend? next
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JeffConnect Puts Patients Face-to-Face with their Doctor over Video
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals partners with American Well® to offer telehealth solution
Today, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals (Jefferson) announced a new way for patients to see doctors through JeffConnect, a telehealth service offering video doctor visits via web or mobile app. Through a partnership with a national telehealth leader, American Well®, Jefferson physicians can now offer patients follow-up appointments virtually, instead of asking these patients to come back into the office in person.
Early on, Jefferson identified telehealth as a system-wide solution to increase quality of care and reduce patient volumes. Using JeffConnect, patients are currently able to schedule follow-up appointments in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Otolaryngology, and Urology with Renal Medicine and Medical Oncology coming online soon. Scheduled consults are also available for Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. In the near future, Jefferson will use video doctor visits for coordinating primary and urgent care, with plans to develop a virtual emergency department and triage capability.
“Jefferson’s goal is to provide care when and where our patients want it. Telehealth is a key part of our strategy to accomplish that,” said Judd Hollander, M.D., Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Dean for Strategic Health Initiatives, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. “We’ll be rolling out programs throughout the next year that can save our patients a trip to the doctor’s office for a follow-up, or even avoid a trip to the emergency room.”
“We are honored to partner with Jefferson as they implement JeffConnect with a vision to utilize telehealth across their entire organization,” said Danielle Russella, President of Customer Solutions at American Well. “Jefferson has innovation and service excellence at its core. JeffConnect will help deliver on these values, by bringing care into the community and Jefferson clinicians right into patients’ homes and work places.”
About Jefferson — Health is all we do.
Thomas Jefferson University, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and Jefferson University Physicians are partners in providing the highest-quality, compassionate clinical care for patients, educating the health professionals of tomorrow, and discovering new treatments and therapies that will define the future of healthcare. Thomas Jefferson University enrolls more than 3,600 future physicians, scientists and healthcare professionals in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC); Jefferson Schools of Health Professions, Nursing, Pharmacy, Population Health; and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and is home of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. Jefferson University Physicians is a multi-specialty physician practice consisting of over 650 SKMC full-time faculty. Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals is the largest freestanding academic medical center in Philadelphia. Services are provided at five locations — Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience in Center City Philadelphia; Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia; Jefferson at the Navy Yard; and Jefferson at Voorhees in South Jersey.
American Well is a telehealth services company that brings healthcare into the homes and workplaces of patients. The Company’s web and mobile telehealth platform connects patients and clinicians for live, clinically meaningful visits via video. American Well, Amwell, and Amwell Therapy Associates are trademarks of American Well Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used are the property of their respective owners. For more information, visit www.americanwell.com.
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Ford CEO Denies Leaving for Microsoft
Alan Mulally says he will stay with auto company at least until end of 2014
Scott Eells / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Alan Mulally, chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., speaks during an interview at the launch of the new Ford Motor Co. Mustang in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally has shot down rumors of him becoming Microsoft’s next head.
“I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford,” Mulally told the Associated Press on Tuesday, adding that he would stick with the company at least until the end of 2014.
Numerous recent reports of Mulally’s imminent departure have been a distraction for Ford, whose shares have more than doubled since he joined the company in 2006.
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KCRW’s Lost Notes, Season Two, Episode One – Now Available
KCRW’s Lost Notes, Season Two, Episode One, “Teenage Offenders” Now Available
Hosted by Music Journalist and Author Jessica Hopper
“People make mistakes on their way to learning the right thing.” – Clif “Hanger” Croce of The Freeze
Santa Monica, CA (April 25, 2019) – The first episode of the 2nd season of KCRW’s acclaimed music documentary podcast Lost Notes, “Teenage Offenders,” is now available. Hosted by celebrated music journalist and author Jessica Hopper, “Teenage Offenders” tells the story of two members of the early American punk band The Freeze, now forty years later, reflecting on their lyrics and their legacy in the #MeToo era.
Rob Rosenthal and his buddy Clif Croce were in high school when they founded The Freeze, a Boston punk band, in 1978. One of the definitive compilations of music from Boston’s 80s hardcore punk scene was named after a Freeze song: “This is Boston, Not L.A.” The band opened for the likes of Black Flag, Fear, the U.K. Subs, and toured across the U.S. and Europe. The Freeze remains Cape Cod’s longest running punk band. Like most punk bands from this era, they sang about what they were against: religion, jocks, and conformity. But they were bratty, too, and aimed to offend. Now, forty years later, Rob and Clif examine their own feelings on what they wrote decades ago.
Season two of Lost Notes examines untold stories from music history, and explores the idea of legacy. Episode two will be released Thursday, May 2, and features author and poet Hanif Abdurraqib exploring Cat Power’s storied album The Greatest. Lost Notes is available for free on Apple Podcasts, KCRW’s website and all other major podcast platforms.
@KCRW, #LostNotes
For more information please contact: Laura Cohen, LC Media, lcmediapr@gmail.com
KCRW Announces Details of Lost Notes, Season Two
April 3, 2019 Laura Cohen
Acclaimed Podcast Welcomes Music Journalist and Author Jessica Hopper as Host and Executive Producer
“Each episode of Lost Notes is an in-depth view of a story you had no idea was so essential until you start listening.” – Complex
Santa Monica, CA (April 3, 2019) – KCRW is pleased to announce details of the second season of the acclaimed podcast Lost Notes – a series of music documentaries – launching on April 25, 2019. For season two, Lost Notes welcomes celebrated music journalist and author Jessica Hopper as host and executive producer.
Lost Notes examines untold stories from music history, and, this season, explores the idea of legacy. What can a song inspire in its listeners or its creators, years or even decades later? What happens when a previous generation’s art is held to a younger generation’s moral standard? Who is obscured by the shadow of an artist’s greatness?
“With this season of Lost Notes our aim was to deepen some of the conversations around legacy,” says Hopper. “We asked for story ideas from folks who had previously contributed to Lost Notes, as well as writers who I had worked with before, with no particular prompt for what sorts of stories we wanted. Many of them came back to us with stories that were retrospective, and worked to reconcile music’s present and its past. This season approaches questions of artistic legacy with openness and real curiosity, and offers up stories that are new and nuanced. These episodes get into whose work, and whose story is considered worth remembering and why. Every episode gives context around the cultural forces that shaped, and in some cases, complicated an artist’s career. I’m someone who is fundamentally interested in the stories of artists who have been relegated to the footnotes, so working on this season of Lost Notes has been hugely satisfying.”
Lost Notes, season two episodes:
Fanny were the first all-female rock band signed to a major label; they ruled the Sunset Strip in the 1970s, and they were supposed to be the next big thing. They’ll explain what it felt like to be so ahead of their time, then, and how they feel about being recognized for it now.
John Fahey’s guitar playing influenced the sound of the American underground for generations. But how does that legacy change when his story is told by three of the women who knew him best?
Author and poet Hanif Abdurraqib explores Cat Power’s storied album The Greatest.
Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh, teenage siblings in London, made Disco Se Aagay, a fusion of Pakistani folk-pop and British new wave, in the early 80s. Arshia Fatima Haq tracks down their lost masterpiece.
A profile of Suzanne Ciani, who balanced her pathbreaking commercial work scoring Coke ads in the seventies with her work as a pioneering avant garde synth composer.
The Freeze were an early American punk band. Now, forty years later, two members attempt to reckon with the lyrics they wrote as teenagers.
In the decades since his death, jazz pianist Billy Tipton has been celebrated as a trans pioneer. Allyson McCabe looks at Tipton’s mysterious life with artists he’s influenced, to find the ways his story resists any simple telling.
Jessica Hopper looks at how gun violence has changed the concert going experience, but why so few people in music are willing to talk about it.
The first episode of Lost Notes will be released April 25, 2019. Additional episodes drop every Thursday. The podcast is available for free on Apple Podcasts, KCRW’s website and all other major podcast platforms.
A sneak peek of what’s to come on Lost Notes, season two, can be heard here.
Episodes from Lost Notes’ first season were listed among the best podcast episodes of 2018 by Audible Feast, The Bello Collective, and Indiewire, praising its “outside looks at some of the best music-related tales of decades past.”
More about Lost Notes season two host and executive producer:
Jessica Hopper is a Chicago-based journalist and producer. She is the author of The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic (2015), The Girls Guide to Rocking (2009), and most recently, the memoir Night Moves (2018). She was formerly Editorial Director at MTV News, Senior Editor at Pitchfork, Music Editor at Rookie, and was the longtime music consultant for This American Life. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Elle, GQ, Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, as well as Best Music Writing for 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, and 2011. She is editor for University of Texas Press’ American Music Series. She is currently at work on No God But Herself, a book about women in music in 1975 (FSG x MCD, Spring 2021). (http://jessicahopper.org)
More about Lost Notes contributors:
Hanif Abdurraqib is an award-winning poet, cultural critic and author based in Columbus, Ohio. His latest book Go Ahead In The Rain (University of Texas Press, 2019) debuted as a NY Times Best Seller. (http://www.abdurraqib.com/bio/)
Allyson McCabe is the creator of Minimum Rock n’ Roll, and regularly reports on the intersections of music, gender, and technology for Morning Edition and All Things Considered. (https://www.allysonmccabe.com/)
Michelle Macklem is an independent producer and sound designer based in Canada and Australia. Her work can regularly be heard on CBC, BBC, ABC RN, Radiotopia, and Re:Sound. (http://michellemacklem.com/about/)
Rob Rosenthal is an independent producer, lead instructor of the Transom Story Workshop, and host of the HowSound podcast about radio storytelling for PRX and Transom. (https://twitter.com/howsoundtweets)
Robin Linn is a radio producer, editor, and writer for PRX’s How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black, Illinois Public Media’s The 21st Show, and an alum of WBEZ’s Sound Opinions. (https://twitter.com/robnlnn)
Carla Green is a print and radio reporter for KCRW and The Guardian, among other outlets, and the managing producer of KCRW’s documentary podcast UnFictional. (http://carlaflournoy.green/)
Dylan Tupper Rupert is a journalist who covers music, culture, and wine. A longtime columnist for Rookie, she is currently based in Los Angeles. (http://www.dylantupperrupert.com/)
Arshia Fatima Haq is a film-maker and visual and sound artist originally from India, currently based in Los Angeles, and a returning contributor to Lost Notes. (https://arshiahaq.com/)
Nick White (creator and executive producer) is an award-winning radio producer and editor based in Los Angeles. His work has been heard on various outlets around the world including NPR, the BBC World Service, Marketplace, WBEZ and WNYC.
Myke Dodge Weiskopf (producer) is a radio producer, field recordist, and songwriter who records under the name Science Park.
Paulina Velasco (associate producer)is a multilingual journalist based in Los Angeles. Her work focuses on immigrant communities and appears in public radio and print.
Marion Hodges is a KCRW DJ and digital contributor.
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Category Archives: Grounds and Buildings
Historical Photograph Collection, Individuals Series, Box MP2
Posted in Celebrations, Commencements, Reunions, P-rades, Grounds and Buildings, Princeton University Archives | Tagged George Bush, Honorary Degree, President Bush | 3 Replies
Posted in Grounds and Buildings, Publicity and Campaigns | Leave a reply
Being Jewish at Princeton: from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s days to the Center of Jewish Life
Posted on April 29, 2011 by Helene van Rossum
“The Princeton of today is not the Princeton of Scott Fitzgerald. And by that I mean you can feel comfortable being Jewish, you can feel comfortable being Asian, you can feel comfortable being African American. And while this might not always have been true (…) it is definitely true today.” The speaker is Erik Ruben ’98 (1:46), one of the students featured in the promotional video below about the Center for Jewish Life, which opened in 1993. Today’s entry takes a brief look at the history of the admission of Jewish students at Princeton since the 1920s.
F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s 1920 debut novel, This Side of Paradise, was set at Princeton and reflected the atmosphere of the eating clubs and of the university itself, which (not to Princeton’s liking) he described as “the pleasantest country club in America.” Fitzgerald wrote his book at a time when some northeastern colleges and universities, particularly in urban areas where many Eastern European Jewish immigrants had settled, perceived they had a “Jewish problem” in that if they admitted too many Jewish students, Protestant middle and upper class students would be driven away. Columbia, which had the largest Jewish enrollment at 40%, was the first to impose a quota in 1921. Princeton, however, always claimed not to use quotas. As late as 1948 Radcliffe Heermance, Princeton’s first director of admissions from 1922 to 1950, vehemently denied a claim that Princeton used a quota to keep Jewish students under 4%. “We’ve never had a quota system, we don’t have a quota system, we will never have a quota system” he told the Daily Princetonian.
A letter from former University of Chicago president Robert Hutchins, who visited Princeton President John Grier Hibben in the early 1930s, indicated otherwise. Hutchins wrote Princeton senior Steven L. Buenning ’71 In December 1970, as Buenning was seeking information for his senior thesis, a biography about Hibben. In the letter Hutchins recalls how he had asked Hibben about the number of Jewish students at Princeton. According to Hutchins, Hibben claimed that the number just happened, whereupon his wife exclaimed: “Jack Hibben, I don’t see how you can sit there and lie to this young man. You know very well that you and Dean Eisenhart get together every year and fix the quota.”
This anecdote has been quoted in several books, and in their footnotes the authors refer to Buenning’s thesis only, which includes quotes from the letter. Above we reproduce the original letter, which is found in Hibben’s presidential papers in the Office of the President Records (AC117, Series 14, Box 65, folder 6). The first paragraph, in which Hutchins recalls Hibben’s professed ignorance about the reasons why black students did not come to Princeton, is remarkable in itself. Unlike Yale and Harvard, Princeton did not admit African American students until World War II (the first four African Americans were in the Navy V-12 program). For more information about African American students at Princeton, see our previous blog.
Heermance limited Jewish enrollment by developing an admission policy that put an emphasis on “character,” which, however subjective, was still regarded as defensible in public. Criteria like “manhood,” “leadership” “participation in athletics” and “home environment and companions” were assessed by using interviews, letters of recommendation, and a social ranking system. A powerful disincentive to even apply was the anti-Semitic reputation of Princeton’s eating clubs, which considered most Jews “unclubbable.”
Posted in Campus life, Grounds and Buildings | 4 Replies
Post-War Princeton: The building of Firestone Library, the Dillon Gym, and Bicentennial celebrations, 1945-1949
Posted on March 18, 2011 by Helene van Rossum
From the start of the Depression until the end of World War II, construction activity at Princeton, like at other universities, was at a near standstill. The first buildings to be erected here as part of the post-war building boom on American campuses were the Dillon Gym and the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library. The four silent films discussed on this post, which are all in color, capture the beginning of the construction of Firestone Library, the dedication of the Dillon Gym in June 1947, and other activities at the close of the bicentennial celebrations of 1946-1947 and the immediate years thereafter.
The origin of the 16mm film that is featured here is unknown. Although it seems excruciatingly slow at times, the 14 minute long time lapse footage spans almost one and a half years, during which the excavation work for Firestone Library was undertaken, the structure of the three underground floors almost completed, and the steel structure of the upper part of the library erected.
As can be seen on this campus map, the space between Washington Road and the then library (what is now Chancellor Green and Pyne Hall) was quite open. During most of the film the camera is facing the Engineering Building on Washington Road (now Burr and Green Hall), and moves between the Joseph Henry House, home of the Dean of the College (the white house seen on the left) and the ’77 Laboratory (the square brick building with the crescent shaped windows on the right). This biology laboratory, donated by the Class of 1877 at its tenth reunion, was demolished in the summer of 1946, which is captured starting at 9:15. The ’77 Lab appears as a pile of rubble at 9:21, when the Bracket Dynamo Laboratory behind it becomes visible. This second lab is gradually broken down in the footage that follows.
The Joseph Henry House, however, was not destroyed but moved instead, for the third time since it was built in 1837. Although the camera focused on the excavation work, preparations for the move to its present location, which according to the Prince started in April 1946, can be followed from 8:40 at the top of the screen. The actual move took place at the end of May, and the house can be seen to have moved a few yards between 9:45 and 9:48. Most of the footage concerns the digging and excavation work prior to the construction work, which had started on Christmas Eve 1945, and was subcontracted to George M. Brewster and Sons (Turner Construction Company was the contractor). The work of Brewster’s “blasting crew,” which according to the Prince in March consisted of a “blast expert,” a “powder monkey” and twelve drillers, can be followed from 3:28, with two explosions visible at 4:35 and 6:48.
Only the last few minutes of the film (10:39-14.15), capture the beginning of the construction of the Firestone Library itself, starting with the lowest floor. The snow at 11.31, surrounding the concrete columns, indicates that a year has passed since the time lapse filming began. On January 15, 1947 the Prince wrote that most of the underground structure had been completed. The footage at 11.53, which includes a view on Nassau Street, must have been filmed during or shortly after February 1947, when the library, according to the Prince had risen above the ground. The film ends with footage of the building of the steel structure of the library’s three floors (13:11), the last shots of which indicating that it is springtime now (13:32).
Posted in Celebrations, Commencements, Reunions, P-rades, Grounds and Buildings | Tagged Firestone, Library, post-war | Leave a reply
Interview with Dean Ernest Gordon and tour of University Chapel, 1977
Today’s post is written by Rev. Frederick Borsch ’57, former Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel 1981-1988.
“A sermon in stone” is a familiar description of the Princeton University Chapel, and it is used to introduce this 1977 film tour of the Chapel’s architecture and windows through an interview with its then Dean Ernest Gordon. Although an effort was made to give the program a semblance of informality, it comes across now as rather rehearsed. First telecast (Nov. 27, 1977) as a 10 minute segment in a Sunday morning NBC-TV series, “The First Estate: Religion in Review,” the film is also, however, not without attractive and educational features. Since the Chapel remains essentially the same, the information is not dated, and there is much to appreciate in watching it. For considerable further information about the Chapel, one can go to the University’s Office of Religious Life’s site about the History of the Chapel to find links to a self-guided tour and an extensive audio-tour. There is also Richard Stilwell’s splendid The Chapel of Princeton University (Princeton University Press, 1971). Next one could go to the Chapel.
“Bring binoculars,” was the advice I was given, as that is the only way to take in much of the detail. The film seems to have been made in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the 1928 dedication of the Chapel. I first entered the building as a freshman in 1953 when it was 25 years old. We undergrads, of course, had other names for the building–not least because attendance at religious services was then required of freshmen and sophomores on every other weekend. One of my roommates, though not himself Jewish, usually went to their Friday evening services in order to get his chit signed and have the rest of the week-end free. Other of my friends might go to a denominational service, but often enough on Sunday mornings we went to the ecumenical (though rather Presbyterian) “God Box” or “Firestone South,” so labeled because the Chapel was neighbor to our more frequent destination–the Firestone Library just across the plaza.
Or, since lore had it that alumnus and plutocrat Harvey Firestone had donated a goodly part of the over two million dollars for building the Chapel, it was also “Firestone’s Folly.” We heard that this sobriquet had been given by earlier critics who would have preferred that the money be used for laboratories, libraries and faculty salaries. At the time, however, President Hibben had acclaimed the Chapel as Princeton’s two million dollar witness against materialism!
Yet it was hard not to stand–literally stand–in awe of the building and all it represented. I stood there. I worshipped in the Ralph Adams Cram Anglo-collegiate Gothic tribute to the unity of faith and knowledge. The visage of the philosopher-skeptic David Hume could even be glimpsed in one of the windows. I listened to the Aeolian-Skinner organ while admiring what has been called the “finest assemblage of stained glass in all the western hemisphere.” (Recently the windows were completely refurbished and restored to the tune of something like ten million dollars. The building and its fabric have over the years been very well endowed!) As an English major, I liked to sense the whole building as a paean to Christian humanism and to pick out Chaucer, Shakespeare, George Herbert, Donne, Milton, Blake, Emily Dickinson and T.S. Eliot. In the only apparent attempt at humor in the 1977 film (other than a reference of Donne’s “unholy” sonnets), Dean Gordon notes the tiger on which William Blake seems to sit. “Tiger, tiger, burning bring / In the forests of the night,” runs through one’s mind, followed by “tiger, tiger, tiger; sis, sis, sis; boom, boom, boom; ah.”
Ernest Gordon became the Chapel’s Dean in 1955. He was “earnest” all right (a little joke of ours), but what a change he brought to the worship with his Scot’s burr, his energetic faith and dramatic story of conversion to Christianity during his four years in a miserable Japanese concentration camp. A handsome man with a certain winsomeness about him (still seen in the film), he invited Billy Graham to campus for what was in affect a mission to undergraduates.
Later Gordon would twice invite (over a number of protests) Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Chapel’s pulpit and preside over the Chapel during the civil rights movement, then a memorial service for Dr. King, turmoil and protests over the Vietnam War–some of these gatherings taking place in the Chapel. As part of all that, a measure of interest in religion grew, but not necessarily in formal church-going. By 1964 all Chapel requirements had finally been dropped as the University became still more secular in outlook and at the same time more diverse in terms of religions. I had to wonder if Dean Gordon did not wince to himself when, at the end of the film, he commented on how important the Chapel was for undergraduates although far fewer were coming to his Sunday morning services than in earlier years.
Truth in blogging: in 1981 I succeeded Ernest Gordon as Dean, and one can read something more about his ministry, the Chapel and the times in my forthcoming Keeping Faith at Princeton: A Brief History of Religious Pluralism at Princeton and Other Universities (Princeton University Press, 2011).
–Frederick Borsch ‘57
This 16mm film is part of the University Archives’ Historical Audiovisual Collection (item no. 1974)
Posted in Grounds and Buildings | Tagged Princeton University Chapel | Leave a reply
Moving Corwin Hall 100 feet, May 20, 1963
Posted on February 8, 2011 by Helene van Rossum
Robertson Hall, the building that currently houses the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (WWSPIA) has been featured in two newsreels: the “Princeton newsreel” of 1961, announcing the, at the time anonymous, $35 million gift of Charles S. Robertson ’26 and his wife, Marie; and the 1966 newsreel about President Lyndon Johnson’s visit to dedicate the building. This post features the building that originally housed the Woodrow Wilson School: Corwin Hall, erected in 1951 and originally known as “Wilson Hall,” which had to be moved 100 feet to make way for the new WWSPIA facility.
The spectacular move of the building to its present site between Wallace and Robertson Hall was recorded via time lapse filming on an 8mm camera by Lawrence l. Rauch *49, who donated the footage to the Princeton University Archives. The engineering feat was accomplished by the New York firm of Spencer, White, and Prentiss, using hydraulic jacks to push the building along twelve steel tracks. The actual moving took only twelve hours but two months were needed to prepare for it and another three months to secure the building to its new foundation.
When Robertson Hall was completed in 1965, Wilson Hall was re-assigned to one of WWSPIA’s chief allies, the Department of Politics, and to the Center of International Studies. Its name was changed to Corwin Hall, in honor of Edward S. Corwin, the first chairman of the Department of Politics and the long-time holder of the McCormick Professorship of Jurisprudence, the professorship originally held by Woodrow Wilson.
This 8mm film, a gift from Lawrence L. Rauch *49, is part of the Princeton University Archives’ Historical Audiovisual Collection (item no. 1980). Adapted from the post by John DeLooper in Mudd Manuscript Library’s Blog with excerpts from Alexander Leitch A Princeton Companion (Princeton University Press, 1978).
Posted in Grounds and Buildings | 1 Reply
Keeping the donor base informed: Princeton newsreels, 1960-1961
Posted on October 15, 2010 by Helene van Rossum
During the $53 Million Campaign (1959-1962) a 13 x 10 foot scale model of the Princeton campus toured 19 major cities and displayed at meetings of the regional leaders of the fund drive. To keep Princeton alumni further informed about progress and developments on campus, the Alumni Council sponsored two “Princeton Newsreels” in 1960 and 1961. The two 30-minute films are interesting to watch, not only because they feature new facilities, achievements in sports and science, and notable events (from Hurricane Donna in 1960 to the donation of $35 million for the Woodrow Wilson School in 1961), but because they also document the University’s first attempts to reach out to its donor base through the medium of film. Contrasting the two films, one cannot help but note that the second film is much smoother in its presentation than the first.
The first newsreel opens with an introduction by the 41 year-old president Robert F. Goheen ’40, and a freshmen lecture about the honor system by Walker Stevenson ’35, president of the National Alumni Association (1:30). The scale model of the campus, mentioned above, is featured at 6:41, when administrative vice-president Edgar M. Gemmell ’34 explains the expansions planned for the next three years. The footage following captures the Hibben and Magie faculty apartments under construction (6:41) as well as the five new dormitories of the New Quad (Class of 1937, Class of 1938, Class of 1939, Dodge-Osborn, and Gauss Halls), the first buildings to be finished since the start of the $53 Million Campaign (7:27).
“Examples of Research” opens with a bird experiment on the roof of Guyot Hall (7:55), followed by the Princeton-Pennsylvania Proton Accelerator, a particle research facility on the Forrestal Campus since 1957 (8:59). In addition, the newsreel includes a demonstration of the thermoheliodon and the heliodon, developed by the Architectural Laboratory to determine the effects of sunlight, wind and radiation (10:19), and research at the Department of Aeronautical Engineering into problems that occur with low speed flight (11:29; footage includes “air car” shown above). In addition, the newsreel features faculty who won an award in 1960: the later Nobel Prize winner Eugene Wigner, Professor of Physics, who received the “Atoms for Peace Award” (15:02) and History Professor Robert Palmer, who won the Bancroft prize for his book Age of the Democratic Revolution (15:25).
The second half of the film features particular places and events, including alumni in the “Princeton Today” program who visited the new C-site at the “Matterhorn Project” (renamed the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 1961), a project for magnetic fusion research funded by the Atomic Energy Commission that had only been declassified in 1958 (15:47, with more about the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the second newsreel). This is followed by the appointment of three new trustees (17:15), the foreign language laboratory (18:57), achievements in sports (track, squash, and lacrosse at 20:06; football (with coach Dick Colman) at 25:04), and Reunions (20:54, with the Class of ’35). In addition, the film includes footage of Triangle chorines during a performance of Breakfast in Bedlam, which toured various military bases and hospitals in Europe during the summer (18:05). The newsreel also documents Hurricane Donna, the only hurricane on record to have struck every East Coast state between Florida and Maine, which hit the campus on September 12, 1960 (23:38).
The second newsreel that was produced during the $53 Million Campaign is more crisply presented, with a clear division into five chapters. The first chapter, “New Facilities,” shows new campus edifices: the Engineering Quadrangle (1:42), the John Foster Dulles Library of Diplomatic History (2:11), the Hibben and Magie apartments at Carnegie Lake (2:22), the new playing fields (2:37), and the dormitory quad with Wilcox Hall (2:48). It is followed by images of students moving into their dormitories (3:44), Class of 1965 freshmen, the new Dean of the College J. Merrill Knapp with Dean Ernest Gordon (4:36), and keycepts “in operation” (4:57).
“Sports” (6:26), the subject of the second chapter, features basketball (6:28), swimming (7:04), track (8:11), and football (8:24), with brief footage of important games and closeups of athletes. In the next chapter, “The Search for Knowledge” (11:32), the number of research project previously featured is reduced to two. The first concerns the new Model C Stellarator at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), the new name of “Project Matterhorn” discussed in the earlier newsreel. The large stellarator, for which facilities had been built in 1960, replaced previous models that had been used in the 1950s. As a second example of Princeton’s achievements in science the research of biology professor Arthur K. Parpart is discussed (14:21).
The fourth chapter, “Going Back” (15:43) includes footage of the Class of 1936’s 25th and the Class of 1911’s 50th reunion, with Joseph Cashman and Dr. William H. Hudnut from the Class of 1886 as members of the Old Guard. (Footage of President Robert Goheen ’40, Grant Sanger ’31, Harold Helm ’21, and Walker Stevenson ’35 is at 16:43). The “major Princeton event of 1961” is saved for last: “Princeton in International Affairs” (19:29) features the $35 million anonymous gift from a foundation (initially called the “X” Foundation, later known as the Robertson Foundation) to establish a professional school for public service at the Woodrow Wilson School. The newsreel ends with a statement by Gardner Patterson, who was the director of the Woodrow Wilson School and of the new program (20:35).
These 16mm films are part of the University Archives’ Historical Audiovisual Collection (item no. 0083 and 0079)
Posted in Academics, Arts, Athletics, Campus life, Celebrations, Commencements, Reunions, P-rades, Grounds and Buildings, Publicity and Campaigns | Tagged Alumni | Leave a reply
Freddie Fox ’39 about old and new: “A Walk in the Springtime,” 1974
Posted on August 13, 2010 by Helene van Rossum
After last week’s film about living and learning at Princeton in 1962, it is interesting to watch “A Walk in the Springtime,” created only twelve years later. The film features the legendary Frederic C. Fox, ’39, whose love and knowledge of Princeton’s history and lore made him the first and only Keeper of Princetoniana in 1976. Helped by his classmate Sandy Maxwell ’39 and Arthur (Buz) Schmidt ’74 (“He looks like a radical but he is only just the son of a classmate” 0:18) Fox reaches out to the many alumni who were uncomfortable with the rapidly changing face of campus.
As with other colleges, the civil rights movement and American involvement in Vietnam had sparked political activism at Princeton, including student demand to be part of campus governance. In addition, the traditionally all-male primarily white, Protestant, private-school educated student body had diversified. Of particular concern for conservative alumni was the introduction of coeducation in 1969. In the film Fox, Maxwell, and Schmidt, take viewers on a tour, with the aim to show that although some things have changed much is still the same.
The film opens with Freddie Fox in front of Nassau Hall’s two bronze tigers, pointing out that one is male and the other female (1:25). After a brief visit to Firestone Library, Fox, Maxwell, and Schmidt sing Princeton songs at the piano in Prospect (8:38). The last part of the film, shot from the top floor of Fine Hall (11:56), contains extensive shots of the old and new buildings on campus.
Outtakes are shown below. Frederic C. Fox died in 1981 at age 63.
These Umatic UC-30 videos are part of the University Archives’ Historical Audiovisual Collection (items no. 0516 and 0528).
Posted in Documentaries and interviews, Grounds and Buildings | Tagged Freddie Fox, Princetoniana | Leave a reply
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Four Championship clubs chasing QPR’s Ilias Chair
Four Championship clubs chasing QPR’s Ilias Chair – originally posted on Sportslens.com
Queens Park Rangers midfielder Ilias Chair is reportedly the subject of interest from four of the Championship’s current top six.
QPR have not had the best of seasons so far, sitting just two points above the relegation zone. In spite of this, Chair has impressed, scoring five goals and creating the third most chances in the division.
Chair celebrates after hitting a beauty against Millwall
This form has attracted attention from some of the league’s most high-flying clubs, with the Sun on Sunday (via the72.co.uk) reporting that Bournemouth, Brentford, Reading and Watford are all hoping to land the Moroccan this January transfer window.
All four teams make up the Championship’s play-off line-up as it stands, and they will all be looking for reinforcements to strengthen their claim for an automatic promotion spot.
Bournemouth are the Championship’s second top goalscorers this term, finding the net 37 times in 22 outings. Blackburn Rovers are the only side with more, having bagged on 38 occasions.
Brentford are in third place, just one goal behind the Cherries, which is impressive given that they lost star men Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma last summer. These sales will give the Bees plenty of money to play with in January.
Reading also boast one of the league’s strongest attacking record, scoring 34 goals in 23 games. However, they have also conceded the most goals in the top eight, so maybe their money would be best spent elsewhere.
Watford are probably the most likely suitors for the player, having scored the second fewest goals in the top half. The midfielder scored QPR’s equaliser against the Hornets in the 1-1 draw between the two sides at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium back in November.
Ilias Chair celebrates an equaliser against Watford
The Rs would be unwise to let their star man go, however. Only Lyndon Dykes has scores as many as Chair this campaign, and four of the Scotland international’s strikes came from the penalty spot.
Mark Warburton’s men have struggled with replacing the likes of Eberechi Eze, Jordan Hugill and Nahki Wells, who scored 40 goals between themselves in the 2019/20 season.
Nickelodeon broadcasts would improve every major sport
Kylian Mbappe future to soon be settled as Liverpool target opens talks
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Thai Communities Appeal Xayaburi Lawsuit Verdict at Supreme Administrative Court
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Xayaburi Dam’s Power Purchase Agreement, filed an appeal today with Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court to reverse the ruling by the Administrative Court, who dismissed the case on December 25, 2015. The appeal asks that the Supreme Court order the lower court to re-examine the case, in recognition of the severe transboundary impacts of the Xayaburi Dam on communities in Thailand.
Through the appeal, the plaintiffs are seeking an order from the Administrative Court, to ensure that the five state agencies responsible for approval of the Xayaburi Dam’s Power Purchase Agreement comply with Thai laws and regulations; including the requirement to carry out a transboundary health and environmental impact assessment, as well as adequate information disclosure and consultations with affected communities.
It was the Supreme Administrative Court who initially accepted the case in June 2014, overturning the previous decision of the Administrative Court who had denied jurisdiction to hear the case. In accepting the case, the Court publicly acknowledged the transboundary impacts of the Xayaburi Dam, and the threat posed by the project to the environment, livelihoods and community interest, particularly in Thailand.
Thapanee Muangkot, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit who traveled from a village along the Mekong River in Nakorn Phnom province, said that she still believes in Thailand’s justice system. She believes that the Court will take the necessary steps to protect the rights of affected people: “I trust in the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2014, that first accepted this case and recognized the transboundary impacts from the Xayaburi Dam,” She said. “This case is for the benefit of all Thai people; and for the future of the Mekong River as a whole.”
The case was dismissed on the grounds that Thai state agencies had complied with Thai law by disclosing basic information on their website. However Thai Mekong communities who will be impacted by the Xayaburi Dam have not been sufficiently informed or consulted about the project. Project proponents have continued to deny that the Xayaburi Dam will have transboundary impacts, and the final designs for the project have not been made public, despite repeated requests from the Mekong River Commission and donor governments.
“This is a landmark lawsuit for the Mekong region in using legal mechanisms to ensure the state’s accountability when investing in projects overseas,” said Pianporn Deetes, Thailand Program Director for International Rivers. “There is an urgent need to address the extraterritorial obligation of state agencies and the private sector within hydropower development on the Mekong River. We hope that the Supreme Administrative Court will grant Thai communities another chance at justice for themselves and the Mekong River.”
Related Topics:axayburilawlawsuitplaintiffssupreme administrative courtthaiThailandxayaburi dam's power purchase agreement
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James WanThe TrenchAquamanWorlds of DCAnnabelle Comes Home
James Wan Talks Aquaman Spin-Off The Trench
1198 Views 0 Comments June 24, 2019
We might have to wait until 2022 for the sequel to DC's Aquaman, but we'll return to the depths of the ocean before that with the horror-infused spin-off The Trench. Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) and Mera encountered the deep sea creatures during a thrilling (and unexpectedly scary) sequence in search of the Trident of Atlan. The nightmarish amphibious monsters were a stand out in the blockbuster movie and news of a spin-off swiftly followed.
Before he helmed blockbusters like Aquaman, and Fast & Furious 7, James Wan built a career on making inventive (and cost-effective) horrors like Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious, and The Conjuring. In recent years, Wan has launched a successful shared universe for The Conjuring with The Nun, The Curse of La Llorona, and the Annabelle franchise. Speaking to Comic Book, Wan teased that The Trench will be the first "monster movie" in the Worlds of DC.
"We, you know, we're still deep in sort of crafting the script, crafting the story right now so I don't want to get into that too much. But definitely it's one that I really want to lean into the horror of it, so it's going to play more as a monster horror movie than it will as a superhero film, but it's still definitely part of the Aquaman world."
While Wonder Woman scored the then DCEU its first unquestionably great movie, the shared cinematic franchise was in dire need of an overhaul. Thankfully, Warner Bros made some changes behind the scenes, and they've course-corrected with genuinely fun offerings like Aquaman, and Shazam! The latter might not have made an enormous impact on the box office; Shazam made enough to get a sequel going. However, it's not all lighthearted adventures, the forthcoming Joker standalone film from Todd Philips has been confirmed as having an R-rating. Add a creature feature with The Trench, and the future of DC looks like it has struck a formidable balance between big crowdpleasers, and smaller character driven pieces.
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Talk to a brain injury attorney in Maryland
Maryland Brain Injury Attorney
Our Maryland brain injury attorney recently obtained a $14,000,000 verdict on behalf of a young man who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle accident. He has obtained multiple verdicts and settlements in excess of $10,000,000. Our Maryland firm prepares every case for trial to maximize the largest possible recovery for its clients.
Our lead attorney is featured in Super Lawyers and is an adjunct professor of trial practice at the Georgetown University School of Law. He frequently lectures to attorneys across the country on the topic of brain injury litigation. In recent months, he presented lectures on identifying and proving brain injuries at seminars in Arizona, District of Columbia, and San Francisco. He has served as a trial consultant for Fortune 500 companies in multi-district litigation, and is regularly consulted on all matters of trial preparation. Our team utilizes cutting edge neuro-imaging techniques, such as diffusion tensor imaging and susceptibility weighted imaging, and includes a triple-board certified physician, experienced registered nurses, and investigators.
Free Consultation with a Maryland Brain Injury Attorney
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Cyril Schäublin
Filmmaker, Switzerland
Cyril Schäublin was born in 1984. He comes from a family of watchmakers and grew up in Zurich. He studied cinema in Beijing and Berlin, graduating from the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) in 2012. His first feature film Those Who are Fine (2017) was presented in Locarno and Rotterdam and received several awards and honors, including an invitation to the New Directors / New Films at the MoMA in New York, the award for best film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018 and a nomination for the European Film Awards 2018 in the European Discovery category. In 2018, Those Who are Fine won the Zurich Film Award. Unruehis is his second feature film.
© Seeland Filmproduktion
Unrueh
A valley in Northwestern Switzerland, 1872. Josephine works in a watch factory where she produces the axis of unrest, a minute piece causing the swing in the center of the mechanical watch. Having difficulties to pay her communal taxes, she soon grows uneasy with the organization of work and possession in the village and its factory, and joins the anarchist worker movement of the local watchmakers, the Fédération Jurassienne. There she meets Piotr Kropotkin, a moony Russian traveller. On a walk through the woods, Josephine and Piotr ask themselves: are not time, money and the government all but fictions?
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Abdelmoneim Rahamtalla & Lena Merhej
Poet, Writer, and Journalist, Sudan & Author and Illustrator, Lebanon
Abdelmoneim Rahamtalla +
Abdelmoneim Rahamtalla was born in Sudan. He is a poet, writer, and journalist. Abdelmoneim co-founded the daily newspaper Ajras al-Hurriya (Bells of Freedom). He has been living in France since 2015. He has published a book in Arabic " زمن اليقطين " and a collection of poetry drawings. Moneim is currently working on his fourth novel Adila. Adila is a historical fiction based on the story of a Turkish woman (Oum Alkhier-Maryam) whose son-in-law is one of the heroes of the Mahdist revolution in Sudan, Prince Osman Dekna (the Mahdist state 1885-1895 was founded by Muhammed Ahmad "Almahdi"). Moneim tries to document Maryam's act of betrayal of her husband, when she revealed her hiding place to the Ottoman authorities.
"Créations en urgence" supported his writing residencies at the Camargo Foundation (December 2019 - January 2020), at the PA-F (November - December 2020), and again at the Camargo Foundation with the artist Lena Merhej (February 2021).
Lena Merhej +
Lena Merhej grew up in Beirut and has lived in several countries. She has written more than thirty albums for children, and is a member of the Samandal collective, a comic book publisher in the Arab world, which received the Alternative Comics Prize in Angoulême in 2019. Her comic books Kamen sine (2009) and Laban et confiture (2012) received the prize of the FIBDA of Algiers. Lena has taught illustration and animation in several universities in Lebanon. She has also written a thesis on the narration of war in Lebanese comics in 2016. She often participates in festivals and book fairs related to illustration. She is currently putting the final touches to a work on Marseille.
The residency at the Camargo Foundation in February 2021 is an opportunity for Lena Merhej and Abdelmoneim Rahamtalla to meet through their respective practices: comics, illustration, poetry, and writing, to see if an album could see the light of day.
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In 1881, the congregation was invited to the Archdiocese of Baltimore and crossed the Atlantic to establish a health care ministry in Baltimore, Maryland. By 1909, convents were established in Washington, D.C. and in Detroit, Michigan. The Sisters of Bon Secours provided the world’s first recorded formal home health care service as well as the first day care facility in Baltimore in 1907 to help working mothers whose only alternative was to place their children in orphanages. St. Edmond’s Home for Crippled Children, established in 1916, was the first Catholic home for the physically challenged.
The Sisters of Bon Secours established their first hospital in Baltimore in 1919. By 1980, the Sisters had established and/or managed several Catholic hospitals, long-term care facilities and other health care services.
The Bon Secours Health System was formed in 1983 to provide skilled, unified management and professional resources for all Bon Secours health care operations while preserving Jesus’ healing mission and Bon Secours’ tradition of providing quality care to all, especially those who are poor, sick and dying.
Over the past 27 years, the Sisters have extended their mission and currently serve along with other religious and non-sectarian organizations in communities in six states: New York, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida. The Sisters serve the needs of these communities through a variety of ministries, including:
Health Care: hospitals, clinics, elderly care, assisted living, home care and hospice,
Social needs: Affordable Housing, education and training for disadvantaged populations, primary care outreach, and
Faith-based nursing: community advocates; national spokespersons for social justice and equity.
To learn more about the history of the Sisters of Bon Secours click here: Archives, a repository for material relevant to the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States, dating from 1881 to the present. We also now have A Century of Caring 1881 – 1981 available from our Archives Office.
The Associates of the Sisters of Bon Secours were formed in 1980 to broaden the scope of the laity’s participation within the community of Bon Secours and the Church. Associates and sisters gather in local community at least monthly for prayer, faith sharing and mutual support as well as mission directed outreach. There are associates in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina and Florida.
Country Leadership
Country Leadership – United States
Leadership Office
To learn more about the history of the Sisters of Bon Secours in the United States contact:
Sister Rose Marie Jasinski
1525 Marriottsville Road
LCWR
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Home Athlete Dante Liberato
by Born Primitive
Dante Liberato was born on September 16th 1998 in Clovis, New Mexico. As a military brat, he was fortunate to have the opportunity to live in many military communities across our country which introduced him to combat arms training and lead him to gain an appreciation for martial arts and competitive sports. He began training in Tae-Kwon-Do when he was in second grade and earned his Black Belt a few years later. Around the same time that he received his belt, he and his father watched the first UFC match between Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Chael Sonnen. Dante immediately fell in love with Mixed Martial Arts and decided at that time that he wanted nothing more than to be a UFC fighter. Dante has been training in boxing, and wrestling since middle school and then picked up Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in High School. He is blessed to have a great coaching staff and wrestling program at Pine Creek High School where he has had an opportunity to compete and learn from the best staff and wrestlers in the State of Colorado. In Colorado Springs he is thrilled to be a member of Prime Jiu Jitsu Center, Underground and Pariah MMA. In the last 18 months, with the training and support of these great teams, Dante have been very lucky to participate in the World Open where he took first in his absolute division and 3rd in the men’s absolute division. He also competed at the National Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships where he took first, the NAGA Utah where he placed first in the expert division and lastly he won a Bronze Medal at the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation Pan-Ams, which put him in the top three of the Americas. Dante is a young Born Primitive athlete, but we are excited to see where his strength and determination for success lands him. “Someone once told me not to bite off more than I could chew. I told them I’d rather choke on greatness then nibble on average.”
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Posted on December 7, 2018 by carlosdev
There is beauty in wisdom.
(2018) Supernatural Horror (Artsploitation) Sofia del Tuffo, Pedro Merlo, Marta Lubos, Marlena Sanchez, Francisco Donovan, Stefania Koessl, Gastón Cocchiarale, Desirée Gloria Salgueiro, Tomás Lipan, Vando Villamil, Victoria Carreras, Juan José Flores Qulspe, Maru Zapata, Juan Vitali, Silvana Di Sanzo. Directed by Gonzalo Calzado
Roman Catholicism is a bit different in Latin America than it is in the rest of the world. In the area from Mexico south to the tip of South America, it is more old school than its counterpart in Europe and North America (above Mexico anyway). In some cases, Catholicism has merged with native pagan religions to form often bizarre hybrids, leading to such things as Voodoo and Santeria.
Natalia (del Tuffo) is a 19-year-old novitiate who joined the convent to escape a chaotic and stressful household. She is happy in her choice – until the Mother Superior (Carreras) who informs her that her mother (Salgueiro) died in some sort of accident and that her father (Villamil) was gravely injured. Natalia is loathe to return home but the Reverend Mother insists.
Back home Natalia finds her more worldly sister Angela (Sanchez) who is not at all happy that Natalia abandoned her. However, the bond between sisters is still strong and when Angela asks Natalia to join her and her friends in the jungle for a Shamanistic ritual involving the psychotropic drug ayahuasca (which some may remember from the documentary The Last Shaman last year) that will allow them to explore their inner selves and maybe, along the way, exorcize some demons. Boy, they have no idea how literally true that is.
So accompanied by Angela’s abusive douchebag of a boyfriend Mauro (Donovan), the sweet Abel (Merlo), know-it-all Osvaldo (Cocchiarale) and the fragile Mara (Koessl), they trek into the Amazonian jungles of Argentina. There they find the shaman at a ruined and abandoned abbey which Natalia has been having nightmares about – that’s never a good thing – her friends begin to have some horrible visions and it becomes apparent that Natalia is up against a powerful supernatural force that is intent on killing her friends – and having sex with Natalia to father an abomination. Aided by the midwife (Lubos) who delivered the baby in Natalia’s visions, she will have to take on a foe that may just bring about the end of days.
This is a very Catholic film; the attitudes throughout reflect the influence of the religion on the Argentine culture. Natalia is a virgin which is an important component of the story. It is no coincidence that the two who survive to the end are both virgins and deep down in the Catholic psyche that’s the way it should be.
The movie is bookended by CGI images of a baby floating around in the womb. The CGI is a bit primitive but the symbolism is unmistakable when the two images are taken together – I’ll leave that to you to figure out because I don’t want to give away too much of the plot. In fact, the movie is rife with symbolism (mostly of the Catholic variety). For example, Natalia’s mother before she died drew in her own blood crude drawings of the female uterus. Look more carefully and the shape is not unlike the Satanic ram’s head.
Del Tuffo is an amazing young actress who is absolutely fearless. She is required to be naïve innocent, pure of heart novitiate and eventually self-confident action hero and sexually rampant woman. There is a scene that other critics are referring to as a “sexorcism” (which is a bit cheesy but accurate) which is as graphic a sex scene as you’re likely to ever see from a Latin American film. Natalia is the most deeply defined character in the movie which helps del Tuffo but even without that she really plunges into the role and makes it her own.
Donovan is similarly strong as Mauro, although his character is a bit more cliché; so too is Cocchiarale who is the smart fat guy who is a bit of a know-it-all. Like most of Angela’s friends, he’s a bit of a jerk which is a departure from American norms for that kind of character; had this have been n American film, Osvaldo would have been sweet but annoying. He’s neither here, however.
The movie is a bit slow in the first half and relies overly much on jump scares. The score is a little too earnest, trying too hard to build up a sense of foreboding which is a good idea but could have been executed better. Given the jungle location, the Colonial architecture of the city and the hacienda-like home that Angela and Natalia grew up in, the images here range from really good to really, really good. I think if the movie had been paced a little better, this would have been one of the best horror films of the year. It’s not quite there – this has been a particularly strong year for horror movies – but it’s not far from the top.
REASONS TO GO: The performances are pretty solid all around. The gore and the special effects (for the most part) are spot on.
REASONS TO STAY: This isn’t as much of a roller coaster ride as I would have liked.
FAMILY VALUES: There is lots of profanity, graphic nudity, sex, graphic violence and gore as well as drug use.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the first film in a proposed trilogy entitled The Trinity of the Virgins.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, Fandango Now, Google Now, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 12/7/18: Rotten Tomatoes: 100% positive reviews. Metacritic: No score yet.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Rosemary’s Baby
NEXT: Swimming With Men
Posted in VOD Review | Tagged abandoned abbey, Argentine cinema, Artsploitation Films, ayahuasca, Buenos Aires, cinema, Cinema365, domestic abuse, Films, Innocence, jungle, Luciferia, Marlena Sanchez, Marta Lubos, masturbation, movies, Novitiate, Pedro Merlo, promiscuity, psychology students, Satan, Satanic rituals, Sofia del Tuffo, supernatural horror, virginity, VOD Reviews | Leave a reply
Going to the market is a little different in Jumanji.
(2017) Adventure (Columbia) Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Rhys Darby, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, Sean Buxton, Mason Guccione, Marin Hinkle, Tracy Bonner, Najah Jackson, Natasha Charles Parker, Kat Altman, Maribeth Monroe, Missi Pyle. Directed by Jake Kasdan
There’s no doubt about it; there are pitfalls involved when making a sequel to a beloved and iconic family film 22 years after the fact. The original 1996 film Jumanji starring the late and equally beloved Robin Williams was based on a Chris van Allsburg-penned children’s book about a board game that had a bit of magic to it, bringing the jungle world of Jumanji into a small town complete with mischievous monkeys, scary spiders, rampaging herds of animals and a sadistic hunter named Van Pelt.
The sequel is a little bit updated. It starts with a young teen in 1996 being sucked into a mysterious console video game much as Alan Parrish was back in the day. Somehow the console with the videogame still in it made its way to a high school audio-video room which a group of disparate teens on detention have been tasked with cleaning up. The game is discovered and videogame nut Spencer (Wolff) is keen on playing it. Fridge (Blain), the football star in trouble because he’d enlisted Spencer to write a term paper for him reluctantly accedes as does Martha (Turner), a shy nerd and Bethany (Iseman), a Queen Bee of the school.
Of course the four teens are sucked inside the game and re-materialize as the avatars they’ve chosen; Spencer becomes the muscular and heroic Smolder Bravestone (Johnson), Fridge the manic but diminutive zoologist Mouse Finbar (Hart), Martha the sultry martial artist Ruby Roundhouse (Gillan) and most amusing of all, Bethany the middle aged and out-of-shape cartographer Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Black). It is the star power of these four that truly makes the film work.
In any case, they are given unique and special powers as well as weaknesses, some of which are amusing – for example, eating cake will make Mouse Finbar explode. Each of the avatars have three lives available; when they use them all up, they are gone from the game permanently and maybe out of real life as well. They are given the mission of retrieving a magic emerald from villainous Van Pelt (Cannavale) – very different than the one in the original – and restoring it into a gigantic panther statue in order to restore balance to the land of Jumanji. Along the way they’ll battle poisonous snakes, voracious hippos, a herd of rampaging rhinos and not-too-bright but vicious henchmen.
One of the big criticisms of the original Jumanji – best articulated by the late, great Roger Ebert – was that the children in the film were often in realistic peril, perhaps much too much for a film aimed at children. Kasdan solves this dilemma by having the young teens morphed into adult avatars which although being in peril throughout can at least say they weren’t children in peril. Parents concerned about this aspect of the original can rest easy.
As I said, the four leads are really the reason to see the movie. Kasdan wisely plays to the strengths of the actors; the rapid-fire delivery of Hart, the easygoing charm of Johnson, Black’s ability to be absolutely uninhibited and Gillan’s lustrous physicality. Fans may recognize her as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy but Doctor Who fans may not recognize anything of Amy Pond in Ruby Roundhouse.
The present-day sequences with the actors playing the teens (not all of whom are juveniles – Blain is thirty years old at the time of release – are less compelling but then again how would you expect even veteran young actors like Wolff to compete with some of the biggest stars in the business? I suppose it’s not really fair but then again it is noticeable that the charm drops precipitously during the bookending sequences of pre-game and post-game.
I have to admit that despite the star power of the cast that I didn’t hold very high hopes for this one. I knew that inevitably it would be compared to the 1996 original and I was pretty sure that it would come out getting the short end of the stick but actually that wasn’t the case. In some ways, the more recent version is better than the original – certainly in the CGI and while Williams delivered a terrific performance along with Bonnie Hunt, the fab four of Johnson, Hart, Black and Gillan all were just as good if not better. I was pleasantly surprised by this and it might just end up in our permanent video collection when the time comes. The fact that the film did some marvelous box office numbers and has already had a sequel greenlit just confirms that the movie-going public agrees.
REASONS TO GO: The adult actors are smashing. This is much better than I expected it to be.
REASONS TO STAY: The actors playing the juveniles are pretty meh.
FAMILY VALUES: There is plenty of action violence, some suggestive content and brief mild profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Johnson and Hart previously starred together in Central Intelligence.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 2/18/18: Rotten Tomatoes: 76% positive reviews. Metacritic: 58/100
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Big
NEXT: Casting JonBenet
Posted in New Releases | Tagged adventure, Alex Wolff, Bobby Cannavale, children's book, Chris Van Allsburg, cinema, Cinema365, Columbia Pictures, Dwayne Johnson, emerald, evil villain, Films, henchmen, homage, Jack Black, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, jungle, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, marketplace, Missi Pyle, movies, Nick Jonas, rampaging rhinos, reviews, Rhys Darby, Robin Williams, seaplane, sequel, Ser'Darius Blain, Tracy Bonner, video game | Leave a reply
Charlie Hunnam suffers some slings and arrows.
(2016) Biographical Drama (Bleecker Street/Amazon) Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Edward Ashley, Angus Macfadyen, Clive Francis, Pedro Coello, Matthew Sunderland, Johann Myers, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Elena Solovey, Bobby Smalldridge, Tom Mulheron, Daniel Huttlestone, Nathaniel Bates Fisher, Franco Nero, Louise Parker. Directed by James Gray
As a species we have an urge to make known the unknown, to travel to uncharted places and make them charted. We also have a yen to leave a legacy, something that cannot be taken away from us no matter what life brings us afterwards.
Percy Fawcett (Hunnam) was such a man. A British army officer at the turn of the 20th century, he chafed in a career that was stalled due not to his own devices but because of his father’s indiscretions. Finding himself at a crossroads, he accepts a commission from the Royal Geographic Society to chart the area near the Bolivia and Brazil border to mediate a dispute between the two countries but not for nothing also to keep the flow of rubber to British industry.
Taking with him his assistant Henry Costin (Pattinson) he discovers a mysterious and alluring wilderness of rich culture and danger. The natives aren’t exactly pleased to see him and they show their displeasure with blow darts and arrows, forcing the intrepid crew into piranha-infested waters. More importantly for Percy’s future, he discovers some artifacts – pottery shards and such – of a civilization rumored to have been extremely advanced and from which the modern natives were descended. They inhabited a vast city which Fawcett referred to as Z (pronounced Zed by the English) and when he returned home he spoke about it. The results were not scientific curiosity but outright disbelief and ridicule. The British intelligentsia couldn’t believe the “savages” capable of any sort of advanced civilization.
Fawcett wants to return and find his lost city but World War I intervenes. When he finally goes a second time, he brings along James Murray (Macfadyen), a veteran of Arctic expeditions whose reputation allows the financing to fall in place but Murray is woefully unprepared for tropical conditions leading to a frustrating end of the expedition. Furious at the RGS for taking Murray’s side, Fawcett quits in disgust and raises the capital himself to mount a third expedition, this time taking his grown son Jack (Holland) with him. The results of that expedition would evolve Percy from laughingstock to legend.
Gray is a director with the kind of visual sense that characterize directors like Zhang Yimou and Werner Herzog. The movie is beautiful, mysterious, and breathtaking. When the first expedition is under attack, Gray shoots it in a way that the audience can feel the arrows whizzing by and the panic setting in as the positions of their attackers are hidden by the dense forest. This may be the most beautiful movie from a cinematography standpoint that you’ll see this year or maybe any other; cinematographer Darius Khondji should be given all the praise in the world for his efforts.
The script is lyrically written and the characters are all fleshed out nicely, giving the actors a great deal to work with. Sienna Miller, as Fawcett’s ahead-of-her-time wife with feminist leanings does an amazing job; you can see her inner spark slowly dimming over the course of the movie as she realizes that her husband, who had encouraged her independence, didn’t fully mean it and that she had in many ways wasted much of her time on a man who was never there, although to her credit the real Nina Fawcett never gave up hope for her husband and son even when the rest of the world did.
The one tragic flaw of the movie is Hunnam. On paper he seems an ideal choice for the role; dashing, handsome and patrician. He never really creates a sense of Fawcett’s obsession; he thunders like a bull elephant from time to time but he doesn’t really pack the screen presence needed to really make the part memorable. It is interesting to note that Brad Pitt was at one time attached to the role but couldn’t make it work in his schedule; I think Pitt might have realized another Oscar nomination (and maybe a win) had he gotten the part. Hunnam is merely adequate which is a shame. It also should be said that Pattinson, nearly unrecognizable in a full beard and an actor I’ve never really connected with, delivers a superb performance here.
The fate of Percy Fawcett has been the subject of much speculation over the decades and the book this is based on presents one theory which is hinted at (but not shown in too much detail) onscreen. It is also worth noting that in recent years evidence has been discovered, not far from where Fawcett was last seen, of a vast network of roads and settlements that might just be Fawcett’s Lost City of Z. I am sure that wherever Fawcett is, he is smiling. I think he is likely smiling about this motion picture about his life as well. It is a very strong movie that is worth seeking out on the big screen, where it most deserves to be seen. This is a real-life adventure worthy of Indiana Jones.
REASONS TO GO: One of the most beautifully photographed films you’ll ever see. The subject matter is fascinating. The era is nicely captured.
REASONS TO STAY: Hunnam is a bit too low-key in the lead role. The movie is a tiny bit too long.
FAMILY VALUES: There are some disturbing images, a bit of violence (some of it involving war violence), brief profanity and some native nudity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Holland had to wear a fake mustache for the movie as he was unable to grow one of his own.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Fitzcarraldo
NEXT: 2017 Florida Film Festival coverage commences!
Posted in New Releases | Tagged 1920s, advanced civilization, adventure, Amazon River, Amazon Studios, Amazonia, Angus Macfadyen, biographical drama, Bleecker Street, British Army, British cinema, cannibals, cartographer, Charlie Hunnam, cinema, Cinema365, Clive Francis, dysfunctional relationship, expedition, explorer, Films, Franco Nero, jungle, lost civilization, movies, reviews, Robert Pattinson, Royal Geographic Society, scientific ridicule, Sienna Miller, The Lost City of Z, Tom Holland, uncharted territory, World War I | Leave a reply
Audiences are going ape for The Jungle Book.
(2016) Family (Disney) Neel Sethi, Bill Murray (voice), Ben Kingsley (voice), Idris Elba (voice), Lupita Nyong’o (voice), Scarlett Johansson (voice), Giancarlo Esposito (voice), Christopher Walken (voice), Garry Shandling (voice), Brighton Rose (voice), Emjay Anthony (voice), Jon Favreau (voice), Russell Peters (voice), Sam Raimi (voice), Ritesh Rajan, Sara Arrington (voice). Directed by Jon Favreau
Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book is rightly considered a children’s classic. The Disney animated version, while not near the top of their list, is at least considered one of the better animated films of its era, complete with a passel of Sherman brothers tunes that continue to be quoted by Disney in their theme parks and commercials.
A live action version continues Disney’s string of live action features based on their animated films and in many ways this is the most challenging project yet. Director Favreau, who is best known for the first two Iron Man films, was an inspired choice to direct this, having done family films as well as big special effects extravaganzas as well.
Mowgli (Sethi) is a young human child raised by wolves after the death of his father (Rajan). Alpha male Akela (Esposito) and his noble wife Raksha (Nyong’o) take on the responsibility of raising the boy as a wolf. Try as he might to fit in, Mowgli has just two legs and no claws to speak of. However he is a cheerful boy and an inventive thinker. Panther Bagheera (Kingsley) is also nearby, making sure that Mowgli is raised right.
Also nearby, unfortunately, is Shere Khan (Elba), a disfigured tiger whose burns had been received at the hands of Mowgli’s dad before the big cat sent him on his way to meet his maker. When Shere Khan finds out that Mowgli is about, he blows a gasket. No human will live safely in his forest while he lives, and Shere Khan sets out to eliminate Mowgli from the board.
Akela and Bagheera agree that Mowgli must leave the pack, despite the laws of the pack that seem to indicate that the pack is stronger together rather than splitting up. Bagheera tries to escort Mowgli to the safety of the human village but Shere Khan finds out and Mowgli and Bagheera are separated. Mowgli is found by Baloo ((Murray), a happy-go-lucky bear who finds a stroke of good luck when Mowgli, ever-inventive, figures out a way for Baloo to get the honeycombs that are high on the top of a mountain that Baloo is unable to reach. Even in this idyllic interlude, the jungle isn’t safe; not only is the tiger after Mowgli but so is King Louie (Walken), the clever but crazed leader of the apes who has an eye on the secret of fire which only Mowgli can unravel as well as Kaa (Johansson), a seductive serpent whose only concern is making Mowgli her lunch.
Sethi is the only onscreen actor who gets any significant time; all the other animal characters and indeed the jungle setting itself is all digitally created. It’s an impressive technical achievement, achieving a photorealistic jungle as well as the animals within it. The computer animators achieve actual personalities in the anthropomorphic subjects, with Baloo’s happy-go-lucky bear augmented by Murray’s acerbic wit; Bagheera’s sleek black form is bolstered with his expressions of annoyance and occasional contentment. It is somewhat ironic that only Mowgli himself is poorly drawn as a character.
It’s not that Sethi is a bad actor – far from it. He shows some real athleticism in his role, but the dialogue for him is a little one-note and Sethi doesn’t vary much in his line reading. Like some child actors, he comes off as a little too sure of himself and perhaps Mowgli’s wolf upbringing might explain this, but Mowgli comes off as almost arrogant to the point of Trumpness.
The voice actors all do wonderful work, particularly Murray and Kingsley, but Johansson, Nyong’o and Walken also distinguish themselves. Favreau is inventive in the way he uses tracking shots and flashbacks, and the movie is never visually boring.
The animated edition is where most of the cues for this movie arise, but there are also other elements from other movies, some surprising. There are nods to Apocalypse Now, for example, when King Louie reveals himself. The appearance of three songs from the original movie is all welcome and you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Christopher Walken warbling “Wanna Be Like You.”
This is some of the best family entertainment you’re going to find in a year that’s shaping up to offer some truly interesting family films that this critic is eager to check out. That’s good news as there has been a bit of a dry spell when it’s come to high quality family entertainment. This one is going to make it into the video library for a lot of kids who will be demanding it from parents who won’t mind giving in. Definitely one of the best family films in years.
REASONS TO GO: Amazing animal effects look completely real. A classic honored with a terrific rendition. Nice little shout-outs to the animated version.
REASONS TO STAY: While Sethi is less annoying then he might have been, he was occasionally a bit overly smug for my taste.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some violence here as well as a child in peril.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the first Disney version of The Jungle Book in which Bagheera and Shere Khan fight.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Tarzan
NEXT: Honeyglue
Posted in New Releases | Tagged adventure, apes, based on a classic novel, bear, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, caves, Christopher Walken, cinema, Cinema365, Disney, family, Films, fire, Garry Shandling, Giancarlo Esposito, honeycombs, Idris Elba, India, Jon Favreau, jungle, Lupita Nyong'o, man-cub, movies, Mowgli, Orphan, panther, pop-up books, porcupine, reviews, Rudyard Kipling, Russell Peters, Sam Raimi, Scarlett Johansson, songs, The Jungle Book, tiger, vengeance, water, wolfpack | Leave a reply
Adrien Brody, Alice Braga and cohorts are definitely NOT in Kansas anymore.
(20th Century Fox) Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalahashbaz Ali, Louiz Ozawa, Changchien, Carey Jones, Brian Steele, Derek Mears. Directed by Nimrod Antal
A very simplistic world-view of life is that we are either predators or we are prey. It’s simply a matter of where we want to be on the food chain, and what we’re willing to do to get there.
Royce (Brody) awakens in a very confused state. One moment he was with his unit, the next there was a bright light and now he is in free fall. That’s not a good place to be when you’re just waking up.
He manages to deploy a parachute and ends up landing safely, if a little bit roughly, in the jungle. One by one, a number of other parachutes deploy and soon there’s a group of people, all with roughly the same story, including Isabelle (Braga) an Israeli sharp-shooter, Stans (Goggins) a convicted killer two days from lethal injection, Nikolai (Taktarov), a Russian trooper keeping the peace in Chechnya, Hanzo (Changchien) a Japanese yakuza, Cuchillo (Trejo) a Mexican druglord, Mombassa (Ali) an African militia man and Edwin (Grace), a doctor.
Royce, for his part, is a black ops mercenary with not much in the way of a moral compass beyond getting the job done and surviving it. What they are all doing there is a bit of a mystery, as is where “there” is – Isabelle, who claims she’s been in most jungles of the world, doesn’t recognize this one. Amazon, maybe?
All that goes out the window when Royce notices that the sun remains stationary in the sky. It further takes a turn for the Twilight Zone when they emerge into a clearing to see a whole arsenal of moons floating serenely in the sky. They are most certainly not in Kansas anymore, or anywhere else on earth for that matter.
The appearance of strange bad-tempered warthog-like creatures with an array of bony spikes protruding from just about everywhere on their bodies doesn’t bode well. However, soon enough Royce figures things out – they are on a game preserve and they are being hunted. Sure enough, a Predator soon makes an appearance, with just enough technology for Isabelle – who was apparently privy to a lot of sensitive information – to recognize them from a report about a strange encounter with an American military team in South America in which only one survivor emerged. Will this team, stranded in an alien planet with no food or water, have even that many survivors?
This is billed as a sequel to the original Predator (1987) and there are plenty of references to the original from the obvious (Isabelle’s report) to the subtle (the playing of “Long Tall Sally” over the end credits, a song that was also played at the beginning of Predator). Obviously, the filmmakers had a great deal of respect and reverence for the original.
They may have been a bit too reverential, however. The storyline is essentially identical to the first Predator with a group of well-armed military people being picked off in a jungle one by one by predators, although in the original it was just one. While the original Predator saw an established and cohesive American military team being attacked, here it is a bunch of people from a variety of different disciplines and nations all brought together for the first time, and they bicker a good deal, although when the rubber hits the road they are terrifyingly good at what they do.
The cast is surprisingly good, especially Brody who isn’t known for action movies. He does a credible job here as the brutal and taciturn mercenary. Brody has obviously bulked up for the role, although he isn’t as muscular as, say, Stallone or Schwarzenegger, he has that wiry muscular toughness which is more in line with what you see in the modern military. Fishburne has what amounts to an extended cameo as the only survivor of a previous group brought to the planet to be hunted – he is there essentially to supply a bit of comic relief (only a bit) as well as a sense of perspective about how long this has been going on.
The action sequences hit all the right buttons, from the “predator vision” which is meant to resemble infrared, to things going boom. There are a number of nausea-inducing killings, which are very high on the cool meter, as well as a really nice sequence when Hanzo goes mano a mano with a Predator.
One of the little things I liked was that the Predators have different looks to them – I’m not talking subtle differences, but major ones, the way you would find in different ethnic groups. One of the problems with science fiction movies is that you rarely get a sense that alien races have the diversity of the human race; they have a tendency to be generically the same.
There are a few little quibbles with science in the science fiction here. A planet or moon that keeps one face turned towards the sun with planetoids or moons orbiting nearby would be torn apart by the gravitational forces; at the very least it wouldn’t have much of an atmosphere. Since some of the scenes take place at night (which I’m assuming occurs when one of the planetoids or moons gets between the game preserve planet and the sun) the screenwriters could have avoided this merely by giving the planet a rotation. Other than the scenes with the spiny warthogs and the view of the multiple moons, there’s no sense that you’re on a distant planet; all of the fauna are earth-bound varieties which would be extremely unlikely, unless the Predators terraformed the planet and seeded it with plants from our own world, which would seem to be a very expensive and labor-intensive job just to create a game preserve.
But these are quibbles and most viewers aren’t going to care about such things. This is about action and there is plenty of it. The action and character development is good enough to make this an enjoyable two hours. In a summer full of disappointments in terms of quality movies and box office, Predators stands out as one of the better popcorn movies in an off year for them.
REASONS TO GO: Solid summer action film fare. Brody is impressive as the mercenary.
REASONS TO STAY: This is essentially the first Predator relocated, with a team that isn’t as cohesive as the first one. You rarely get a sense that you’re on an alien planet.
FAMILY VALUES: There’s a good deal of gore and violence, as well as some nightmare-inducing Predators running around. Given the pervasive foul language as well, I’d restrict this to older teens for the most part.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Rodriguez conceived the idea for the movie back in 1994 and wrote a script that was submitted to Fox, who rejected it for being too expensive to produce. 15 years later, they changed their mind and Rodriguez wrote a modified version of the script that would be less expensive to produce, and delivered – the movie cost $40 million to make, relatively inexpensive for a high-profile summer sci-fi action movie.
HOME OR THEATER: In all honesty, the jungle location is more claustrophobic than grand in scale; it will easily fit in your home theater system. Those with smaller televisions might want to take this in on the big screen, however.
TOMORROW: Inception
Posted in New Releases | Tagged 20th Century Fox, Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, alien planet, aliens, cinema, convicted killer, Danny Trejo, Films, game preserve, guns, jungle, Laurence Fishburne, mercenary, military, movies, Nimrod Antal, Predators, reviews, sci-fi, sci-fi action, Science Fiction, sharpshooter, sniper, stalking, survivalist, Topher Grace, traps | 2 Replies
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791 F.2d 666 (9th Cir. 1985), 84-2155, United States v. 2.61 Acres of Land, More or Less, Situated in Mariposa County, State of Cal.
Party Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. 2.61 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, SITUATED IN the COUNTY OF MARIPOSA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA; Wawona Village, a California corporation, et al., Defendant- Appellant.
2.61 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, SITUATED IN the COUNTY OF
MARIPOSA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA; Wawona Village, a
California corporation, et al.,
Defendant- Appellant.
Argued and Submitted May 14, 1985.
Donald B. Ayer, U.S. Atty., Andrew M. Wolfe, Asst. U.S. Atty., Sacramento, Cal., Maria A. Iizuka, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Martin W. Matzen, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.
Joseph M. Gughemetti, San Mateo, Cal., for defendant-appellant.
Before POOLE and NELSON, Circuit Judges, and KELLEHER, [*] District Judge.
Appellant Wawona Village, a corporate landowner, appeals from a judgment entered by the district court which determined the amount of just compensation for the taking by eminent domain of certain real property it owned. Because we find the district court abused its discretion by denying appellant's request for a continuance of the trial to allow time for appellant to revive itself through payment of back taxes to the State Franchise Tax Board of California, we reverse and remand.
The United States filed a condemnation by declaration of taking 1 in 1977 against 2.61 acres of land in Mariposa County, California, owned by Wawona Village ("Wawona"), a California corporation. The government sought to acquire this land, located in Yosemite National Park, because the proposed development by Wawona was incompatible with public land use policies 2 and because a faulty sewage disposal system created serious environmental problems. The government deposited $82,000, the estimated fair market value of the land, in the Registry of the District Court on December 13, 1977. On January 18, 1980, the government increased the amount to $118,450 to reflect a subsequent government appraisal.
Prior to the scheduled jury trial of the just compensation issue, the government discovered that the State of California had
suspended Wawona's corporate privileges because Wawona had failed to pay back taxes. 3 On March 12, 1984, the eve of trial, the government moved for an order to show cause why Wawona should not be barred from presenting evidence at trial. Immediately thereafter, Wawona moved for a short continuance in order to pay its delinquent tax assessments and to revive itself as a corporation. 4 The district court elected to "deny the corporation [the right] to appear in [the] lawsuit," determining that "under the law [the court] was lacking discretion to do anything [else]." Additionally, the Court reminded Wawona that the March 13 trial date had been set for Wawona's convenience.
Thereafter, a court trial commenced, with the district court affording the government a one day continuance to accommodate one of its witnesses. On March 14, the Court found the fair market value of the land to be $85,000, despite the earlier government estimate of $118,450. On March 23, Wawona, now conditionally revived, filed a motion for relief from the judgment of March 14th. The court denied Wawona's motion on May 7, even though the motion was not ripe because the district court had not yet signed the judgment. On May 29 the court entered judgment, from which Wawona filed a timely appeal.
"The capacity of a corporation to sue or be sued shall be determined by the law under which it was organized." F.R.Civ.P. 17(b). See Chicago Title and Trust Co. v. Forty-One Thirty-Six Wilcox Bldg. Corp., 302 U.S. 120, 125-26, 58 S.Ct. 125, 127-28, 82 L.Ed. 147 (1937). Wawona is a California corporation, which mandates the application of California law. The relevant California law, Cal.Rev. and Tax Code Sec. 23301, provides that the rights, powers and privileges of a corporation may be suspended for nonpayment of taxes. It is well-settled that a delinquent corporation may not bring suit and may not defend a legal action. Reed v. Norman, 48 Cal.2d 338, 343, 309 P.2d 809, 812 (1957). Nor may the delinquent corporation appeal an adverse ruling. Boyle v. Lakeview Creamery Co., 9 Cal.2d 16, 19, 68 P.2d 968, 970 (1937). However, once the corporate powers are reinstated, the corporation may defend an action. Traub Co. v. Coffee Break Service, Inc., 66 Cal.2d 368, 371, 57 Cal.Rptr. 846, 848, 425 P.2d 790, 792 (1967).
The government contends that the legislature enacted Sec. 23301 with a punitive intent. That is, once a corporation fails to pay its taxes, the entity should be forever barred from appearing in a lawsuit. The various penalties detailed in Cal.Rev. and Tax Code Sec. 25962.1, however, belie the government's contention. Moreover, the California Supreme Court has held that Sec. 23301 is intended merely to pressure delinquent corporations to pay their taxes. Boyle, 9 Cal.2d at 19, 68 P.2d 968. See also Peacock Hill Ass'n. v. Peacock Lagoon Constr. Co., 8 Cal.3d 369, 371, 105 Cal.Rptr. 29, 30, 503 P.2d 285, 286 (1972).
A corporation may move for a continuance in order to enable the corporation to
revive itself pursuant to Cal.Rev. and Tax Code Sec. 23305. Schwartz v. Magyar House, Inc., 168 Cal.App.2d 182, 188, 335 P.2d 487, 490-91 (1959); Traub, 66 Cal.2d at 370 n. 3, 57 Cal.Rptr. 846, 425 P.2d 790; Reed, 48 Cal.2d at 344, 309 P.2d 809; A.E. Cook Company v. K S Racing Enterprises, 274 Cal.App.2d 499, 500, 79 Cal.Rptr. 123, 124 (1969) ("[e]ven at the time of the hearing, the court may grant a continuance in order to allow the delinquent corporation to secure a revivor."). Accord, Duncan v. Sunset Agricultural Minerals, 273 Cal.App.2d 489, 493, 78 Cal.Rptr. 339, 342 (1969). 5
In Schwartz, the appellate court found no abuse of discretion when the trial court granted the defendant...
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Posted in: behaviour change, social science
You are here: Home » The Fatty Crab
Behavioural Sciences in the Fatty Crab
(Image Credit: Trip Advisor)
I meet with David Berreby in a Malaysian restaurant called the Fatty Crab on Hudson Avenue in New York. Hudson Avenue starts at the point where the rigid line of 8th Avenue gently dissolves in to the leafy complexity of the West Village. It is a crisp and clear day and I am pleased to find refuge in the bijou warmth of the restaurant. David is a writer and journalist. The reviews of his latest book, Us and Them: The Science of Identity (2008) describe it as a meaty version of Malcolm Gladwell. My rendezvous with David is part of our ongoing conversation about the impact of the behavioural sciences on how we understand and attempt to govern human behaviour.
David is an interesting person. While he is a writer by profession, he has a keen interest in science and its impacts on the human condition. He thinks and talks like an academic, but has a happy knack of being able to write about science in an engaging way. He even spends time teaching the art of accessible writing to budding scientists. What I like about David’s most recent work is that he creatively explores some of the applications and implications of the behavioural sciences for our everyday lives. His latest writings consider whether the quantified self-movement reflects a kind of “outsourcing of humanity”, whereby the decisions we make about ourselves become embedded within an ever more complex technological apparatus. He has also considered whether it would be possible for a citizen to sue a government that had nudged people in a direction that ultimately turned out to be detrimental to their wellbeing.
Our conversation progresses while we eat spiced crab and it feels to me like we are old friends. My sense of automatic kinship stems, I think, from the fact that we tend to approach the contemporary debate about the role of the behavioural sciences in society from very similar perspectives. In our conversation we both identify two broad perspectives on the behavioural sciences in emerging systems of government. On the one hand are those who oppose the emerging role of these sciences in shaping our everyday lives. This group simultaneously overplays the role of these sciences in manipulating humans and diluting human dignity, while also, paradoxically, insisting that related applications of the behavioural sciences are marginal to people’s to-to-day existence. On the other hand are the advocates of the behavioural sciences (working both within government, academia, and the non-profit sectors). This constituency perceives the valuable contribution that related sciences could make to society, but they tend (perhaps as a form of pre-emptive defense) to downplay the significance of related development. They adopt a line of argument that when it comes to nudge-type policies we can all move on as there is nothing significant to see apart from a smarter form of what works government.
What unites David and I’s gestalt is a common desire to chart a path between these two behavioural camps. We want to suggest that the behavioural sciences are having an impact that is both less ethically troubling than the scaremongers suggest, but also more philosophically and constitutionally significant than advocates of these sciences would often have us believe. David is thus keen to explore what long-term developments in the behavioural sciences might mean for human autonomy. I am interested in the potential impacts of these sciences on our collective understandings of the state and citizenship (and the bigger concept of neuroliberalism). These are big questions that are difficult to extrapolate from the as yet modest advances that the behavioural sciences are making. But they should, I think, be important parts of the debate about the behavioural sciences. I see these perspectives as constituting a form of social science of the behavioural sciences, through which the significance of new behavioural insights are understood and interpreted beyond the narrow confines of the decision-making moment and immediate choice architecture. They are forms of behavioural utopianism/dystopianism, within which we allow ourselves to more openly imagine what a future in which humanity more fully understandings its behavioural nature will look like and to question if we like how it looks.
As we tidy away the crab shells and settle the bill I wonder who else is interested in the social science of the behavioural sciences. As we head our separate ways on Hudson Avenue we both express our desire to stay in touch. There may, after all, be not many of us out there, but I suspect there are more than we think.
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Aerial view of Château de Rosières en Vivarais surrounded by forest, with the Monts d’Ardeche behind
Château de Rosières en Vivarais is a medieval château set in the heart of rural Ardèche in the south-east of France. The earliest records we have are from the early 14th century and some parts of the château date from that time (and possibly older) but others evolved over the centuries. It was probably partly destroyed during the hundred years war, then rebuilt and heavily fortified to withstand the religious wars between Protestants and Catholics which dominated France in the 16th-17th centuries. Northern Ardèche was a front line in these wars and the different lords of Rosières left their traces on the château according to their roles in the conflicts.
Under wallpapers we find royalist symbols, and we have discovered documents, including 15th century manuscripts on animal skin, that tell of soldiers sent by the Lord of Rosières to ambush retreating Protestants and violent family feuds as much about politics and religion as inheritance.
A manuscript from May 1577 concerning the installation of a retinue of knights at the ‘fort’ of Rosieres during France’s wars of religion. They were intended to see off any marauding Protestants who passed through the valley. See if you can find the mention of the chateau! (Hint the spelling has changed)
The violent history of the region is why so many of the medieval châteaux like Rosières remain in this area, while others around France were demolished, to be rebuilt like beautiful chocolate-box ornaments. Rosières was somewhat ‘beautified’ in the 17th century, giving it the wonderful doors and ceilings that decorate the main château. Metre-thick ground floor walls were knocked through to create windows and bring in more light, and the lords of Rosières dedicated themselves to being grand farmers presiding over the lush valleys of these low-lying mountains.
The same family held Rosières from the late 18th to mid-20th Centuries. One of them significantly ‘modernised’ several of the rooms in the 19th Century to provide more grandeur, but it otherwise remained largely untouched.
Unfortunately when the chateau was sold in the late 1960s, Rosières went to a rather naïve couple who decided to bring it up to modern 1970s style and remove many wonderful old features, such as huge stone tiles in the entrance hall. Instead they installing truly awful décor and amenities. (Word in the village is that they were ripped off by the tradesmen they employed and convinced to replace many perfectly good things with poor quality, modern equivalents).
Not only did this couple leave a horrible stain on the château’s physical history but they sadly bankrupted themselves and had to sell it. Their impact has dominated our work on the château because we’re focussed on undoing the damage of the 1970s and restoring the beauty and quality of the pre-20th century château. We’re also very aware of the risks of bankrupting ourselves as they did, which means we’re trying to do it in a much more business-savvy way!
Very little work was done to the château for the near-40 years before we bought it in 2016. This was a mixed blessing for us: It allowed us to start afresh, but it gave us a huge uphill task!
Chateau de Rosières as it is today. Blocked up windows hint at layouts from much earlier times.
Until the 1960s Rosières was a working farm, home to many other people than just the owner and his family. This means that we still have several wonderful farm buildings and old houses, ripe for renovation. The château itself has around 32 rooms (it’s hard to tell what to count as a separate room in some of the more run-down parts!) It is surrounded by a complex of four large barns, several outdoor farm buildings such as storage cellars, animal houses, wood stores and haylofts, two derelict houses and a large but ruined former coach house. It’s really more of a hamlet than a stand-alone château! One house even has its own tower that may be the remain of an earlier medieval castle.
This house sits at the ancient entrance to the château and is likely older than the main château. It’s next on the renovation list (spot the awful windows)
Perhaps the most unusual and charming feature of the Château’s outbuildings is a small, 17th Century chapel. In 1654 Antoine de Reboulet married Magdeleine-Marthe Rosières in this chapel. We recently discovered the original altar marble at the back of a barn. It’s inscribed with the initials of the couple, A and M, which are rather wonderfully our initials too and make us feel pre-destined to be here!
The château’s 17th century chapel
Château de Rosières is set in the middle of 130 acres of mostly forest. This makes us gloriously private and quiet, even though we’re only a 15 minute walk to the local village. It also means that we have a lot of work to manage the land and the forest, on top of renovating the château!
Château de Rosières en Vivarais in winter
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Home » North Carolina » U.S. Supreme Court stays ruling striking down North Carolina U.S. House map
U.S. Supreme Court stays ruling striking down North Carolina U.S. House map
Decision means 2018 primaries can proceed in existing districts
WASHINGTON (CFP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has indefinitely stayed a ruling by a panel of three federal judges that invalidated North Carolina’s U.S. House map for unconstitutionally diluting the voting strength of Democrats.
The January 18 decision by the high court means state legislators will not have to redraw the map for the 2018 midterm election, a prospect that threatened to throw the election process into chaos.
The Supreme Court’s unsigned order stays the ruling “pending the timely filing and disposition of an appeal by this court.”
While the order did not indicate how many of the justices were in favor of granting a stay, it did note that two members of the court’s liberal bloc, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, wanted to deny the application for a stay filed by Republican lawmakers.
Common Cause North Carolina and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina sued to invalidate the House map passed by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2016, arguing that the Republican majority improperly used political considerations in drawing the map.
No federal court had ever a stuck down a congressional map for being gerrymandered for political, rather than racial, reasons. But the majority opinion from three-judge panel who heard the case said partisan gerrymandering – a common political practice in many U.S. states – violates a “core principle of republican government” that “voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.”
The January 9 ruling gave state lawmakers just 20 days to draw a new map, an order that is now on hold until the Supreme Court considers the appeal. Qualifying for the May 8 primary is scheduled to begin Feb. 28.
The high court is already considering similar cases involving state legislative districts in Wisconsin and Maryland that could set a precedent for the North Carolina case.
Should the ruling in North Carolina be upheld on appeal, it could have significant effects in other Southern states where Republican state legislative majorities have gerrymandered maps to their advantage, particularly Florida, Virginia and Texas.
Democrats cheered the ruling, which could help them make a dent in the GOP’s 10-to-3 advantage in North Carolina’s congressional delegation. But Republicans accused the judges of “waging a personal, partisan war” against the state GOP.
Ironically, what may have sunk the North Carolina map was the explicit admission by GOP lawmakers back in 2016 that they were drawing lines to maximize the number of Republican-friendly seats – an admission made to overcome objections to a previous map struck down for improperly using racial considerations.
After the map was redrawn in 2016, several incumbent lawmakers were forced to run in new territory and one, former U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers, didn’t survive after she was forced to run against another incumbent in a Republican primary. However, the new map did not change the overall party composition in the state’s House delegation.
The 2016 map has allowed Republicans to hold on 77 percent of the state’s congressional seats, even though election results have been closely divided between the parties in recent statewide and presidential elections.
Donald Trump carried North Carolina by just 4 points in 2016, as Democrat Roy Cooper squeaked into the governorship by a margin of less than 1 percent.
The redistricting case was heard by James Wynn, a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; W. Earl Britt, a senior U.S. District Court judge in Raleigh; and William Osteen Jr., a U.S. District Court judge in Greensboro.
Wynn and Britt were appointed by Democratic presidents; Osteen, who dissented from part of the ruling while concurring in striking down the map, is a Republican appointee.
Tags: Common Cause, North Carolina League of Women Voters, North Carolina U.S. House, Renee Ellmers, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor
By shumater in North Carolina, U.S. House Races on January 19, 2018 .
← Federal judges strike down North Carolina’s U.S. House map over gerrymandering U.S. Senator Rand Paul’s neighbor faces federal assault charge in November attack →
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Marc Scribner Testimony Before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure U.S. House of Representatives
The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investment in our Nation’s Airports Matters
Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Graves, and Members of the Committee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before you today. My name is Marc Scribner. I am a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), where I focus on transportation, land use, and urban growth policy issues.[1]CEI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited, constitutional government. CEI has supported pro-market approaches to infrastructure investment and management through analysis and advocacy during its 35-year history.
The passenger facility charge (PFC) is a congressionally authorized, federally regulated local airport user fee. Under current law, public airports in the U.S. can charge a maximum PFC of $4.50 per passenger enplanement for the first two enplanements of a one-way itinerary. The PFC exists alongside the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), a federal grant program funded through aviation taxes. Together, the PFC and AIP account for approximately half of total airport funding available for capital projects.
AIP funds generally can only be used for airside projects, such as runways, taxiways, aprons, noise abatement, and land acquisitions. In contrast, the PFC funds can be used for AIP-eligible projects plus numerous landside projects, such as passenger terminal and ground transportation improvements, and can be used to service debt. For commercial airports with sizeable passenger volumes, these differences in flexibility have led to a strong preference for the PFC over AIP funding.
Two recent research findings support the expansion of the PFC. First, evidence suggests that PFC use has a positive effect on airport productive efficiency while AIP use has a negative effect. Legislation introduced in the previous Congress would have uncapped the PFC while proportionately reducing AIP authorized spending, with this change in the PFC/AIP mix expected to result in greater airport productive efficiency. Second, major non-aeronautical revenue sources—namely revenue from parking and rental car fees—are facing heightened risks and declining prospects as travelers opt for new ride-hailing ground transportation services to and from airports. Since the PFC charges airport users regardless of their use of airport concessions, it represents a low-risk, predictable, and sustainable revenue source.
In addition to providing airports with predictable and sustainable revenue, the PFC was also designed to promote airline competition. Beginning in the 1950s, airports turned to their airline customers to retire debt and finance airport improvements. In exchange for this financial support, incumbent airlines received long-term exclusive-use gate leases, which were then used to restrict access to new and often lower-cost entrants.
In more recent years, the trend has shifted. The granting of long-term exclusive-use gate leases has become less common, but limited gate availability at large and medium hub airports has still been estimated to raise consumer airfares by billions of dollars every year. In this way, the PFC serves as an important airport self-help tool that can dilute price-setting power by dominant incumbent airlines, thereby benefiting air travelers in the form of improved airport facilities and lower airfares.
A Brief History of U.S. Airport Passenger User Fees
The debate over passenger user fees like the PFC began more than two decades before the PFC was even authorized by Congress. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, some public airports began charging passenger enplanement fees of 50 cents to $1 per passenger in an effort to recoup capital, operations, and maintenance costs from their users. Airlines filed suit against an airport authority in Indiana and the state of New Hampshire over these fees. State courts in Indiana in 1970 and New Hampshire in 1971 arrived at different conclusions on the question of whether or not these fees constituted unreasonable burdens on interstate commerce in violation of Art. I, § 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in 1971.
In Evansville Airport v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 405 U.S. 707 (1972), the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the airports. It held user fees for state-provided facilities were constitutional in that they were reasonably related to the costs of those facilities and did not discriminate between intrastate and interstate commerce. In response, Congress enacted the Anti-Head Tax Act as part of the Airport Development Acceleration Act of 1973 and made clear this law was in direct response to the Court’s ruling a year earlier.[2]This law remains on the books today and generally prohibits airports from imposing taxes or fees on air travelers.[3]
By the mid-1980s, the Reagan administration and members of Congress were concerned that federal aviation policy was having adverse impacts on airports. Airports had become heavily reliant on federal grant funding, and this funding relationship led to reduced airline competition at large airports to the detriment of the traveling public. Rather than eliminating the Anti-Head Tax Act, supporters of increased airport self-help and airline competition sought to create a narrow exemption to the general prohibition for a federally authorized local passenger enplanement fee.
In its 1990 National Transportation Policy, known as Moving America, the Bush administration formally proposed the PFC.[4]This proposal called for “[r]elax[ing] restrictions on the ability of State and local governments to raise revenues and use them for transportation facilities and services,” but ignored the competition benefits of this policy.[5]This omission was noted by Thomas Gale Moore, an economist who served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors during 1985-1989, who wrote in 1990 that “[PFC] revenue would also make airports less financially dependent on their tenant carriers and would encourage them to provide more facilities for new carriers…. Competition at airports that are dominated by one or two carriers could thus be enhanced.”[6]
In 1990, Congress passed the Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act, which established the PFC.[7]Airports began collecting PFCs in 1992. Initially, the maximum PFC was set at $3 and airports charging the $3 PFC were required to return 50 percent of their AIP apportionments. In 2000, Congress passed the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, which increased the maximum PFC to $4.50 with an increased AIP apportionment turn-back of 75 percent for imposing PFCs greater than $3.[8]This was the last time the PFC cap was raised. Efforts to increase the cap or eliminate it entirely have been unsuccessful.
The PFC Is Superior to Alternative Revenue Sources
Airports in the U.S. have a variety of aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue sources, but the largest sources are the PFC and AIP. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of FAA data and interviews with airport officials, these two sources combined account for half of total airport funding available for capital projects.[9]The PFC is a local user fee collected by airlines and remitted directly to airports, with those funds never touching the federal treasury. In contrast, AIP is a federal grant program under the Airport and Airway Trust Fund that is funded by aviation taxes on tickets, flight segments, cargo waybills, fuel, international arrivals and departures, and frequent flyer awards.[10]
PFCs and AIP funds complement one another by supporting different classes of airport projects, which is largely a function of differences in project eligibility.[11]AIP is generally used to fund airside construction projects (e.g., runways, taxiways, aprons, noise abatement, and land acquisition). In contrast, PFCs are generally used to finance landside improvements such as passenger terminals that often are not eligible for AIP funding. This is because AIP-eligible projects are PFC-eligible projects, but not vice versa. Importantly, the PFC can be used to service debt, unlike AIP funds.[12]And because the PFC is a local user fee, federal statutory and regulatory requirements on labor and procurement that impact AIP funding do not apply to projects solely funded or financed by PFC revenue.[13]The table below provides a comparative breakdown of the use of these complementary programs:
The flexibility of the PFC vis-à-vis AIP also has consequences for airport productivity. Recent research has found that increasing airport reliance on PFC revenue while simultaneously decreasing airport reliance on AIP revenue increases airport productive efficiency.[14]The implication is that leaving the PFC cap at the current $4.50 while increasing AIP funding by spending down the unobligated funds in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund would have a negative efficiency impact.
This also suggests that a bipartisan legislative proposal from the 115thCongress to eliminate the PFC cap, require 100-percent AIP funding turn-back for charges over $4.50, and proportionately reduce the total annual AIP authorization by $400 million would not only reduce federal spending and promote local self-help, it would raise airport productivity.[15]
It has been claimed that airports should rely more on non-aeronautical revenue as a substitute for raising or eliminating the PFC cap.[16]Certainly, airports should examine opportunities to generate non-aeronautical revenue, as the collection of revenue from these sources generally does not impact airfares and air travel demand. In 2017, nationwide PFC collections totaled $3.29 billion.[17]In the same year U.S. commercial service airports generated $21.94 billion in total operating revenue.[18]Of that total, 46 percent came from non-aeronautical revenue sources.[19]The table below breaks down non-aeronautical revenue of the 500 reporting commercial airports:
Land and non-terminal facility leases/revenues
$760,852,386 (07.5%)
Terminal-food and beverage
Terminal-retail stores and duty free
Terminal-services and other
Rental cars-excludes customer facility charges
$1,855,840,802 (18.3%)
Total Non-Aeronautical Revenue
$10,141,135,572 (100%)
Source: Form FAA-5100-127 Report data (2017)
As the data show, 60.2 percent of non-aeronautical airport revenue came from rental cars, parking, and ground transportation. Yet this dominant portion of non-aeronautical revenue also carries the greatest revenue risk. In recent years, Americans have been increasingly using ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft to and from airports. A recent study from the Airport Cooperative Research Program found that the introduction of ride-hailing has led to an 18 to 30 percent decline in the use of shared-ride vans, a 4 to 13 percent decline in rental car transactions, and a 5 to 10 percent decline in parking transactions.[20]
While these estimates are based on a limited sample and research is ongoing, preliminary data suggest these declines in revenue are likely to exceed any new airport fee revenue generated from ride-hailing.[21]This means that as ride-hailing services continue to grow in popularity, this ground transportation net revenue decline may accelerate. Increasingly risky non-aeronautical airport revenue is not a viable substitute for proportional and predictable passenger user fee revenue.
Competition Benefits of the PFC
As was noted above in the discussion of the history of the PFC, a second non-fiscal aim of the PFC was to enhance airline competition and promote lower consumer airfares. In the 1950s and 1960s, in exchange for airlines assuming existing airport debt and other financing arrangements, many airports granted incumbent airlines long-term exclusive-use gate leases. This led to a minority of gates being available for new carrier entrants.[22]
These gate access limitations harm consumers. Economists have estimated that airfares are $5.6 billion higher in 2017 dollars than they would be with adequate gate access to support new carrier entrants at large and mid-sized airports.[23]This figure dwarfs the $3.29 billion in nationwide PFC collections in 2017.[24]
That the PFC serves as a sustainable revenue source insulated from airline control is uncontroversial. Further expanding the purchasing power of the PFC by eliminating the statutory cap and with a focus on improving airline competition—especially through the expansion of common use gates available to new carrier entrants—could result in substantial airfare savings for consumers. These savings could more than counteract the modest negative marginal impact on travel demand of increased PFCs, as estimated by the Government Accountability Office, especially if airline ancillary fees were to be included in the full price unit of analysis.[25]
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Committee, and I welcome your questions.
[1]. My biography and writings are available at https://cei.org/expert/marc-scribner.
[2]. See S. Rep. No. 12, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 12 (1973), reading in part: “The provision is in response to a situation which has been brought about by [Evansville Airport v. Delta Airlines, Inc.], upholding passenger head taxes enacted by New Hampshire and by Evansville, Indiana, for ‘aviation-related purposes.’ While this decision has invited state and local governments to enact head taxes or fees on air travelers, the Court decision does not provide adequate safeguards to prevent undue or discriminatory taxation.”
[3]. 49 U.S.C. § 40116.
[4]. U.S. Department of Transportation, Moving America: New Directions, New Opportunities – A Statement of National Transportation Policy Strategies for Actionat 57 (Feb. 1990), available athttps://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/531.
[6]. Thomas Gale Moore, Good Enough for Government Work: Why Moving America Is Unsatisfactory, 13 Regulation2, 15 (Summer 1990), available at https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/1990/7/v13n2-2.pdf.
[7]. Presently codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. § 40117.
[8]. 49 U.S.C. §§ 40117(b)(4) & 47114(f)(1)(B).
[9]. Statement for the Record to the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate of Gerald L. Dillingham, Ph.D., Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability Office at 7 (Mar. 23, 2017), available athttps://www.gao.gov/assets/690/683640.pdf.
[10]. See Federal Aviation Administration, Current Aviation Excise Tax Structure, available at https://www.faa.gov/about/budget/aatf/media/Excise_Tax_Rate_Structure_2018.pdf(last accessed Mar. 19, 2019).
[11]. SeeFederal Aviation Administration Order 5500.1, Passenger Facility Chargeat 12-13 (Aug. 9, 2001), available athttps://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/PFC_55001.pdf.
[12]. Rachel Y. Tang, Financing Airport Improvements, Congressional Research Service at 14 (May 10, 2017), available athttps://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43327.
[13]. Federal Aviation Administration, PFC and the AIP,available at https://www.faa.gov/airports/central/pfc/pfc_aip/(last accessed Mar. 19, 2019).
[14]. Bo Zou et al., US airport financial reform and its implications for airport efficiency: An exploratory investigation, 47 Journal of Air Transport Management66 (2015).
[15]. Investing in America: Rebuilding America’s Airport Infrastructure Act, H.R.1265, 115th Cong., 1st Sess. (2017).
[16]. See, e.g., Letter from Pete Sepp, President, National Taxpayers Union to Reps. Peter DeFazio and Sam Graves (Feb. 7, 2019), available athttps://www.ntu.org/publications/detail/ntu-pens-letter-to-transportation-committee-regarding-the-passenger-facility-charge.
[17]. Federal Aviation Administration, Key Passenger Facility Charge Statistics as of February 28, 2019, available athttps://www.faa.gov/airports/pfc/monthly_reports/media/stats.pdf.
[18]. Federal Aviation Administration, CATS, Form FAA-5100-127 Report data, available athttps://cats.airports.faa.gov/Reports/reports.cfm.
[20]. Peter Mandle and Stephanie Box, Transportation Network Companies: Challenges and Opportunities for Airport Operators, Airport Cooperative Research Program Synthesis84 at 5, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017), available athttps://www.nap.edu/catalog/24867/transportation-network-companies-challenges-and-opportunities-for-airport-operators.
[21]. Id.at 28, 33.
[22]. Steven A. Morrison and Clifford Winston, Delayed! U.S. Aviation Infrastructure Policy at a Crossroads, in Aviation Infrastructure Performance: A Study in Comparative Political Economy at 20-22, eds. Clifford Winston and Gines de Rus (2008), available athttps://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Winston_aviation_chpt2.pdf.
[23]. Id. at 22. $4.4 billion in 2005 dollars adjusted by Consumer Price Index to 2017 dollars via Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator, https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl.
[24]. Federal Aviation Administration, supra note 17.
[25]. Government Accountability Office, Raising Passenger Facility Charges Would Increase Airport Funding, but Other Effects Less Certain, GAO-15-107 (Dec. 2014), available athttps://www.gao.gov/assets/670/667444.pdf.
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A Road Map to Modernize and Develop Russia
Vladimir Ryzhkov
As anticipated, the report recently issued by the liberal Institute of Contemporary Development titled “21st-Century Russia: Reflections on an Attractive Tomorrow” caused a big stir in the muddy waters of Moscow’s elite.
The opposition forces quickly threw their support behind the main thesis of the report — that the successful modernization of the country is impossible without political democratization. As expected, United Russia and propagandists loyal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin viciously attacked the report, accusing its authors of trying to return the country to the “wild ’90s” and even of thirsting to dismember Russia, a scenario that former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski famously described in his 1997 book “The Grand Chessboard.”
Most observers have contemptuously labeled the Institute of Contemporary Development report “utopian.” They contend that the proposals are not only unrealistic a priori, but also that the overwhelming majority of Russians do not support the ideas, even if they could be carried out in theory. In my view, the accusation that the report is “utopian” and calls for a return to the “wild ’90s” are entirely unfounded.
The authors are all renowned specialists in their fields: Igor Yurgens, chairman of the management board of the Institute of Contemporary Development; economist and sociologist Yevgeny Gontmakher; journalist and military analyst Alexander Golts; economist Leonid Gregoryev; political scientist Boris Makarenko and others. They took a fair and objective look not only at the unprecedented corruption and government abuses of the 2000s that transformed the country into a bureaucratic and autocratic police state, but also at the destructive chaos of the 1990s.
A call to reject and fundamentally reform the failed 2000s is far from being a call to return to the failed 1990s. On the contrary, the report proposes a new strategy for developing and modernizing the country. In both the 1990s and the 2000s, leaders all but ignored the task of building modern government institutions. The freewheelers in the administration of former President Boris Yeltsin and the champions of the “power vertical” in Vladimir Putin’s administration both ruled the country through decrees and by taking “manual control” of affairs. Moreover, both administrations to one degree or another did little to develop an independent parliament and judicial system, a multiparty political system or the rule of law.
The main problem in Russia was, and still is, the absence of functional political institutions. The country’s chief scourge is not the “raw-
materials curse” but the “institutional curse.” The government has turned into a gang of more than 2 million predatory bureaucrats-cum-marauders — some wear epaulets and some do not.
In the latest Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10, Russia dropped 12 spots in the ranking from the previous year — to No. 63 out of 137 countries. The reasons for Russia’s fall were: a shortage of effective state institutions (ranked 110th in the world), an insufficiently independent judicial system (ranked 116th), a lack of protection of ownership rights (ranked 119th) and government favoritism toward individual companies. In 2001, when Putin promised to strengthen the state and lead Russia to prosperity, the country’s overall competitiveness ranking was actually higher (ranked 58th), and the rankings for the quality of its institutions and protection of ownership rights were twice what they are today. So much for Putin’s promise to “strengthen the state.”
The authors of the Institute of Contemporary Development report focused on the creation of modern institutions and on forming a civil environment for citizens and business. What’s more, they offer very concrete and feasible proposals for reforming the military, police, secret service, economy and social services. The main reforms are not technologically based but institutionally. The report addressed one of the most important reasons behind the country’s backwardness and lack of competitiveness — the country’s weak and dysfunctional institutions.
Opponents of the report were most infuriated by the authors’ insistence upon the need for political reforms as a necessary precondition for modernizing institutions, the economy and the country’s technological base. That proposal prompted the champions of the police state to claim that they sensed the authors’ desire to “return to the wild ’90s” and to “Ukrainize” Russian politics.
But political competition, freedom of the press, an authentic multiparty system, direct elections of governors and mayors, the rule of law and an independent judiciary were not simply characteristic of the 1990s. They are, as the authors justly point out, clearly mandated by the Constitution. Moreover, they are fundamental attributes of any modern, developed state. Of the top 30 countries in the Global Competitiveness Report, only four do not have strong democratic institutions: Qatar (ranked 22nd), United Arab Emirates (23rd), Saudi Arabia (28th) and China (29th). But in contrast to Russia, all of those countries give high priority to protecting property rights of businessmen and investors, upholding the rule of law and maintaining the separation between public officials and private business.
There are a great many supporters of deep reforms in Russia. Political scientist Mikhail Afanasyev surveyed 12 groups representing Russia’s elite: regional and federal officials, military and law enforcement officials, judges, leading businessmen, officials working in health, science and education and journalists. It turned out that only two of those groups — Federal Security Service agents and federal officials — support Putin’s power-vertical and state-capitalism models.
The remaining groups that were surveyed reject these models. They agreed that instead of modernization, the country’s institutions are deteriorating, and the state is becoming increasingly incompetent in its ability to manage the economy. These groups believe that the country needs to carry out serious political reforms — above all, intruding real political competition by institutionalizing a multiparty system, the separation of powers, civil society, the direct election of governors and strengthening federalism among regional governments. They also support a politically responsible government, parliamentary control of the executive branch, an independent judiciary that is accountable to the public and full freedom of speech.
Thus, the Institute of Contemporary Development report not only addresses Russia’s most important institutional weaknesses, it also demonstrates that the most educated and active members of society understand exactly what reforms the country has to undertake to achieve political and economic modernization.
Vladimir Ryzhkov, a State Duma deputy from 1993 to 2007, hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Georgia: Tbilisi Ponders Implications Of Ukrainian Presidential Vote 1 April 2014 By CESRAN Int.
US-Pakistan dialogue with a difference 1 April 2014 By CESRAN Int.
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1 edition of Historical illustrations of the origin and consequences of war found in the catalog.
Published 1832 by Printed by R. Barrett, sold by T. Ward in London .
Statement by the author of An examination of the principles which are considered to support the practice of war.
Series Tract of the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace -- no. 10
Contributions Author of An examination of the principles which are considered to support the practice of war
Adolf Hitler was leader of the Nazi Party who rose to become dictator of Germany. Hitler used his power to orchestrate the deaths of 6 million Jews and millions of others during World War II. Less an insight into the experiences of war, it concerns itself more with how to win in conflict. Purchase: $9. The Big Two-Hearted River. Every list of ‘best war books’ on the internet either features Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls or A Farwell to Arms. We are in agreement that both are fantastic, but we wanted to draw.
- Explore cgelson's board "Books: Picture Books (Historical Fiction)", followed by people on Pinterest. See more ideas about Historical fiction, Books and Childrens books pins. A Suicidal Embrace: War as Self-Punishment and Suicide; On Writing Childhood History; Teaching Psychohistory; The Childhood Origins of the Holocaust; The History of Child Abuse; The Phallic Presidency; The Political Consequences of Child Abuse; The Universality of Incest; Yugoslav Childhood; Audiobooks; Books by Lloyd deMause. Reagan’s.
History of publishing, an account of the selection, preparation, and marketing of printed matter from its origins in ancient times to the present. The activity has grown from small beginnings into a vast and complex industry responsible for the dissemination of all manner of cultural material. The natural environment has been a strategic element of war since the first rock was thrown by the first cave dweller. The armies of ancient Rome and Assyria, to ensure the total capitulation of their enemies, reportedly sowed salt into the cropland of their foes, making the soil useless for farming—an early use of military herbicide, and one of the most devastating environmental effects of : Marc Lallanilla.
Agricultural Ethics: Issues for the 21st Century
The euro-dollar system.
Technology for Education Act of 1994
Historical illustrations of the origin and consequences of war Download PDF EPUB FB2
Mars and Venus. The Roman god of war, Mars, takes center stage in the Consequences of War. He stands astride with sword in hand, held low, but which is pointing toward a chaotic scene of battle. His head is turned sharply backward as he gazes upon a gorgeous nude depiction of Venus, the goddess of love.
Her head is resting on the back shoulder of : Peter Paul Rubens. Books shelved as effects-of-war: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, We Are Called to Rise by Laura McB.
Illustration Chronicles explores a history of illustration through the images, illustrators and events of the past years.
By selecting one work from each year the site explores the contexts in which illustration has existed and picks a unique topic every few.
World War II: The Definitive Visual History is a comprehensive, authoritative, yet accessible guide to the people, politics, events, and lasting effects of World War II. Perhaps the most complex, frightening, and destructive event in global history, the Second World War saw the heights of human courage and the depth of human degradation/5().
Origin Series. 3 primary works • 3 total works. In this romantic YA science fiction series, seventeen-year-old Evie Dasher deals with the devastating consequences of humanity's war with the alien Luxen.
Four years after its end, she is swept up in the alien resistance and, in the More. Book 1. The Darkest Star. by Jennifer L. : Jennifer L. Armentrout. Military alliances were formed on both sides: First NATO, on April 4, in the USA geopolitical sphere and as a direct response due to the Cold War the Soviet Union (USSR), on created the Organization of Warsaw treaty, better known as Warsaw Pact.
Military history, memoir, and even a novelized series make this list of can’t-miss books about the Great War United States World War I soldiers reading in the War Library Service section of the.
A contemporary of Blake's, the famous wood-engraver Thomas Bewick (), also made a notable contribution to the history of 18th century illustration with his celebrated books A General History of Quadrupeds () and A History of British Birds (Vol IVol. History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides.
I won’t lie to you, this is a long book. But it tells the history of the epic war between Athens and Sparta — it is geo-politics, it’s strategy, it’s leadership, it’s lessons in grief, rhetoric, and persuasion.
Perhaps the most original and honest trilogy on the psychological effects of war, the third entry in the series, The Ghost Road, rightly picked up where the first one missed out, winning the. Historical context.
Rubens painted Consequences of War between and in response to the Thirty Years' War (–). The conflict's origins are complex and diverse but animosity between Protestants and Catholics played a significant role.
In addition, struggles for political power in Europe contributed to and prolonged the war. Nearly all European states fought at some point in the conflict's Artist: Peter Paul Rubens. So for several decades after the war, people liked to think of themselves as being the heroes of the war.
The French resistance is a perfect example. Suddenly at the end of the war everybody in France was a member of the resistance and the idea of collaboration was very conveniently swept under the carpet. Discover the best Vietnam War History in Best Sellers. Find the top most popular items in Amazon Books Best Sellers.
A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the effects of, or recovering from war novels are historical novels.
Three student books with complete coverage of the most popular history topics. Causes, Practices and Effects of War Authoritarian and Single Party States Cold War A Comprehensive Guide to Paper 1 provides: Complete coverage of the prescribed subjects with a /5(25).
Historical context Edit. Rubens painted Consequences of War between and in response to the Thirty Years' War (–). The conflict’s origins are complex and diverse but animosity between Protestants and Catholics played a significant role.
In addition, struggles for political power in Europe contributed to and prolonged the ions: cm × cm (81 in × in). The effects of war, are widely spread and can be long term or short term. Soldiers experience war differently than civilians, although either suffer in times of war, and women and children [citation needed] suffer unspeakable atrocities in particular.
In the past decade, up to two million of those killed in armed conflicts were children. The widespread trauma caused by these atrocities and. In the short history of Vietnam War literature, publishers would hardly touch a book on the war until the late s and early s—a part of the self-induced national amnesia about that conflict and its outcome.
After sufficient time had elapsed to ease some of the war’s psychic wounds, we saw a mini explosion of important books. World War II Causes: Selected full-text books and articles The Origins of the Second World War in Europe By P. M.H. Bell Routledge, (3rd edition) Read preview Overview.
In times of crisis, we often turn to artists for truth-telling and memory-keeping. There is no greater crisis than war, and in this sumptuously illustrated volume, we find a comprehensive visual, cultural, and historical account of the ways in which armed conflict has been represented by artists.
Covering the last two centuries, from the Crimean War to the present day, the book shows how the. The Essentials: Six Books on the Civil War These six histories of the Civil War that are must-reads if you want to better understand the conflict A group of officers in Culpeper, Virginia reading.Q.
What are the consequences of war? A. There are many consequences that come about from war. To name a few First you need to understand that war in and of itself, is a form of politics. By far the most damaging form, and most inefficient form of.Rubens, explaining his painting, The Consequences of War, said: The principal figure is Mars, who has left open the temple of Janus (which in time of peace, according to Roman custom, remained closed) and rushes forth with shield and blood-stained sword, threatening the people with great disaster.
cinemavog-legrauduroi.com - Historical illustrations of the origin and consequences of war book © 2020
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4 edition of Indian education act of 1971 found in the catalog.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
hearing before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-second Congress, first session, on S. 2482, a bill to authorize financial support for improvements in Indian education, and for other purposes.
by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
Indians of North America -- Education -- Law and legislation
Series Native American legal materials collection -- title 3849.
Indian education act of hearings before the General Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress, second session, on H.R. and S. National Portal of India is a Mission Mode Project under the National E-Governance Plan, designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India. It has been developed with an objective to enable a single window access to information and services being provided by the various Indian .
This is a chronological, but incomplete list of Acts passed by the Imperial Legislative Council between and , the Constituent Assembly of India between and , The Provisional Parliament between and , and the Parliament of India since Airports Authority Of India Act, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, All India Council for Technical Education Act, All India Services Act, All-India Institute of Medical Science Act, All-India Services Regulations (Indemnity) Act.
In this article, I document some of the most significant historical events and trends that have shaped the policies and practices of education in Alaskaãespecially those that have most directly impacted schooling for Alaska Native people. (record group 75) overview of records locations table of contents administrative history records of the office of the secretary of war relating to indian affairs records of the office of indian trade general records of the bureau of indian affairs records of the commissioner of indian affairs and his immediate.
The Colditz Story
The economic impact of Dean E. Smith Activities Center events on Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Indian education act of 1971 by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Download PDF EPUB FB2
The Indian Education Act empowers parents; funds student programs The Indian Education Act establishes the Office of Indian Education and the National Indian education act of 1971 book Council on Indian Education, and provides federal funds for American Indian and Alaska Native education at all grade levels.
This book frames Native American education through the common federal policy eras: treaties, removal, assimilation, reorganization, termination, and self-determination.
I consider this book to be a definitive introductory source in the history of federal policies toward the education of Cited by: Agarwal`s book is an indictment of the existing Indian higher education system and a reiteration of the urgent need to reform it.
Indian Higher Education is rooted in data, each bit carefully selected to illuminate the higher education scene, rather then justify any one particular viewpoint.
[The book] is the definitive work on the by: It is the only comprehensive Federal Indian Education legislation, that deals with American Indian education from pre-school to graduate-level education and reflects the diversity of government involvement in Indian education; It focuses national attention on the educational needs of American Indian learners.
Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. The Indian education act of by United States.
Office of Education.,U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education: for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. : The Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Actwhich represents the consequential legislation to the Constitutional (86th Amendment) Actensures that children up to the age of 14 have the right to education in a neighborhood school.
The secondary level of education in India includes children at the age of Indian Education (Short Story) By Sherman Alexie About the Author Sherman Alexie, the son of a Coeur d’Alene Indian father and a Spokane Indian Mother, was born in and grew up on the Spokane Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, home to some 1, Spokane tribal Size: KB.
strengthened with enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act which makes it the right of every Indian between years of age to gain admission for education to complete 8 years elementary schooling. The. A direct result of Nixon’s declaration was the Indian Education Act ofwhich established the Office of Indian Education and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.
This landmark legislation outlined a comprehensive approach to meeting the unique needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students.
Analyzing the Indian Education Act ofthis report presents both historical background and future projections relative to the Act. The history of the Act is presented in terms of discussion on: (1) Legislative Preparation; (2) Hearings; (3) Drafting and Passing the Bill; (4) Appropriating Funds; (5) Rescinded Funds; and (6) Funding for Jayanti Shipping Company (Acquisition of Shares) Act: 63 Coking Coal Mines (Emergency Provisions) Act: 64 Asian Refractories Limited (Acquisition of Undertakings) Act: 65 Uttar Pradesh Cantonments (Control of Rent and Eviction) Repeal Act: 68 Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act: 69 Contempt of Courts Act.
The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was formed by Native educators in to encourage a national discourse on Native education. For 50 years, NIEA has hosted an annual convention to provide a forum for collaboration.
NIEA adheres to. The Indian Civil Rights Act of (ICRA) (see Federal Laws), 25 U.S.C.§§ (ICRA), provides as follows: " Indian tribe " means any tribe, band, or other group of Indians subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and recognized as possessing powers of self-government.
" powers of self-government " means and includes all. - The Indian Education Act becomes law and establishes "a comprehensive approach to meeting the unique needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students" - The case of Mills v.
the Board of Education of Washington, D.C. extends the PARC v. Get this from a library. Indian education act of Hearing before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-second Congress, first session, on S.
Septem [United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on. The Indian Education Act oftogether with federal bilingual programs, which became available to Indian schools inhave helped this process, though some observers believe their supplementary nature sometimes makes it difficult to integrate Indian language and culture into the regular school by: 9.
Place land reform acts and amendments to these act under Schedule 9 of the constitution. 30th: Amend article 27 February Change the basis for appeals in Supreme Court of India in case of Civil Suits from value criteria to one involving substantial question of law.
31st: Amend artic and 17 October The mission of the Office of Indian Education is to support the efforts of local educational agencies, Indian tribes and organizations, postsecondary institutions, and other entities to meet the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives so that these students can achieve to the same challenging State performance.
Special Education Today in India last four decades, less than 1 percent of children with disabilities are edu- cated in inclusive setting (The Hindu, ).
Search the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books. My library. The truth about the US Indian boarding school policy has largely been written out of the history books.
There were more than government-funded, and often church-run, Indian Boarding schools across the US in the 19th and 20th centuries. Indian children were forcibly abducted by government agents, sent to schools.The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, is an Act of the Parliament of India which prohibits the desecration of or insult to the country's national symbols, including the National Flag, the constitution, the National Anthem and map of India including contempt of Indian on: Act No.
69 of Visit Birchbark Books to view a list of books and prices. District and School Self-Assessment for Implementing Indian Education The Office of Indian Education is dedicated to supporting districts and schools to better serve the needs of American Indian students.
As such, we are providing a Self-Assessment Rubric for your use. This voluntary.
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Home Asbestos Mesothelioma Awareness Day
By Citizens For Health Asbestos September 21, 2020
Post sourced from Mesothelioma.com
The 17th Year of Recognition
In 2004, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation created Mesothelioma Awareness Day (MAD) as a way to educate, spark conversations, and generate widespread awareness for this rare disease. Mesothelioma is a cancer that affects nearly 3,000 people in the United States annually. With only one known cause, mesothelioma has been discovered to be directly correlated through exposure to asbestos. Understanding the harmful effects of asbestos exposure, as well as how mesothelioma attacks the body, is the starting point to becoming an advocate for this important community.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that can be found across the United States. Known for its tensile strength and heat resistance, it was utilized as an additive in a variety of different products, most commonly building materials. Asbestos has been proven to be carcinogenic in humans, and exposure can lead to asbestos-related illnesses, such as mesothelioma cancer. Exposure occurs when asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) become damaged, releasing fibers into the air. These airborne fibers have the ability to be inhaled or ingested by humans, where they can wreak havoc on our internal organs. Exposure is most prevalent among construction workers, military personnel, and factory workers.
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer linked directly to asbestos exposure. Once in the body, these fibers will cling and remain stagnant to the lining of internal organs. The lining of the lungs, heart, and abdomen are the most prominent areas of the body where mesothelioma can develop. Over the course of 10 to 50 years, asbestos fibers cause tissue scarring and inflammation to the linings of these organs. Tumors slowly begin to develop, and symptoms may start to appear decades after exposure.
Coughing, chest pain, loss of appetite, and fatigue are just a few of the minor symptoms that occur when someone has mesothelioma, often mimicking less severe illnesses. A mesothelioma diagnosis is difficult to discern solely based on a medical evaluation, and a tissue biopsy is necessary to perform in order to be conclusive. The life expectancy of someone who is diagnosed with mesothelioma is bleak, with the average time span being 12 to 21 months. If you or a loved one begin to experience these symptoms, or have a history of working with asbestos, you should be evaluated immediately and on a consistent basis. Catching this disease early greatly improves routes of treatment and the overall prognosis.
With knowledge that the latency period of mesothelioma is so dramatic, the leading demographic of this disease is men over the age of 65. Alongside senior citizens, those who have held jobs in the military, construction/demolition fields, and first-responders are all proven to be disproportionately affected by asbestos due to the heavy use of this material in the early 1900s.
While women and children are susceptible to asbestos exposure as well, traditionally these occupations were held by men. However, if a worker came home with loose asbestos fibers on their clothing and skin, their families would then become vulnerable to second-hand exposure.
Why we need a global ban
Currently, there are 63 countries with full asbestos bans. Among this list, the United States has yet to put a full ban into effect, which continues to put citizens at risk of new exposures. By implementing a full ban with mandates to abate all ACMs from homes and buildings, not only will citizens be safer from past and future usages, but our environment will be greener because of it. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 10,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed across the globe each year. With mesothelioma being one of the only non-genetic cancers, it can be completely erased from the world of oncology. However, it’s pertinent to keep spreading information about the dangers of asbestos in hopes that a global ban or further legislation can be enacted soon.
While Mesothelioma Awareness Day is once a year, the thousands of patients and families battling this disease is every day. Understanding the dangers of asbestos allows for everyone to be an active member of the conversation. Mesothelioma has the potential to be a disease of the past, however this will only happen if we all come together to raise awareness.
AsbestosCFHCitizens for healthmesotheliomamesothelioma alliance
Tell Your Senators to Vote NO TODAY on Durbin’s Amendment No. 2127!
By James J. Gormley and Frank Herd, Jr. Starting at 2:00 p.m. today, May 24th, the Senate will vote on 17 amendments to the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S. 3187) – also known as the FDA User Fee bill (S.3187) – followed by a vote on final passage, including anti-supplement Amendment No. 2127 from Senator Dick…
An Open Letter to Consumer Reports: 10 Misinformation Hazards in Your “10 Surprising Dangers of Vitamins and Supplements” Article
By James J. Gormley It is personally disappointing for me that Consumer Reports, the flagship of the respected marketplace-empowerment organization, Consumers Union, has once again seen fit to arm the American consumer with detrimental misinformation regarding safe, beneficial food supplements. In the alarmist piece which appears in the September 2012 issue, the anti-supplement subtitle reads: “Don’t assume they’re safe because…
Critics left, right, and other, including us from time to time, find it easy to pillory and mock President Trump’s erratic, unpredictable, and apparently highly inconsistent style of leadership. They call him “child,” “clown,” and bumbling amateur. Then the President’s response to the horrendous pictures of gassed civilians leading to the American bombing of Syria reminds us that, as President, he wields enormous power that deserves, nay, requires, more than mockery.
Barack Obama and Donald Trump share a common aversion to ‘nation-building’ in foreign policy.
“Health at Gunpoint: The FDA’s Silent War Against Health Freedom”
What forces and interests direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and why is this out-of-control law enforcement agency working so hard to take dietary supplements out of our hands? These are the central questions explored by Citizens for Health’s very own VP and Senior Policy Advisor, James Gormley, in Health at Gunpoint: The FDA’s Silent War Against Health Freedom,…
Organic Consumers Association Supports Crackdown on Radioactive Food
Early last month Citizens for Health, along with the other coalition members of Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN), filed a petition with the FDA to drastically reduce the amount of radioactive cesium permitted in food, from a ridiculous 1200 Bq/kg to 5 Bq/kg (see why here, read why here). The Bq (Becquerel) is a measure of radioactivity. The FDA is…
Introducing EAT TO BEAT DISEASE
Hello, Everyone, Molecular medicine has finally been joined by molecular nutrition which is being brought to us by Dr. William Li, MD, New York Times bestselling author of EAT TO BEAT DISEASE: the New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself. Perhaps you have seen Dr. Li’s Ted Talk or one of his YouTube video presentations. Dr. William Li…
COVID-19 is Really Two Diseases – To Treat the Second One, You Have to Name It Correctly
By Daniel Cobb, DOM COVID-19 starts out as a usually mild and rather benign viral infection. In conventional medicine, they either claim that “there is no treatment” or possibly use anti-viral pharmaceuticals. Then they wait for the virus to go away. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t in rather spectacular ways. Those in the medical community have looked at…
Millions of American Consumers are Food Identity Theft Victims
Food Packaging Deceptions Threaten National Food Integrity FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Primary Media Contact: Kevin Sanchez Hollenbeck Associates (415) 227-1150 ext. 10 kevin@hollenbeckassociates.com WASHINGTON, DC – Even as more American families are trying to make healthier diet choices, many duplicitous food makers are contributing to the spread of Food Identity Theft. Despite government safeguards and restrictions, dozens of…
The contemporary Transpartisan movement appears to have two quite different faces. Many transpartisans, perhaps most, associate with the most recognizable theme, which might be called the Dialogue Approach. This approach regards conflict as inevitable and binary…
COVID-19: Suggestions for staying healthy
The COVID-19 health crisis is evolving daily, and providers of important products and services are scrabbling to keep up. Until supplies catch up with demand, what else can we do? As much as possible, you should stay home and avoid other people unless required to go out for work or important services or supplies. If you don’t live alone, everyone in…
The Bonvie Blog: Coronavirus – Why aren’t we using high-dose IV-C to treat Coronavirus patients?
The Bonvie Blog: Forget about yourself – do it for your dog!
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Universal Basic Income: Preliminary Results from the Finnish Experiment
The big selling points for a universal basic income are simplicity and work incentives. The simplicity arises because with a universal basic income, there are no qualifications to satisfy or forms to fill out. People just receive it, regardless of factors like income levels or whether they have a job. There are not bureaucratic costs of determining eligibility, and no stigma of applying for such benefits or in receiving them.
The gains for work incentives arise because many programs aimed at helping the poor have a built-in feature that as you earn more on the job, you receive less in government assistance. From one standpoint, this seems logical and fair. But economists have been quick to point out that if someone loses a dollar of government benefits every time they gain a dollar from working, the implicit tax rate is 100%. When there are a number of different programs aimed at the working poor, all phasing out on their own individual schedules as income rises, the result can be that low-income people face very high implicit tax rates--even in some situations close to 100%. But a universal basic income does not decline or phase out as someone earns more income.
There are plenty of assertions about how a universal basic income would affect work incentives, but actual hard evidence is still accumulating. The province of Ontario announced that it would run a three- year experiment, but then cancelled it after one year. An organization called GiveDirectly is running a universal basic income experiment in Kenya, although results aren't available yet, but there is reason to be skeptical as to whether the cost and effects of such a program in a low-income country will offer natural lessons for high-income countries. A firm called YCombinator is planning to run a universal basic income experiment in two US cities starting in 2019, but details still seem sketchy. The city of Stockton in California has just started an experiment where 130 people will get monthly payments of $500 for the next 18 months. The program in Alaska in which residents get a payment from the state based on oil royalties, typically $1000-$2000 per year, can be viewed as a form of a universal basic income, although it's clearly not enough to live on by itself.
Finland has been running an experiment with a university basic income for the last couple of years, and preliminary results on work behavior are now available. The report is "The basic income experiment 2017–2018in Finland," edited by Olli Kangas, Signe Jauhiainen, Miska Simanainen, Minna Ylikännö and published by Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (February 2019). They write:
"[T]he amount of basic income was 560 euros per month. This corresponded to the monthly net amount of the basic unemployment allowance and the labour market subsidy provided by Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland). Two thousand persons aged 25–58 years who received an unemployment benefit from Kela in November 2016 were selected for the actual experiment. They were selected through random sampling without any regional or other emphasis. ... Despite its deficiencies, the Finnish experiment is exceptional from an international perspective in that participation in the experiment was compulsory and it was designed as a randomised field experiment."
The effects on employment during the first year of the experiment (that is in 2017) turn out to be essentially nonexistent
Of the persons who in November 2016 received an unemployment benefit from Kela, 57 per cent had no earnings or income from self-employment in 2017. The figures also reveal that the average income of those who had been in employment was only around 9,920 euros. ... [T]he experiment did not have any effect on employment status during the first year of the experiment. The number of annual days in employment for the group that received a basic income is on average about half a day higher than for the control group. Overall, receipt of any positive earnings or income from self-employment, either from the open labour market or the subsidised labour market, is about one percentage point more common in the treatment group. However, resulting earnings and incomes from self-employment turned out to be 21 euros smaller.
In other results based on phone surveys, those who received the universal basic income expressed greater confident in their own future, and they expressed a belief that it would be easier to accept a future job offer. It will be interesting to see if these attitudes lead to actually higher employment as the 2018 data becomes available .
It's important to note that like all practical experiments, the Finnish experiment was not a completely pure universal basic income. For example, the experiment targeted the long-term unemployed, not the working poor as a group, and those receiving the benefit still dealt with the government for other support programs, like housing assistance. In adidtion, the experiment would need to be considered in the context of Finland's overall labor market. So the results are preliminary in a number of ways. But it's hard to spin them as encouraging.
For those who would like a bunch of links to discussion of the Finnish experiment and broader recent discussions of a universal basic income, a useful starting point is the extended blog post at the Brueghel website by Catarina Midoes, "Universal basic income and the Finnish experiment" (February 18, 2019).
For a pragmatic discussion of how a true universal basic income--that is, a payment to everyone that does not phase out regardless of income--might work in a US context, interested readers might start with Universal Basic Income: A Thought Experiment" (July 29, 2014). If one took all the money from US (nonhealth) antipoverty programs, as well as a number of tax breaks that tend to benefit the middle-and upper-class, one could fund a universal basic income for the US of about $5800 per year.
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Steve Smith and Ashes Action
By Lee Austin September 6, 2019 Cricket No Comments
During the second series of the historical clash between Australia and England, Steve Smith took a speeding bouncer ball, delivered by English fast bowler, Jofra Archer to the neck and came tumbling down face first. This incident didn’t only take Smith out of playing during the third series but also brought on harmful behaviour from specific sectors within the English crowd. Conduct which is now condemned by the ACA and cricketers from all over.
After making two centuries thus far from his two innings, the Australian star was standing on 92 runs during his third inning when a speeding bouncer hit him on the neck. Smith was able to walk off the field after a while to have a complete concussion check done. These checks are compulsory protocol, which is not only required by the English side but especially pushed for by the Australians. During a domestic game at Sheffield Shield in Sydney in 2014, Smith’s former teammate, Phillip Hughes, was hit by a bouncer and unfortunately died due to the injury. After Hughes’s death, the wearing of neck guards was introduced to protect the batsman against these kinds of incidences. The wearing of a neck guard is however optional, and even though Smith was wearing his helmet, he wasn’t wearing a neck guard.
The Crowds Booed His Return
While Smith was walking off the field, he was receiving a standing ovation from the crowds. After being checked out and returning to the ground, an individual section within the English groups decided it was time for a reminder of his previous 12-month ban from cricket after being found guilty of ball-tampering and booed his return.
This behaviour is severely condemned by his teammates as well as former cricket stars from the Australian side. Also, chief executive Alistair Nicholson and president, Greg Dyer, added their voices to the concern regarding the crowd’s behaviour. During a joint statement, they expressed their belief that not only does the sport of cricket deserve better functioning but especially so at Lord’s, which is the heart of the English world of cricket. Also, the Australian Cricketer’s Association which is a representative body for the Australian cricketers, condemned the fact that the crowd verbally abused an injured player.
Australia Taking Third
Considering the excellent performance which Smith has been delivering up to know in the Ashes, going into the third series without Smith is a less than ideal situation for the team. Smith was keen on playing and stated that he would be playing at Headingley in Leeds if he passed the protocol and is considered fit enough to be on the field. Unfortunately for him and the team, this didn’t happen. Smith was diagnosed with a mild concussion later on during play and was sent off the field. This is an injury of which he didn’t recover in time to be deemed fit for game in the third series. Smith will be replaced by Marnus Labuschagne, who is in the role of concussion substitute.
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Jordan / Middle East & North Africa
Journalists attacked in Jordan since 1992
Jordan documents by Year: 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999
Jordan must release publisher Jamal Haddad immediately
New York, December 27, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Jordanian authorities to release Jamal Haddad, publisher of the news website Alwakaai, and condemns the use of a national security prosecution to censor coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 24, Haddad was summoned and detained pending investigation under the country’s anti-terrorism law…
Jordanian security forces arrest cartoonist Emad Hajjaj over criticism of Israel-UAE deal
New York, August 27, 2020 — Jordanian authorities should immediately release cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, drop all charges against him, and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, a police patrol arrested Hajjaj, a cartoonist for the Qatari-funded news website Al-Araby al-Jadeed, on the Jordan Valley road while the cartoonist was…
Bangladeshi journalist held in Jordan without lawyer since April
New York, June 1, 2020 — Jordanian authorities should immediately release Bangladeshi journalist Selim Akash and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 14, three men in plainclothes arrested Akash, a reporter for the Bangladeshi satellite broadcaster BanglaTV and news website Jago News, in front of his house…
Jordan arrests 2 Roya TV journalists over COVID-19 coverage
New York, April 10, 2020 — In response to Jordanian authorities’ arrest of Fares Sayegh, general manager of the privately owned satellite station Roya TV, and Mohammad Alkhalidi, the channel’s news director, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:
Jordanian journalist Hiba Abu Taha charged with slander over 2012 interview
On March 14, 2020, Amman Public Prosecutor Hassan al-Sarhan ordered the arrest of freelance Jordanian journalist Hiba Abu Taha on charges of slander and undermining the government, briefly held her in custody, and then released her on bail and told her to return the next day, according to a report by the Skeyes Center for…
Dijlah TV broadcaster suspended for 1 month in Jordan, offices raided in Iraq
Beirut, January 28, 2020 — Jordanian authorities should immediately lift the suspension of Dijlah TV and allow the station to broadcast freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Jordanian journalist imprisoned over article on private hospital
Beirut, January 17, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the imprisonment of Nidal Salameh, a journalist for the website Gerasa News, who was convicted of violating Jordan’s Press and Publications Law and the Cybercrime Law.
Two Jordanian journalists jailed for 2 days for publication of photomontage
An Amman prosecutor on December 10, 2018, ordered the arrest of Mohammad al-Wakeel, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the news website Al-Wakeel News, and intern editor Ghadir al-Rabihat on charges of inciting sectarian strife after a complaint was filed over an altered image of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” on the site’s Facebook account,…
Changes to Jordan’s hate speech law could further stifle press freedom
Recently proposed amendments to Jordan’s 2015 cybercrime law, including a vague and broad definition of hate speech, will further stifle press freedom on the pretext of protecting the country’s citizens, and could result in further self-censorship, several Jordanian journalists told CPJ.
More documents on Jordan ›
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July 17, 2020 / Carrie Kish
Tribal Leadership’s International Reach
Tribal Leadership was published in 2008. The world was a different place then. While the original research for the book included many industries and international organizations, we have continued to increase our international reach over the past twelve years. Our international work in the middle east, Africa, and with Native Americans in the US have given us new perspectives around the use of the word “tribal.” In Saudi Arabia, tribes have a positive connotation and our work has been embraced with enthusiasm. With audiences from Africa, the word “tribal” can be very derogatory and offensive. With Native Americans and groups that work with Native Americans (museums, healthcare systems, etc), our use of the word “tribal” can be confusing (because it has a different meaning than how we use it) or feel like cultural misappropriation.
A Model for Workplace Culture
Tribal Leadership delivers an easy to understand, relatable framework for assessing and improving your workplace culture. In 2008, hardly anyone knew what workplace culture was. If you were talking about culture, people assumed you meant either the customs, traditions, heritage, and beliefs of a nation or a people or they thought you were talking about The Arts– theater, museums, literature, music, etc. Workplace culture is now largely understood to be the mission, vision, values, behaviors, routines, and habits of an organization or of the teams within an organization.
Culture is largely an expression of the naturally occurring groups within an organization. Sometimes those groups are teams, but often they are not. At the time, we didn’t have the language or the technology available to talk about doing an organizational network analysis. But, that’s what we were doing and that’s what we continue to do. We look at the structure of the organization–the hierarchy, the teams, the departments, and the divisions. But, we needed a word to describe more diverse collections of people. We needed to describe the networks of people, because the networks are where culture gets expressed.
Let me give you an example. We have a client with 2,000 employees. (Pre-Covid) Those employees work on about 25 floors of two different buildings in downtown Los Angeles and also have about a dozen small community centers throughout Los Angeles County. The employees all work on a specific floor and on a specific team of people, but the teams are not always co-located all together on the same floor. Each small team of 5-25 people belongs to a larger part of the organization. This organization is very multicultural and celebrates its diversity with employee resource groups (ERGs). They have an LGBT group, a hispanic ERG, an equity council, a women in leadership ERG, a BLM group, and more. Each floor has its own “personality” with the cubicles and offices decorated or not according the the nature of the teams that work on those floors. They have a ton of cross-functional committees that work together. And, people have friends they eat lunch with, go to happy hour with, and meet up with for themed potlucks. People also attend meeting with their peers by level–managers, directors, senior directors, executives, and chiefs.
Mapping Your Network
If we go into an organization like this and ask people to think about their team, they generally think about their small team of 5-25 people or whatever the org chart says. But, we want them actually thinking about all the different groups they belong to and how they are networked within those groups. This is where culture lives within an organization. And by assessing and leveraging these groups, we can use culture to drive change and create results. In 2008, “tribes” seemed like a great metaphor for describing these naturally occurring groups. And it must have resonated with a lot of people because Tribal Leadership became a New York Times #1 Best Seller.
Over the years, we’ve adjusted our messaging to be less confusing, more appropriate, and more inclusive. We always customize our work for the client we are working with and language usage remains a significant part of how we do that. We have been teaching a course called “Leading High Performing Teams” at the Getty Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University for years. The fellows in our courses are from museums and cultural heritage centers and sites from all over the world. More than 50% of our students are from outside the US in all of these courses. We ask them to read Tribal Leadership as part of the course, but we give this explanation before we do and we never use the word “tribal” with them in the course outside of that. Instead, we refer to leading naturally occurring groups, leading workplace culture (because they also use the word “culture” in a specific way), and leading high performing teams. We make the distinction between the hierarchy (the org chart) and the network. They have an assignment to do an organizational network analysis and draw out their networks. That allows us to talk about their spheres of influence much more directly and without using any language that is offensive to any of our participants.
Upgrade Your Language
In 2020, with the increased social consciousness around institutional racism, decolonization, and inclusivity, we are being called upon to make this message more public and share it with a larger audience and challenge all fans, friends, and users of Tribal Leadership to have more awareness and to take responsibility for the impact of your word choices, especially with international and multi-cultural audiences.
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← The mystical moment that is the source of Francis’ boldness and freedom
Laying Savita to rest →
Francis calls new-style synod to boost the family
Pope Francis has convened a Synod of Bishops for October 2014 on the theme of “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelisation.” The decision was taken at the end of a two-day meeting, attended by Francis, of the Synod’s permanent council, now led by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri.
The Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ said Francis was interested in looking at the “anthropological theme” that dealt with “the human person and the family in the light of the Gospel”.
But the thorny topic of the divorced and remarried being barred from the Eucharist will also be dealt with, as well as the related question of marriage annulments. The synod will also discuss pressures such as cohabitation and divorce and the state redefining marriage in the name of equality.
Synods of Bishops normally take place every three to four years in October, bringing about 300 bishops and other participants to Rome for three weeks of speeches and deliberations leading to recommendations, which the Pope usually responds to a year or so later in a document. Synods are either “ordinary” — a gathering of the universal church to focus on a particular topic (the last was October 2012, on the topic of the new evangelisation) — or “special”: a gathering of the bishops from a particular region to consider the challenges to that Church (the last of these was the Synod on the Middle East in October 2011).
But next year’s will be an “extraordinary general session” of the Synod, which according to the Code of Canon Law is held to “deal with matters which require a speedy solution.” This will be only the third “extraordinary” assembly since Pope Paul VI reinstituted synods in 1965. (The first, in 1969, dealt with the role of episcopal conferences; while the second, in 1985, was on the 20th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, and led to the Catechism of the Catholic Church).
An extraordinary synod is shorter and smaller. The participants will be restricted to the presidents of bishops’ conferences, patriarchs, heads of the Vatican’s dicasteries, and the superiors of religious orders — about half the number of those taking part in the ordinary or special assemblies.
Pope Francis, who was relator or chair of the 20o1 synod, wants the assembly to be an instrument of effective governance of the universal Church, as opposed to its current format, which is more of an unwieldy debating chamber. Synod reform was one of the major topics discussed by the Pope’s council of cardinals (“C-8“) last week, which Cardinal Baldisseri attended.
Communion for the remarried
The Pope has also been open about wanting to tackle the difficult pastoral question of excluding the divorced and remarried from communion, telling reporters on his plane back from Rio de Janeiro in July that the next synod’s exploration of a “deeper pastoral care of marriage” would include the question of divorced and remarried Catholics. He also said church law governing marriage annulments “has to be reviewed, because ecclesiastical tribunals are not sufficient for this. It is complex, the problem of the pastoral care of marriage.”
During the October 2012 Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation the issue came up regularly in informal conversation, with many bishops looking for a better way of upholding the permanence of marriage while at the same time enabling those whose marriages had not lasted to feel part of the Church. A number of bishops called for the Church to find a better solution than the status quo, perhaps by increasing access to marriage annulments.
Abp Ulloa Mendieta
The Archbishop of Panama, José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, for example complained that
in spite of this constant attention to the pastoral care of “irregular” families (divorced and remarried), it seems that an adequate answer to the problem has not been found and it is a frequent source of evident dissatisfaction for the faithful who experience situations of this type and who feel misunderstood, judged, condemned and excluded, although they continue to believe in the mercy of God the Father and wish to live in the bosom of the Church.
Abp Forte
An Italian archbishop, the theologian and canon lawyer Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, told the same synod that the evangelisation of young people often ran up against a “dramatic” situation “for the offspring of divorced and remarried parents, who are often rendered strangers to the sacraments by the non-participation of their parents” and said a “decisive turning-point is needed in terms of pastoral care”.
Holding back the Germans
Abp Zollitsch
The announcement of next year’s synod came the same time as news that an important German diocese had issued guidelines that appeared to lift the exclusion of the divorced and remarried from Communion. The diocese is Freiburg, whose archbishop, Robert Zollitsch, the president of the German bishops’ conference, is due to retire.
According to Der Spiegel the guidelines say: “Following a decision taken responsibly and according to one’s conscience, the possibility can also arise, under concrete circumstances, to receive the sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion, confirmation, confession and Anointing of the Sick, as long as the necessary faithful disposition is present.”
Fr Lombardi
Without mentioning the Freiburg guidelines precisely, Fr Lombardi stressed the importance of the Church moving together on the issue. “In this context, offering special pastoral solutions by individuals or local offices can risk causing confusion,” he said, stressing the importance of “conducting a journey in full communion with the Church community.” (He also told John Thavis that “it made little sense for a single archdiocese to stake out a new policy on such an important issue when the universal church was preparing to discuss it at length.”)
According to Reuters, meanwhile, a spokesman for the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Marx, one of the eight cardinals on the Pope’s C-8 council, called the guidebook “a contribution to an unfinished discussion” and stressed the issue must be solved by the worldwide Church.
This is not the first time the German bishops have sought to run ahead on this issue.
In 1994, three German bishops allowed Communion to Catholics who were divorced and remarried civilly, until the Vatican intervened to stop the practice, arguing that it undermined the Church’s Gospel-based conviction that marriage is indissoluble.
Following a dialogue with the bishops, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) sent a letter the next year to the world’s bishops to clarify the reasons for excluding the divorced and remarried, and confirming that “members of the faithful who live together as husband and wife with persons other than their legitimate spouses may not receive Holy Communion.”
But the letter acknowledged the suffering of Catholics barred from the sacraments often through no fault of their own, and noted that “in pastoral action one must do everything possible to ensure that this is understood not to be a matter of discrimination but only of absolute fidelity to the will of Christ who has restored and entrusted to us anew the indissolubility of marriage as a gift of the Creator.”
Four years later, in 1998, the CDF’s then head Cardinal Ratzinger published an essay which acknowledged the possibility of expanding the canonical recognition of the nullity of marriages celebrated “without faith” by at least one of the spouses, although baptised. He also alluded to the possibility of a decision in conscience by someone convinced their marriage was null even though it had not been annulled in a tribunal (see Sandro Magister here).
At the World Meeting of Families in Milan on 2 June 2012 Pope Benedict said that “the problem of divorced and remarried persons is one of the great sufferings of today’s Church. And we do not have simple solutions.”
He said that parishes should try “to do whatever is possible to help them to feel loved and accepted, to feel that they are not “excluded” even though they cannot receive absolution or the Eucharist … It is also very important that they truly realize they are participating in the Eucharist if they enter into a real communion with the Body of Christ.”
[Austen Ivereigh]
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Anthropology And Anti-Semitism
REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Philip Carl Salzman Writing Fellow, Middle East Forum
One of the core principles of modern anthropology is cultural relativism, the idea that researchers must not make value judgements about the societies they study. Anthropologists think of themselves as setting aside their biases and preferences in order to see a society and culture “from the native’s point of view.” Whether studying the raiding activity of Bedouin tribal nomads, witchcraft by African villagers, or head-hunting by grieving Philippine tribesmen, anthropologists embrace the sentiment that “nothing human is alien to me.”
Except when it comes to Jews. Once again, Jews and the Jewish state have been uniquely selected for official opprobrium by the American Anthropological Association (AAA). A motion to boycott Israeli academic institutions, an initiative reminiscent of anti-Jewish boycotts of the 1930s, was presented this spring to the membership, which voted online. The resolution, which claims that “the Israeli state has denied Palestinians – including scholars and students – their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through ethnic cleansing, colonization, discrimination, and military occupation,” was defeated, according to the official tally released on June 6, by a vote of 2,423 against and 2,384 in favor.
By the narrowest of margins, AAA will not formally join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This was surely a great disappointment to its Middle East Section, which has long been obsessed with defaming Israel. While the U.S.S.R. was invading Afghanistan and slaughtering its people in 1979, the Middle East Section discussed only Palestine, and condemned only Israel.
It is true that followers of the postmodern turn in anthropology have taken up a more critical approach to society and culture, in some cases siding with the underprivileged, such as women, untouchables, and native minorities. But until now the AAA has not considered boycotting a particular people or country. It has not considered boycotting Turkey for its military invasion and occupation of Cyprus or its war against its Kurdish minority. It has not considered boycotting Lebanon for keeping Palestinians as stateless pawns. It has not considered boycotting Gaza, although Hamas shot 12,000 rockets at Israeli civilian targets. It has not considered boycotting Saudi Arabia for its suppression of human rights, or Iran for hanging homosexuals from cranes in public places, or Russia for invading Ukraine, or China for its military occupation of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uigur Turkestan, and Tibet.
Indeed, even Palestinian suffering merits action only when Jews are the alleged victimizer. This year the Middle East Section awarded its book prize to an excellent ethnography describing the marginalization and sufferings of Palestinians in Lebanon, but no boycott of Lebanon has been proposed.
Meanwhile, all around the Jewish state, in the Middle East and the Islamic world, are taking place the vilest atrocities of monumental scope. Next door to Israel, some 400,000 or more have been murdered in Sunni-Shia warfare, while the recently formed Islamic State has revived the Islamic practice of enslaving “infidels,” Christians and other minorities, gang raping the girls and women, and selling them (even on Facebook!) as sex slaves, while beheading any opposition and those not sufficiently conforming.
Notwithstanding the membership’s rejection of the boycott this year, the AAA Executive Board is moving ahead with a number of measures to punish the Jewish State, such as issuing a “statement of censure of the Israeli government” and sending a letter to the American government “identifying the ways in which U.S. resources and policies contribute to policies in Israel/Palestine that violate academic freedom and disenfranchise Palestinians.”
Remarkably, this compulsion to punish the Jewish state comes at a time when Palestinian youth, incited by the Palestinian authority and media, are engaged in a “stabbing intifada,” killing Jewish mothers, children, and elders. Palestinian Hamas, formally dedicated to destroying Israel and killing its Jews, continues to build tunnels from Gaza to attack Israel.
But for the AAA Executive Board and half its membership, only the world’s sole Jewish state is worthy of condemnation and denunciation. There is only one word for this selective demonization: anti-Semitism.
Philip Carl Salzman is a professor of anthropology at McGill University and a fellow at the Middle East Forum. This essay was sponsored by Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
Tags : philip carl salzman
Philip Carl Salzman
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ICE Arrests 37 Illegal Immigrants In NJ, Takes Shot At Local Government ‘Sanctuary County’
Mike Brest Reporter
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency arrested 37 individuals accused of illegally entering the country during an operation over the weekend in Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Most of the targets of this investigation were illegal, criminal aliens who were apprehended and incarcerated at Middlesex County Jail and then released, even after ICE requested they be held.
Sixteen of the 37 people arrested had been released by the local jail while 78 percent, a total of 27 people, have prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. (RELATED: ICE: San Diego Chainsaw Attacker Is Illegal Alien Who Has Been Deported 11 Times)
“Middlesex County, which aspires to be a ‘sanctuary county’ by protecting criminal aliens, in the process assists criminals in undermining federal law and creates a dangerous environment in the community. It also overburdens local law enforcement. ICE will continue to execute its mission in such communities,” Ruben Perez, acting field office director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations branch in Newark, said in an ICE press release.
Perez took a shot at the county for their attempt to act like a “sanctuary city,” harboring potentially dangerous illegal immigrants.
One of the 16 people with a previous arrest and release apprehended during this operation was a 68-year old Mexican national who was originally in legal trouble surrounding a murder.
The man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated manslaughter and for trying to hinder the prosecution. After an appeal, the manslaughter charge was overturned, and he was only found guilty of lying, which was still a felony. Even though ICE put a hold on him, he was released after being sentenced to time served.
These arrests come as ICE is facing intense scrutiny from the left. Many politicians have called for ICE to be abolished.
Tags : ice illegal immigrants middlesex county
Mike Brest
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Season 2 introduced the threatening Dark Troopers.
This review contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2. If you have not watched it and plan to, this is your warning.
The Mandalorian is a Star Wars spin-off series set after the original Star Wars trilogy. This show attempts to branch out from the usual content of Star Wars films such as Jedis and Siths. Instead, the show focuses more on a bounty hunter and his life. Each episode has its own small story that will eventually tie into the second season as a whole.
The season starts with Mando attempting to protect a small town from a vicious creature. As a reward, Mando will claim what he thinks is armor from his home planet: Mandalore. However, it is soon revealed that the armor belongs to a bounty hunter named Boba Fett. Although I wanted “The Mandalorian” to create new stories unrelated to previous Star Wars work, I appreciated that they added this character to satisfyingly tie in another story arc. Hopefully, fans will soon find out how Boba Fett survived the mighty Sarlacc monster in the upcoming show, “The Book of Boba Fett”.
Boba Fett returns to team up with our main hero.
Throughout the season, they bring back other nostalgic characters such as Ahsoka. This was important to benefit Mando on his journey to finally return Grogu (Baby Yoda) to his rightful Jedi master.
One of my favorite episodes is “Chapter 10: The Passenger”. This episode does a great job of reminding the audience about who Mando really is. He doesn’t necessarily care for everyone, he’s still a bounty hunter who’s trying to make a living. Although he develops a strong attachment with his companion, Grogu. The special effects in this episode are also impeccable. For example, the spider-like creatures invading Mando and his crew really immerse you in the show with its realism. It’s insane how close computer-generated imagery (CGI) is to reality. I think the only scenes where the effects lack is during his jetpack scenes.
Towards the end of the season, Mando encounters a not so epic final showdown with the main villain, Moff Gideon. Moff Gideon is no match for Mando’s pure Beskar staff, one of the strongest metals in the galaxy. Instead, Mando has to put up a fight against the menacing Dark Troopers.
In the end, the season is nicely concluded with Luke Skywalker arriving in search of his future Jedi student. For the older generation, adding Luke was a perfect ending. On the other hand, the younger generation couldn’t appreciate this conclusion as much as kids who grew up with this vintage character. “The Mandalorian” season 2 earns an 8/10.
By: Bryce Nall
Season 2 unveils new exciting adventures.
The T in LGBTQ+
Made of Rain album review by the Psychedelic Furs
Fire drill by Melanie Martinez
Rea’s Corner
My Experience With Online School
Letter to my Freshman self
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An Island Adventure
The Isle of Arran lies in the Firth of Clyde and is the 7th largest island in Scotland after the likes of Harris & Lewis, Shetland, Orkney and Skye. It’s a busy, tourist friendly destination whose economy has thrived in recent times with a population that has remained reasonably steady (4,629 in the census of 2011 apparently). It is comprised of two distinct parts – a rocky and mountainous north and a relatively lush and green south. Goat Fell, the island’s principal peak, is some 2,866 feet and as such is one of 4 Corbetts on the island. Yet despite the fairly dramatic interior, the circumference of the island is only 56 miles. Not only that, but a road helpfully follows the coast pretty much the entire way so a circumnavigation of the island is easily undertaken, just the thing for a summer’s day and a hopefully interesting blog as well. Always good to have a plan!
Actually, my main reason for planning a ride around Arran is to undertake a recce of the forthcoming Arran Sportive in September (further details of which you can find at the end of the blog). But it also turned out to be the perfect “day out” ride and, given the extraordinary weather of the summer of 2018, no better way to see what Arran has to offer.
The most popular ferry route is from Ardrossan to Brodick by the world famous Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) ferry service. The ferry takes around 55 minutes and on weekdays (and Saturdays) there are around 8 – 10 sailings a day during the Summer months. On Sunday, there are just 6 services so do check the timetable for CalMac which you can do by clicking on the Link. There is also a ferry from Claonaig (in Kintyre) to Lochranza on the north of the Isle of Arran which takes around 30 minutes. If going by car there is no need to book for the Claonaig to Lochranza service though advanced booking for the Ardrossan to Brodick service is highly recommended.
The ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick
Ardrossan is easy to get to, though being an hour and 40 minutes drive from Edinburgh (and given that Criterium Cycles had been open all day and incredibly busy as ever!) we opted for an overnight stay in Ardrossan at a lovely little B&B, the Edenmore Guest House. There are, no doubt, plenty of B&Bs in the area but we mention the Edenmore in this blog especially because not only were the proprietors really welcoming, they were also very accommodating by allowing us to leave our vehicle parked outside the B&B whilst we headed over to Arran on just our bikes.
Sailing across to Arran
That was a great decision as it saved a fair amount on the travel. The cost of taking our Renault Van would have been something in the order of £42.00 (plus passengers) because of its size whereas a foot passenger (including bike) pays £7.80 return at the time of writing. If you opt not to take a vehicle, one top tip is to take a bike you’re not overly precious about. The guys at CalMac are brilliant and perfectly professional / friendly. But not unreasonably a bike is a bike is bike to them so we opted to take our winter bikes.
Which way round?
There has clearly been some significant investment in the Island’s infrastructure of late so on arrival into Brodick, one is greeted by a very smart, new ferry terminal. Even better, within 100m of leaving the boat, one is already ready for a lap of Arran and faced with a choice – clockwise or anticlockwise?
Map of Arran from Strava
Either way, it’s the same distance (some 56 miles) and just under 1250m in ascent. I chose anticlockwise for a number of reasons. First, it’s the way round that the Sportive runs so it made sense to replicate that since this was after all a recce for the event. Second, since the Southern part of the island is where around 2/3 of the climbing takes place and the prevailing wind tends to be southerly, I reasoned anticlockwise would be more challenging. That’s because I would be facing a headwind on the western side of the island and most of the climbing in the second half of the ride. Either way you go round though, the scenery and riding is stunning so you’ll be sure to have a great experience whichever way round you choose.
Just north of Brodick
Leaving Brodick, I headed north towards Sannox and Lochranza. The road follows the coast to Corrie and Sannox and then cuts off a little of the north easterly tip of the island to head over to Lochranza, the small northern port and the location of the independently owned Isle of Arran Distillers, opened here in 1995.
The road from Sannox to Lochranza
The terrain is typical coastal riding; undulating and sinewy, with the occasional technical descent of up to 20% down to go across an inlet or river outflow, followed by an ascent the other side of similar steepness. Incidentally, the road surface on the Island is either really good or really not so good with the ratio between the two being around 50:50. My experience was that the southern half of the island is better with the most challenging section being the westerly section from Lochranza to Blackwaterfoot. One suspects this segment sees a relatively lower volume of tourist traffic.
The Lochranza to Claonaig ferry
Heading south from Lochranza, the slightly poorer state of the road was more than compensated for by the quality of the scenery. The ocean is a truly magnificent spectacle the entire way round (and no more so on the day I did the ride with clear blue skies and stunningly warm temperatures!). But do remember to look to the left as well (depending on which way you are riding round of course!) as the views in to the interior of the island are equally dramatic and beautiful.
At Pirnmill, I stopped for an ice cream to both grab a breather as well as take in the magnificent scenery. All round the island there are plenty of places to get water and ice creams, with loads of establishments clearly set up to welcome touristy visitors. The entire experience was very cycle friendly.
Plenty of Ice Cream to be had on Arran
The road south from Pirnmill to Blackwaterfoot is a little more challenging and care needs to be taken in places but after Blackwaterfoot, the surface improves and the run round through Kilmory, Kildonan and Whiting Bay is a joy. The views across the Firth of Clyde on the day I visited were spectacular with the lighthouse at Pladda and the view across to Ailsa Craig and the mainland an especially lovely view. The run back from Whiting Bay to Brodick past Holy Isle along the way came all to quickly and I was soon heading back towards the Ferry Terminal having enjoyed a thoroughly lovely day out.
By the coast at Blackwaterfoot
Looking across to Pladda and Ailsa Craig from near Kildonan
The circumnavigation of Arran took me just over 4 hours. I was working quite hard on the ride on this occasion, notably on the Western side of the island when I found myself tackling the headwinds from Lochranza to Blackwaterfoot. I suspect a clockwise route would have been a little easier.
But it doesn’t really matter – whichever way round you choose to ride, the experience is a wonderful one. Arran is an incredibly welcoming place, the scenery is interesting and beautiful at every point along the way, ocean or mountain, and I can thoroughly recommend it for a challenging but very enjoyable day’s ride. Oh, and the ice cream is especially fine! Can’t wait for the Arran Sportive in September.
Goat Fell (from the road from Whiting Bay to Brodick)
The island has an especially good tourist website with details on what to do, where to stay and all sorts of family friendly activities. You can check it out by clicking HERE.
The Arran Sportive is on Saturday 15th September and further details on how to enter can be found HERE
Caledonian MacBrayne run regular ferry services on their Ardrossan to Brodick and Claonaig to Lochranza routes. Further details can be found on their website.
Steaming in the Firth of Clyde on the Waverley
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Amy Powell Named President Of Paramount Television
After meeting with various TV producers and development executives, Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey looked internally for an exec to lead the film studio’s recently re-launched TV division. Amy Powell will add the position of President of Paramount Television to her current responsibilities as head of Digital Entertainment and Insurge Pictures.
This marks the first appointment to the start-up television division, unveiled in March, which is designed to finance and develop television for all platforms, from digital episodic content to primetime series. Its first project was financing/co-producing duties on the CBS/Sony TV pilot Beverly Hills Cop, an offshoot from the Paramount movie franchise. The plan for the next five years is to build Paramount TV into a creative TV studio that will mine existing Paramount properties as well as new ideas from established and emerging talent, broadly seeking partners and distribution. Paramount TV was one of the leading brands for TV production until 2005 when the studio was renamed to CBS TV Studios as it remained with CBS in the company split with Viacom. “Amy has proven herself to be a highly-talented, innovative and creative executive,” said Grey. “Her skill and experience working across all platforms, at engaging audiences, and, most recently her work at Insurge, will be instrumental as we build a versatile television operation.” Powell will report to Grey on her television duties. She remains President of Paramount’s micro-budget Insurge Pictures, reporting to Adam Goodman, and she’ll continue to work closely with Vice Chairman Rob Moore on digital and business affair matters across all her responsibilities.
For the past two years, Powell has led Paramount’s digital arm that brings original serialized content. The label has released Ben Stiller’s Burning Love, which was nominated for an Emmy Award this past week. Burning Love premiered on Yahoo! and all three seasons will make the jump to E! Entertainment Television. Currently the label is in pre-production on the Bandito Brothers produced action-thriller series, Chop Shop, which will give a window into the underground world of Los Angeles car culture and premiere on Machinima. Following the success of the first Paranormal Activity film – for which Powell played a key role in the film’s success through her digital marketing and “demand-it” distribution campaign – Paramount created Insurge, its micro-budget feature division with Powell as President. Under her leadership, Insurge has released the top-grossing musical documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, the horror hit, The Devil Inside, and the biopic, Katy Perry: Part of Me. Powell joined Paramount in 2004 from an interactive marketing position at Sony Pictures. In 2006, she was promoted to SVP of Interactive Marketing and went on to run Insurge in 2010. She has created, developed and executed digital marketing campaigns for films including the Paranormal Activity franchise, Star Trek, Iron Man, Cloverfield, Jackass, Transformers, Tropic Thunder and Team America. Powell began her career in television at CNN.
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In December 2019, the Lab’s Air Quality Monitoring team announced it has developed a new lower-cost device that will allow them to provide timely particulate pollution information at more locations throughout the state. Already, eight of the devices, called the SensOR, have been placed at new Air Quality Index sites in Bend, Brookings, Chiloquin, Coos Bay, Florence, Forest Grove, northeast Portland and Redmond.
The team, led by Lance Hochmuth, Dan Johnson and Anthony Barnack, designed the monitor to include a heated inlet to reduce interference from humidity; regulated air sample flow; automated quality control checks; data acquisition and cellular communication. The team spent several months calibrating the SensORs to PM2.5 federal reference instruments to ensure the AQI is accurate and reliable.
“This is really a testament to the resourcefulness and expertise of our lab team. It is due to their hard work and creativity that we are able to provide the public with more accurate data on the quality of the air in their region,” said Ali Mirzakhalili, air quality administrator. “One new SensOR costs approximately $5,000 to $10,000 less than monitors we have purchased in the past. That savings means we can deploy more devices to more areas.”
In 2017, the Oregon Legislature funded monitoring at an additional 30 locations. In July, DEQ obtained a provisional patent from the U.S. Patent Office for the new tool to protect its continued use. DEQ also secured a trademark through the Oregon Secretary of State for the device name.
DEQ expects to install more monitors over the next few months. The goal is to have SensORs at all 30 sites statewide within the next year.
Air Quality Monitoring Manager Tom Roick oversaw the project and was interviewed by several news outlets. Thus far, news articles include KTVZ NBC Channel 21 (Bend), Willamette Week, 1190 KEX Radio (Portland) and The Corvallis Advocate, with more stories expected in the next few weeks.
− Susan C. Mills, public affairs specialist
Spill drills and current busters
Turning water into beer
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Maps (1900-1949) (63) + -
Maps (1899 and earlier) (26) + -
John Warkentin Map Collection (17) + -
Railroads (45) + -
Boundaries (43) + -
Ontario (38) + -
Cities & towns (31) + -
Surveying (26) + -
Streets (21) + -
Crown lands (15) + -
Indigenous lands (13) + -
Land subdivision (13) + -
Cities (11) + -
Prairies (11) + -
colonialism (11) + -
Central provinces (10) + -
Imperialism (10) + -
North America (10) + -
Topographical maps (10) + -
First Nations reserves (9) + -
Homesteading (8) + -
Navigation (8) + -
Settlements (8) + -
Department of the Interior Canada (8) + -
Department of the Interior (7) + -
British Columbia Department of Lands (3) + -
Commission of Conservation Canada (3) + -
Copp, Clark & Co. (3) + -
Adam and Charles Black (Firm) (2) + -
Hudson's Bay Company (2) + -
Office of the Surveyor General of Canada (2) + -
Ontario Department of Crown Lands (2) + -
Quebec Department of Lands and Forests (2) + -
Metropolitan Toronto (2) + -
Québec (6) + -
Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (x)
microfiche (x)
British America
Map of British America including Canada, First Nations' territories with Anglo/Franco names, British Columbia, Rupert's Land, U.S. Alaska, mainland United States, Greenland and Iceland. Shows elevation, lakes, waterways, factories, forts, and other details.
Partie orientale de la Nouvelle France ou du Canada
This is a map of eastern part of Quebec in 1755. It shows waterways, villages, islands and soundings.
Québec [North]
This is a map of Northern Quebec in 1914 showing villages, lakes and rivers.
3480/-/1267/1914 NORTH
Québec [South]
This is a map of the province of Quebec in 1914 showing counties, cities, townships, boundaries and railways. It includes distance table and list of electoral districts.
3480/-/1267/1914 SOUTH
Carte de la province de Québec, Canada
This is a map of administrative divisions in the province of Quebec in 1880, extending from the American border to the south to Lake Mistassini to the north, and from the Ontario border to the west to Anticosti Island to the east. It shows districts, lordships, counties, townships, cities, railways, canals, roads and boundaries. It includes a longitude-latitude table and inset of Northeastern Quebec.
3480/-/633/1880
A new map of the province of Québec
This is a map of Quebec province in 1776 compiled from French surveys. It shows indigenous lands and associated First Nations groups, also settlements, lakes, rivers and boundaries. It includes large-scale insets of Montreal, Quebec City and part of St. Laurence River.
3480/-/2250/1763
City of Montreal : map of central portion
This is a base map of the City of Montreal from the 1940s. It shows major streets, buildings, and points of interest, and includes commercial ads around the border.
3484/M6/A15/-/[194-]
Nouvelle Ecosse partie J. Ouest [back]
Back of map of Nova Scotia, with plate detailing the author or owner of the map, Charles Picquet, and a handwritten note in French about the title of the map.
Nouvelle Ecosse partie J. Ouest [front]
Map of the Western part of Nova Scotia, cut into sections and affixed to a woven backing to be folded and transported. Includes ports, farms, settlements, roads or railways, lakes, rivers, water features, degrees, and other details i.e. a bad swamp, rocks dry at 1/2 tide, &c.
Overview map of North America including indigenous lands, British and U.S. settlements, Mexico, Greenland, and the Caribbean islands. Details are limited in the North and Western portions of North America, Greenland, and South America. Showing some major waterways, place names, and some details about expeditions to the North.
Ontario [1928]
Map of Ontario with some details from Québec, Manitoba, and parts of the United States. Towns, cities, and bodies of water are named. Railroads are outlined, as are townships, counties, provincial and international borders. While not part of the originally printed map, there are blue and red lines drawn on the surface. The blue lines mark certain rivers and lakes. The purpose of the red line is not clear (especially since there is no legend), but it may be a proposed road, highway, or railway.
G/3500/2217/1928
Diagram of portions of Forest Hill, North Toronto and North York areas
Map of Toronto & area, showing major roads, railway lines, contours, parks, country clubs, concessions, lots, and subdivision, townships, cities, and towns.
G/3524/F673 A1/19/1933
Map of the Dominion of Canada showing the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company, incorporated 2nd May 1670 [1944]
A map of Canada from 1944 showing the establishments of the Hudson's Bay company, including fur trade posts, raw fur departments, railroads, waterways, and boundaries.
G/3401/G7/6336/1944
Map of the Dominion of Canada indicating main natural resources
A map of Canada from 1930, showing main natural resources, as well as crops, timber, pulpwood, minerals, fisherines and water powers.
G/3401/G3/15000/1930
Plan of the city of Toronto [1921]
A plan of the city of Toronto from 1921. It shows wards, roads, named streets, railways and waterways.
3524/T62 A1/27/1921
[Toronto harbour] : condition plan, January 1st, 1949
A condition plan of the Toronto harbour from 1949, showing the THC lands (for sale or lease, sold, leased), streets, and buildings. Includes navigation notes and waterborne tonnage graph.
3524/T621 G43/14/1949
Public transportation service in Toronto and adjoining municipalities : route map [front]
A map of public transportation services in the Greater Toronto Area from 1947 (front side), showing major streets and transit routes.
Public transportation service in Toronto and adjoining municipalities : route map [back]
A map of public transportation services in the Greater Toronto Area from 1947 (back side), showing an inset map of downtown Toronto and information about fares and street cars.
Toronto Harbour Commissioners : progress plan
A plan of the City of Toronto showing lands are sold, leased, occupied, for sale, for lease, and park lands, in 1932. It also shows main streets, buildings, and company owners named.
3524/T621 G43/5/1932
F. P. Lloyd's Greater Toronto
A base map of Greater Toronto from 1939-1947, showing ward boundaries, streets, transit routes, airports, and other points of interest. Includes street index.
3524/T61 F95/30/[195-]
Might's clearview correct city directory map of Greater Toronto [1932]
A map of Greater Toronto from 1932. It shows streets, highways, street car lines, bus routes, buildings, waterways, and municipal boundaries.
G/3524/T61 A1/17/1932
Toronto Transit Commission : daily except Sunday routing, in effect Jan 21st 1924.
A route map showing routing information for the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1924. It includes regular, rush hour, deviant, and tripper routes along with explanation of some routes.
Lloyd's map of Greater Toronto and suburbs
A map of Greater Toronto and suburbs in 1925. It shows streets, railroads, transit lines, parks, facilities, buildings, and boundaries of wards.
A map of Greater Toronto from 1945. It shows streets, highways, buildings, waterways, and municipal boundaries. There is also a street index.
Plan of part of the province of Lower Canada
This is a plan of parts of Lower Canada and Quebec in 1795 showing districts, counties, townships and boundaries. It includes notes on surveys, division lines, grants on townships, surveyed and not surveyed lands, as well as text and explanations of His Majesty's Roal Order from 1791 dealing with land subdivision and boundaries.
Southwestern districts [British Columbia] : [back]
This is the back of a 1925 Southwestern British Columbia map on land use (see Southwestern districts [British Columbia] : [front]). It provides statistical data on population, finance, climate, agriculture, livestock, grazing, forestry, mining, power, labour, fur trad, railways and fisheries, as well as tourist and entertainment information for major cities in the Southwestern part of British Columbia.
3572/B77 C1/500/1925
Northwest Territories and Yukon
This is a 1948 reprint of a general map of Northern Territories and Yukon in 1939 showing roads, railways, lakes, rivers, cities and towns.
This is a 1943 reprint of a map of Northern British Columbia from 1933 providing rock and soil information for the purpose of prospecting for minerals. It includes notes on the geology, mineralization, river navigation in the region, also shows roads, trails, railways, parks, telegraph lines, rivers, lakes, rapids, cities and towns.
3572/B72 A1/1000/1933
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Biographical Sketch of Adah M. McMahan
written by Tarez Samra Graban
Biographical Sketch of Adah M. McMahan, written by Tarez Samra Graban. Included in Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920, .
Biography of Dr. Adah M. McMahan, 1869-1942
By Tarez Samra Graban, Associate Professor, Department of English, Florida State University
Brief Biographical Descriptors: Member, American Association of University Women; Member, Daughters of the American Revolution; Member, The American Legion; Member, Lafayette Charity Organization Society; Member, Lafayette Franchise League; Member, Indiana State Board of Health; Director, Indiana Franchise League; Member, League of Women Voters.
Biographical Sketch:
Adah M. McMahan was born January 12, 1869 in Huntingburg, Indiana, to William Reed and Elizabeth Louise Helfrich McMahan. She graduated from Indiana University with her A.B. in 1889, and her A.M. in 1893. After working briefly as a schoolteacher of lower grades, she obtained her M.D. from the Women's Medical School of Northwestern University in 1897 (although she had first enrolled at the Indiana University School of Medicine), soon opening her own medical practice on 631 Columbia St. in Lafayette, Indiana. McMahan died on June 24, 1942, had never been married and had no children, although the Tippecanoe County Historical Association reports a donated trunk of her clothing from the First World War by a "foster son named John (no last name)" (Lippie).
Archival record of McMahan's suffrage activity begins in 1898 with the official founding of the Martha Home in Lafayette, Indiana, though it is likely she was already working towards municipal suffrage, due to her involvement in the local politics of Tippecanoe County, where she was instrumental in getting a woman appointed to the Lafayette School Board (Marshall, 2000, p. 276), and throughout the state of Indiana. In 1898, McMahan was one of thirteen local women who held "crucial leadership positions" (Marshall, 2000, p. 258) in three related organizations: the Lafayette Charity Organization Society (LCOS), which would work to replace all-volunteer corps with professional social workers; the Free Kindergarten and Industrial School Association (FKISA); and the Martha Home. The latter was opened on Alabama Street in 1898 by Mrs. Helen M. Jackson Gougar, under the auspices of the Woman's Home Association, and served as an interfaith "rescue home for girls and fallen women," enabling poor women and girls to live, intern, and learn domestic trade skills, such as sewing (DeHart, 1909). By 1909, McMahan had been elected head of the Martha Home, often interacting with its residents as medical consultant (Marshall, 2000, p. 258).
During the 1913 Lafayette mayoral election, McMahan actively lobbied for a full-time police matron to assist in their social work, marking a significant change in emphasis for the women's organizations from "private charitable work" to "increas[ing] their political leverage" (Marshall, 2000, p. 263), and signaling a break from the mixed-sex LOC toward establishing two women's only charitable societies in Lafayette—the Woman's Council and the Franchise League. While not a formal member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the Lafayette Franchise League had openly suffragist goals, and the Lafayette Daily Courier reports that McMahan hosted the first meeting in her own parlor on March 7, 1912, with Indianapolis suffrage leader Mrs. J. S. Barnhill, Purdue English professor Mrs. Emma Montgomery McRae, and Ms. Henrietta Calvin in attendance. One year later, in 1913, McMahan was elected director of the Lafayette chapter of the Women's Franchise League of Indiana, helping to author pamphlets on suffrage, women commissioners, and women trustees (Marshall, 2000, p. 265).
1913 marked the beginning of McMahan's higher educational philanthropy, as she became in frequent correspondence with Indiana University president William Lowe Bryan on sponsoring an annual scholarship essay contest for women students at Indiana University. In this year, she also began 12-year stint of service on the newly established IU Alumni Council, and she made frequent recommendations of women to serve in administrative positions at the university. In 1915 she was listed as one of several elected vice-presidents of the IU Alumni Association, and in a letter dated July 26, 1918, McMahan endorsed Stella Fox's application for the position of Dean of Women. Fox was herself a suffragist and a member in good standing of the Red Cross of Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
McMahan was also a headlining speaker at the Women's Auxiliary conference of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress in Washington, D.C. held from December to January 1915-1916, laying the foundation for what would later become the Pan-American Conference of Women. McMahan spoke on "A Community's Duty to the Child," portions of which were reprinted in the December 30, 1915 issue of the Evening Star. The event was reported by the Washington Herald as offering a potential "rude disturbance" of the "tranquil course of the Women's Auxiliary conference," alleging that some of the speakers had planned to put forth a motion for national suffrage. At the behest of the Conference's organizing secretary, Mrs. Glen Levin Swiggett, no proposal for national suffrage was made at the conference, although one speaker, Miss Zona Gale, predicted during her address that there would be "a great woman's conference" to be held at the end of the "present European conflict."
McMahan's most notable achievement may have been her service abroad. In 1918, she helped to form the Women's Overseas Hospital Association under the auspices of the NAWSA with other women doctors from the United States, allowing them to elide a ban on women doctors in the Armed Forces and enabling them to serve abroad as qualified medical volunteers with the French government. McMahan enlisted as a volunteer of the WOHA on August 31, 1918, serving at the Cempuis Military Hospital for Gassed Men, then taking charge of the clinics at Épinal-Vosges after the Armistice until her discharge on April 28, 1919. Her entry in Indiana Women in World War offers a brief anecdote: "Rather devastating, as I was only 45 miles from the front line. … Many incidents in relief work were amusing, probably because of my inadequate French. … Interesting to visit Joan of Arc's birthplace."
McMahan's activities following her 1919 discharge and following ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment are less well chronicled, though she did continue to work with IU President Bryan on the Memorial Fund Drive, which resulted in significant architectural expansion of the campus. She corresponded with the university registrar on ensuring elections of the alumni association, and there is evidence that she continued brief service on the board of the Martha Home in Lafayette, until its dissolution as a boardinghouse and rooming house, and finally its closure and sale in 1920 to the new Community House Association of Lafayette.
In 1920, McMahan was active with the League of Women Voters. The South Bend News-Times listed her as one of the League's representative members at a public hearing to discuss several bills to advance the state's school system, and to improve the economic life of women and children across the state. At the 1921 State Conference of Charities and Correction, held in Muncie, Indiana on October 22-25, McMahan presided over a session that highlighted the efforts of Indiana doctors within and without of state correctional facilities, and afterwards continued to serve on the Indiana State Board of Health.
Most of her archival tracings during this period occur under variable spellings of her name, such as "Ada McMahon." This variable spelling also occurs on a census record and on some correspondence from the IU President's office. However, her passport stamp, alumni records, and professional letterhead all record "Adah McMahan" in its correct spelling.
"Adah McMahan, World War I Doctor, Women's Overseas Hospital." The Golden Book, Veteran Stories. https://goldenbook.iu.edu/veteran-stories/mcmahan-adah.html. Accessed October 1, 2017.
"Adah McMahan." Indiana Women in the World War. Indianapolis, IN: American Legion, 1938. P. 44.
"Barrier is Raised Against Suffrage: Women's Auxiliary Congress Refuses to Entertain Any Motion Not Indorsed." Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 30 Dec. 1915. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1915-12-30/ed-1/seq-2/
Bryan, Dr. William Lowe, to Dr. Adah McMahan. Letter. 16 April 1928. President's Office Correspondence, 1913-1937 Collection, C.286. Courtesy of Indiana University Archives and Special Collections. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/welcome.do
DeHart, General R. P., ed. "History of Lafayette, Indiana (Part 3)." Past and Present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1909.
"Dr. J. N. Hurty Ends Service of 25 Years on Board of Health." The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. (Richmond, Ind.), 30 Sept. 1922. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86058226/1922-09-30/ed-1/seq-6/
Gougar, Helen M. "Municipal Suffrage." The Daily Inter Ocean 18 March 1887, page 4. Photocopy.
"Information for the War Service Register of Alumni and Former Students." Alumni register. 16 August 1922. Indiana University War Service Register Records, 1920-1946 Collection, C.502. Courtesy of Indiana University Archives and Special Collections. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/welcome.do
"Lindley Heads Alumni: Philosophy Head Elected President of Indiana Association." South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.), 23 June 1915. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87055779/1915-06-23/ed-1/seq-12/
Lippie, Kelly, to Tarez Samra Graban. E-mail. 22 August 2017.
Marshall, Joan E. "The Changing Allegiances of Women Volunteers in the Progressive Era, Lafayette, Indiana 1905-1920." Indiana Magazine of History 96.3 (Sep. 2000): 250-85.
McMahan, Adah. "The Community's Duty to the Child." Read in part before the Women's Auxiliary Conference of the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress in Washington, D.C. December 1915. Reprinted as pp. 502-511 in Indiana University Alumni Quarterly v. 3 1916. C. E. Pauley & Co: Indianapolis, IN.
McMahan, Adah, to Dr. William Lowe Bryan. Letter. 24 July 1918. President's Office Correspondence, 1913-1937 Collection, C.286. Courtesy of Indiana University Archives and Special Collections. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/welcome.do
Rodenberger, Joan. Lafayette Journal and Courier Newspaper Index, 1902-1952. Compiled and contributed. http://www.ingenweb.org/intippecanoe/JC_mcm.html. Accessed 27 September 2017.
"Suffragists May Invade Sessions: Women's Auxiiliary to Scientific Congress Likely to Battle Over Votes Issue." The Washington herald. (Washington, D.C.), 30 Dec. 1915. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045433/1915-12-30/ed-1/seq-12/
Summerlot, John, to Tarez Samra Graban. E-mail. 23 August 2017.
Swiggett, Mrs. Glen Levin. Report on the Women's Auxiliary Conference, Held in the City of Washington, U.S.A. in Connection with The Second Pan American Scientific Congress. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1916. HathiTrust. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89094307576. Accessed October 1, 2017.
"Woman Voters to Discuss Merits of Sheppard-Towner School Bill." South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.), 14 Nov. 1920. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87055779/1920-11-14/ed-1/seq-18/
From Indiana University Portraits Collection 1881-1941; Series 2: Cabinet Card Portraits, 1889-1895. Ada McMahan (photo by J. Nicholson & Sons of Crawfordsville, Ind.). Written on back: "Ada McMahan / Huntingburg / Indiana." (#50). Copurtesy of Indiana Historicfal Society.
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Home > JOURNALSFP > Vol. 2 (2020) > Iss. 2
Book Review - The power of the next small step: What's the best that could happen?
Frances PriceFollow
Price, Frances (2016) "Book Review - The power of the next small step: What's the best that could happen?," Journal of Solution Focused Practices: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2 , Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/journalsfp/vol2/iss2/9
All Issues Vol. 4, Iss. 2 Vol. 4, Iss. 1 Vol. 3, Iss. 1 Vol. 2, Iss. 2 Vol. 2, Iss. 1 Vol. 1, Iss. 2 Vol. 1, Iss. 1
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Non-Portability of American Rights
March 19, 2008 By domani spero in Americans Abroad, Lessons, U.S. Missions 1 Comment
In the November 2007 issue of Fast Company, Jonathan Green wrote “Nightmare in Boomtown,” an article that I think should be part of the reading fare for Americans intending to do business abroad. This piece is about Mark Siedenfeld, a married rabbi who originally went to Russia in 1991, became a telecom executive drawn to the post-Soviet boom, had a business partner murdered in broad daylight in Moscow, then went through a 19-month trudge through the post-Soviet justice system, including 11 months in a Siberian prison, and an extradition to Kazakhstan (where he was eventually declared not guilty for charges of embezzlement).
This is a cautionary tale, for sure. But there is also the misconception about the U.S. Government’s influence when something like this happens abroad. The article mentioned that Siedenfeld’s supporters (unnamed in the article) “had been stunned by the apparent reluctance of U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan John Ordway to help an American citizen in distress. The ambassador had met with the Kazakh general prosecutor, but nothing had come of it. Beyond that, he sent Seidenfeld a few magazines and some energy bars in prison.” In another part of the article, it says “As the months passed after his arrest, Siedenfeld came to the creeping realization that he’d been hung out to dry. The State Department had done next to nothing to get him sprung, despite pleas for help to the consulate.”
The notion that the U.S. Government by virtue of its power and influence can “sprung” anybody from a foreign jail is quite absurd.Let’s put this simply – let’s say we have a Kazakh national languishing in a Detroit jail for embezzlement (or it could be any other national, or any other crime, take your pick). How would you feel, if the Kazakh Ambassador to the U.S. demands that our Attorney General sprung this individual from our jail? Can you imagine the uproar that would make? From experience, more than a few of our nationals do expect American Ambassadors or American Consuls to spring them out of jail. Not only that, some Americans also expect that the U.S. Marines would come to extract them when they get into trouble overseas. Would you expect Kazakhtan’s military to send in their Marines to extract their Kazakh national from our jail? Absolutely not!
A note on the energy bars – U.S. Embassies normally do not have regular funds for something like energy bars for incarcerated Americans. There is, however, something called the Emergency Medical/Dietary Assistance (EMDA) under Public Law 95-45, which authorized the Department of State to provide, on a reimbursable basis when possible, medical and/or dietary assistance to U.S. citizens/nationals incarcerated abroad when private sources for this assistance are not otherwise available. You can read more about EMDA here.
I must add here that I have seen consular officers bring dinners to incarcerated Americans during Thanksgiving. I have seen Foreign Service spouses who have cook meals for Americans in jails, and they’re not even employed by the U.S. Government! We have Consular Sections with collection tubs for hotel give-aways like soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoos, etc. Our diplomats who frequently traveled are gently asked to bring back hotel give-aways so these can be distributed to Americans in jail or those in distress.Why? Uhm — because our Embassies do not have money to pay for these basic necessities, and most foreign jails barely have money to feed their prisoners, much less provide these necessities. In any case, it is possible that Mr. Siedenberg’s energy bars were bought with EMDA funds, or were funded from contributions from American businesses operating in the area (I am speculating here) but it is also a good possibility that they came out of Ambassador Ordway or some nameless Consul’s personal funds.
Here’s the lowdown — if you intend to do business abroad, be sure to conduct due diligence before diving head on and have a risk mitigation plan in place. Yeah, yeah, yeah, these can be a hassle but these hassles are minor compared to the prospect of navigating the justice system overseas, if you tumble. Take to heart what the State Department says about your American rights … “The rights an American enjoys in this country (the United States of America) do not travel abroad. Each country is sovereign and its laws apply to everyone who enters regardless of nationality. The U.S. government cannot get Americans released from foreign jails. However, a U.S. consul will insist on prompt access to an arrested American, provide a list of attorneys, and provide information on the host country’s legal system, offer to contact the arrested American’s family or friends, visit on a regular basis, protest mistreatment, monitor jail conditions, provide dietary supplements, if needed, and keep the State Department informed. You can read more here.
In short, your rights as an American citizen are non-portable; you cannot take them with you. When push comes to shove, you can proclaim, “I am an American,” as loudly as you can but – when you are overseas, you are fully subject to the laws of your host country and at the mercy of a foreign justice system that may have little or no resemblance to our own.
« Realities of Diplomatic Life
More on the Belarus Dustup »
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This week marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of the very first James Bond film, DR. NO. Because of this, I have decided to write some Bond blogs--featuring the two least-appreciated 007s, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton.
It's hard to imagine what it must have been like to have to replace Sean Connery as James Bond back in 1968. At that point in time, Connery was the only actor to have ever played the role in a "official" James Bond movie. James Bond in the 1960s was THE biggest character in all of popular culture. Just consider if say, Daniel Radcliffe had quit playing Harry Potter in the middle of the series. That's what producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman had to deal with in trying to fill Connery's shoes.
Their choice was a bit unusual, to say the least. Australian George Lazenby wasn't just an unknown actor--he wasn't an actor at all. Lazenby had done some modeling and some commercials, but he had never played a role in any movie whatsoever. He apparently showed enough in his screen tests (especially during the fight scenes) to get the role. What was probably the biggest show business break in history didn't turn out the way Lazenby might have thought it would. Today most people think of Lazenby as a punchline, or a failure. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (OHMSS) is considered by some to be one of the worst of the Bond series, mostly due to Lazenby.
But in recent years, OHMSS' reputation has gone up, especially among hard-core Bond fans (in other words, those who have actually read the Ian Fleming novels). George Lazenby has also started to get some credit. What the regular public tend to think is one of the worst Bond movies is in reality one of the best.
OHMSS was one of the last Bond films to be closely adapted from an Ian Fleming novel (that is until 2006's CASINO ROYALE). Just about everything in the book is in the movie--even Bond's romance, and marriage, to Countess Tracy. The usual far-fetched elements of a Bond film are a bit toned down here. There's still plenty of action and stunts (some of the best in the series, in fact). But the over-the-top wildness of the previous YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is not much in evidence. Even Blofeld's grand scheme to subject various plants and animals to infertility is believable enough.
The film starts out with the typical Bond pre-credits sequence, which introduces us to Lazneby, and gives him the now-classic line, "This never happened to the other fellow." It's here that Bond first encounters Teresa (Tracy) di Vicenzo, played by Diana Rigg.
Tracy is a woman who has "issues". Tracy's father, a European crime boss, thinks Bond is the perfect man to set his daughter straight. Tracy's father agrees to give Bond information on super-villain Ernst Blofeld (Telly Savalas) if Bond romances his daughter.
A major problem some people have with OHMSS is that James Bond really does fall in love. Considering that it's Diana Rigg, you can't blame him. But it works here, because it's LAZENBY playing Bond. If Sean Connery had been in OHMSS, it wouldn't have worked.
I know that sounds like heresy, but let me explain. George Lazenby, of course, is not Sean Connery. Lazenby's Bond doesn't have the arrogance, or the swagger, that Connery's Bond did. Lazenby certainly looks the part, and he's great in the action scenes--but he's kind of...normal. He doesn't have the screen presence that Connery had. When Lazenby's Bond falls for Tracy, you buy into it. Because Lazenby seems more of a "normal" person (if any actor playing James Bond can come off as being "normal") it makes sense that Lazenby would really care for this woman.
Connery's Bond, on the other hand, would never get married (except in the line of duty, as in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE). Connery would have certainly bedded Tracy, and he would have certainly used her to get information on Blofeld, but then he would have gotten away from her as fast as possible. There's also the fact that if Connery had been in OHMSS, the plot idea of Tracy playing hard-to-get would have looked silly. No woman, even one as screwed up as Tracy, would have been able to hold off Connery.
Another advantage that Lazenby has over Connery is that Lazenby's Bond is one that does not seem indestructible. This makes the action scenes more thrilling. When Lazenby is in a fight scene or being chased, he seems as if he's really in danger. The audience doesn't know this Bond as well as Connery's, so one can't take it for granted that Bond will come out without a scratch. The fight scenes are really where Lazenby comes off best.
There are several other reasons why OHMSS is a great Bond film. The various ski-chases around Blofeld's Swiss Alps compound still hold up today. They've been reworked in several Bond films since. Even though he's bald and he has a pet cat, Telly Savalas is a lot different than the previous Blofeld, Donald Pleasence. Savalas, I think, makes a great Bond villian. Composer John Barry's score is one of the best in the whole Bond series. There isn't a title song, but Barry's OHMSS theme is perfect. Just try listening to it while driving down the highway.
Diana Rigg gives what may be the best female acting performance in any Bond film. Her Tracy is one of those women you just know are going to cause you trouble, but you go after her anyway. Rigg had just reached stardom from her role in the 60s TV hit "The Avengers", and she was probably hired to give the inexperienced Lazenby a strong leading lady. A number of books on the Bond films say that Rigg and Lazenby didn't get along, but they make a very good screen couple. The Bonds of Connery and Roger Moore wouldn't have had the patience to deal with someone like Tracy, but Rigg gives the character enough vulnerability to attract Lazenby's Bond.
Peter Hunt, who directed OHMSS, deserves some praise. Hunt had been an editor on earlier Bond films and he was "promoted" to the director's chair. Obviously, his best work is in the action scenes, but the Tracy-Bond relationship is handled very well. It's unfortunate that Hunt didn't get a chance to direct other Bond films.
OHMSS was not a hit when it was released in 1969. Of course most of the blame was put on George Lazenby's shoulders. Lazenby didn't help matters by announcing he wasn't going to play the role again (the urban legend is that he was fired--he wasn't). If Lazenby had continued playing Bond, he might have grown into the role and been fairly successful at it. He wouldn't have made people forget about Sean Connery, but he could have had a good run as Bond, just like Roger Moore did.
In a way Broccoli & Saltzman put Lazenby in a terrible position. No matter what Lazenby did (and he actually did pretty well under the circumstances), he was never going to out-do Sean Connery. To this day a number of people think of him as a joke. Lazenby continued on as an actor but he never got anywhere near major stardom.
In a way OHMSS shares the same fate as George Lazenby. Even though it's one of the best Bond films, most of the general public see it as a bomb. Hard-core James Bond fans and film buffs know better. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE may be the last truly great James Bond film.
NEXT: Timothy Dalton's career as James Bond.
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Starting from December 19, the UK authorities imposed a Tier 4 lockdown in London and southeast England. The reason for these new restrictions is a novel variant of Covid-19 which has been identified which has spread rapidly within the UK. The Public Health England has assessed this variant as having substantially increased transmissibility with high confidence. Further studies are underway to characterise the variant and updates will be provided.
At least 40 countries have announced new restrictions or a ban on travel from the UK. European countries have begun to impose travel bans on the UK after it’s announcement of a more-infectious and “out of control” Covid-19 variant. Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands are all halting flights. The measures are initially short-term and are different for each country. However, the EU Commission has urged member states to lift any travel bans to the UK to allow for essential journeys and to minimise trade disruption.
Among other European countries the reaction of the French authorities has been the most consequent. Since 21st December 2020, most types of travel from the UK to France have been totally banned. After having closed its borders for 48 hours, France, Britain’s closest neighbour reopened the border to certain groups of travellers on December 23rd – French or EU citizens, Permanent residents of France or another EU country, or those travelling for essential purposes such as hauliers and truck drivers who do not leave their trucks. However, because of the French restrictions, the ferry terminal at Dover is now closed for all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice. On Friday, the French Ministry of Health reported the first case of the UK Covid variant in France.
Belgium has blocked the tunnel and airports from all passenger movements, even transit, for 24 hours from midnight Sunday as a precautionary measure. Turkey and Switzerland have temporarily banned all flights from the UK until the New Year. Switzerland imposed compulsory quarantine for travellers arriving after December 14. Ireland moved to put in place an all out ban on travel from the UK into Ireland, however this ban will be removed after December 31.
German Health Ministry has confirmed the UK variant had not yet been detected in Germany. The Ministry of Transport has announced that planes from the UK would not be allowed to land after midnight on Sunday, that means that passenger flights are canceled from the UK until at least December 31.
Italian Health Ministry has reported the first case of the UK variant detected in Italy. All the flights from and to the UK are suspended until 6 January, while blocking entry for anyone who has been in the UK in the last 14 days. Austria and Bulgaria have also issued a ban on all flights to and from the UK until 31th of January. Португалия has imposed restrictions on flights from the UK, the government announced that only Portuguese nationals will be allowed to travel, and they must have a negative Covid-19 test.
Netherlands have set the travel bans for travelers coming from the UK or South Africa which were supposed to remain in place until at least January 1. However, on December 22, the Dutch government lifted the flight ban. Starting from December 23 all passengers will have to present proof of a recent negative coronavirus PCR test before they will be allowed to travel.
In Испания the government has confirmed the detection of at least 4 cases of the UK variant. Flights from the UK have been suspended indefinitely from December 22, except for Spanish nationals and residents. Norway also discovered the UK variant in two people who had arrived there from the UK and the government has issued a ban on all incoming flights from the United Kingdom which has been extended until December 29th and may eventually be extended into January.
Following these events, the Swedish authorities also detected the new UK variant on Saturday. Sweden’s government issued a ban on travel into Sweden from both the UK and Denmark for at least one month. After discovering the first UK variant case in Дания, the national authorities have imposed a ban on entry for passengers from the UK from December 25 to January 3. Danish citizens and residents can return home but the government strongly advises 10 days of self-isolation, with an option to test after four days.
Some countries didn’t ban the travelers arriving from the UK but imposed restrictions. Greece has imposed a seven-day quarantine for all travelers arriving from the UK starting December 22. Additionally, all passengers coming from the UK will be tested on arrival and if the result of the test on arrival is negative, you must still quarantine for 7 days.
The United States had announced on Wednesday that UK travelers arriving in the city will be required to quarantine or face a daily $1,000 fine.
Israeli authorities approved new travel restrictions on December 27 afternoon which stipulate that until further notice, foreign nationals will not be allowed to enter Israel from South Africa, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Israeli citizens returning from those three countries will now be obligated to remain in quarantine at mandatory Coronavirus hotels upon their return, unlike Israelis who return from other countries, who have the option to self-isolate at home.
Other countries in the Middle East have suspended entry from the UK. Oman has announced a ban for all entry to the country by foreigners and halted international passenger flights, starting for one week, cargo flights are excluded.
Saudi Arabia paused all international passenger flights and land and sea arrivals for a week or until clearer details emerged about the COVID variant, with cargo flights and supply chains exempt. Hong Kong suspended all flights from the UK.
In the light of the spread of the Covid-19 new UK variant, each person intending to travel from the UK must check the destination country’s travel restrictions in place. These restrictions are published and updated on the Home Office website.
Posted by D. Sklar Law Office
Donald Trump’s Proclamation to Suspend Entry of Immigrants
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Sheikh Mohammed announces new Dubai projects worth Dh6.6 billion
A total of 29 development projects worth Dh2 billion have been approved in Dubai to add 8 million square meters of green spaces and parks to the Emirate’s residential and commercial areas, it was announced on Saturday.
“We are pressing ahead with developing our city, improving the quality of our lives and making the future of the UAE,”
said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, while announcing the new projects.
In a series of tweets, Sheikh Mohammed also announced Dh4 billion project to produce energy by processing waste in Dubai.
The project can accommodate 1,000 garbage trucks per day and generates enough energy for 135,000 homes.
“Dubai is a clean city, its energy is clean, its neighborhoods are clean, and its energy resources must be kept clean,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
“We have also approved a project to develop 12 kilometers of Dubai’s beaches over an area of one million square meters from Al Mamzar Beach to Umm Suqeim II at a cost of Dh500 million. We will develop more swimming areas, better running paths and longer bicycle streets. The quality of life in Dubai is the secret of loving life in the Emirate,” Sheikh Mohammed added.
The Vice-President said the UAE is committed to implementing innovative projects that optimise use of resources and solve critical challenges as part of the country’s strategy to ensure environmental sustainability.
A key element in the UAE’s development model, environmental sustainability is reflected in all initiatives and projects launched by government entities, independently or in partnership with the private sector, Sheikh Mohammed said. Sustainability is key to the UAE’s future readiness, he added. “Providing a clean environment is at the heart of our efforts to advance development and provide a high quality of life both now and in the future. We have adopted global best practices and implemented innovative projects to preserve our environment and protect the health and safety of people in the UAE,” Sheikh Mohammed noted.
Sheikh Mohammed’s comments came during a review of Dubai Municipality’s environmental and sustainability projects being developed at a cost Dh6.6 billion. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group attended the review.
Sheikh Mohammed reviewed a project to build the Dubai Centre for Waste Processing in the Warsan area of Dubai. The Dh4 billion plant, one of the largest in the world in terms of waste processing capacity, will operate without any negative impact on the environment. Capable of processing 5,666 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day and 1.9 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per year, it also has the capacity to generate 200 megawatts of energy annually, which can serve the requirements of 135,000 residential units. The first phase of the project will be completed in 2023 and the entire project will be completed in 2024.
Director General of Dubai Municipality Eng. Dawood Al Hajri briefed Sheikh Mohammed on the new plant that is one of Dubai’s largest infrastructure projects. Created to serve the emirate’s current and future waste management and green energy requirements, the project consists of a waste weighing unit, 15 reception points, five furnaces, a steam and power generation zone, 10,000 gas processing units, 27 gates and a zone for extracting metal from incinerated waste.
Sheikh Mohammed was also briefed on a Dh500 million project to develop public beaches in Dubai. The project aims to develop one million square metres of beachfront area from Al Mamzar beach to Umm Suqeim 2. The project will be implemented in three phases — the first covers 4,250 metres of beachline extending from Al Mamzar Creek beach to Al Mamzar Corniche, the second covers 2,150 metres of beachline extending from Jumeirah Beach to Al Shorouq, and the third phase covers 6,015 metres of beachline in Umm Suqeim 1 and 2.
The project aims to revitalise the beachfront and increase swimming areas. Dedicated areas for water activities and jogging and cycling tracks will be provided as part of the overall plan to promote a fitness culture and healthy lifestyle among the city’s residents.
Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary development project
Sheikh Mohammed was also briefed on the Dh100 million Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary development project, which seeks to enhance the sanctuary’s ecosystem and biodiversity. The project will increase wetlands in the sanctuary by 20 hectares and expand green cover by planting mangrove trees in a 100-hectare area. Service facilities and entertainment amenities will also be built as part of the project.
Green Dubai Project
Sheikh Mohammed also reviewed a project to develop the first open garden on Al Mamzar Creek that forms part of the Dh2 billion Green Dubai Project. To be implemented over a four-year period extending from 2021 to 2024, the project is set to add 8 million square metres of green spaces. The project forms part of a broader plan to expand the city’s green spaces, increase the percentage of green areas in development projects and raise Dubai’s global ranking in this area.
Topic Keywords #Dubai
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Mrs. Amy Hartjen
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! This school year will be one of lots of change and flexibility as we navigate through this pandemic. Regardless of whether we are in remote learning or on campus in person. We will be working with students to ensure they get an extraordinary learning experience.
This is Mrs. Hartjen’s eighth year as Dysart High School’s principal, her tenth year at Dysart High School, and her twenty first year in the Dysart Unified School District.
This year, as the Dysart District celebrates their Centennial, the Dysart staff will continue the traditions and excellence that embody Dysart High School. Mrs. Hartjen is excited to be the principal of a campus with so much history and pride. Demon PRIDE runs campus wide. The PRIDE mantra reflects the high expectations for both students and staff. Dysart High School is Future Focused. Mrs. Hartjen wants to ensure that all students who attend Dysart High School are ready for the college or career of their choice.
Dysart High School has a wide variety of programs to meet the needs of all students. From the strong academic programs (AP, Cambridge, and Dual Enrollment), to our signature programs (AVID, Automotive Technology, Photo Imaging, and ROTC) and arts programs, Dysart High School has opportunities for all students. In addition to academic programs, Dysart has twenty-two varsity athletic teams as well as many clubs and activities for students to join. Mrs. Hartjen passionately encourages all students to take advantage of all Dysart HS has to offer.
Dysart High School’s community wants all students to be successful, offering after-school tutoring on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 2:30 - 4:30 P.M. Mrs. Hartjen encourages all parents to reach out to your child’s teachers. If you have not already registered, all parents can access their student’s attendance and grades from the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Please let Mrs. Hartjen and the administrative team know at any time what can be done to help your child have the best possible educational experience!
Mrs. Hartjen looks forward to seeing you on campus at Dysart High School events and activities!
Meet the other Dysart High School Administrators
Mr. Tyrus Timbrooks (Assistant Principal/Athletic Director)
Mr. Timbrooks is proud to be in his twelveth year of service as Dysart High School's assistant principal and athletic director. In his role as athletic director, he works actively with coaches, parents, and young people, making Dysart High School a safe and fun place for student involvement and character growth. Please encourage your student to spend time at school getting involved in any of the many opportunities available to them. Mr. Timbrooks is very proud of Dysart’s athletic accomplishments and the history of excellence established over the last half century!
Mr. Timbrooks serves a dual role on campus as both the athletic director and one of the assistant principals. He works with students each and every day in ever-changing roles. His goal each year is to build and foster relationships with the young people on campus. He looks forward to having positive, successful interactions with each and every student on campus.
At Dysart High School, a top priority is maintaining clear and frequent communication. It is Mr. Timbrooks’ intention to contact parents whenever interactions warrant that contact and he encourages parents to contact him anytime via phone or email.
Ms.Sunny Resch (Assistant Principal Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment)
Ms. Resch is in her seventh year here at Dysart High School and she is the assistant principal in charge of curriculum and instruction. Ms. Resch oversees scheduling, counseling, dual enrollment, testing and anything related to the delivery and development of Dysart’s curriculum. Consequently, she works closely with the counselors to ensure students have the courses they need to be ready for college or career of their choice. She works with parents, students and teachers to ensure students have a plan for graduation and post-secondary.
She would like to extend an invitation to contact her with any concerns you may have.
Mrs. Hannah Pacheco
Mrs. Pacheco is in her third year at Dysart High School, working with two levels of discipline, the DHS PBIS committee, school security, and the School Resource Officer, among others. She works closely with Dysart’s counselors and the attendance office as well. She strives to be always active on and around campus, encouraging Dysart students to work hard in their classes and to get involved in Dysart’s numerous athletic programs, clubs, and activities. Mrs. Pacheco looks forward to seeing students, parents, and community members at school events!
Mrs. Pacheco is happy to be a part of the Dysart Demons community and welcomes any communication from students and parents.
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HomeBusinessEnsuring next-gen IT ideas don’t run dry
Ensuring next-gen IT ideas don’t run dry
When looking to encourage fresh thinking and young talent, you can’t beat a hackathon, says Rocket Software’s Richard Whomes
Julian Owen
Raise your hands if you still remember Minority Report, the futuristic action thriller starring Tom Cruise. The 2002 movie’s iconic scenes include Mr Cruise making an escape in a driverless car, using a gesture-based interface, and turning on a wall screen in his home using voice command. Watching it back now, you might be less impressed with the tech, because, well, the future has arrived. While the technology seemed impossible almost 20 years ago, today, most of it has become a reality – think Google’s (attempt at) driverless cars, along with Kinect technology for the Xbox and Amazon Echo. Tech being one of the fastest evolving industries, no idea should ever be deemed too wild. Even mind-reading head implants are fair game.
So how can the IT industry ensure that the ideas don’t run dry? Nurturing young talent is one way. By doing this, you will bring in fresh new ideas and skills, and also ensure you not only keep up with industry trends but create them. And ‘hackathons’ are a great way for IT companies to encourage the next generation to join their ranks and provide out-of-the-box solutions.
The future belongs to the brave and those who dare might just one day change the world.
Not all about the pay cheque
Hackathons have been around for a while and have always served to spot fresh talent. But they usually follow the same formula – setting the goal of creating a useable product at the end, which usually only serves the company and its customers. How about switching it up and using the event to find solutions that benefit the wider community? This will specifically speak to the Gen Z soul, which, as a generation – not unlike their predecessors, Millennials, or Generation Y – tends to be socially conscious, with a strong desire to ‘give back’. A sense of purpose and engagement is hugely important to 84% of Gen Z, possibly even more important than the pay cheque. Giving them the chance to work on solutions to, for example, solve the homelessness crisis, could be the deciding factor for them to join a hackathon and, potentially, the company. Again, just as with Minority Report’s futuristic look, solving a social crisis so severe seems to be far-fetched at this point in time, but give it a couple of years and the available tech might tell a different story.
According to Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, the top predictor of workplace satisfaction is not pay, but the culture and values of the organisation. Businesses which genuinely care about their communities, and are not just interested in making money quickly, have the edge over their competitors. Almost 25,000 people aged 18 to 35, from 186 countries, took part in the Global Shapers Annual Survey 2017. It found that over 40% of young people think a sense of purpose/impact on society is one of the most important criteria when considering a career opportunity. A Deloitte study from the same year echoes this – 80,000 members of Generation Y across 30 countries— want “business as a force for positive change”. Two years later, Deloitte repeated the study and found that Millennials are quicker and more ready to leave their jobs than before, which means that, if a company doesn’t deliver on community impact, talent development, and diversity and inclusion, they might be out of the door in a flash. Companies that have traditionally focused primarily on profitability need to work hard to adopt new mindsets that coincide with the values younger generations care about. Providing opportunities for young people to flex their IT muscles for the greater good is one way to cultivate an environment the next generation deems worthy to stay in.
“How about switching it up and using hackathons to find solutions that benefit the wider community”
Solving homelessness one hack at a time
This year, Rocket Software invited students from around the world to take part in the Rocket.Build Community Hackathon to offer budding developers the opportunity to develop software solutions addressing real-world problems specific to their communities. One group developed the Assist Homeless Web App, providing resources to help the homeless get back on track. The app also offers features for people and local businesses to lend a helping hand in terms of offering free food and shelter. While the project is still not complete, as the website would need improvements, the web app, as well as other impressive ideas birthed at the Rocket.Build Community, are all planting seeds for future growth.
Minh An Cao and Yukai Yang, both fourth-year students at San Jose State University, have worked on the web app and described the opportunity to serve their community as a real draw. Yang explained: “Having the chance to work on a project that can solve the homelessness crisis in San Jose really got my attention.” Young people care about their surroundings and fellow mankind. Giving them a chance to make a difference is a surefire way to increase engagement, spark creativity and, ultimately, deliver better products.
From the archive: ET editor, Charley Rogers, meets Ralph Echemendia, the world-renowned cybersecurity expert better known as The Ethical Hacker
It’s greatness we’re after
Author, poet and educator, Donovan Livingston – who shot to fame in 2016 with his Harvard raduate School of Education Student Speech – put it this way: “Together, we can inspire galaxies of greatness for generations to come. No, sky is not the limit. It is only the beginning.” Companies need to invest in young talent by encouraging their ideas, thereby building a strong working culture in which employees are unafraid of change, innovation – however ‘out there’ – and even failure. Because taking risks might sometimes come at a cost, the future belongs to the brave and those who dare might just one day change the world.
Richard Whomes is a senior director at Rocket Software
COVID-19 and the long overdue reset in schooling
by Jeff Rubenstein
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NEC Birmingham gears up to host the Edtech Summit
Lockdown attainment gap could take a year to close
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Tony Fernandes, Brendon Batson and Heather Rabbatts recognised for governance in football
Several high profile names from the football world gathered at Wembley last night to celebrate the graduation of the second cohort of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member (EBM) programme. Also recognised during the evening in the presence of football bosses including Bobby Barnes, Deputy Chief Executive at the Professional Footballers’ Association; Greg Dyke, Chairman of The Football Association; and Richard Bevan, Chief Executive of the League Managers Association were Tony Fernandes CBE, Heather Rabbatts CBE and Brendon Batson.
The EBM Award for ‘Significant Contribution to Governance in Football’ is a strategic leadership award which recognises the ambassadorial contribution and visibility in the field and contribution to the advancement of diversity in leadership and supporting the development of the pipeline for leadership. As Chairman at QPR, Fernandes has welcomed the progression of BAME staff including Les Ferdinand MBE who he promoted to Director of Football earlier this year and Chris Ramsey, now manager at the club. In her capacity as the only female Director at The FA, Heather is widely known for promoting the importance of diversity in sport and is a supporter of improving the pipeline of BAME groups across leadership positions in the sport.
A pioneer of black players in football, Batson, along with his then teammates Cyrille Regis and the late Laurie Cunningham were often subjected to extreme racism from fans. Having retired from the pitch, he has worked his way through the ranks at the PFA from senior administrator and previously serving as Deputy Chief Executive of the players union. When being recognised for his contribution, Brendon praised the work of the EBM programmes highlighting the achievements of the graduates and how the programme has been delivered. He gave an empowering address to the audience highlighting some of the barriers that he has overcome over many years in football.
The Award comes at a time when there is still much to do to tackle the lack of diversity on boards within football. According to the Sport’s Peoples Think Tank, “…only 19 ethnic minority coaches are employed in 552 positions across 92 professional clubs, just 3.4% of the roles available.”
On The Board seeks to tackle this issue and help to transfer the ambassadorial experience and insight of players to the boardrooms of clubs across the country. Those completing the course praise it’s aims and outcomes, with Hughton stating; “EBM has given me the chance to broaden my career opportunities, as well as enhancing my ability to relate to boards of directors in my current role.” He is one of only a handful of black managers across the top four tiers of English football. When speaking about The FA’s support of the programme, Dyke stated that; ‘… where BAME players are successful in attaining board places in the game, it will help to widen the diversity of the decision makers in football.”
Created by leading governance consultant Karl George MBE, founder of the Effective Board Member Programmes (EBM), On The Board in conjunction with Sports On Board and sponsored by the PFA and The FA seeks to help players and others involved in football to progress from the pitch to the boardroom. Previous graduates include Les Ferdinand MBE and Chris Ramsey. Notable names such as Chris Hughton, Rachel Yankey, Ugo Ehiogu and Ken Monkou are among the course participants.
The graduation of players throws a spotlight on the continued commitment of the PFA and The FA to tackle the lack of diversity on boards within the sport. The collaboration of EBM and the PFA is achieving results with several participants having already gained board appointments or undertaken board observations. Nathan Blake who graduated from On The Board in 2014 is one example having gained a non-executive position at Newport County A.F.C.
Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive at the PFA, which is the main sponsor of the programme said; “the governance forum is an ideal partner having delivered a similar programme to young, private sector professionals and we are keen to replicate the success with footballers.” The course is accredited by the Association of Corporate Governance Practitioners and Edinburgh Napier University making it a valuable addition to any CV.
For more information about joining the Effective Board Member Programmes, please contact us on 0845 505 1875 or email us at admin@effectiveboardmember.co.uk.
Football bosses gather at Wembley to watch players graduate from pitch to boardroom
Footballers from the second cohort of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member programme graduate at Wembley on Wednesday 15th April 2015. The ceremony will be attended by graduates and officials from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), The Football Association (FA) and the League Managers Association (LMA) including Bobby Barnes Deputy Chief Executive at the PFA; Greg Dyke, Chairman of the FA; and Richard Bevan, Chief Executive of the LMA. Chris Hughton, Rachel Yankey, Ugo Ehiogu and Ken Monkou are among the graduates. Read More
Greg Dyke Visits On The Board
Earlier this month, we were privileged to have Chairman of the FA, Greg Dyke join our On The Board session with the current cohort of footballers.
Previously Director General at the BBC, Greg has been the Chief Executive at numerous organisations including the LWT Group, Pearson Television and Channel Five. He also has current roles at HiT Entertainment and has been the Chancellor of the University of York for a number of years.
The FA are a sponsor of the EBM programmes and with his years of experience on boards, Greg was able to share his wisdom and insight with our students as they prepare to take up board appointments once they complete the course.
Over the next few weeks, we will share with you what a few of our current students learned from the session with Greg beginning with Ben Purkiss. Currently a defender at Walsall FC, Ben is also a member of the management committee at The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) who also sponsor On The Board.
For the students of the On The Board Programme seeking positions of governance, the opportunity to listen to somebody of Greg Dyke’s ilk and experience was both insightful and informative.
Throughout Greg’s presentation, which detailed his journey to his current position as the FA Chair, the importance of good governance was repeatedly stressed. Greg has extensive and wide-ranging commercial experience and was keen to emphasise the value of investing time in whatever organisation you represent. In order to govern effectively it is imperative that the director fully understands the requirements of a company and develops an understanding of the company’s aims and objectives. Crucially, not all board members that Greg has encountered had governance training and subsequently lacked familiarity with good governance standards.
With one of the aims of the On The Board Programme being to increase diversity in the boardroom, the support of the national governing body is highly significant. Along with his commitment to good governance practice, Greg reiterated his desire to ensure the FA is more representative of society and hopefully we will see graduates of the course progress to roles within the organisation.
At the PFA we are strong advocates of good governance and work closely with Karl and the Programme to ensure we achieve the highest standards of self-regulation. However, we are always looking to improve and I will be looking to invest even more time in the organisation.
Overall it was an excellent opportunity to listen to first hand insight into the way in which boards operate in practice, the problems they face and notably the relevance of the issues explored on the On The Board programme.
Check back over the next few weeks to see what other on The Board Participants had to say about their session with Greg Dyke!
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The award for the Olympic gold medal will increase from 35 to 50 million forints
December 10, 2020 Bácsi ÉvaLeave a Comment on The award for the Olympic gold medal will increase from 35 to 50 million forints
The Hungarian government has increased the amount of state prizes for outstanding sports results, so that the Olympic gold medal will reach HUF 50 million instead of the previous 35. According to the issue of the Magyar Közlöny published on Wednesday, athletes will receive HUF 35.7 million for the silver medal won in the Olympic games and HUF 28.5 million for the bronze medal. At the Paralympics, as well as at events organized by the International World Games Association and the International Chess Association, Hungarian medalists will receive HUF 17.5, 12.5 and HUF 10 million.
Among the podium finishers of the annual World Championships in Olympic sports, the gold medalists receive HUF 6.25 million, the silver medalists HUF 4.46 million and the bronze medalists HUF 3.56 million. At the European Championships, athletes will receive a state prize of HUF 3.75 million, a prize of HUF 2.68 million and a prize of HUF 2.14 million for the third place.
A woman went to the car dealership in Debrecen to take revenge because she was angry with her husband
A policeman beat his partner
Áder, Orbán Congratulate Gymnast Ágnes Keleti on 100th Birthday
January 11, 2021 Tóháti Zsuzsa
Orbán: Sports ‘Indispensable’
January 4, 2021 Tóháti Zsuzsa
Greece Won the Men’s Water Polo World League in Debrecen
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Posts for Bhandarkal
History Behind Kathmandu Durbar Square of Kathmandu
Travel Destination - Shelia - June 24, 2015
It is also famously called as Basantapur Durbar Square and Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square. Located in front of Kathmandu’s royal palace, this spectacular Durbar Square reflects the artistry that prevailed in the past. Kathmandu Durbar Square houses palaces and ancient temples that belong to the periods between 12th and 18th centuries. The cultural spirit of Nepal centers in Kathmandu Valley and hence Kathmandu Durbar Square gains more prominence. It consists of two divisions, which are referred to as outer complex and inner complex. The outer complex has famous temples namely Taleju Temple, Jagannath Temple, Shiv-Parvati Temple, Big Bell and Kumari Bahal. The inner complex has old palace, courtyards, Basantapur Durbar, Hanuman Dhoka and other structures.
The palace in the complex was the residence of the Nepalese Royal family until 19th century and coronation of kings took place here. The temples representing Hindu and Buddhist faiths are constructed in pagoda style. The stunning architecture involved in the construction of temples and palaces in Kathmandu Durbar Square makes the place one of the most frequented tourist destinations. No wonder, Kathmandu Durbar Square ranks amongst the eight Cultural World Heritage sites. Some of the important places in Kathmandu Durbar Square are:
Taleju Temple: The first three-tired temple of the land, Taleju Temple, is considered an important religious site by followers of Hinduism and Jainism. Legend goes that Goddess Taleju had appeared before the king in the form of bee to advice that the temple be built resembling the design of yantra.
Jagannath Temple: Jagannath Temple was initially dedicated to Lord Vishnu and later it was re-dedicated to Lord Jagannath. The temple is a fine example of architectural splendor of the past. Exquisite carvings on the doors and windows are an inspiration to any artistic mind.
Shiv-Parvati Temple: It is one of the famous temples in Kathmandu Square Durbar. Dedicated to Shiva and Parvati, the temple is believed to be reconstructed later.
Kumari Bahal: Kumari Bahal is the abode of Living Goddess. Built in the year 1757, it resembles a monastery. A girl chosen to be living goddess of the town lives in the place until she reaches puberty after which she returns to her normal life.
Bhandarkal: Bhandarkal is yet another attraction in Kathmandu Durbar Square. It is a botanical garden established by King Pratap Mall during 17th century. The garden earns its name after a palace that houses the statue of Jalashayana Narayan, the Sleeping Vishnu. With wide range of fauna, Bhandarkal is haven for nature lovers.
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Plumas District Hospital Launches Cerner Electronic Health Record
KANSAS CITY – August 7, 2019 – Plumas District Hospital (PDH) is excited to announce a significant technology upgrade to better serve Plumas County and surrounding areas of northeastern California. Beginning this fall, the hospital will move to Cerner Millennium®, a world class electronic health record (EHR) that offers doctors, clinicians and patients digital access to medical records and health histories. Cerner Corporation will work alongside PDH leadership to replace several disjointed EHR systems and applications with a single cohesive and secure system.
The new EHR will help physicians and clinicians reduce the burden of charting by replacing at least eight other software applications with one unified system. Additionally, through a new online portal, patients will be able to securely message their health provider, schedule appointments, view and settle financial balances and access their own health history.
“We came to understand that in order to meet our patients’ needs and continue to provide excellent care, we needed to move to an efficient and user-friendly EHR,” said JoDee Tittle, MBA, CEO, PDH. “Cerner’s CommunityWorksSM offering proved to be well-suited for a hospital of our size to bring the most value to our patients and community.”
CommunityWorks, a cloud-based delivery model, is designed to accommodate the unique needs of community, critical access and specialty hospitals. Rural health clinics can be vulnerable to funding challenges, which leaves many of these health systems faced with making tough decisions when it comes to budget versus innovation. Cerner helps ease that challenge, offering rural hospitals and health systems full access to its EHR to provide high-quality care with a predictable cost of ownership, proving an economical business model for rural health care.
Switching to Cerner gives PDH clinicians access to the most current technology, without the IT operational burden associated with system updates, enhancements and code upgrades. This clinical integration can also help enhance patient safety through increased accuracy.
“PDH is committed to enhancing care and streamlining the patient experience in their community. We are proud to support their vision by providing a fully integrated EHR,” said Mitchell Clark, president, CommunityWorks, Cerner. “Working together to meet the shared goals of our organizations will ultimately increase the sharing of data throughout the hospital and improve the quality of care delivered to the people of Quincy and neighboring communities.”
With Cerner technology, PDH will be able to transform the care it provides to more than 10,000 community residents. The new EHR will be used throughout PDH and its two rural health clinics, Plumas Rural Health Center and Indian Valley Medical Clinic. The system is slated to go live by the end 2019.
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5.2 Feminism Movement in South Korea
Gender, Family, and Social Change in Contemporary South Korea
This course examines the transformation of Korean society beginning around the turn of the 20th century to contemporary times. In particular, it explores how shifting categories of masculinity, and by contrast, femininity have impacted upon, and in turn been influenced by social, cultural, and political change. Using multiple disciplinary lenses, we will critically examine how gender intersects with political, social, and economic developments starting with the Confucianization of Korean society during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) up to the contemporary moment of globalization and neoliberal reform. The class will draw on a variety of topics such as traditional views of women, religion, race, class, education, patriarchy, sexuality, imperialism, modernity, war, globalization, the diaspora, among others. Special attention will be placed on the historical, transnational and transdisciplinary connections.
Very interesting course, it provides a nice glance to the Korean culture and their good and bad points. I really look forward something similar but now deeper to study about South Korea.
Interesting course, especially to learn of Korea today in comparison to 50 years ago when I lived there about a year. Fascinating to see the changes socially. Thanks so much!
Looking Ahead into the Future...
Provide an overview of current positive changes in Korea related to gender and discuss impending issues of contemporary feminist movement and comfort women before concluding the lecture series.
5.1 Positive Changes in Korea4:14
5.2 Feminism Movement in South Korea11:49
5.3 Comfort Women8:38
5.4 Conclusion2:49
Hyun Mee Kim
Yoo Theodore Jun
Seleccionar un idiomaChino (simplificado)CoreanoEspañol (Spanish)Francés (French)Inglés (English)Portugués (europeo)Ruso (Russian)
While the policies of Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Korean government have aimed to create a balance between life and work, it has failed to meet this objective, due to a lack of support from companies, and men's participation in child care and domestic work. Korean women have nowhere near the same opportunities as a man in terms of careers, institutional and party politics, and business opportunities. In fact, Koreans still regard merit-based entry requirements as the fairest process. For example, women perform very well, better than their male counterparts, in many qualifying exams, currently. Yet, Korean young women are still very frustrated, that no substantial changes have been made in gender relations. A new form of feminism at the grass-root level has emerged recently and throughout the whole history. South Korean women have recently been taking a leading role in challenging cultural norms that impede gender equality. We are dealing with history of feminism in South Korea here. As we learned in the previous lecture, the period of 1920s to 30s was introduced as the harbinger of feminism in Korea. The feminist movement in Korea came to the forward in the late 1980s. At that time, vigorous democratization movement against the military authoritarian regime was sweeping the whole county. The women's movement was not considered as an independent movement, but rather as being under the progressive democracy movement. This mainstream perception argued for the integration of a feminist movement into the democratization movement, whose success will inevitably make a way to women's right and gender equality. The women's movement, women's liberation, whereby, women laborers and marginalized people, ‘minjung’ in Korean, at the center stage, to unite with other women in struggling against a ruling class in achieving liberation. That is, the site of class struggle was the only legitimate political field, where women's experiences acquired meaning. However, mid to late 1990s witnessed an increasing emphasis on gender identity politics in women's movement, away from coalition politics with the male dominant progressive movement group. This is an outcome of increasing number of individuals and groups, who criticized the allocation of women as the Other in society, and advanced and regain women's self-respect and autonomy. New group of feminists was born on campus, by those who studied feminism in universities. In 1990s, many universities opened up feminism lectures, which brought feminism to popular discourse in Korea. Campus feminism began to spread and this trend created the so-called young feminists in the middle to late 1990s. These new, young families led cultural movements of their own independent from of those of male, progressive activists. They established issues of sexuality, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and date rape as a prominent agenda to be talked of. Their catchphrase was “politicization of everyday life”. They actively manifested about sexuality by expressing resistance and desire coincidentally. One legacy of the cultures the Young Feminists movement created, that leads on until today is using nicknames and losing honorifics in conversing with the members of their organizations. This new cultural cause aims to resist organizational hierarchy, and authoritarianism in Korea, that was sustained by the Korean language's unique use of honorifics and forms of address. This culture rejected patriarchal family relations that psychologically oppressed women, by skipping the last names, and age in addressing others. Now young feminists could be emancipated from the authorities embedded in patrilineal lineage and seniority. Many women's organizations were also established in 1990s. They challenged patriarchy with well-structured social movements. Some of the success of campaigns and projects are the following. First, among the activities are the movement of the repeal of the Hoju System, which designates and registers male family head. Coalition and collective efforts, led by the women's organization, successfully abolished this Hoju system in year 2005. Secondly, the litigation of over the extra point system. This extra point system runs on additional 5% in points to the man who has completed the military service towards government service employment examination for low to mid-level positions. Most men considered this system as an obvious and justified reward to the sacrifice in the army, while the families and women argued against the systems inequality and inequity, along with its effectiveness in evaluating job seekers, capabilities, and merits. Also, other cultural movements were initiated, supported by their vibrant activism. One such example could be Anti-Miss Korea pageant. While the pageant continues through to this day, more public discourse about objectification of women is heard these days. However, feminist women meet harsh backlashes from the mid-2000s in Korea, where misogyny was growing expansively. As mentioned earlier, the feminist movement in Korea abolished extra point system. The constitutional court of Korea found that, providing advantage points of a maximum 5% in recruitment examination, to those who served the mandatory military duty was unconstitutional in 1999. This ruling emotionally united Korean men. Those who completed military and men in general shared their outrage on the ruling, in the early online communities of late 1990s, which led into diverse forms of cyber-terrorism against women. The argument that women are taking away men's advantages they rightfully owned, began to gain strength. Then all fingers pointed at feminists, who were the cause of all troubles. This form of misogyny continued up to the new millennium, and spread its target to women in general in South Korea. Men felt that males' established this position, and vested interest as taken away by a growing number of successful women. They were no longer to be guaranteed of their breadwinner position in this neo-liberal, competitive economy, which made them anxious and insecure. Also, as more women hold the consumption power, men became also objectified and commercialized in the image market, which reversed the conventional male-female positions. This unfamiliar trend was making men become uneasy with women's growing prominence in Korean economy and society. If the form the previous feminists fought was patriarchal Korean structures, today's feminists are fighting a war against the misogyny and similar sentiments erupting in South Korea. Since 2015, feminism spread rapidly as a popularized movement among young Korean women. In June of year 2015, a group of young feminists called Megalia appeared online. Wikipedia Korea defines Megalia as a website created in opposition to misogyny. The founders coined this site after the title of Norwegian feminist novel, ‘Egalia's Daughters’, also creating Internet forum called MERS Gallery. Netizens who criticized misogyny in male-dominant Internet communities started to directly mimic the misogyny, reversing the attacks on men as a strategy for social movement. Such a strategy is known to be Mirroring. The Megalian takes direct action as ethics of the opposing power. The fixed prejudice on traditional gender roles, hatred, belittlement, negligence and threats, which had been monopolized among men against women, were deployed strategically in this movement. This mirroring by women exposed the misogyny and backwardness of Korean's patriarchal culture. By adopting their sexist languages to belittle women, this new feminist movement not only ridiculed and criticized men's behavior, but it popularized new type of feminism grounded in a direct action oriented movement. Empowered by this side, members posted sticky notes in public spaces defending women's rights and released identities and private information of the murderer who killed an innocent women near Kangnam subway station. Young feminists against the pornography and sexual violence say these behaviors as home-grown acts as a fraternal complicity of sexual abuse, misogyny and gendered crimes. These activists led a successful campaign in shutting down Sora-Net, a representative pornographic website in South Korea. Megalia feminists have been criticized by some people for mimicking male aggression to empower women. Nevertheless, the rise of this grass-roots feminism reflects the severity of sexual abuse, sexual violence, and gender inequality against women, despite South Korea's unprecedented economic growth and democratization. For more information, check these materials.
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Abraham (Hebrew Bible) | Article about Abraham (Hebrew Bible) by The Free Dictionary
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Abraham+(Hebrew+Bible)
(redirected from Abraham (Hebrew Bible))
[according to the Book of Genesis, Heb.,=father of many nations] or
(ā`brəm) [Heb.,=exalted father], in the Bible, progenitor of the Hebrews; in the Qur'an, ancestor of the Arabs. As the founder of JudaismJudaism
, the religious beliefs and practices and the way of life of the Jews. The term itself was first used by Hellenized Jews to describe their religious practice, but it is of predominantly modern usage; it is not used in the Bible or in Rabbinic literature and only rarely
..... Click the link for more information. , he is said to have instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign of the covenant between God and the Jews, who are descended from IsaacIsaac
[Heb.,=laughter], according to the patriarchal narratives of the Book of Genesis, Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sara. He married Rebecca, and their sons were Esau and Jacob. Ishmael was his half-brother.
..... Click the link for more information. , son of Abraham's old age. Abraham also received the promise of Canaan for his people. In response to divine command, Abraham left Haran, taking his wife SaraSara
or Sarah,
in the Bible, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. With Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, she was one of the four Hebrew matriarchs. Her name was originally Sarai [Heb.,=princess]. She was childless until, by divine favor, she gave birth to Isaac in her old age.
..... Click the link for more information. and his nephew LotLot,
in the Book of Genesis, the son of Abraham's brother Haran. Lot settled in Sodom and received a warning of its destruction. As he fled with his family, his wife, disobeying God's orders, looked back at the city and was turned into a pillar of salt.
..... Click the link for more information. to Canaan, where God promised him many descendants who would become a great nation. His devotion and trust in God and his promises are exemplified pre-eminently in Abraham's preparedness to sacrifice his son Isaac. The Book of Joshua confesses Abraham as a one-time worshiper of other gods before he entered Canaan.
Muslims believe that Arabs are descended from Abraham and Hagar through their son IshmaelIshmael
[Heb.,=God hears], in the Bible. 1 Son of Abraham and Hagar; ancestor of 12 tribes in N Arabia. Through Sara's jealousy he and his mother were sent into the desert, where the angel of the Lord encountered them at a spring.
..... Click the link for more information. . Abraham is further regarded as an ancestor of Muhammad. According to the Qur'an, Abraham and Ishmael built the KaabaKaaba
or Caaba
[Arab.,=cube], the central, cubic, stone structure, covered by a black cloth, within the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The sacred nature of the site predates Islam: tradition says that the Kaaba was built by Adam and rebuilt by Abraham and the
..... Click the link for more information. in MeccaMecca
or Makkah
, city (1993 pop. 966,381), capital of the Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia. The birthplace c.A.D. 570 of Muhammad the Prophet, it is the holiest city of Islam, and the goal of the annual Muslim hajj. It is c.
..... Click the link for more information. and instituted pilgrimages there. The Qur'an depicts him destroying the idols of his father and of his clan; hence, Islam is the restoration of the religion of Abraham.
Other Abraham traditions are to be found in the Old Testament PseudepigraphaPseudepigrapha
[Gr.,=things falsely ascribed], a collection of early Jewish and some Jewish-Christian writings composed between c.200 B.C. and c.A.D. 200, not found in the Bible or rabbinic writings.
..... Click the link for more information. , especially in the Book of Jubilees. See also Josephus' Jewish Antiquities. Modern biblical scholarship has revealed anachronisms in Genesis that cloud attempts to place chronologically Abraham's historical existence.
See T. L. Thompson, The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974); J. van Seters, Abraham in History and Tradition (1975); A. R. Millard and D. J. Wiseman, ed., Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives (1983); J. D. Levenson, Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (2012).
Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. Fortean Picture Library.
No colossus stands astride the monotheistic religious history of the world quite like Abraham. Three world religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—trace their ancestry back to him. He is considered to be the father of both Judaism and Islam, through his sons Isaac and Ishmael, respectively, and the spiritual father of Christianity, according to Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 4, verse 1. Indeed, except for the name of Jesus, Abraham's name appears more times in the Christian New Testament than does any other.
Although scholars will probably always wonder whether he was an actual man or a composite of characters, his story, set in about 2000 BCE, is told in a straightforward, historical manner beginning in the book of Genesis, chapter 12.
He is first introduced as Abram (the name means "exalted father"), living in Ur of the Chaldees, in what is now Iraq. The ancient city of Ur, a Sumerian capital, has been excavated. As a result of archaeological work done there, many believe it has been demonstrated that a people called Hapiru, or Hebrew, lived in Ur until about the time of the biblical narrative. They apparently migrated to Haran, in northern Mesopotamia, and then, it is assumed, to Canaan, later called Palestine, now Israel. Critical scholarship, however, like all sciences, is continually in flux, and it must be noted that further research sheds doubt on the connection.
Abraham is presented as a man of great faith although, like most biblical heroes, his feet of clay make him disarmingly appealing. The religious "call" that begins his story occurs in Genesis 12:
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your father's house to the land I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."
"So Abram departed," according to the Bible, without a single word of protest or explanation. This act of unquestioning faith became the foundation for three religions.
After demonstrating this faith, however, Abram does an unexpected thing. He goes to Canaan as instructed, but at the first sign of famine, he continues on to Egypt. While there he is so worried about the Egyptian response to the beauty of his wife, Sarai, that he passes her off as his half-sister so no one will kill him in the hopes of marrying his widow. His plot almost backfires, and Sarai barely escapes becoming a member of Pharaoh's harem.
When Abram does return to Canaan, his name is changed to Abraham, which means "father of a multitude." It is by this name, and his wife's new name of Sarah, that they are known by three world religions. Abraham promises to remain faithful to his covenant with God, and circumcision will be the physical sign of that covenant, so as to set apart his descendants forever (see Circumcision).
Abraham is told that he and his wife will have a son whose ancestors will grow to become a great nation. When the miracle of birth fails to materialize (the couple is, after all, more than ninety years old), Sarah decides Abraham should father a baby by her Egyptian servant, Hagar. This practice was apparently fairly common in those days. A woman incapable of bearing children would often adopt as her own the child of her husband and a household servant.
The baby boy born of this union was named Ishmael. It is from Ishmael, the firstborn, that Muslims believe the religion of Islam begins. Significantly, the Hebrew Bible inserts an editorial at this point. Ishmael is called "a wild ass of a man" whose "hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell against all his kinsmen" (Genesis 16:12).
All was not happy in the tents of Abraham, however. Right after Ishmael was born, Sarah gave birth to her own son, naming him Isaac. This being a patriarchal social system, she believed Hagar, her servant, now felt superior to her, having given birth to Abraham's firstborn son. Casting Hagar and her son Ishmael out into the desert, Sarah began to raise Isaac, who was to become father to the Hebrew people.
Thus in these two sons is prophesied two great peoples who, it is said, will forevermore be in competition.
Abraham's complete story is recounted in the rest of the book of Genesis, but a few highlights are especially important.
In Genesis 14:17-24, the mysterious Melchizedek appears. Chedorlaoma, king of Elam, had captured Abraham's kinsman, Lot. Abraham and his family army attacked by night, effecting a rescue. Upon Abraham's return from the battle, Melchizedek, "king of Salem" and "priest of the most high God," appears on the scene, offering a blessing and a gift of bread and wine. Abraham promptly gives him a tithe, or one-tenth, of the spoils captured in battle. This action is never explained. Indeed, Melchizedek is never mentioned again in the Hebrew Bible, except for an enigmatic reference in Psalm 110. "The Lord says to my Lord... You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The Christian author of the book of Hebrews, however, uses this passage to form the basis for a central New Testament theology of "The Melchizedek Priesthood" of Christ. Jesus Christ, the "Prince of Peace," is described as both priest and king, gives his followers bread and wine, and is deserving of their tithes and offerings (Hebrews 7:1-4).
Also central to Abraham's story is the aborted sacrifice of Isaac, his son. In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham to offer a sacrifice in the hills of Moriah. Today many Jews believe this to be the place in Jerusalem where the important Muslim mosque called the Dome of the Rock now stands. Its familiar golden roof dominates pictures of the Jerusalem skyline.
Because child sacrifice was practiced in the Canaanite religion of those days, this story is not quite so outlandish as may appear to modern sensibilities. What may seem strange, however, was that Isaac was "the promised seed" who was to become the "father of a multitude." How was he to fulfill his destiny if he were killed? The question was answered when God provided a ram, caught in nearby bushes, that became Isaac's substitute.
The story is interpreted three different ways by three different religions. Besides being a test of faith, Jews see this as a foreshadowing of the sacrificial system later inaugurated by Moses and brought to its highest expression in the Temple of Solomon, built a thousand years later on this same spot of ground. Animal sacrifice as substitutionary atonement for sin here replaces human sacrifice, a step up on the religious evolutionary scale.
Christian theologians take the story further, saying that Jesus, the Son of God, himself became "the Lamb of God" that would replace the animal sacrifice. Because the crucifixion took place in the same geographical area, a progression is seen on this spot of ground that leads from human to animal to God becoming the substitute for the guilty sinner in need of atonement. In other words, Abraham's son could be spared; God's son could not.
Muslims have another version of the story. The events are the same but the place and people change. The name of Abraham's son and the place of the sacrifice are not mentioned in the Qur'an; it is usually understood that it was Ishmael, the firstborn, who was offered. And the place of sacrifice was not the scene of present-day Jerusalem, but rather south, in Mecca. According to Muslim belief, Abraham and Ishmael practiced true faith in God by "submitting." The word "Muslim" means "a submitter." Tradition states that Abraham brought Ishmael to Mecca when Sarah forced them to leave. Later, Ishmael and Abraham together rebuilt in Mecca the Kaaba
(shrine) that had been destroyed by Noah's flood. There they prayed that Allah would raise up from their descendants a messenger who would declare God's revelations and teach wisdom. This messenger, Muslims believe, was Muhammad.
Abraham, then, is the most revered patriarch of the major monotheistic religions. Although views about him differ widely depending on which religion's scriptures are consulted, his story, as interpreted by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, has undeniably affected the course of human history.
The Religion Book: Places, Prophets, Saints, and Seers © 2004 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
(also Abram). Mythological forefather of the Hebrews.
Biblical tradition (Genesis 11–25) gives Ur as Abraham’s homeland and tells of his wanderings in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt. Abraham is credited with the victory over the Elamites and their ally the Babylonian king Hammurabi (Amraphel). The story of Abraham’s unsuccessful attempt to kill his son Isaac as a sacrifice to the god Yahweh testifies to the incipient transition away from human sacrifice and is comparable to the ancient Greek myth about Iphigenia. In the Koran, Abraham (Ibrahim) is considered the forefather of both the Hebrews and the Arabs and one of the precursors of Muhammad. In the Mandaean sect Abraham is one of the false prophets.
An 1870 engraving by Gustave Dore depicts Abraham visited by three angels, one of whom tells him that the city of Sodom will be destroyed. Abraham also dreamed that God foretold that His people would be enslaved.
Like Jacob and Joseph, the patriarch Abraham, ancestor of the Hebrew nation, was one of the most prolific dreamers in the Hebrew Bible. The first dream reported in Genesis is a dream by Abraham:
When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram…. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (Gen. 15:12–16)
Prior to this particular occasion, God had appeared several times to Abraham and spoken with him, but this is the only time God ever came to Abraham in a vision.
In the sleeplike condition that overcame his senses, Abraham was awake to spiritual impressions and was in a condition where God alone could be seen and heard—everything else was excluded. In this manner the establishing of the Hebrew covenant, as well as the prophecy for Abraham’s descendants for the next several centuries, was deeply impressed upon his consciousness.
initiated rite in covenant with God. [O.T.: Genesis 17:11–14]
See: Circumcision
in obedience to God, would sacrifice his only son. [O.T.: Genesis 22:1–18]
See: Faithfulness
progenitor of a host of nations. [O.T.: Genesis 17:3–6]
See: Fatherhood
graciously receives and treats three wayfarers. [O.T.: Genesis 18:1–15]
See: Hospitality
promised countless descendants by God. [O.T.: Genesis 13:16]
See: Prolificness
his faith is tested when God demands the sacrifice of his son Isaac. [O.T.: Genesis 22:13]
See: Test
1. Old Testament the first of the patriarchs, the father of Isaac and the founder of the Hebrew people (Genesis 11--25)
2. Abraham's bosom the place where the just repose after death (Luke 16:22)
<a href="https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Abraham+(Hebrew+Bible)">Abraham</a>
Abildgaard, Nikolaj Abraham
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Adams, Parson Abraham
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Abraham (Hebrew Bible)
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Elliott Moore: The Toulon Tournament winner bossing it under Nigel Pearson in Belgium
No Comments on Elliott Moore: The Toulon Tournament winner bossing it under Nigel Pearson in Belgium
Elliott Moore likes playing football overseas. Last summer the defender was celebrated winning the Toulon Tournament with a youthful England side. This year he is coming to the end of his first season of senior football with Belgian side OH Leuven. It’s fair to say the young Leicester defender has learnt a lot from playing abroad.
The 21-year-old has just one game remaining of his loan spell at the Belgian second division club managed by former Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson and he is looking back at all he has learned this year.
“I feel personally that I’ve had a good season over here,” he says. “Obviously there is room for improvement and I’ve still got a lot to learn and a lot to improve on but it’s been a great experience for me.
“I’ve played with players who have a lot of experience at top flight football here in Belgium so I’ve been able to learn a lot from them as well.”
Moore’s loan side for this season has been OH Leuven who are owned by the same King Power Group who also own Leicester. The club play in the second tier of Belgian football but because of the complex league structure in the country, Pearson’s side have ended their season playing against top flight sides in the Europa League play-offs, despite missing out on the promotion play-offs. It’s a system which the Leicester loanee still finds complex himself.
“Yes, it is very complicated over here! But playing against 1A sides (top flight) has been a great experience and a huge test for me personally and us as a team.
“The top division is where Leuven wants to get to and I think we are proving that we can handle ourselves against top teams. Personally, coming up against top individuals has been a huge test for me and will help me improve my game a lot.”
The 21-year-old defender made the bench once last season for Leicester in the Premier League and he made an appearance in the annual Barclays Asia Trophy curtain-raiser in Hong Kong but the ambitious England youth international wanted more.
“I wanted to play first team football, whether that was with Leicester or out on loan. It’s very hard to break into the Leicester side as it’s such a big club so I was more than delighted to come out here to Leuven and get some first team football under my belt.”
The move meant Moore would go from regular action for the Under-23s in the Premier League 2 and UEFA Youth League to playing in front of thousands of paying fans every week at the heart of Leuven’s defence.
Before he could get down to action though, he had to settle into what was to be his home for the next year, not that he had much time to do that.
“My girlfriend moved over with me so I’m never on my own or get bored,” he says. “We both miss our family and friends so that side is a bit difficult but whenever we get the chance we make sure we go home or get people to come out here and see us.
“We make sure we go to the big cities like Brussels, Antwerp and Brugge which are all worth a visit.
“I didn’t have much time to settle in because as soon as I came over I had training and then the next day we had a game so I was thrown in the deep end, which was quite good because I was straight into the action.”
Finding the best way to introduce himself to his new teammates was to perform on the pitch, Moore quickly established himself in a Leuven side who were looking for promotion and once had John Bostock on their books.
His performances at the back saw him become one of the first names on Pearson’s team sheet every week and one of his key skills, communication with the rest of his defence and goalkeeper, was not affected.
“The communication isn’t a problem really. Everyone speaks good English and understands me on the pitch so that’s the most important thing.
“It’s definitely helped that the boss speaks English but everyone speaks good English so it isn’t a problem. I can’t say I have [learnt the language]. I try and pick up a little French because it’s a lot easier than Dutch but because everyone speaks English I haven’t needed to learn another language.”
Speaking of the boss, Pearson is a manager known for his no-nonsense style and the young defender is full of praise for the impact his temporary boss has had on him this season.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve worked with and he’s helped me a lot personally. He was also a central defender so he helps us defenders out a lot and gives us a lot of advice.”
Having Pearson as his boss has also helped him adapt to Belgian football with Moore himself admitting he was impressed with standard but having racked up 34 starts and three goals in all competitions so far this season, it’s far to say he’s adapted well.
“Because this is my first loan I can’t really compare it to first team football in England but it’s a very good standard. I was very surprised when I came out here at just how good the standard was.
“Teams have a lot of very good individuals and it’s a massive test for me. I think in England it’s a bit more physical than out here but the technical side is very good.”
His time in Belgium is now coming to an end and it seems like a very worthwhile experience and added to his time with the England U20 side who won the Toulon Tournament with (something he called a great feeling) and it seems like a very productive year for Moore and he would recommend his route to others.
“Yes definitely I would recommend going abroad. You have to learn to grow up. Being away from family and friends is difficult but it’s a great learning curve on and off the pitch.
“You also get to experience a different way of football. The style of play, the speed and the physicality of the football abroad will all be different so you have to adapt your play which is a great experience.”
Moore is set to return home over the summer and he will no doubt put everything he has learnt in Belgium to good use as he aims to break into the Leicester first team.
Tags Elliott Moore
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HomePosts tagged 'Thought'
Form and Reality II
May 12, 2018 May 12, 2018 entirelyuseless Metaphysics, Uncategorized Alexander Pruss, Aristotle, Causes, Closure, Color, Empedocles, Essence, Existence, Form, Formal Cause, Heraclitus, Hilary Lawson, Image, Immanuel Kant, Infallibility, Liar Paradox, Paradoxes, Reality, Reductionism, Relation, Relativity, Self-Reference, Senses, Sight, Thought, Truth, Unity, Universals, Visual Cortex
This is a followup to this earlier post, but will use a number of other threads to get a fuller understanding of the matter. Rather than presenting this in the form of a single essay, I will present it as a number of distinct theses, many of which have already been argued or suggested in various forms elsewhere on the blog.
(1) Everything that exists or can exist has or could have some relationship with the mind: relationship is in fact intrinsic to the nature of existence.
This was argued here, with related remarks in several recent posts. In a sense the claim is not only true but obviously so. You are the one who says or can say “this exists,” and you could not say or understand it unless the thing had or could have some relationship with your mind.
Perhaps this seems a bit unfair to reality, as though the limits of reality were being set by the limits of the thinker. What if there were a limited being that could only think of some things, but other things could exist that it could not think about? It is easy to see that in this situation the limited being does not have the concept of “everything,” and so can neither affirm nor deny (1). It is not that it would affirm it but be mistaken. It would simply never think of it.
Someone could insist: I myself am limited. It might be that there are better thinkers in the world that can think about things I could never conceive of. But again, if you have concept of “everything,” then you just thought of those things: they are the things that those thinkers would think about. So you just thought about them too, and brought them into relationship with yourself.
Thus, anyone who actually has the idea of “everything,” and thinks about the matter clearly, will agree with (1).
(2) Nothing can be true which could not in principle (in some sense of “in principle”) in some way be said to be true.
Thesis (1) can be taken as saying that anything that can be, can also be understood, at least in some way; and thesis (2) can be taken as saying that anything that can be understood, can also be said, at least in some way.
Since language is conventional, this does not need much of an argument. If I think that something exists, and I don’t have a name for it, I can make up a name. If I think that one thing is another thing, but don’t have words for these things, I can make up words for them. Even if I am not quite sure what I am thinking, I can say, “I have a thought in my mind but don’t quite have the words for it,” and in some way I have already put it into words.
One particular objection to the thesis might be made from self-reference paradoxes. The player in the Liar Game cannot correctly say whether the third statement is true or false, even though it is in fact true or false. But note two things: first, he cannot do this while he is playing, but once the game is over, he can explicitly and correctly say whether it was true or false. Second, even while playing, he can say, “the third statement has a truth value,” and in this way he speaks of its truth in a generic way. This is in part why I added the hedges to (2), “at least in some way”, and “in principle.”
(3) Things do not have hidden essences. That is, they may have essences, but those essences can be explained in words.
This follows in a straightforward way from (1) and (2). The essence of a thing is just “what it is,” or perhaps, “what it most truly is.” The question “what is this thing?” is formed with words, and it is evident that anyone who answers the question, will answer the question by using words.
Now someone might object that the essence of a thing might be hidden because perhaps in some cases the question does not have an answer. But then it would not be true that it has an essence but is hidden: rather, it would be false that it has an essence. Similarly, if the question “where is this thing,” does not have any answer, it does not mean the thing is in a hidden place, but that the thing is not in a place at all.
Another objection might be that an essence might be hidden because the answer to the question exists, but cannot be known. A discussion of this would depend on what is meant by “can be known” and “cannot be known” in this context. That is, if the objector is merely saying that we do not know such things infallibly, including the answer to the question, “what is this?”, then I agree, but would add that (3) does not speak to this point one way or another. But if it is meant that “cannot be known” means that there is something there, the “thing in itself,” which in no way can be known or expressed in words, this would be the Kantian error. This is indeed contrary to (3), and implicitly to (1) or (2) or both, but it is also false.
People might also think that the essence cannot be known because they notice that the question “what is this?” can have many legitimate answers, and suppose that one of these, and only one, must be really and truly true, but think that we have no way to find out which one it is. While there are certainly cases where an apparent answer to the question is not a true answer, the main response here is that if both answers are true, both answers are true: there does not need to be a deeper but hidden level where one is true and the other false. There may however be a deeper level which speaks to other matters and possibly explains both answers. Thus I said in the post linked above that the discussion was not limited to “how many,” but would apply in some way to every question about the being of things.
(4) Reductionism, as it is commonly understood, is false.
I have argued this in various places, but more recently and in particular here and here. It is not just one-sided to say for example that the universe and everything in it is just a multitude of particles. It is false, because it takes one of several truths, and says that one is “really” true and that the other is “really” false.
(5) Anti-reductionism, as it is commonly understood, is false.
This follows from the same arguments. Anti-reductionism, as for example the sort advocated by Alexander Pruss, takes the opposite side of the above argument, saying that certain things are “really” one and in no way many. And this is also false.
(6) Form makes a thing to be what it is, and makes it to be one thing.
This is largely a question of definition. It is what is meant by form in this context.
Someone might object that perhaps there is nothing that makes a thing what it is, or there is nothing that makes it one thing. But if it is what it is of itself, or if it is one of itself, then by this definition it is its own form, and we do not necessarily have an issue with that.
Again, someone might say that the definition conflates two potentially distinct things. Perhaps one thing makes a thing what it is, and another thing makes it one thing. But this is not possible because of the convertibility of being and unity: to be a thing at all, is to be one thing.
(7) Form is what is in common between the mind and the thing it understands, and is the reason the mind understands at all.
This is very distinctly not a question of definition. This needs to be proved from (6), along with what we know about understanding.
It is not so strange to think that you would need to have something in common with a thing in order to understand it. Thus Aristotle presents the words of Empedocles:
For ’tis by Earth we see Earth, by Water Water,
By Ether Ether divine, by Fire destructive Fire,
By Love Love, and Hate by cruel Hate.
On the other hand, there is also obviously something wrong with this. I don’t need to be a tree in order to see or think about a tree, and it is not terribly obvious that there is even anything in common between us. In fact, one of Hilary Lawson’s arguments for his anti-realist position is that there frequently seems to be nothing in common between causes and effects, and that therefore there may be (or certainly will be) nothing in common between our minds and reality, and thus we cannot ultimately know anything. Thus he says in Chapter 2 of his book on closure:
For a system of closure to provide a means of intervention in openness and thus to function as a closure machine, it requires a means of converting the flux of openness into an array of particularities. This initial layer of closure will be identified as ‘preliminary closure’. As with closure generally, preliminary closure consists in the realisation of particularity as a consequence of holding that which is different as the same. This is achieved through the realisation of material in response to openness. The most minimal example of a system of closure consists of a single preliminary closure. Such a system requires two discrete states, or at least states that can be held as if they were discrete. It is not difficult to provide mechanical examples of such systems which allow for a single preliminary closure. A mousetrap for example, can be regarded as having two discrete states: it is either set, it is ready, or it has sprung, it has gone off. Many different causes may have led to it being in one state or another: it may have been sprung by a mouse, but it could also have been knocked by someone or something, or someone could have deliberately set it off. In the context of the mechanism all of these variations are of no consequence, it is either set or it has sprung. The diversity of the immediate environment is thereby reduced to single state and its absence: it is either set or it is not set. Any mechanical arrangement that enables a system to alternate between two or more discrete states is thereby capable of providing the basis for preliminary closure. For example, a bell or a gate could function as the basis for preliminary closure. The bell can either ring or not ring, the gate can be closed or not closed. The bell may ring as the result of the wind, or a person or animal shaking it, but the cause of the response is in the context of system of no consequence. The bell either rings or it doesn’t. Similarly, the gate may be in one state or another because it has been deliberately moved, or because something or someone has dislodged it accidentally, but these variations are not relevant in the context of the state of system, which in this case is the position of the gate. In either case the cause of the bell ringing or the gate closing is infinitely varied, but in the context of the system the variety of inputs is not accessible to the system and thus of no consequence.
A useful way to think about Lawson is that he is in some way a disciple of Heraclitus. Thus closure is “holding that which is different as the same,” but in reality nothing is ever the same because everything is in flux. In the context of this passage, the mousetrap is either set or sprung, and so it divides the world into two states, the “set” state and the “sprung” state. But the universes with the set mousetrap have nothing in common with one another besides the set mousetrap, and the universes with the sprung mousetrap have nothing in common with one another besides the sprung mousetrap.
We can see how this could lead to the conclusion that knowledge is impossible. Sight divides parts of the world up with various colors. Leaves are green, the sky is blue, the keyboard I am using is black. But if I look at two different green things, or two different blue things, they may have nothing in common besides the fact that they affected my sight in a similar way. The sky and a blue couch are blue for very different reasons. We discussed this particular point elsewhere, but the general concern would be that we have no reason to think there is anything in common between our mind and the world, and some reason to think there must be something in common in order for us to understand anything.
Fortunately, the solution can be found right in the examples which supposedly suggest that there is nothing in common between the mind and the world. Consider the mousetrap. Do the universes with the set mousetrap have something in common? Yes, they have the set mousetrap in common. But Lawson does not deny this. His concern is that they have nothing else in common. But they do have something else in common: they have the same relationship to the mousetrap, different from the relationship that the universes with the sprung mousetrap have to their mousetrap. What about the mousetrap itself? Do those universes have something in common with the mousetrap? If we consider the relationship between the mousetrap and the universe as a kind of single thing with two ends, then they do, although they share in it from different ends, just as a father and son have a relationship in common (in this particular sense.) The same things will be true in the case of sensible qualities. “Blue” may divide up surface reflectance properties in a somewhat arbitrary way, but it does divide them into things that have something in common, namely their relationship with the sense of sight.
Or consider the same thing with a picture. Does the picture have anything in common with the thing it represents? Since a picture is meant to actually look similar to the eye to the object pictured, it may have certain shapes in common, the straightness of certain lines, and so on. It may have some colors in common. This kind of literal commonness might have suggested to Empedocles that we should know “earth by earth,” but one difference is that a picture and the object look alike to the eye, but an idea is not something that the mind looks at, and which happens to look like a thing: rather the idea is what the mind uses in order to look at a thing at all.
Thus a better comparison would be between the the thing seen and the image in the eye or the activity of the visual cortex. It is easy enough to see by looking that the image in a person’s eye bears some resemblance to the thing seen, even the sort of resemblance that a picture has. In a vaguer way, something similar turns out to be true even in the visual cortex:
V1 has a very well-defined map of the spatial information in vision. For example, in humans, the upper bank of the calcarine sulcus responds strongly to the lower half of visual field (below the center), and the lower bank of the calcarine to the upper half of visual field. In concept, this retinotopic mapping is a transformation of the visual image from retina to V1. The correspondence between a given location in V1 and in the subjective visual field is very precise: even the blind spots are mapped into V1. In terms of evolution, this correspondence is very basic and found in most animals that possess a V1. In humans and animals with a fovea in the retina, a large portion of V1 is mapped to the small, central portion of visual field, a phenomenon known as cortical magnification. Perhaps for the purpose of accurate spatial encoding, neurons in V1 have the smallest receptive field size of any visual cortex microscopic regions.
However, as I said, this is in a much vaguer way. In particular, it is not so much an image which is in common, but certain spatial relationships. If we go back to the idea of the mousetrap, this is entirely unsurprising. Causes and effects will always have something in common, and always in this particular way, namely with a commonality of relationship, because causes and effects, as such, are defined by their relationship to each other.
How does all this bear on our thesis (7)? Consider the color blue, and the question, “what is it to be blue?” What is the essence of blue? We could answer this in at least two different ways:
To be blue is to have certain reflectance properties.
To be blue is to be the sort of thing that looks blue.
But in the way intended, these are one and the same thing. A thing looks blue if it has those properties, and it has those properties if it looks blue. Now someone might say that this is a direct refutation of our thesis, since the visual cortex presumably does not look blue or have those properties when you look at something blue. But this is like Lawson’s claim that the universe has nothing in common with the sprung mousetrap. It does have something in common, if you look at the relationship from the other end. The same thing happens when we consider the meaning of “certain reflectance properties,” and “the sort of thing that looks blue.” We are actually talking about the properties that make a thing look blue, so both definitions are relative to the sense of sight. And this means that sight has something relative in common with them, and the relation it has in common is the very one that defines the nature of blue. As this is what we mean by form (thesis 6), the form of blue must be present in the sense of sight in order to see something blue.
In fact, it followed directly from thesis (1) that the nature of blue would need to include something relative. And it followed from (2) and (3) that the very same nature would turn out to be present in our senses, thoughts, and words.
The same argument applies to the mind as to the senses. I will draw additional conclusions in a later post, and in particular, show the relevance of theses (4) and (5) to the rest.
Consistency and Reality
April 21, 2018 April 20, 2018 entirelyuseless Logic, Metaphysics, Uncategorized Alfred Tarski, Bertrand Russell, Consistency, Explanation, Gödel’s Theorem, Hilary Lawson, James Chastek, John Lucas, Language, Liar Paradox, Mind, Non-Contradiction, Paradoxes, Reality, Thought, Truth
Consistency and inconsistency, in their logical sense, are relationships between statements or between the parts of a statement. They are not properties of reality as such.
“Wait,” you will say. “If consistency is not a property of reality, then you are implying that reality is not consistent. So reality is inconsistent?”
Not at all. Consistency and inconsistency are contraries, not contradictories, and they are properties of statements. So reality as such is neither consistent nor inconsistent, in the same way that sounds are neither white nor black.
We can however speak of consistency with respect to reality in an extended sense, just as we can speak of truth with respect to reality in an extended sense, even though truth refers first to things that are said or thought. In this way we can say that a thing is true insofar as it is capable of being known, and similarly we might say that reality is consistent, insofar as it is capable of being known by consistent claims, and incapable of being known by inconsistent claims. And reality indeed seems consistent in this way: I might know the weather if I say “it is raining,” or if I say, “it is not raining,” depending on conditions, but to say “it is both raining and not raining in the same way” is not a way of knowing the weather.
Consider the last point more precisely. Why can’t we use such statements to understand the world? The statement about the weather is rather different from statements like, “The normal color of the sky is not blue but rather green.” We know what it would be like for this to be the case. For example, we know what we would expect if it were the case. It cannot be used to understand the world in fact, because these expectations fail. But if they did not, we could use it to understand the world. Now consider instead the statement, “The sky is both blue and not blue in exactly the same way.” There is now no way to describe the expectations we would have if this were the case. It is not that we understand the situation and know that it does not apply, as with the claim about the color of the sky: rather, the situation described cannot be understood. It is literally unintelligible.
This also explains why we should not think of consistency as a property of reality in a primary sense. If it were, it would be like the color blue as a property of the sky. The sky is in fact blue, but we know what it would be like for it to be otherwise. We cannot equally say, “reality is in fact consistent, but we know what it would be like for it to be inconsistent.” Instead, the supposedly inconsistent situation is a situation that cannot be understood in the first place. Reality is thus consistent not in the primary sense but in a secondary sense, namely that it is rightly understood by consistent things.
But this also implies that we cannot push the secondary consistency of reality too far, in several ways and for several reasons.
First, while inconsistency as such does not contribute to our understanding of the world, a concrete inconsistent set of claims can help us understand the world, and in many situations better than any particular consistent set of claims that we might currently come up with. This was discussed in a previous post on consistency.
Second, we might respond to the above by pointing out that it is always possible in principle to formulate a consistent explanation of things which would be better than the inconsistent one. We might not currently be able to arrive at the consistent explanation, but it must exist.
But even this needs to be understood in a somewhat limited way. Any consistent explanation of things will necessarily be incomplete, which means that more complete explanations, whether consistent or inconsistent, will be possible. Consider for example these recent remarks of James Chastek on Gödel’s theorem:
1.) Given any formal system, let proposition (P) be this formula is unprovable in the system
2.) If P is provable, a contradiction occurs.
3.) Therefore, P is known to be unprovable.
4.) If P is known to be unprovable it is known to be true.
5.) Therefore, P is (a) unprovable in a system and (b) known to be true.
In the article linked by Chastek, John Lucas argues that this is a proof that the human mind is not a “mechanism,” since we can know to be true something that the mechanism will not able to prove.
But consider what happens if we simply take the “formal system” to be you, and “this formula is unprovable in the system” to mean “you cannot prove this statement to be true.” Is it true, or not? And can you prove it?
If you say that it is true but that you cannot prove it, the question is how you know that it is true. If you know by the above reasoning, then you have a syllogistic proof that it is true, and so it is false that you cannot prove it, and so it is false.
If you say that it is false, then you cannot prove it, because false things cannot be proven, and so it is true.
It is evident here that you can give no consistent response that you can know to be true; “it is true but I cannot know it to be true,” may be consistent, but obviously if it is true, you cannot know it to be true, and if it is false, you cannot know it to be true. What is really proven by Gödel’s theorem is not that the mind is not a “mechanism,” whatever that might be, but that any consistent account of arithmetic must be incomplete. And if any consistent account of arithmetic alone is incomplete, much more must any consistent explanation of reality as a whole be incomplete. And among more complete explanations, there will be some inconsistent ones as well as consistent ones. Thus you might well improve any particular inconsistent position by adopting a consistent one, but you might again improve any particular consistent position by adopting an inconsistent one which is more complete.
The above has some relation to our discussion of the Liar Paradox. Someone might be tempted to give the same response to “tonk” and to “true”:
The problem with “tonk” is that it is defined in such a way as to have inconsistent implications. So the right answer is to abolish it. Just do not use that word. In the same way, “true” is defined in such a way that it has inconsistent implications. So the right answer is to abolish it. Just do not use that word.
We can in fact avoid drawing inconsistent conclusions using this method. The problem with the method is obvious, however. The word “tonk” does not actually exist, so there is no problem with abolishing it. It never contributed to our understanding of the world in the first place. But the word “true” does exist, and it contributes to our understanding of the world. To abolish it, then, would remove some inconsistency, but it would also remove part of our understanding of the world. We would be adopting a less complete but more consistent understanding of things.
Hilary Lawson discusses this response in Closure: A Story of Everything:
Russell and Tarski’s solution to self-referential paradox succeeds only by arbitrarily outlawing the paradox and thus provides no solution at all.
Some have claimed to have a formal, logical, solution to the paradoxes of self-reference. Since if these were successful the problems associated with the contemporary predicament and the Great Project could be solved forthwith, it is important to briefly examine them before proceeding further. The argument I shall put forward aims to demonstrate that these theories offer no satisfactory solution to the problem, and that they only appear to do so by obscuring the fact that they have defined their terms in such a way that the paradox is not so much avoided as outlawed.
The problems of self-reference that we have identified are analogous to the ancient liar paradox. The ancient liar paradox stated that ‘All Cretans are liars’ but was itself uttered by a Cretan thus making its meaning undecidable. A modern equivalent of this ancient paradox would be ‘This sentence is not true’, and the more general claim that we have already encountered: ‘there is no truth’. In each case the application of the claim to itself results in paradox.
The supposed solutions, Lawson says, are like the one suggested above: “Just do not use that word.” Thus he remarks on Tarski’s proposal:
Adopting Tarski’s hierarchy of languages one can formulate sentences that have the appearance of being self-referential. For example, a Tarskian version of ‘This sentence is not true’ would be:
(I) The sentence (I) is not true-in-L.
So Tarski’s argument runs, this sentence is both a true sentence of the language meta-L, and false in the language L, because it refers to itself and is therefore, according to the rules of Tarski’s logic and the hierarchy of languages, not properly formed. The hierarchy of languages apparently therefore enables self-referential sentences but avoids paradox.
More careful inspection however shows the manoeuvre to be engaged in a sleight of hand for the sentence as constructed only appears to be self-referential. It is a true sentence of the meta-language that makes an assertion of a sentence in L, but these are two different sentences – although they have superficially the same form. What makes them different is that the meaning of the predicate ‘is not true’ is different in each case. In the meta-language it applies the meta-language predicate ‘true’ to the object language, while in the object language it is not a predicate at all. As a consequence the sentence is not self-referential. Another way of expressing this point would be to consider the sentence in the meta-language. The sentence purports to be a true sentence in the meta-language, and applies the predicate ‘is not true’ to a sentence in L, not to a sentence in meta-L. Yet what is this sentence in L? It cannot be the same sentence for this is expressed in meta-L. The evasion becomes more apparent if we revise the example so that the sentence is more explicitly self-referential:
(I) The sentence (I) is not true-in-this-language.
Tarski’s proposal that no language is allowed to contain its own truth-predicate is precisely designed to make this example impossible. The hierarchy of languages succeeds therefore only by providing an account of truth which makes genuine self-reference impossible. It can hardly be regarded therefore as a solution to the paradox of self-reference, since if all that was required to solve the paradox was to ban it, this could have been done at the outset.
Someone might be tempted to conclude that we should say that reality is inconsistent after all. Since any consistent account of reality is incomplete, it must be that the complete account of reality is inconsistent: and so someone who understood reality completely, would do so by means of an inconsistent theory. And just as we said that reality is consistent, in a secondary sense, insofar as it is understood by consistent things, so in that situation, one would say that reality is inconsistent, in a secondary sense, because it is understood by inconsistent things.
The problem with this is that it falsely assumes that a complete and intelligible account of reality is possible. This is not possible largely for the same reasons that there cannot be a list of all true statements. And although we might understand things through an account which is in fact inconsistent, the inconsistency itself contributes nothing to our understanding, because the inconsistency is in itself unintelligible, just as we said about the statement that the sky is both blue and not blue in the same way.
We might ask whether we can at least give a consistent account superior to an account which includes the inconsistencies resulting from the use of “truth.” This might very well be possible, but it appears to me that no one has actually done so. This is actually one of Lawson’s intentions with his book, but I would assert that his project fails overall, despite potentially making some real contributions. The reader is nonetheless welcome to investigate for themselves.
Being and Unity II
March 14, 2018 entirelyuseless Metaphysics, Uncategorized Alexander Pruss, Appearance, Ayn Rand, Distinction, Epistemology, Immanuel Kant, John Nerst, Knowledge, Language, Mary's Room, Mind, Numbers, Relation, Senses, Thought, Truth, Unity, Vagueness, Whole and Part
Content warning: very obscure.
This post follows up on an earlier post on this topic, as well on what was recently said about real distinction. In the latter post, we applied the distinction between the way a thing is and the way it is known in order to better understand distinction itself. We can obtain a better understanding of unity in a similar way.
As was said in the earlier post on unity, to say that something is “one” does not add anything real to the being of the thing, but it adds the denial of the division between distinct things. The single apple is not “an apple and an orange,” which are divided insofar as they are distinct from one another.
But being distinct from divided things is itself a certain way of being distinct, and consequently all that was said about distinction in general will apply to this way of being distinct as well. In particular, since being distinct means not being something, which is a way that things are understood rather than a way that they are (considered precisely as a way of being), the same thing applies to unity. To say that something is one does not add something to the way that it is, but it adds something to the way that it is understood. This way of being understood is founded, we argued, on existing relationships.
We should avoid two errors here, both of which would be expressions of the Kantian error:
First, the argument here does not mean that a thing is not truly one thing, just as the earlier discussion does not imply that it is false that a chair is not a desk. On the contrary, a chair is in fact not a desk, and a chair is in fact one chair. But when we say or think, “a chair is not a desk,” or “a chair is one chair,” we are saying these things in some way of saying, and thinking them in some way of thinking, and these ways of saying and thinking are not ways of being as such. This in no way implies that the statements themselves are false, just as “the apple seems to be red,” does not imply that the apple is not red. Arguing that the fact of a specific way of understanding implies that the thing is falsely understood would be the position described by Ayn Rand as asserting, “man is blind, because he has eyes—deaf, because he has ears—deluded, because he has a mind—and the things he perceives do not exist, because he perceives them.”
Second, the argument does not imply that the way things really are is unknown and inaccessible to us. One might suppose that this follows, since distinction cannot exist apart from someone’s way of understanding, and at the same time no one can understand without making distinctions. Consequently, someone might argue, there must be some “way things really are in themselves,” which does not include distinction or unity, but which cannot be understood. But this is just a different way of falling into the first error above. There is indeed a way things are, and it is generally not inaccessible to us. In fact, as I pointed out earlier, it would be a contradiction to assert the existence of anything entirely unknowable to us.
Our discussion, being in human language and human thought, naturally uses the proper modes of language and thought. And just as in Mary’s room, where her former knowledge of color is a way of knowing and not a way of sensing, so our discussion advances by ways of discussion, not by ways of being as such. This does not prevent the way things are from being an object of discussion, just as color can be an object of knowledge.
Having avoided these errors, someone might say that nothing of consequence follows from this account. But this would be a mistake. It follows from the present account that when we ask questions like, “How many things are here?”, we are not asking a question purely about how things are, but to some extent about how we should understand them. And even when there is a single way that things are, there is usually not only one way to understand them correctly, but many ways.
Consider some particular question of this kind: “How many things are in this room?” People might answer this question in various ways. John Nerst, in a previous discussion on this blog, seemed to suggest that the answer should be found by counting fundamental particles. Alexander Pruss would give a more complicated answer, since he suggests that large objects like humans and animals should be counted as wholes (while also wishing to deny the existence of parts, which would actually eliminate the notion of a whole), while in other cases he might agree to counting particles. Thus a human being and an armchair might be counted, more or less, as 1 + 10^28 things, namely counting the human being as one thing and the chair as a number of particles.
But if we understand that the question is not, and cannot be, purely about how things are, but is also a question about how things should be understood, then both of the above responses seem unreasonable: they are both relatively bad ways of understanding the things in the room, even if they both have some truth as well. And on the other hand, it is easy to see that “it depends on how you count,” is part of the answer. There is not one true answer to the question, but many true answers that touch on different aspects of the reality in the room.
From the discussion with John Nerst, consider this comment:
My central contention is that the rules that define the universe runs by themselves, and must therefore be self-contained, i.e not need any interpretation or operationalization from outside the system. As I think I said in one of the parts of “Erisology of Self and Will” that the universe must be an automaton, or controlled by an automaton, etc. Formal rules at the bottom.
This is isn’t convincing to you I guess but I suppose I rule out fundamental vagueness because vagueness implies complexity and fundamental complexity is a contradiction in terms. If you keep zooming in on a fuzzy picture you must, at some point, come down to sharply delineated pixels.
Among other things, the argument of the present post shows why this cannot be right. “Sharply delineated pixels” includes the distinction of one pixel from another, and therefore includes something which is a way of understanding as such, not a way of being as such. In other words, while intending to find what is really there, apart from any interpretation, Nerst is directly including a human interpretation in his account. And in fact it is perfectly obvious that anything else is impossible, since any account of reality given by us will be a human account and will thus include a human way of understanding. Things are a certain way: but that way cannot be said or thought except by using ways of speaking or thinking.
Thing In Itself
January 25, 2018 January 24, 2018 entirelyuseless Metaphysics, Uncategorized Ayn Rand, Common Sense, Consciousness, Experience, Immanuel Kant, Knowledge, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Plato, Skepticism, Thought, Truth
The last two posts might feel uncomfortably close to total skepticism. “Wait,” you might say, “doesn’t this seem to imply that we don’t know anything about the real world, but only about our experiences?”
We can consider a similar claim with a similar argument, taken from Kant’s Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (§52c):
If I speak of objects in time and space, I am not speaking of things in themselves (since I know nothing of them), but only of things in appearance, i.e. of experience as a distinct way of cognizing objects that is granted to human beings alone. I must not say of that which I think in space or time: that it is in itself in space and time, independent of this thought of mine; for then I would contradict myself, since space and time, together with the appearances in them, are nothing existing in themselves and outside my representations, but are themselves only ways of representing, and it is patently contradictory to say of a mere way of presenting that it also exists outside our representation. The objects of the senses therefore exist only in experience; by contrast, to grant them a self-subsistent existence of their own, without experience or prior to it, is as much as to imagine that experience is also real without experience or prior to it.
There could be a way of understanding this to say something true, but it is more easily understood as asserting something deeply erroneous. Kant may in fact have both the truth and the error in mind, or perhaps he is ambivalent concerning the correct interpretation.
Consider the distinction between the way things are known by us and the way things are in themselves. It is possible to fall into error by asserting that since things are known by us in a certain way, they must be that way in themselves. Thus we know things in a general way, and thus some Platonists might conclude that things exist in themselves in a general way, but this is an error.
But another way to fall into error would be to admit that our way of knowing is distinct from the way of being, and then to conclude from the fact that our way of knowing does not correspond precisely to the way of being, that our knowledge is false, or that we do not know at all. This is the deeply erroneous claim that Kant seems to be making above.
Consider the meaning of the statement: “We know things as they are in themselves.” If we take the phrase, “as they are in themselves,” as expressing our mode of knowing adverbially, just as we might say “We know things in general terms,” and then intend to assert that our mode of knowing is the same as the mode of the being of the thing, then the statement that we know things as they are in themselves is surely false. For the meaning would be that the things exist in our knowledge in exactly the same way as they exist in themselves — thus for example it would be implied that our knowledge is not general but particular. But more precisely, it would imply that there is no distinction whatsoever between our knowledge and the thing. In other words, if we know a horse, our knowledge is actually a horse, physically and literally. And this is manifestly false.
From this we can see both the truth and the error. The truth is that we do not know things as they are in themselves in the above sense, precisely because our knowledge is distinct from the thing known. And the error would be the conclusion that therefore we do not know things at all. Kant seems most clearly to assert the error when he says, “I am not speaking of things in themselves (since I know nothing of them), but only of things in appearance.” The Kantian may insist that this follows necessarily from the truth that we do not know things as they are in themselves in the above sense.
But it is easy to see why this is wrong. We do not know things “as they are in themselves” by having a mode of knowledge identical to the mode of their being. But this does not mean that there is anything that we do not know; in fact, having an identical mode of knowing and being would precisely mean not knowing at all, but being the thing instead. In other words, it does not follow that there is any knowledge that we are missing out on; on the contrary, knowing requires a specific mode of knowing which is different from the mode of being of the thing. It is not that the difference between mode of knowing and being implies that we do not know, but rather this difference is the very condition for knowledge to exist at all. Ayn Rand rightly said of this matter:
Even apart from the fact that Kant’s theory of the “categories” as the source of man’s concepts was a preposterous invention, his argument amounted to a negation, not only of man’s consciousness, but of any consciousness, of consciousness as such. His argument, in essence, ran as follows: man is limited to a consciousness of a specific nature, which perceives by specific means and no others, therefore, his consciousness is not valid; man is blind, because he has eyes—deaf, because he has ears—deluded, because he has a mind—and the things he perceives do not exist, because he perceives them.
Again, the Kantian may insist that perhaps we know the things. But again, we are just admitting we know the things as they appear to us, not as they are in themselves. So even if we know all things, we do not know their mode of being. The response is that we can know both the things and their mode of being, but we know both according to our mode of knowing, not according to their mode of being. This is similar to knowing someone else’s mode of knowing; when you do this, you do not therefore know with their mode of knowing, but with your own. Likewise, when you know the mode of the being of things, you know not with their mode of being, but with your own mode of knowing.
How does this answer our original question? Okay, you might say, there is no proof that there is anything that we cannot know in principle. But in practice it seems clear that our knowledge is entirely superficial, and thus hardly seems to be knowledge at all.
There is a large difference, however, between the assertion, “Most of our actual knowledge is rather superficial,” and the skeptical assertion, “Our knowledge is superficial in principle, and it is therefore impossible to know things as they truly are.” The first assertion is largely correct, and the second is quite wrong. It is true that the understanding of things that we attain “automatically,” as it were, from common experience, is a superficial knowledge, and thus ordinary language about ordinary things expresses such a superficial knowledge. It does not follow that a deep knowledge of things is impossible. However, if someone does not actually have such a deep knowledge, they may also misunderstand what it would even be like to have such a knowledge; and thus for example they might suppose that it would be necessary to have a knowledge of “things in themselves” in the Kantian sense, which of course is impossible, since it would eliminate the distinction between the mode of knowing and the mode of being.
In fact, not only is it not a contradiction to assert that we can know things as they are, but it would be a contradiction to assert, “There is something which we cannot know in any way, even in principle.” For “there is something” purports to refer to the thing and assert its existence, and such reference and assertion, if true, would be a kind of knowledge. Ludwig Wittgenstein makes the similar point, “We cannot think what we cannot think; so what we cannot think we cannot say either.”
It is not, however, a contradiction to say that there are some things that we cannot know in some ways. And this is surely true.
Idealized Idealization
October 20, 2017 October 20, 2017 entirelyuseless Logic, Metaphysics, Uncategorized Aristotelianism, Aristotle, Form, Formal Cause, Infallibility, Intelligence, Interpretation, James Ross, John Nerst, Language, Material Cause, Matter, Physical Process, Physics, Precision, Syllogism, Thought, Triangles, Vagueness, Zombies
On another occasion, I discussed the Aristotelian idea that the act of the mind does not use an organ. In an essay entitled Immaterial Aspects of Thought, James Ross claims that he can establish the truth of this position definitively. He summarizes the argument:
Some thinking (judgment) is determinate in a way no physical process can be. Consequently, such thinking cannot be (wholly) a physical process. If all thinking, all judgment, is determinate in that way, no physical process can be (the whole of) any judgment at all. Furthermore, “functions” among physical states cannot be determinate enough to be such judgments, either. Hence some judgments can be neither wholly physical processes nor wholly functions among physical processes.
Certain thinking, in a single case, is of a definite abstract form (e.g. N x N = N²), and not indeterminate among incompossible forms (see I below). No physical process can be that definite in its form in a single case. Adding cases even to infinity, unless they are all the possible cases, will not exclude incompossible forms. But supplying all possible cases of any pure function is impossible. So, no physical process can exclude incompossible functions from being equally well (or badly) satisfied (see II below). Thus, no physical process can be a case of such thinking. The same holds for functions among physical states (see IV below).
In essence, the argument is that squaring a number and similar things are infinitely precise processes, and no physical process is infinitely precise. Therefore squaring a number and similar things are not physical processes.
The problem is unfortunately with the major premise here. Squaring a number, and similar things, in the way that we in fact do them, are not infinitely precise processes.
Ross argues that they must be:
Can judgments really be of such definite “pure” forms? They have to be; otherwise, they will fail to have the features we attribute to them and upon which the truth of certain judgments about validity, inconsistency, and truth depend; for instance, they have to exclude incompossible forms or they would lack the very features we take to be definitive of their sorts: e.g., conjunction, disjunction, syllogistic, modus ponens, etc. The single case of thinking has to be of an abstract “form” (a “pure” function) that is not indeterminate among incompossible ones. For instance, if I square a number–not just happen in the course of adding to write down a sum that is a square, but if I actually square the number–I think in the form “N x N = N².”
The same point again. I can reason in the form, modus ponens (“If p then q“; “p“; “therefore, q”). Reasoning by modus ponens requires that no incompossible forms also be “realized” (in the same sense) by what I have done. Reasoning in that form is thinking in a way that is truth-preserving for all cases that realize the form. What is done cannot, therefore, be indeterminate among structures, some of which are not truth preserving. That is why valid reasoning cannot be only an approximation of the form, but must be of the form. Otherwise, it will as much fail to be truth-preserving for all relevant cases as it succeeds; and thus the whole point of validity will be lost. Thus, we already know that the evasion, “We do not really conjoin, add, or do modus ponens but only simulate them,” cannot be correct. Still, I shall consider it fully below.
“It will as much fail to be truth-preserving for all relevant cases as it succeeds” is an exaggeration here. If you perform an operation which approximates modus ponens, then that operation will be approximately truth preserving. It will not be equally truth preserving and not truth preserving.
I have noted many times in the past, as for example here, here, here, and especially here, that following the rules of syllogism does not in practice infallibly guarantee that your conclusions are true, even if your premises are in some way true, because of the vagueness of human thought and language. In essence, Ross is making a contrary argument: we know, he is claiming, that our arguments infallibly succeed; therefore our thoughts cannot be vague. But it is empirically false that our arguments infallibly succeed, so the argument is mistaken right from its starting point.
There is also a strawmanning of the opposing position here insofar as Ross describes those who disagree with him as saying that “we do not really conjoin, add, or do modus ponens but only simulate them.” This assumes that unless you are doing these things perfectly, rather than approximating them, then you are not doing them at all. But this does not follow. Consider a triangle drawn on a blackboard. Consider which of the following statements is true:
There is a triangle drawn on the blackboard.
There is no triangle drawn on the blackboard.
Obviously, the first statement is true, and the second false. But in Ross’s way of thinking, we would have to say, “What is on the blackboard is only approximately triangular, not exactly triangular. Therefore there is no triangle on the blackboard.” This of course is wrong, and his description of the opposing position is wrong in the same way.
Naturally, if we take “triangle” as shorthand for “exact rather than approximate triangle” then (2) will be true. And in a similar way, if take “really conjoin” and so on as shorthand for “really conjoin exactly and not approximately,” then those who disagree will indeed say that we do not do those things. But this is not a problem unless you are assuming from the beginning that our thoughts are infinitely precise, and Ross is attempting to establish that this must be the case, rather than claiming to take it as given. (That is, the summary takes it as given, but Ross attempts throughout the article to establish it.)
One could attempt to defend Ross’s position as follows: we must have infinitely precise thoughts, because we can understand the words “infinitely precise thoughts.” Or in the case of modus ponens, we must have an infinitely precise understanding of it, because we can distinguish between “modus ponens, precisely,” and “approximations of modus ponens“. But the error here is similar to the error of saying that one must have infinite certainty about some things, because otherwise one will not have infinite certainty about the fact that one does not have infinite certainty, as though this were a contradiction. It is no contradiction for all of your thoughts to be fallible, including this one, and it is no contradiction for all of your thoughts to be vague, including your thoughts about precision and approximation.
The title of this post in fact refers to this error, which is probably the fundamental problem in Ross’s argument. Triangles in the real world are not perfectly triangular, but we have an idealized concept of a triangle. In precisely the same way, the process of idealization in the real world is not an infinitely precise process, but we have an idealized concept of idealization. Concluding that our acts of idealization must actually be ideal in themselves, simply because we have an idealized concept of idealization, would be a case of confusing the way of knowing with the way of being. It is a particularly confusing case simply because the way of knowing in this case is also materially the being which is known. But this material identity does not make the mode of knowing into the mode of being.
We should consider also Ross’s minor premise, that a physical process cannot be determinate in the way required:
Whatever the discriminable features of a physical process may be, there will always be a pair of incompatible predicates, each as empirically adequate as the other, to name a function the exhibited data or process “satisfies.” That condition holds for any finite actual “outputs,” no matter how many. That is a feature of physical process itself, of change. There is nothing about a physical process, or any repetitions of it, to block it from being a case of incompossible forms (“functions”), if it could be a case of any pure form at all. That is because the differentiating point, the point where the behavioral outputs diverge to manifest different functions, can lie beyond the actual, even if the actual should be infinite; e.g., it could lie in what the thing would have done, had things been otherwise in certain ways. For instance, if the function is x(*)y = (x + y, if y < 10^40 years, = x + y +1, otherwise), the differentiating output would lie beyond the conjectured life of the universe.
Just as rectangular doors can approximate Euclidean rectangularity, so physical change can simulate pure functions but cannot realize them. For instance, there are no physical features by which an adding machine, whether it is an old mechanical “gear” machine or a hand calculator or a full computer, can exclude its satisfying a function incompatible with addition, say quaddition (cf. Kripke’s definition of the function to show the indeterminacy of the single case: quus, symbolized by the plus sign in a circle, “is defined by: x quus y = x + y, if x, y < 57, =5 otherwise”) modified so that the differentiating outputs (not what constitutes the difference, but what manifests it) lie beyond the lifetime of the machine. The consequence is that a physical process is really indeterminate among incompatible abstract functions.
Extending the list of outputs will not select among incompatible functions whose differentiating “point” lies beyond the lifetime (or performance time) of the machine. That, of course, is not the basis for the indeterminacy; it is just a grue-like illustration. Adding is not a sequence of outputs; it is summing; whereas if the process were quadding, all its outputs would be quadditions, whether or not they differed in quantity from additions (before a differentiating point shows up to make the outputs diverge from sums).
For any outputs to be sums, the machine has to add. But the indeterminacy among incompossible functions is to be found in each single case, and therefore in every case. Thus, the machine never adds.
There is some truth here, and some error here. If we think about a physical process in the particular way that Ross is considering it, it will be true that it will always be able to be interpreted in more than one way. This is why, for example, in my recent discussion with John Nerst, John needed to say that the fundamental cause of things had to be “rules” rather than e.g. fundamental particles. The movement of particles, in itself, could be interpreted in various ways. “Rules,” on the other hand, are presumed to be something which already has a particular interpretation, e.g. adding as opposed to quadding.
On the other hand, there is also an error here. The prima facie sign of this error is the statement that an adding machine “never adds.” Just as according to common sense we can draw triangles on blackboards, so according to common sense the calculator on my desk can certainly add. This is connected with the problem with the entire argument. Since “the calculator can add” is true in some way, there is no particular reason that “we can add” cannot be true in precisely the same way. Ross wishes to argue that we can add in a way that the calculator cannot because, in essence, we do it infallibly; but this is flatly false. We do not do it infallibly.
Considered metaphysically, the problem here is ignorance of the formal cause. If physical processes were entirely formless, they indeed would have no interpretation, just as a formless human (were that possible) would be a philosophical zombie. But in reality there are forms in both cases. In this sense, Ross’s argument comes close to saying “human thought is a form or formed, but physical processes are formless.” Since in fact neither is formless, there is no reason (at least established by this argument) why thought could not be the form of a physical process.
Zeal for Form, But Not According to Knowledge
March 11, 2017 entirelyuseless Metaphysics, Science, Uncategorized Alexander Pruss, Artifacts, C.S. Lewis, Causes, Consciousness, Disposition, Elements, Eliminativism, Final Causes, Form, Formal Cause, James Chastek, Knowledge, Life, Material Cause, Matter, Robin Hanson, Sean Carroll, Thought, Truth, Zeal, Zombies
Some time ago I discussed the question of whether the behavior of a whole should be predictable from the behavior of the parts, without fully resolving it. I promised at the time to revisit the question later, and this is the purpose of the present post.
In the discussion of Robin Hanson’s book Age of Em, we looked briefly at his account of the human mind. Let us look at a more extended portion of his argument about the mind:
There is nothing that we know of that isn’t described well by physics, and everything that physicists know of is well described as many simple parts interacting simply. Parts are localized in space, have interactions localized in time, and interactions effects don’t move in space faster than the speed of light. Simple parts have internal states that can be specified with just a few bits (or qubits), and each part only interacts directly with a few other parts close in space and time. Since each interaction is only between a few bits on a few sides, it must also be simple. Furthermore, all known interactions are mutual in the sense that the state on all sides is influenced by states of the other sides.
For example, ordinary field theories have a limited number of fields at each point in space-time, with each field having a limited number of degrees of freedom. Each field has a few simple interactions with other fields, and with its own space-time derivatives. With limited energy, this latter effect limits how fast a field changes in space and time.
As a second example, ordinary digital electronics is made mostly of simple logic units, each with only a few inputs, a few outputs, and a few bits of internal state. Typically: two inputs, one output, and zero or one bits of state. Interactions between logic units are via simple wires that force the voltage and current to be almost the same at matching ends.
As a third example, cellular automatons are often taken as a clear simple metaphor for typical physical systems. Each such automation has a discrete array of cells, each of which has a few possible states. At discrete time steps, the state of each cell is a simple standard function of the states of that cell and its neighbors at the last time step. The famous “game of life” uses a two dimensional array with one bit per cell.
This basic physics fact, that everything is made of simple parts interacting simply, implies that anything complex, able to represent many different possibilities, is made of many parts. And anything able to manage complex interaction relations is spread across time, constructed via many simple interactions built up over time. So if you look at a disk of a complex movie, you’ll find lots of tiny structures encoding bits. If you look at an organism that survives in a complex environment, you’ll find lots of tiny parts with many non-regular interactions.
Physicists have learned that we only we ever get empirical evidence about the state of things via their interactions with other things. When such interactions the state of one thing create correlations with the state of another, we can use that correlation, together with knowledge of one state, as evidence about the other state. If a feature or state doesn’t influence any interactions with familiar things, we could drop it from our model of the world and get all the same predictions. (Though we might include it anyway for simplicity, so that similar parts have similar features and states.)
Not only do we know that in general everything is made of simple parts interacting simply, for pretty much everything that happens here on Earth we know those parts and interactions in great precise detail. Yes there are still some areas of physics we don’t fully understand, but we also know that those uncertainties have almost nothing to say about ordinary events here on Earth. For humans and their immediate environments on Earth, we know exactly what are all the parts, what states they hold, and all of their simple interactions. Thermodynamics assures us that there can’t be a lot of hidden states around holding many bits that interact with familiar states.
Now it is true that when many simple parts are combined into complex arrangements, it can be very hard to calculate the detailed outcomes they produce. This isn’t because such outcomes aren’t implied by the math, but because it can be hard to calculate what math implies. When we can figure out quantities that are easier to calculate, as long as the parts and interactions we think are going on are in fact the only things going on, then we usually see those quantities just as calculated.
The point of Robin’s argument is to take a particular position in regard to the question we are revisiting in this post: everything that is done by wholes is predictable from the behavior of the parts. The argument is simply a more extended form of a point I made in the earlier post, namely that there is no known case where the behavior of a whole is known not to be predictable in such a way, and many known cases where it is certainly predictable in this way.
The title of the present post of course refers us to this earlier post. In that post I discussed the tendency to set first and second causes in opposition, and noted that the resulting false dichotomy leads to two opposite mistakes, namely the denial of a first cause on one hand, and to the assertion that the first cause does or should work without secondary causes on the other.
In the same way, I say it is a false dichotomy to set the work of form in opposition with the work of matter and disposition. Rather, they produce the same thing, both according to being and according to activity, but in different respects. If this is the case, it will be necessarily true from the nature of things that the behavior of a whole is predictable from the behavior of the parts, but this will happen in a particular way.
I mentioned an example of the same false dichotomy in the post on Robin’s book. Here again is his argument:
But consider a key question: Does this other feeling stuff interact with the familiar parts of our world strongly and reliably enough to usually be the actual cause of humans making statements of feeling like this?
If yes, this is a remarkably strong interaction, making it quite surprising that physicists have missed it so far. So surprising in fact as to be frankly unbelievable. If this type of interaction were remotely as simple as all the interactions we know, then it should be quite measurable with existing equipment. Any interaction not so measurable would have be vastly more complex and context dependent than any we’ve ever seen or considered. Thus I’d bet heavily and confidently that no one will measure such an interaction.
But if no, if this interaction isn’t strong enough to explain human claims of feeling, then we have a remarkable coincidence to explain. Somehow this extra feeling stuff exists, and humans also have a tendency to say that it exists, but these happen for entirely independent reasons. The fact that feeling stuff exists isn’t causing people to claim it exists, nor vice versa. Instead humans have some sort of weird psychological quirk that causes them to make such statements, and they would make such claims even if feeling stuff didn’t exist. But if we have a good alternate explanation for why people tend to make such statements, what need do we have of the hypothesis that feeling stuff actually exists? Such a coincidence seems too remarkable to be believed.
I am currently awake and conscious, hearing the sounds of my keyboard as I type and the music playing in the background. Robin’s argument is something like this: why did I type the previous sentence? Is it because I am in fact awake and conscious and actually heard these sounds? If in principle it is predictable that I would have typed that, based on the simple interactions of simple parts, that seems to be an entirely different explanation. So either one might be the case or the other, but not both.
We have seen this kind of argument before. C.S. Lewis made this kind of argument when he said that thought must have reasons only, and no causes. Similarly, there is the objection to the existence of God, “But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist.” Just as in those cases we have a false dichotomy between the first cause and secondary causes, and between the final cause and efficient causes, so here we have a false dichotomy between form and matter.
Let us consider this in a simpler case. We earlier discussed the squareness of a square. Suppose someone attempted to apply Robin’s argument to squares. The equivalent argument would say this: all conclusions about squares can be proved from premises about the four lines that make it up and their relationships. So what use is this extra squareness? We might as well assume it does not exist, since it cannot explain anything.
In order to understand this one should consider why we need several kinds of cause in the first place. To assign a cause is just to give the origin of a thing in a way that explains it, while explanation has various aspects. In the linked post, we divided causes into two, namely intrinsic and extrinsic, and then divided each of these into two. But consider what would happen if we did not make the second division. In this case, there would be two causes of a thing: matter subject to form, and agent intending an end. We can see from this how the false dichotomies arise: all the causality of the end must be included in some way in the agent, since the end causes by informing the agent, and all the causality of the form must be included in some way in the matter, since the form causes by informing the matter.
In the case of the square, even the linked post noted that there was an aspect of the square that could not be derived from its properties: namely, the fact that a square is one figure, rather than simply many lines. This is the precise effect of form in general: to make a thing be what it is.
Consider Alexander Pruss’s position on artifacts. He basically asserted that artifacts do not truly exist, on the grounds that they seem to be lacking a formal cause. In this way, he says, they are just a collection of parts, just as someone might suppose that a square is just a collection of lines, and that there is no such thing as squareness. My response there was the same as my response about the square: saying that this is just a collection cannot explain why a square is one figure, nor can the same account explain the fact that artifacts do have a unity of some kind. Just as the denial of squareness would mean the denial of the existence of a unified figure, so the denial of chairness would mean the denial of the existence of chairs. Unlike Sean Carroll, Pruss seems even to recognize that this denial follows from his position, even if he is ambivalent about it at times.
Hanson’s argument about the human mind is actually rather similar to Pruss’s argument about artifacts, and to Carroll’s argument about everything. The question of whether or not the fact that I am actually conscious influences whether I say that I am, is a reference to the idea of a philosophical zombie. Robin discusses this idea more directly in another post:
Carroll inspires me to try to make one point I think worth making, even if it is also ignored. My target is people who think philosophical zombies make sense. Zombies are supposedly just like real people in having the same physical brains, which arose the through the same causal history. The only difference is that while real people really “feel”, zombies do not. But since this state of “feeling” is presumed to have zero causal influence on behavior, zombies act exactly like real people, including being passionate and articulate about claiming they are not zombies. People who think they can conceive of such zombies see a “hard question” regarding which physical systems that claim to feel and otherwise act as if they feel actually do feel. (And which other systems feel as well.)
The one point I want to make is: if zombies are conceivable, then none of us will ever have any more relevant info than we do now about which systems actually feel. Which is pretty much zero info! You will never have any info about whether you ever really felt in the past, or will ever feel in the future. No one part of your brain ever gets any info from any other part of your brain about whether it really feels.
These claims all follow from our very standard and well-established info theory. We get info about things by interacting with them, so that our states become correlated with the states of those things. But by assumption this hypothesized extra “feeling” state never interacts with anything. The actual reason why you feel compelled to assert very confidently that you really do feel has no causal connection with whether you actually do really feel. You would have been just as likely to say it if it were not true. What could possibly be the point of hypothesizing and forming beliefs about states about which one can never get any info?
We noted the unresolved tension in Sean Carroll’s position. The eliminativists are metaphysically correct, he says, but they are mistaken to draw the conclusion that the things of our common experience do not exist. The problem is that given that he accepts the eliminativist metaphysics, he can have no justification for rejecting their conclusions. We can see the same tension in Robin Hanson’s account of consciousness and philosophical zombies. For example, why does he say that they do not “make sense,” rather than asking whether or not they can exist and why or why not?
Let us think about this in more detail. And to see more clearly the issues involved, let us consider a simpler case. Take the four chairs in Pruss’s office. Is it possible that one of them is a zombie?
What would this even mean? In the post on the relationship of form and reality, we noted that asking whether something has a form is very close to the question of whether something is real. I really have two hands, Pruss says, if my hands have forms. And likewise chairs are real chairs if they have the form of a chair, and if they do not, they are not real in the first place, as Pruss argues is the case.
The zombie question about the chair would then be this: is it possible that one of the apparent chairs, physically identical to a real chair, is yet not a real chair, while the three others are real?
We should be able to understand why someone would want to say that the question “does not make sense” here. What would it even be like for one of the chairs not to be a real chair, especially if it is posited to be identical to all of the others? In reality, though, the question does make sense, even if we answer that the thing cannot happen. In this case it might actually be more possible than in other cases, since artifacts are in part informed by human intentions. But possible or not, the question surely makes sense.
Let us consider the case of natural things. Consider the zombie oak tree: it is physically identical to an oak tree, but it is not truly alive. It appears to grow, but this is just the motion of particles. There are three positions someone could hold: no oak trees are zombie oaks, since all are truly alive and grow; all oak trees are zombies, since all are mere collections of particles; and some are alive and grow, while others are zombies, being mere collections of particles.
Note that the question does indeed make sense. It is hard to see why anyone would accept the third position, but if the first and second positions make sense, then the third does as well. It has an intelligible content, even if it is one that we have no good arguments for accepting. The argument that it does not make sense is basically the claim that the first and second positions are not distinct positions: they do not say different things, but the same thing. Thus the the third would “not make sense” insofar as it assumes that the first and second positions are distinct positions.
Why would someone suppose that the first and second positions are not distinct? This is basically Sean Carroll’s position, since he tries to say both that eliminativists are correct about what exists, but incorrect in denying the existence of common sense things like oak trees. It is useful to say, “oak trees are real,” he says, and therefore we will say it, but we do not mean to say something different about reality than the eliminativists who say that “oak trees are not real but mere collections of particles.”
But this is wrong. Carroll’s position is inconsistent in virtually the most direct possible way. Either oak trees are real or they are not; and if they are real, then they are not mere collections of particles. So both the first and second positions are meaningful, and consequently also the third.
The second and third positions are false, however, and the meaningfulness of this becomes especially clear when we speak of the human case. It obviously does make sense to ask whether other human beings are conscious, and this is simply to ask whether their apparent living activities, such as speaking and thinking, are real living activities, or merely apparent ones: perhaps the thing is making sounds, but it is not truly speaking or thinking.
Let us go back to the oak tree for a moment. The zombie oak would be one that is not truly living, but its activities, apparently full of life, are actually lifeless. In order to avoid this possibility, and out of a zeal for form which is not according to knowledge, some assert that the activities of an oak cannot be understood in terms of the activities of the parts. There is a hint of this, perhaps, in this remark by James Chastek:
Consciousness is just the latest field where we are protesting that something constitutes a specific difference from some larger genus, but if it goes the way the others have gone, in fifty years no one will even remember the controversy or bother to give the fig-leaf explanations of it being emergent or reductive. No one will remember that there is a difference to explain. Did anyone notice in tenth-grade biology that life was explained entirely in terms of non-living processes? No. There was nothing to explain since nothing was noticed.
Chastek does not assert that life cannot be “explained entirely in terms of non-living processes,” in the manner of tenth-grade biology, but he perhaps would prefer that it could not be so explained. And the reason for this would be the idea that if everything the living thing does can be explained in terms of the parts, then oak trees are zombies after all.
But this idea is mistaken. Look again at the square: the parts explain everything, except the fact that the figure is one figure, and a square. The form of a square is indeed needed, precisely in order that the thing will actually be a whole and a square.
Likewise with the oak. If an oak tree is made out of parts, then since activity follows being, it should be unsurprising that in some sense its activities themselves will be made out of parts, namely the activities of its parts. But the oak is real, and its activities are real. And just as oaks really exist, so they really live and grow; but just as the living oak has parts which are not alive in themselves, such as elements, so the activity of growth contains partial activities which are not living activities in themselves. What use is the form of an oak, then? It makes the tree really an oak and really alive; and it makes its activities living activities such as growth, rather than being merely a collection of non-living activities.
We can look at human beings in the same way, but I will leave the details of this for another post, since this one is long enough already.
The Practical Argument for Free Will
March 4, 2017 March 8, 2017 entirelyuseless Ethics, Metaphysics, Probability, Uncategorized Alien Implant, Belief, Choice, God, Good, Heaven, Hell, Language, Richard Chappell, Smoking Lesion, Thought, Truth, Voluntary Beliefs, Will
Richard Chappell discusses a practical argument for free will:
1) If I don’t have free will, then I can’t choose what to believe.
2) If I can choose what to believe, then I have free will [from 1]
3) If I have free will, then I ought to believe it.
4) If I can choose what to believe, then I ought to believe that I have free will. [from 2,3]
5) I ought, if I can, to choose to believe that I have free will. [restatement of 4]
He remarks in the comments:
I’m taking it as analytic (true by definition) that choice requires free will. If we’re not free, then we can’t choose, can we? We might “reach a conclusion”, much like a computer program does, but we couldn’t choose it.
I understand the word “choice” a bit differently, in that I would say that we are obviously choosing in the ordinary sense of the term, if we consider two options which are possible to us as far as we know, and then make up our minds to do one of them, even if it turned out in some metaphysical sense that we were already guaranteed in advance to do that one. Or in other words, Chappell is discussing determinism vs libertarian free will, apparently ruling out compatibilist free will on linguistic grounds. I don’t merely disagree in the sense that I use language differently, but in the sense that I don’t agree that his usage correspond to the normal English usage. [N.B. I misunderstood Richard here. He explains in the comments.] Since people can easily be led astray by such linguistic confusions, given the relationships between thought and language, I prefer to reformulate the argument:
If I don’t have libertarian free will, then I can’t make an ultimate difference in what I believe that was not determined by some initial conditions.
If I can make an ultimate difference in what I believe that was not determined by some initial conditions, then I have libertarian free will [from 1].
If I have libertarian free will, then it is good to believe that I have it.
If I can make an ultimate difference in my beliefs undetermined by initial conditions, then it is good to believe that I have libertarian free will. [from 2, 3]
It is good, if I can, to make a difference in my beliefs undetermined by initial conditions, such that I believe that I have libertarian free will.
We would have to add that the means that can make such a difference, if any means can, would be choosing to believe that I have libertarian free will.
I have reformulated (3) to speak of what is good, rather than of what one ought to believe, for several reasons. First, in order to avoid confusion about the meaning of “ought”. Second, because the resolution of the argument lies here.
The argument is in fact a good argument as far as it goes. It does give a practical reason to hold the voluntary belief that one has libertarian free will. The problem is that it does not establish that it is better overall to hold this belief, because various factors can contribute to whether an action or belief is a good thing.
We can see this with the following thought experiment:
Either people have libertarian free will or they do not. This is unknown. But God has decreed that people who believe that they have libertarian free will go to hell for eternity, while people who believe that they do not, will go to heaven for eternity.
This is basically like the story of the Alien Implant. Having libertarian free will is like the situation where the black box is predicting your choice, and not having it is like the case where the box is causing your choice. The better thing here is to believe that you do not have libertarian free will, and this is true despite whatever theoretical sense you might have that you are “not responsible” for this belief if it is true, just as it is better not to smoke even if you think that your choice is being caused.
But note that if a person believes that he has libertarian free will, and it turns out to be true, he has some benefit from this, namely the truth. But the evil of going to hell presumably outweighs this benefit. And this reveals the fundamental problem with the argument, namely that we need to weigh the consequences overall. We made the consequences heaven and hell for dramatic effect, but even in the original situation, believing that you have libertarian free will when you do not, has an evil effect, namely believing something false, and potentially many evil effects, namely whatever else follows from this falsehood. This means that in order to determine what is better to believe here, it is necessary to consider the consequences of being mistaken, just as it is in general when one formulates beliefs.
Parmenides the Eliminativist
February 22, 2017 February 22, 2017 entirelyuseless Metaphysics, Uncategorized Consciousness, Daniel Dennett, Descartes, Eliminativism, Parmenides, Thought
While the name “eliminativism” is used particularly with respect to the denial of the reality of consciousness or various mental conditions, we could define it more generally as the tendency to explain something away rather than explaining it. The motive for this would be that someone believes that reality does not have the principles needed in order to explain the thing; so it is necessary for them to explain it away instead. In this way we noted that Daniel Dennett denies the existence of consciousness. Since every being is objective, in his view, reality does not have any principle which could explain something subjective. Therefore it is necessary for him to explain away subjectivity.
If we take eliminativism in this general way, it will turn out that Parmenides is the ultimate eliminativist. According to Parmenides, not only is there nothing but being, but nothing can be distinct from being in any way, even in concept. Thus anything which appears to be conceptually distinct from being, including ourselves and all the objects of our common experience, is nothing but an illusion deluding itself. And ultimately nothing at all, since even illusions cannot be something other than being.
Parmenides comes to this conclusion in the same general way as Dennett, namely because it seems to him that reality cannot have any principle which could explain things as they are. It is evident that there cannot be anything besides being; thus if something seems distinct from being in any way, there is no principle capable of explaining it.
Descartes argued that he can know he exists since he thinks. On the contrary , Parmenides responds: you think, but thinking means something different from being; therefore you are not.
All Who Go Do Not Return
August 29, 2016 entirelyuseless Catholicism, Journal Entries, Probability, Religion, Science, Uncategorized Belief, Evidence, Heaven, Heresy, Immortality, Judaism, Shulem Deen, St. Therese, Thought, Truth, Voluntary Beliefs
Shulem Deen begins his memoir of the above name:
I wasn’t the first to be expelled from our village, though I’d never known any of the others. I’d only heard talk of them, hushed reminiscences of ancient episodes in the history of our half-century-old village, tales of various subversives who sought to destroy our fragile unity. The group of Belzers who tried to form their own prayer group, the young man rumored to have studied the books of the Breslovers, even the rebbe’s own brother-in-law, accused of fomenting sedition against the rebbe.
But I was the first to be expelled for heresy.
The call came on a Sunday evening, while Gitty and I were having dinner with our children.
“Shulem, this is Yechiel Spitzer,” a deep male voice said, and then paused. “Can you be at the dayan’s office for a meeting at ten?”
I wasn’t entirely surprised by the call. I had heard from friends that word was getting around the village: Shulem Deen has become a heretic.
If heresy was a sin in our all-Hasidic village in Rockland County, New York, it was not an ordinary one. Unlike the yeshiva student who ordered a taxicab each night to get away for an hour of karate lessons, or the girl spotted wearing a skirt that didn’t fully cover her knees, or the schoolteacher who complained of the rebbe’s lengthy Sabbath noon prayers, heresy was a sin our people were unaccustomed to. Heresy was a sin that baffled them. In fact, real heresy, the people in our village believed, did not happen in our time, and certainly not in our village, and so when they heard there was a heretic in their midst, they were not sure what to make of it.
The meeting itself is not the most pleasant:
“We have heard rumors,” Mendel began. “We have heard rumors and we don’t know if they’re true, but you understand, rumors alone are bad.”
He paused and looked at me, as if expecting me to show agreement of some sort.
“People say you’re an apikorus. People say you don’t believe in God.” He raised his shoulders to his ears, spread his palms, and opened his eyes wide. “How does one not believe in God? I don’t know.” He said this as if he were genuinely curious. Mendel was an intelligent man, and here was a question that, given the time and inclination, one might seek to discuss. But now was not the time, and so he went on to tell me more about what people were saying.
I was speaking ill of the rebbe.
I was no longer praying.
I disparaged the Torah and the teachings of our sages.
I was corrupting other people. Young people. Innocent people.
In fact, people were saying that I had corrupted a yeshiva boy just last week. Corrupted him so badly that the boy left his parents’ home, and— Mendel didn’t know if this was true, but so people were saying— went to live with goyim in Brooklyn. It was rumored that the boy planned to attend college.
People were saying, Mendel further informed me, that something must be done. People were very concerned, and people were saying that the bezdin must act.
“If people are saying that the bezdin must act, you understand, we can’t very well do nothing.”
Yechiel Spitzer, sitting at the very end of the table, twirled a few hairs beneath his lower lip and absentmindedly placed one hair between his front teeth. The three rabbis sat with their eyes downcast.
“You understand,” Mendel went on, “that this is not about causing pain to you or your family.”
Here he paused and looked at the dayan, before putting his palms flat on the table and looking at me directly.
“We have come to the conclusion that you must leave the village.”
I was being expelled, though in those moments, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. My initial thought was to defend myself, to declare it all lies, hateful gossipmongering. But the truth was, I no longer belonged here. This was a community of the faithful, and I was no longer one of them.
How did things come to this point? To those who are curious, I recommend the book. However, Shulem remarks on this matter:
“What made you change?” people would ask in later years, and the question would frustrate me because the things that made me change were so many and varied that they felt simply as life feels: not a single moment of transformation but a process, a journey of inquiry and discovery, of beliefs and challenges to those beliefs, of uncomfortable questions and attempts to do away with them, by brute force if necessary, only to find that that was not possible, that the search was too urgent and necessary and giving up was not an option. Yet I found no neat answers but only muddled and contradictory ones, until hope gave way to disillusion, which would in turn give way to hope once again, but dimmer and weaker each time, until I would swing back to confusion and disillusion in an endlessly maddening cycle.
Overall, the process is so gradual that he does not even remember a definite moment of changing his mind, but only remembers the realization that he has already done so:
I remember that I was in the dining room, and through the thin walls I could hear Gitty busy in the kitchen: “Akiva, finish your toast,” “Freidy, stop bothering the baby and get dressed,” “Tziri, brush your hair and get your backpack.” The sounds all blended together. One by one, each of the children recited the morning blessings, groaned about unfinished homework assignments, lost shoes, misplaced hair accessories. I swung my prayer shawl over my shoulders, whipped up my sleeve, and wrapped the leather straps of my tefillin around my arm. And as I stood there, the black leather cube on my left arm bulging against the sleeve of my starched white shirt, my body enveloped in the large, white, black-striped shawl, the thought came to me:
I no longer believe in any of this.
I am a heretic. An apikorus.
For a long time, I had tried to deny it. A mere sinner has hope: An Israelite, although he has sinned, is still an Israelite, the Talmud says. But a heretic is lost forever. All who go do not return. The Torah scroll he writes is to be burned. He is no longer counted in a prayer quorum, his food is not considered kosher, his lost objects are not returned to him, he is unfit to testify in court. An outcast, he wanders alone forever, belonging neither to his own people nor to any other.
It was at that moment, sometime between fastening the knot of my tefillin against my occipital bone and racing through whatever chapters of prayer I still chose to recite, that I realized that my heresy was simply a fact about myself, no different from my brown eyes or my pale skin.
Earlier we discussed the possibility of changing your mind without realizing that you have done so, and there is no reason that this cannot apply even to things as important as religion. This seems to have happened in Shulem’s case, although of course he was aware of the process in a general way, as can be seen in the previous quotation.
If a person is raised in a religion from childhood, and taught to adhere very strongly to that religion, then given that he is capable of looking at the world honestly, he will almost inevitably go through a process much like the one described by Shulem Deen, even if it may have a different ending.
This will happen almost always, without regard to how much truth there is in the religion, or how much truth is lacking there. For at least in the devout cases of which we speak, the parents will teach the child that their religion is very certainly true, and it is unlikely that they will go out of their way to present arguments and evidence against it. And if they do present such arguments and evidence, they are likely to present them in the least favorable way, rather than in the most favorable way. None of this is very surprising, nor does it have much to do with religion in particular, but is simply the way that people generally present their opinions to others. But it follows from all this that the child is not given a balanced view of the evidence relative to his religion, but one which makes the evidence seem more favorable than it actually is. As was said, this would be likely to happen even if the religion in question were entirely true.
The consequence is that once the person begins to get a more balanced grasp on the evidence, which will be the natural result of living in the world, they will begin to see that their religion was less certain than they supposed it to be.
This will happen even in the case of very devout people who are entirely enveloped, as it were, in the belief and life of their own religious community, and who seem to have virtually no contact with unbelievers or their reasons. Thus for example St. Therese, in her autobiography, speaks of the conflict between her belief in heaven and her doubts about it:
I was saying that the certainty of going away one day far from the sad and dark country had been given me from the day of my childhood. I did not believe this only because I heard it from persons much more knowledgeable than I, but I felt in the bottom of my heart real longings for this most beautiful country. Just as the genius of Christopher Columbus gave him a presentiment of a new world when nobody had even thought of such a thing; so also I felt that another land would one day serve me as a permanent dwelling place. Then suddenly the fog that surrounds me becomes more dense; it penetrates my soul and envelops it in such a way that it is impossible to discover within it the sweet image of my Fatherland; everything has disappeared! When I want to rest my heart fatigued by the darkness that surrounds it by the memory of the luminous country after which I aspire, my torment redoubles; it seems to me that the darkness, borrowing the voice of sinners, says mockingly to me: “You are dreaming about the light, about a fatherland embalmed in the sweetest perfumes; you are dreaming about the eternal possession of the Creator of all these marvels; you believe that one day you will walk out of this fog that surrounds you! Advance, advance; rejoice in death which will give you not what you hope for but a night still more profound, the night of nothingness.”
St. Therese mentions two things favorable to the existence of heaven: her own desire to go there, and the fact that “I heard it from persons much more knowledgeable than I.” No particular reason is given supporting the denial of heaven, except the “voice of sinners,” which corresponds in a certain way to one of her positive reasons, since St. Therese is aware that many of the sinners in question are also much more knowledgeable than she is. While not explained clearly in her autobiography, she stated verbally a few months before her death:
“If you only knew what frightful thoughts obsess me! Pray very much for me in order that I do not listen to the devil who wants to persuade me about so many lies. It’s the reasoning of the worst materialists which is imposed upon my mind: Later, unceasingly making new advances, science will explain everything naturally; we shall have the absolute reason for everything that exists and that still remains a problem, because there remain very many things to be discovered, etc., etc.”
Why is it such a bad thing to explain everything? Her fear, of course, is that the explanation will imply that there is no life after death.
Of course the arguments implied here, on one side and the other, are not very complicated or technical, because St. Therese is not a scholar. And although she may be able to see some reasons supporting their position to some extent, as in this case the progress of science, to a large extent her doubts are simply caused by opposing authorities: people more intelligent than she who do not believe what she believes. In this sense, St. Therese is a clear example of the point under discussion, where someone raised to hold to their religion with great certainty, comes to be less certain of it when they realize that the evidence is not all on one side.
Nonetheless, St. Therese is evidently not attempting to weigh the evidence on one side and the other, in order to decide which side is more likely to be true. She writes, again in her autobiography:
My dear Mother, I may perhaps appear to you to be exaggerating my trial. In fact, if you are judging according to the sentiments I express in my little poems composed this year, I must appear to you as a soul filled with consolations and one for whom the veil of faith is almost torn aside; and yet it is no longer a veil for me, it is a wall which reaches right up to the heavens and covers the starry firmament. When I sing of the happiness of heaven and of the eternal possession of God, I feel no joy in this, for I sing simply what I WANT TO BELIEVE. It is true that at times a very small ray of the sun comes to illumine my darkness, and then the trial ceases for an instant, but afterward the memory of this ray, instead of causing me joy, makes my darkness even more dense.
This should be understood in the sense of voluntary belief. While St. Therese feels the weight of opposing reasons, she chooses to accept one side regardless. In that sense, she does not need to find an exact measure of the weight of the reasons for one side or the other, because her mind is already made up: regardless of how things stand exactly, she will still choose to believe.
One difference between St. Therese and Shulem Deen, then, is that while St. Therese had an experience somewhat similar to his, she chooses to prevent this process from leading to unbelief. In his case, in contrast, there may not have been any particular distinct moment of choice one way or another, according to his description.
If we return to our child, however, there are a number of other possible results. We will discuss these in a future post.
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Corrigendum to: Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465)
Jayme L. Neiman, Frank K. Gonzalez, Kevin Wilkinson, Kevin B. Smith, John R. Hibbing
Neiman, J. L., Gonzalez, F. K., Wilkinson, K., Smith, K. B., & Hibbing, J. R. (2016). Corrigendum to: Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465). Political Communication, 33(2), 346-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1161349
Corrigendum to : Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465). / Neiman, Jayme L.; Gonzalez, Frank K.; Wilkinson, Kevin; Smith, Kevin B.; Hibbing, John R.
In: Political Communication, Vol. 33, No. 2, 02.04.2016, p. 346-349.
Neiman, JL, Gonzalez, FK, Wilkinson, K, Smith, KB & Hibbing, JR 2016, 'Corrigendum to: Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465)', Political Communication, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 346-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1161349
Neiman JL, Gonzalez FK, Wilkinson K, Smith KB, Hibbing JR. Corrigendum to: Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465). Political Communication. 2016 Apr 2;33(2):346-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1161349
Neiman, Jayme L. ; Gonzalez, Frank K. ; Wilkinson, Kevin ; Smith, Kevin B. ; Hibbing, John R. / Corrigendum to : Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465). In: Political Communication. 2016 ; Vol. 33, No. 2. pp. 346-349.
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title = "Corrigendum to: Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465)",
author = "Neiman, {Jayme L.} and Gonzalez, {Frank K.} and Kevin Wilkinson and Smith, {Kevin B.} and Hibbing, {John R.}",
journal = "Political Communication",
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T2 - Speaking Different Languages or Reading From the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians (Political Communication, (2016), 33, 2, (212-240), DOI:10.1080/10584609.2014.969465)
AU - Neiman, Jayme L.
AU - Gonzalez, Frank K.
AU - Wilkinson, Kevin
AU - Smith, Kevin B.
AU - Hibbing, John R.
JO - Political Communication
JF - Political Communication
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Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents
Robert S. Wigton
The effect of a lecture series and of varying clinical experience on resident performance on a written examination in gastroenterology (GI) were measured. Twenty-four internal medicine residents attended 40 one-hour lectures in GI over a 1-mo period and took a multiple choice examination before and 3 wk after the course. Mean scores increased < 10% after the lecture series. Residents who had taken a 2-mo elective in GI (n = 15) valued it highly as an educational experience, but scored no differently on the examination than those who had not. There was no significant difference in pretest scores based on year of residency. On a similar examination in cardiology, the score of 17 residents who had taken a 2-mo cardiology rotation was identical to that of 12 who had not. The impression of residents of a major gain in knowledge after subspecialty rotation was not confirmed by the objective testing employed. Scores of third-year residents did not differ greatly from those of first-year residents, suggesting that gains in some areas of clinical competence are not measured by this method of testing.
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Gastroenterology Medicine & Life Sciences
Internal Medicine Medicine & Life Sciences
Wigton, R. S. (1981). Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents. Gastroenterology, 80(3), 601-604. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-5085(81)90026-3
Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents. / Wigton, Robert S.
In: Gastroenterology, Vol. 80, No. 3, 03.1981, p. 601-604.
Wigton, RS 1981, 'Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents', Gastroenterology, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 601-604. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-5085(81)90026-3
Wigton RS. Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents. Gastroenterology. 1981 Mar;80(3):601-604. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-5085(81)90026-3
Wigton, Robert S. / Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents. In: Gastroenterology. 1981 ; Vol. 80, No. 3. pp. 601-604.
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title = "Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents",
abstract = "The effect of a lecture series and of varying clinical experience on resident performance on a written examination in gastroenterology (GI) were measured. Twenty-four internal medicine residents attended 40 one-hour lectures in GI over a 1-mo period and took a multiple choice examination before and 3 wk after the course. Mean scores increased < 10% after the lecture series. Residents who had taken a 2-mo elective in GI (n = 15) valued it highly as an educational experience, but scored no differently on the examination than those who had not. There was no significant difference in pretest scores based on year of residency. On a similar examination in cardiology, the score of 17 residents who had taken a 2-mo cardiology rotation was identical to that of 12 who had not. The impression of residents of a major gain in knowledge after subspecialty rotation was not confirmed by the objective testing employed. Scores of third-year residents did not differ greatly from those of first-year residents, suggesting that gains in some areas of clinical competence are not measured by this method of testing.",
author = "Wigton, {Robert S.}",
T1 - Effect of lectures and increased experience in gastroenterology on examination scores of internal medicine residents
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N2 - The effect of a lecture series and of varying clinical experience on resident performance on a written examination in gastroenterology (GI) were measured. Twenty-four internal medicine residents attended 40 one-hour lectures in GI over a 1-mo period and took a multiple choice examination before and 3 wk after the course. Mean scores increased < 10% after the lecture series. Residents who had taken a 2-mo elective in GI (n = 15) valued it highly as an educational experience, but scored no differently on the examination than those who had not. There was no significant difference in pretest scores based on year of residency. On a similar examination in cardiology, the score of 17 residents who had taken a 2-mo cardiology rotation was identical to that of 12 who had not. The impression of residents of a major gain in knowledge after subspecialty rotation was not confirmed by the objective testing employed. Scores of third-year residents did not differ greatly from those of first-year residents, suggesting that gains in some areas of clinical competence are not measured by this method of testing.
AB - The effect of a lecture series and of varying clinical experience on resident performance on a written examination in gastroenterology (GI) were measured. Twenty-four internal medicine residents attended 40 one-hour lectures in GI over a 1-mo period and took a multiple choice examination before and 3 wk after the course. Mean scores increased < 10% after the lecture series. Residents who had taken a 2-mo elective in GI (n = 15) valued it highly as an educational experience, but scored no differently on the examination than those who had not. There was no significant difference in pretest scores based on year of residency. On a similar examination in cardiology, the score of 17 residents who had taken a 2-mo cardiology rotation was identical to that of 12 who had not. The impression of residents of a major gain in knowledge after subspecialty rotation was not confirmed by the objective testing employed. Scores of third-year residents did not differ greatly from those of first-year residents, suggesting that gains in some areas of clinical competence are not measured by this method of testing.
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Category Archives: Bill Reaves Files – Federal Point
Posted in Bill Reaves Files – Federal Point • Historic Features – from Newsletters
From the Bill Reaves Files
June 17, 1917: The new Methodist Church at Federal Point, which had just been completed, was dedicated at 3:30 in the afternoon. Rev. J .H. Shore, presiding elder of the Wilmington District of the N.C. Conference, delivered the sermon. It was said at the time -This church will stand as a fitting tribute to the memory of the handful of loyal Methodists who live in this section of the county. Although the county in this vicinity is very sparsely settled, the people have erected a church that is a distinct credit to their community. WILM. STAR, 6-19-1917
April 3, 1938: The family of A. W. Hewett gave the Federal Point Methodist Church a silver communion service in his memory. WILM. STAR, 4-7-1938
February 12, 1945: Construction of a new Presbyterian church in the downtown area of Carolina Beach was begun. The building materials had been ordered and work was to begin as soon as they arrived. John McLeod, student at the Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va., preached for the Carolina Beach congregation in the Methodist Church building. WILM. STAR, 2-9-1945.
April 21, 1946: The 4th annual Easter Sunrise Service was held at Carolina Beach. The service began at sunrise, 5:30 A.M. The sponsoring churches were Carolina Beach Baptist Church, St. Paul’s Methodist Church, Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church, Federal Point Methodist Church, All-Saints-By-The-Sea (Episcopal), Church of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic), and the Community Church. WILM. EVENING POST, 4-20-1946
February 8, 1947: The pastors of Carolina Beach’s Protestant churches today were members of a new Carolina Beach Ministerial Association organized last night. The Rev. Ben B. Ussery, pastor of the town’s Baptist church, was elected president, and the Rev. John D. McLeod, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, was named corresponding and recording secretary. The other constitutions belonging to the association were the beach’s Methodist and Community Churches. The Episcopal Church is expected to join also. At the organizational meeting, preliminary plans were laid for the resort’s fifth annual Easter Sunrise service. WILM. POST, 2-8-1947
April 4, 1947: A three-act dramatization of THE FIRST EASTER MORNING was presented by the Young Adult Class of St. Paul’s Methodist Church. The public was invited to this part of Carolina Beach’s pre-Easter observance program. Included in the cast were: O’Neill Johnson, Homer Craver, Mike Bame, Jack White, Ryder Lewis, Chevis Faircloth, Jimmy Busch, Ernest Bame, Bunny Hines, Glenn Eaker, Rachel Bame, Ellen White, William McDougald, Edwin Carter, Sallie Faircloth and Ruby Knox.
Serving on the committees for the presentation were: Virginia Beach, Mrs. Odell Oldham, Mrs. Woodrow Hewett, A.L. Mansfield, Mrs. George Russ, Francis Ludwig and sons, Mrs. Edwin Carter, Mrs. Bunny Hines and Mrs. Sam Frisbee. WILM. NEWS, 4-2-1947
April 25, 1947: Plans were underway for the construction of an educational and recreational building for the young people of Carolina Beach. The program was being handled by the Methodist Youth Fellowship committee, and all members were joining the campaign to raise funds. A seafood supper on April 26th was the initial step in the fund raising. The supper was to be held at Mrs. Reynolds Boarding House, operated by Mrs. R.W. Reynolds. The building and facilities on the playground were to be located on the property of the Methodist Church. WILM.NEWS, 4-25-1947
November 12, 1947: Members of the Federal Point Methodist Church, Carolina Beach, elected their officers for the new year. The officers of the church were J. Otis Davis, Charge Lay Leader; the board of trustees included Dave Lewis, O.W. Davis and Mrs. J. N. Todd. The communion steward was Mrs. J. N. Todd; membership committee, Mrs. Dave Lewis; pastoral relations committee, Mrs. G. C. Henniker; nominations committee, W. T. Lewis and Miss Beatrice Davis. Audit Committee, J. Otis Davis; golden cross, Mrs. O. W. Davis, board of missions and church extension, Mrs. J.O. Davis; committee on evangelism, Mrs. W. T. Lewis; parsonage committee, Miss Beatrice Davis. Stewards included J .O. Davis, W. T. Lewis, George H. Henniker, and Dave Lewis; parsonage trustees, Lee O. Davis. Officers of the Sunday School included Mrs. Ray Peterson, Dave Lewis, Mrs. J. O. Davis, Miss Beatrice Davis, W. T. Lewis. WILM. STAR, 11-16-1947
February 6, 1948: Mayor A. P. Peay, of Carolina Beach, proclaimed today as a “Day of Prayer” at the resort. This special day corresponded to a worldwide observance of a “world Day of Prayer.” Special prayer services were conducted at St. Paul’s Methodist Church with a picnic lunch on the church grounds. WILM. POST, 2-5-1948
October 24, 1965: St. Paul’s Methodist Church held its 22nd Annual Homecoming with a former pastor, the Rev. W. M. Wells, Jr., as guest minister. During the past seven years, St. Paul’s had carried on an extensive modernization program. During this period it had erected a new sanctuary, educational building and parsonage.
The church was organized on July 18, 1943, with 33 charter members. The membership of the old Federal Point Methodist Church was absorbed in the new church. Today the church membership was 317 and the church school enrollment was 178. The present pastor was Rev. Thomas C. Fulcher, a native of West Virginia, who arrived in June, 1965 from Goldsboro. WILM. STAR, 10-24-1965
February 8, 1985: Dow Road on Federal Point, one of New Hanover County’s biggest eyesores, was being cleaned up by many volunteers. The project was dubbed “Operation Clean Sweep,” and it was organized by the New Hanover Clean Community Commission and a ranger from Carolina Beach State Park. The two day cleanup started today when heavy equipment from the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal and Carolina and Kure Beaches were used to pick up large items dumped in the area. The area near the Federal Point Cemetery at Dow Road and Ocean Boulevard were policed by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies and members of the Sand Fiddlers Club. Other volunteers included firefighters from Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Federal Point and residents of the Fort Fisher Air Station, as well as members of Community Watch and the Carolina Beach Homemakers Club. Between 300 and 400 refrigerators and stoves as well as construction debris, sofas and mattresses had been dumped in the clean-up area. St. Paul’s United Methodist Church was planning to fence off the cemetery to keep dumpers out. WILM. STAR, 2-9-1985
Posted in Bill Reaves Files – by Subject • Bill Reaves Files – Federal Point • Federal Point
Bill Reaves files: Federal Point/Carolina Beach/Kure Beach/Fort Fisher 1725-1994
– from the Wilmington Star, Wilmington News, Wilmington Post, Wilmington Dispatch, Wilmington Messenger
New Inlet was formed by a great storm, which visited the coast and lasted four days. This inlet grew in width and depth until large sailing vessels could pass through, and later steamships. VOL. I.
New Inlet as recorded in Civil War mapping records, 1864 (Cowles, Davis, Perry, & Kirkley)
Charles B. Gause deeded an acre of land on Federal Point to the United State government for the erection of a light house. The deed was recorded in New Hanover County Deed Book P, page 396
Captain Otway Burns brought the first steamboat to ply the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, passing through the New Inlet, coming from Beaufort, N.C. (The Scene Magazine, Wilmington, N.C.)
Cape Fear (Bald Head) Lighthouse was extinguished because a new lighthouse had been erected on Federal Point.
A study was begun to close the “New Inlet.” An open space of two miles between Federal Point and Smith Island beach where the beach was wearing away and where navigation was almost destroyed was given a great deal of attention. (Star 8-25-1877)
A report was made of the soundings on New Inlet Bar:
South slue on Bar – 9 1⁄2 feet.
North slue on Bar – 8 feet
On Rip – 9 1⁄2 feet (Star, 1-23-1870)
The fish oil works began operations at Fort Fisher as a sufficient number of little fatbacks had been obtained. The plant is operated by the Navassa Guano Company. About eighty barrels of the little fish were caught at one haul, and this was enough to yield six barrels of oil. Another haul was expected soon. (Star 10-5-1870)
The Rocks – Battery Buchanan – Zeke’s Island – Bald Head Island
Henry Nutt reported the completion of the work across Deep Inlet, the northern end of the finished super-structure resting firmly upon the highest part of the old stone work at a point designated upon the plan of the government works, near Zeke‘s Island , as the cross, thus effectually sealing up this inlet in a substantial and permanent manner.
When we take into consideration the formidable character of this work, an opening of about or over 500 feet, requiring a superstructure over 600 feet lineal by 20 feet wide and over 40 feet high, to shut out or stop a current of water passing in and out at a rate of 8 or 10 miles an hour, and all of this to be accomplished within the short space of about 8 months, and at a cost of within the sum of $100,000, the skill and industry of the officers in charge who designed the executed this great work, should receive the high appreciation of all. (Star, 6-11-1871)
Henry Nutt reported that the experiments for collecting drift sand and thereby elevating the beach in low parts of it, has not been made in consequence of financial deficiency. The first imperfect experiment has acted well, and accomplished all that was expected of it, elevating the beach above storm tide, thus proving the feasibility of building up the beach to any desired height by judicious treatment at small cost. (Star, 6-11-1871)
Between August 12th and Sept. 2nd, 1871
A most violent northeast gale visited the coast, producing some apprehension, according to Henry Nutt, for the safety of the government works in progress, and later during the month, much rainy weather prevailed, retarding operations somewhat. From the violence of the storm some of the unfinished cribs and preparatory timber was displaced, which involved some loss of time and labor to replace them in position again. This was successfully and speedily accomplished through the energy and skill of the local superintendent, and all is now going on well again. (Star, 9-6-1871)
A report issued on this date mentioned that the beach south of the government works was growing. The catch-sand fences had proven successful. Not a rail had been removed by the recent storm, and the brush had been completely covered with sand to the top of the fence, presenting an embankment 3 to 5 feet high, and far above the reach of any tide. This, and the weak parts of the beach where the wind had blown out trenches between the hills, was now being strengthened by a system of cultivating the “beach grass.”.
This grass bore transplanting well; none of that which was set out in July and August had died; but all growing and doing well, and it was suggested that transplanting could be done at any season of the year. Where the “beach grass” was planted, it had not only successfully resisted the blowing away of sand, but has already collected, it at many places, a foot or over in height. (Star, 9-8-1871)
Building ‘The Rocks’ – Click for more details
A report by Henry Nutt noted that the shoals in the vicinity of the government works had somewhat changed their position. Zeke‘s Island is somewhat changed, indicating an increased low-water area, while its high water area appears diminished. There is some appearance of an increased depth of water in the small inlet south of Zeke‘s Island. (Star, 9-6-1871)
It is perceptible that the water is shoaling in the vicinity of the government works on both sides of it and the outer shoals were evidently moving up in a body. The point of beach is extending northward and in front of the works. The inlet south of Zeke‘s Island seems not to be effected, as its depth of water is still maintained, while Zeke‘s Island itself is gradually wearing away, and is almost covered with high tides. (Star, 10-3-1871)
The breakwater closing New Inlet between Zeke‘s Island and Smith‘s Island was practically completed, the distance being 4,400 feet. A Major Griswold was the officer in charge of the work. Completed in July. VOL. 1
In July, the 1873, the Federal Point jetty was begun, and by winter it was extended to 500 feet in length. The object of the works was primarily to serve as a deflector to the New Inlet currents. VOL. 1
The 4th of July holiday was celebrated by a group of 15 gentlemen who went down the river on the steam tugboat JAMES T. EASTON to Federal Point. They celebrated the 4th by raising a large flag and listening to an oration by A. T. London, Esq. Some of the officers and soldiers from the garrison at Smithville were present and the occasion was hugely enjoyed. While there, the group visited the New Inlet Dam or as we call the Rocks, and inspected them with Henry Nutt, who was chairman in charge of the work. (Star, 7-11-1873)
The first crib of the new breakwater at Federal Point was placed in position near the old fish house wharf. The second crib was placed in position of July 10th.
Since November 7th, 1873 four additional foundation cribs had been placed in position and filled with stone, extending the line of breakwater about 100 feet from the starting point. As fast as the work is leveled up to the line of high water, the beach makes up and now follows the breakwater about 100 feet from the starting point, and the whole of Federal Point is widening and elevating itself. It is generally concede that the breakwater should be extended 1,500 feet before stopping it. (Star, 1-14-1874)
Henry Koch, the young watchman at the government works on Zeke‘s Island about 26 years of age was accidentally drowned when he fell from a boat. His funeral was held in Wilmington from a house at the corner of 4th and Church Streets. Interment was in Oakdale Cemetery. (Star, 10-10-1874)
Colonel Craighill, U.S. Army Engineers, opened proposals for the extension of the Federal Point jetty at the New Inlet. This is an important work, being to close New Inlet by artificial means, and thus increase the depth of the river to the harbor of Wilmington, so as to admit the passage of large vessels. New Inlet was defended by the Confederate Fort Fisher during the late war.
Old records show that this inlet has been in existence for somewhat over a century, and that its origin was due as much (if not more) to the action of the wind upon the dry sand of the beach as to the tendency of the river currents to seek that outlet to the sea. Up to the summer of 1873 no steeps were ever taken to contract the area of outflow at New Inlet, although several breaks which had from time to time occurred below New Inlet had been successfully closed.
On July 1, 1873, the work for closing the space between Smith‘s Island and Zeke‘s Island had just been completed, and New Inlet remained the only passage to the sea except the mouth of the river. In July, 1873, the present Federal Point jetty was extended to 500 feet in length. The object of this work was primarily to serve as a deflector to the inlet currents, and not necessarily to form an integral part of any closing work which might afterwards be undertaken, the direction given it served to diminish the distance across the Inlet by only about 400 feet—thus leaving the distance across, from end of jetty to Zeke‘s Island , about 3,800 Feet. One of the results of this work has been the growth of Federal Point. (Star, 6-24-1875)
Col. Craighill, of the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, in his Baltimore office, opened the proposals for certain work at New Inlet, the ultimate purpose was the entire closing of the same. (Star, 8-10-1875)
It was reported that the contract for closing New Inlet Bar, below Wilmington, had been awarded by the government to Messrs. Bangs & Dolby, of Manlius, N.Y. at the following figures: For an apron, $20,00; for closing New Inlet to the low water mark, $188,000. The object was that of stopping the outflow to the ocean at New Inlet of the water of the Cape Fear River, and thus turn the entire volume out of the main bar or original mouth of the river, thus assisting in deepening it. (Star, 8-24-1875)
It was learned that Messrs. Bangs & Dolby were not going to close New Inlet but were to form the base for the accomplishment of that undertaking. Their contract was for the construction of a carpet or apron, which was to be built to stone four feet deep and from forty to seventy feet wide in the center of the current. The final closing of the inlet will require a further appropriation by the government. (Star, 9-24-1875)
Several large government flatboats were being constructed in Wilmington for use at the bar and river works at New Inlet in conveying stone to the scene of operations. (Star, 9-25-1875)
A large lighter or scow was being built at Messrs. Cassidey & Ross‘ shipyard for Messrs. Bangs & Dolby, who had the contract for constructing the stone “carpet” or “apron” at New Inlet. It was to be 100 feet long, 6 feet deep and 20 feet width of beam. (Star, 10-3-1875)
The land now Carolina Beach came into the hands of Bruce Freeman and remained in his family for many years. His family still owns land on Federal Point. (Star, 6-15-1941)
Justice Cassidey spent two days in Federal Point Township, where he went in the capacity of Special Commissioner of the Court of Claims, for the purpose of taking depositions in the cases of parties whose property was destroyed by the Federal troops during the military operations in that section towards the close of the late war. This testimony was to be forwarded to Washington, D.C. to be used by the Court of Claims in connection with the cases alluded to. (Star, 1-6-1876)
The steam-tug ROYAL ARCH, Capt. Davis, arrived from Georgetown, S.C., and was designed to be employed at the government works now in progress at New Inlet. (Star, 1-13-1876)
Capt. Charles B. Phillips, engineer in charge of the work on the New Inlet Dam (Rocks) was succeeded by Capt. Henry Bacon, of the U.S. Engineer Corps. Capt. Phillips died in Norfolk, VA, about five years later, in June, 1881. VOL. I.
A man landed at Zeke‘s Island, near the government works (Rocks) in a boat in which he had come all the way from Buffalo, New York. The boat was about 18 feet in length. (Star 1-18-1876)
A corn vessel went ashore on the beach between Zeke‘s Island and Bay Beach, near the government works (Rocks). She was full of water and the surf was breaking over her. It was thought that she was the schooner SNOW STORM, Capt. Rhodes, of Elizabeth City, N.C. (Star, 2-1-1876)
The tugboat J.MURRAY, of the fleet employed by the contractors on the government works at New Inlet, ran on a log and carried away her stern-post and rudder, and was then towed up to Wilmington for repairs. (Star, 2-1-1876)
Capt. C.B. Phillips, who recently resigned the position of engineer of the government works (Rocks), as succeeded by Capt. Henry Bacon, of the U.S. Engineer Corps. (Star, 1-23-1876)
Messrs. Bangs & Dolby were awarded the contract by the government for supplying 45,000 cubic yards of stone necessary to the further prosecution of the work for the contraction of New Inlet. It was their plan to quarry the rock from the quarry near the river. (Star, 11-17-1876)
(Advertisement) – LABORERS WANTED. 300 laborers wanted at the U.S. government works, Magnolia Tree Quarry, Cape Fear River. The laborers must provide themselves with blankets; cooking utensils and good quarters will be furnished. BANGS & DOLBY, Contractors. (Star, 12-27-1876)
A terrible gale broke over and washed the beach between New Inlet and Bald Head Island for a distance of 3,000 feet, leaving the entire area covered with water about one foot below ebb tide, and there was made a narrow passage of greater depth, which became known ―Philips‘s Inlet,‖ through which at high tide some very light draft vessels could pass. By November, 1879, the passage was closed at low tide. (Star, 7-11-1879)
Mr. Armstrong Hall, engineer of the steam tug ROYAL ARCH, presented a petrified lobster and a petrified oyster for inspection by the MORNING STAR newspaper. They were unearthed recently on the Cape Fear River at the ‘Magnolia Tree’ quarry, where rock was being quarried for the government works at New Inlet. The lobster and oyster were found at a depth of 18 feel below the surface of the earth, and they were almost perfect in shape. (Star, 4-4-1877)
The steam-tug ORLANDO arrived from Baltimore, which had been purchased by George Z. French, Esq., who had the contract for the present year for closing up New Inlet, and it was designed to take the place of the tug ROYAL ARCH in towing flats to and from the government works at New Inlet and the rock quarry near Rocky Point. Mr. French had four or five new flats constructed for this purpose. Capt. James Williams of Wilmington was in command of the ORLANDO. (Star, 1-8-1878)
It was reported that from October 20, 1877, 11,129 cubic yards of stone had been placed in position at New Inlet by the contractors, Bangs & Dolby. The stone was purchased at Rocky Point, N.E. Cape Fear River. VOL. I.
Col. Craighill suspended work on the closing of New Inlet due to the need of funds from Washington, D.C. VOL. I
An appropriation of $160,000 was made by Congress for the government work at New Inlet.
Three hundred men were wanted for work at the Excelsior Quarries near Rocky Point to work quarrying stone for the New Inlet work. Steady work for a year was promised. VOL. I
[Editor note 2015: re: French Brothers, Excelsior Plantation and Quarries, Rocky Point:
“When the channel of the Cape Fear River was deepened, the rock that filled the new inlet below Wilmington came from the Rocky Point section on the North East Cape Fear River. When completed in 1875, it was called “The Rocks.””
http://www.visitpender.com/Communities/RockyPoint.aspx ]
Messrs. French & Dolby of Wilmington were awarded the contract for supplying about 50,000 cubic yards of stone for continuing the work for the closure of the New Inlet, on the eastern side of the river below Wilmington. Their bid was $1.75 per cubic yard. (Star, 8-8-1878; 8-13-1878)
(Advertisement) – 300 Men Wanted at Excelsior Quarries at Rocky Point to work quarrying stone for the U.S. Government Works (New Inlet). Steady work for a year. Thomas Williams was the superintendent. (Star, 8-11-1878)
September 10, l878
A large number of blacks left New Bern, N.C. for Rocky Point, N.C. where they were to be employed by the U.S. government in getting out stone from the quarries to be put in New Inlet. John C. Thomas of Wilmington was to be one of the overseers. (Star, 9-10-1878)
The recent storm carried away about 50 feet of the breakwater at New Inlet on the Zeke‘s Island side. (Star 12-11-1878)
Mr. Thomas Williams of Pender County was the sub-contractor for supplying the stone for the use of the government in filling up New Inlet. The rock was shipped from Rocky Point quarry, where 400 men were employed removing the rocks. (Star, 3-21-1879)
Mr. Henry Nutt, chairman of the Committee on River and Bar Improvement, informed the Wilmington Newspaper, THE MORNING STAR, that New Inlet was closed. It was his honor to be the first to walk across this day, at 12 noon, dry-footed, from Federal Point to Zeke‘s Island, a distance of nearly a mile, in the company of his grandson, Wm., M. Parsley. When he was about half way across, he was saluted with three cheers from about 60 laborers engaged in throwing in stone. (Star 6-20-1879)
Notice was given to all mariners that the gap in the dam at New Inlet, mouth of Cape Fear River, North Carolina, had been filled, thus closing the whole distance between Zeke‘s Island and Federal Point. The buoys marking the channel of New Inlet were to be removed. (Star, 7-11-1879)
The Office of the Lighthouse Board, Washington, D.C., announced that the buoys marking the channel of New Inlet would be removed, now that the gap in the dam at New Inlet had been filled, this closing the whole distance from Zeke‘s Island and Federal Point. (Star, 7-11-1879)
Proposals for continuing operations on the work for closure of New Inlet were received and opened by Col. Craighill, Engineer, U.S. Army, Baltimore, MD. The contract was awarded to Messrs. Ross & Pennypacker, of Wilmington, at $2.24 per ton.
In order to finish the dam at New Inlet to high water mark and protect it against the force of the waves, it was proposed to cover the top and the sea slope to low water mark with heavy flat stones, so as to make the top surface and slopes smooth and even. The covering needed will be about 3,500 feet in length, and the average thickness of the stone will be about 18 inches. It is estimated that about 10,000 tons of granite will be required. (Star, 9-19-1879)
The Light House Board gave notice that in consequence of the closing of the New Inlet, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, the light on Federal Point would be discontinued on and after January 1st, 1880. (Star, 9-23-1879)
George Z. French, Esq., completed his contract with the U.S. Engineer Department in furnishing stone for the closing of New Inlet. He furnished 20,000 tons in three months. (Star, 11-11-1879)
The first loads of heavy granite rock for the sea-face and capping of the dam (Rocks) at New Inlet reached Wilmington on the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad. A derrick-scow is being repaired for the placing of the granite in position.
The granite was from the old Grandy quarries, in the vicinity of Columbia, S.C. (Star, 11-28-1879, 10-3-1879)
The Bald Head Lighthouse was re-lighted, because the New Inlet was now closed. The Federal Point Lighthouse was found to be useless. VOL. I
Capt. John W. Harper, master of the river steamer PASSPORT was the first to refer to the New Inlet Dam as the “Rocks.” He was also the first to take excursion passengers to the point of interest.
The steamer PASSPORT was to make her last trip of the season to the “Rocks” at New Inlet. Capt. John W. Harper, master of the steamer, stated that “the tide will exactly suit for a good day’s fishing at this point, being low water about 12 noon”. (Star, 8-13-1880)
The government works (The Rocks) at New Inlet were reported to be covered with a solid sheet of ice, from Federal Point to Zeke’s Island. The jetties were similarly coated. (Star, 2-5-1881)
The steam-tug WM.NYCE is towing the government barges to and from New Inlet while the ORLANDO was being raised and put in order. (Star, 5-13-1881)
The lighthouse at Federal Point was destroyed by fire late this afternoon. This lighthouse had not been in use since the closing of New Inlet, but it was occupied as a dwelling by Mr. Taylor, the former keeper. It was a wooden structure, situated about one mile from the site of Fort Fisher. (Star, 8-24-1881)
The headquarters of Mr. Henry Bacon, Assistant Engineer in charge of the government works, was changed from Smithville to Wilmington. (Star, 1-18-1882)
A party of gentlemen visited the large fishery of Messrs. W.E. Davis and Sons, on Zeke‘s Island. There were four or five families residing on the island, and there were six houses.
A pen was visited in which 600 terrapins of all sorts and sizes were confined. There was also a fine stock of poultry, including some 150 chickens, to say nothing of ducks, geese, etc. The fish traps were visited, and the Messrs. Davis explained their workings. They were fished at 5 a.m. and again at 5 p.m. Next the fertilizer establishment was inspected. Here all the refuse fish, such as cannot be sold, are cut up into fragments, put in a sort of press constructed for the purpose and all the oil extracted , after which the fragments were gathered up, spread out on a large platform to dry and are then bagged and sold for fertilizing purposes.
A railroad had been constructed from the ocean on one side of the island to the river on the other, and on and on his fish, after being taken from the traps, are hoisted from the sharpies by a derrick and placed in a car, are transported to the other side of the island and dumped into boats in the river. (Star, 5-12-1883)
The steamboat MINEHAHA was to make a trip to Federal Point on Sunday morning and would leave the Wilmington Wharf at 9 a.m. sharp The master of the vessel was Joseph Bisbee. (Star, 5-12-1883)
Two members of the Federal Point Fishing Club, organized last season, went down the “The Rocks” at New Inlet and succeeded in landing 84 sheepshead. This was considered a fine day‘s sport. (Star, 5-19-1883)
The storehouse of Messrs. W.E. Davis & Son, who had extensive fisheries in the vicinity, was burned to the ground. The fire destroyed all their nets, seines and other material. The building adjoining the storehouse was pulled down to save it. The fire created a big excitement among the fishermen and others on the Point, who with a whole ocean of water before them, could not stop the devouring element in its course. (Star, 7-24-1883)
The storehouse of Messrs. W.E. David & Son was destroyed by fire at Federal Point. The Davis Company owned large fisheries in the vicinity. Destroyed in the fire were all their nets, seines and other materials, which was to prove detrimental during the upcoming fish season. The fire could be seen from Smithville across the river. Another building adjacent to the storehouse had to be pulled down. An employee, Mr. Williamson, asleep in a room, escaped unhurt. The fire created a big excitement among the local fishermen and others on the Point. The Davis family estimated their losses at about $4,500 with about half covered by insurance. (Star, 7-27-1883)
The contracts for furnishing the necessary material on the improvements to the Cape Fear River were opened. The following were the lowest bidders: For rattling and spun yarn, John C. Springer and N. Jacobi; for brush and cane, Ross & Lara; for stone, G.Z. French; for the building of five scows, Geo. R. Sumerell. (Star, 8-10-1883)
The steamer MINNEHAHA offered a moonlight excursion to Federal Point on Wednesday night, August 15th. There was to be a sheepshead supper at Mayo‘s Place, also music and dancing. The round trip fare was 50 cents. She would leave the Wilmington wharf at the 8 o‘clock sharp. (Star, 8-14-1883)
Proposals for furnishing the necessary material for carrying on the improvements to the Cape Fear River, especially New Inlet Dam, were opened at the office of Major Henry Bacon, engineer in charge. The lowers bidders were: for brush and cane and stone – Messrs. Ross & Lara; for the building of five scows, George R. Sumerell. VOL. I.
A moonlight excursion was offered on the steamboat PASSPORT to Federal Point. Music and dancing, Sheepshead Supper at Mayo‘s Place. Fare for round trip 50 cents. One hour at Federal Point. John W. Harper and George N. Harriss, Managers. (Star, 8-14-1883)
A terrible hurricane struck the lower Cape Fear area. The destruction of Messrs. W.E. Davis & Sons fishery on Zeke‘s Island was fearful. Their loss was heavy, among which were 2200 terrapins waiting for shipment to the North, 13 gill-nets, 3 fish sheds, 25 barrels of salt mullets, 30 sacks of salt, one new boat, a lot of fish stands. etc. VOL. I.
Messrs. W.E. Davis & Son, at their Federal Point fishery, caught over 400 large drum at one haul, averaging 40 pounds each; being pronounced the largest haul of drum on record. (Star, 9-28-1883)
Messrs. Ross & Lara, to whom the contract was awarded for supplying stone, brush and other necessary material for filling up or closing what is known as “Corncake Inlet,” near what was formerly New Inlet, were busy making preparation to begin the work.
Their base of operation was at the Keystone Quarry, at Gander Hall, opposite Orton. A short railroad track was under construction from the quarry to the river, about 1 1⁄2 miles long. A steamer named HAROLD was due soon to do the towing of the rock to the work site. Mr. Henry Bacon, Sr., a civilian employee of the U.S. Engineers, was building a large wharf at Gander Hall to facilitate the work. (Star, 10-4-1883)
The steam tug, HAROLD, Capt. Crawford, from Jacksonville, FL, arrived in the Cape Fear River. She was to be used by Messrs. Ross & Lara, the contractors at work at filling up “Corncake Inlet” with stone and brush. (Star, 10-16-1883)
Messrs. Ross & Lara, contractors, were receiving shipments of lumber at Gander hall for the erection of “shanties” for the men working in the Keystone quarry at that place. Work on the short line of railroad was also underway. (Star, 10-21-1883; 11-15-1883; 10-9-1882)
The Federal Point Club prospected on Zeke‘s Island, examining the dam, fish weir, etc., and they traveled down as far as Corn-Cake Inlet. (Star, 10-12-1882)
(advertisement) 100 Good Quarry Hands for Government Work at Keystone Quarries on Cape Fear River, 14 miles below Wilmington. Ross & Lara, Contractors (Star, 2-3-1884)
[Editor note, 2015: Keystone Quarry was located within Gander Hall [300 acres]. The quarry rail-line and loading pier on east shore of Cape Fear River, ran along what was later used by Capt Harper for the Carolina Beach Landing Pier and the Shoo-Fly Line.]
(advertisement) – FOR RENT – Until November 1, 1884, or longer, two very nice Cottages, at the Rocks, (Federal Point), Kitchen, Water, etc. to each. All in No. 1 order and ready for immediate use. (Star, 5-14-1884)
Mr. A. S. Lara, of the firm of Ross & Lara, contractors for the work of closing Corncake Inlet, at the mouth of the river, who had been visiting at his home in Stuanton, VA.for about two months had returned. (Star, 5-30-1884)
The locomotive used by Messrs. Ross & Lara on their railroad from the rock quarry to the river, in supplying rock to close up Corncake Inlet, was returned to the quarry after it was enlarged to suit the work by Messrs. Hart, Bailey & Co.’s foundry in Wilmington. (Star, 6-24-1884)
R.G. Ross, contractor, killed a rattlesnake at the rock quarry near Gander Hall, below Wilmington, which is said to have had 16 rattles. It is described as being as large as a large man‘s leg. (Star, 7-11-1884)
“The “Rocks,” at what was formerly known as New Inlet, was now a favorite resort for fishermen. (Star, 7-27-1840)
It was reported that the “rocks” was a favorite resort for fishermen. VOL. I
A little girl from Wilmington was hurt at the “Rocks” when she jumped into some broken glass with her bare feet. She was given first aid by some nearby fishermen and then carried to the Mayo House, a resort hotel operated at the “Rocks.” During the same month two young ladies from Wilmington were rescued from drowning while swimming at the “Rocks.” VOL. I
During a severe storm at the “Rocks,” lightning struck the flag pole at the government wharf at Corncake Inlet. A fisherman nearby was severely shocked and one of his hands badly bruised when he fell down. He was holding a metal-ribbed umbrella at the time which acted as a conductor. VOL. I
Two new contracts were awarded for supplying stone for the further closing of what was known as Corncake Inlet. A total of 30,000 tons of stone was still required. VOL. I
The new work at Federal Point was progressing rapidly. The dam was now two miles long, reaching from Zeke‘s Island to the Big Marsh, 25,000 tons of stone had already been used, and the dam, on an average, was about one foot above low water. The appropriation made by the last Congress would not quite complete the work. Mr. Henry Bacon believed that when the present dam was completed, a sandbar would form between it and the ocean, the same as at New Inlet, and the result would be the washing out of the bar at the mouth of the river to 18 or 10 feet. (Star, 10-14-1884)
A correspondent in Washington, D.C. wrote: “The new work is progressing rapidly. The dam is two miles long, reaching from Zeke‘s Island to the Big Marsh, 25,000 tons of stone had already been used, and the dam, on the average, is about one foot above low water. The appropriations made by the last Congress will not quite complete the work.” VOL. I
The New Inlet Dam was in perfect condition. The sand beach which since the completion of the dam had been extending on the site of Carolina Shoals from near Fort Fisher towards the head of Smith‘s Island had widened and it extended nearly to the island, a distance of nearly two miles, leaving a gap of less than half a mile over shoal water between the new bank and Smith‘s Island. (Star, 10-17-1884)
The steamer WOODBURY, belonging to the government works, which went ashore at Federal Point during the late gale got off on the next high tide and went up to Wilmington. (Star, 1-20-1885)
(advertisement) “THE ROCKS,” FORT FISHER. This delightful 1 family resort, unsurpassed on the entire Atlantic Coast for River, Bay, Sound and Ocean Sailing. Fishing and Boating, is now open for the accommodation of boarders by the day, week or month. Steamers PASSPORT and LOUISE ply daily between Wilmington and “The Rocks.” Address all communications, N. F.Parker, “The Rocks,” Care of Capt. John W. Harper, Wilmington, N.C. (Star, 5-18-1886)
A license was issued to N. F. Parker to retail spirituous liquors at “The Rocks.” (Star, 7-7-1886)
Capt. James Wells, who has charge of Messrs. W.F. Davis & Sons fishery on Zeke‘s Island, was seriously wounded while hunting. His gun fell and both barrels were discharged and he was wounded in the left thigh with the flesh torn from the bone. While hunting he was accompanied by Mr. Willie Mayo of the “Rocks”. Capt. Wells was taken to Wilmington on the steamer LOUISE and then taken to his home where he received the necessary surgical attention. (Star 1-13-1888)
A license was granted to A.B. Peterson to retail spirituous liquors in the Mayo House at the ‘Rocks’ for six months. (Messenger, 5-8-1888)
A large party of gentlemen got off the steamer PASSPORT at “The Rocks” at 6:45 A.M., and they had fine sport catching sheepshead, pig fish and blackfish. Mr. W.E. Mayo had opened the hotel at “The Rocks” and was supplying the guests with all kinds of seafood, soft crabs, fish, clams, etc. “She certainly knows how to make it pleasant for all who pay her a visit.” (Messenger, 5-18-1888)
The old tram road at the Ross rock quarry on the Cape Fear River had been purchased by a Mr. Williams, of Red Springs, N.C. The iron was to be used in building a road from Red Springs to McNeill‘s. All of the wheelbarrows, spades, shovels, drills, etc., were to be sold in a few days at auction. (Messenger, 8-21-1888)
All the implements from the old Ross rock quarry railroad, viz: 75 wheelbarrows, 20 steel drills, 7 iron bars, 50 drill hammers, 40 pickaxes, 75 shovels, 20 sets of harness, grindstones, and a large quantity of other goods pertaining to railroad building, were to be auctioned at Davis‘ fish house today. (Messenger, 8-26-1888)
Capt. B.L. Perry, the former proprietor of the Purcell House in Wilmington, and the Atlantic Hotel at Beaufort, NC, was to take charge of the hotel at Carolina Beach. Twenty rooms were to be added to the hotel, which in addition to the eight cottages being built, would accommodate a large number of visitors. A line of hacks will be established between Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher, a distance of 5 miles, giving ample opportunity to everyone who desired to fish at the “Rocks.” (Star, 4-26-1889)
A party of fishermen reported great luck at the Corn Cake Rocks and in the vicinity of Federal Point. They camped on the shell banks and caught shrimp in the vicinity to bait with. They caught about two barrels of tine sheepshead and the finest pig fish ever seen on this coast. Many of the sheepshead were so heavy they broke off the hook before they could be gotten to the top. One of the pig fish caught was 12 inches long, and another fisherman landed a rock fish that measured 2 1/2 feet in length. Pig fish and sheepshead also bit well at New Inlet Rocks.
The fishermen while near Buzzard’s Bay obtained some very fine oysters and a royal roast was consequently enjoyed. The oysters of Buzzard’s Bay are large and fat. It was a sure bet that the fishermen would return at an early date. (Messenger, 8-31-1889)
Mrs. W.E. Mayo, who kept the hotel at the “Rocks” for many years, was to have charge of the hotel at Carolina Beach this season. (Star, 4-18-1890)
Mr. Henry Bacon, Sr. died at his residence in Wilmington. He was born in Natick, Mass, in 1822. His engineering career commenced in New England, and later on he was appointed to the charge of harbor work on the Great Lakes. From there Mr. Bacon came to the Cape Fear River at the request of Col. Craighill in January, l876, just at the commencement of the lower river improvements. For a few years he lived at Smithville, coming to Wilmington about 1889.
For over 15 years he had charge of the Cape Fear River improvements to which he devoted the best years of his life. The work under his charge had been very successful the depth of the river having been increased gradually from 7 1/2 to 12 feet, then to 16 feet, and work had already begun on a depth of 20 feet. He was survived by his widow, two daughters and four sons. Funeral will be held from the First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. (Star, 4-17-1891)
The contract for furnishing stone for the jetties and other government work on the Cape Fear River, was awarded to the Carolina Brown Stone Company, of Sanford, N.C. (Messenger, 5-29-1892)
The New Hanover Transit Company had leased the well known “Rocks” and proposed to make it both accessible and a pleasant place to visit for all who indulge in the sport of fishing. The “Rocks” had always been a good fishing spot, but hard to reach, and an uncomfortable and dreary place to remain overnight.
Capt. J.W. Harper and his company planned to build a new wharf and open a small but clean and neat house, where good meals would always be served and comfortable quarters found at night. The new house was to be called “Hotel Fisher,” and was to be opened after May 1st. (Messenger, 1-13-1893)
Capt. John W. Harper, of the steamer WILMINGTON, reported that at Fort Fisher where the river is two miles wide, ice extended from shore to shore. This was the first time since 1857, according to the oldest inhabitants, that the Cape Fear River had frozen over in that vicinity. VOL 11.
The New Hanover Transit Company was building their dock at the “Rocks,” preparatory for the summer season. Mr. Wesley Corbett had the contract. (Messenger, 2-4-1893)
Steamer Wilmington
The steamer WILMINGTON ran ashore at “The Rocks.” The tugboat ALEXANDER JONES took her passengers off and carried them on to Southport. The WILMINGTON got off without assistance on the high tide. VOL 11.
The New Hanover Transit Company completed their new wharf at The Rocks, and everything was now “safe and sound” for all who visited that resort when they pursued their piscatorial pursuits. It was to be remembered that at this resort “the fish were as hungry as wolves, as is shown by their savage manner in which they attack the shrimps and sand-fiddlers.”
The steamer WILMINGTON, with Capt. “Baseball” Harper in command, left Wilmington daily at 9:30 a.m., returning in the afternoon, stopping at The Rocks both ways, and this gave the anglers about five hours for indulging in their great sport.
About May 1st, the overnight accommodations were to be ready for those who wished to spend a night or two at The Rocks. (Wilm Star, 4-9-1893)
The Hotel Oceanic, at Carolina Beach, opened for the entertainment of the public. The building had been thoroughly repaired, and supplied with new furniture, bedding and other necessary equipment. The hotel was under the general supervision of Mrs. W.E. Mayo.
A band of music had been engaged, the bath houses had been refitted and new bathing suits provided. Three trips to the Beach daily was to be made by the steamers WILMINGTON and CLARENCE.
The steamer CLARENCE was also to make daily trips to the Hotel Fisher at “The Rocks,” which was soon to open under the management of Mr. Oscar Sorensen. At this fisherman’s paradise a person could spend five hours and return in the afternoon, or one could spend one or more nights with host Sorensen and have time to haul out trout, sheepshead and flounders. (Star, 4-21-1893)
Wilmingtonians who have stopped with Mr. Sorrensen, the manager of the Hotel Fisher, at The Rocks, speak in high praise of the “good cheer” he provides for his guests. (Star, 5-26-1893)
During the terrible hurricane very minor damage was done to the buildings, bath houses or residences on Carolina Beach, with the exception of fences, which were generally blown down or washed away. A few of the residences had their doors forced open and some panes of glass were blown in. The only damage of consequence was to the railroad track which had been badly washed at several points between the beach and the river. The pier leading out into the river was, however, all gone, except the pilings; the entire superstructure with ties and rails, having been washed away.
The storm raged with great fury at “The Rocks.” Six small cottages were demolished and swept away, the wharf being destroyed, and much damage was done to the fishing boats and nets. Mr. Hans A. Kure lost seines, nets, boats, and other articles belonging to his fishery. (Star, 10-15-1893)
During the recent terrible storm, fears were entertained for the safety of two men in charge of the Government Wharf at Corncake Inlet. When last seen they were on the wharf and the waves were washing over it. They were surrounded on all sides by water. The men are the watchman, Mr. George W. Hewett, and Nelson McCoy, the colored cook. (Messenger, 10-14-1893)
Hans A. Kure was advertising that he had lost the following: LOST, during the storm Friday, at “The Rocks,” two large seines, sixteen gill nets forty meshes deep, eight boats and a number of gears belonging to my fishery. Also one “pike” net. (Star, 10-15-1893)
A wharf was to be erected at the “Rocks” in place of the old one which was carried away in a recent storm. (Star, 5-31-1895)
It was announced that a new wharf was to be erected at the “Rocks” in place of the old one that was carried away. The wharf was needed by the steamer WILMINGTON to land fishing parties and to facilitate the government work on that part of the river. (Star, 5-31-1895)
About 50 feet of sand at the upper end of the breakwater dam closing New Inlet had washed out. The break was being repaired by filling in with bags of sand. Vol. II
Capt. D.S. Bender, in charge of the government work, reported that it would require ten to fifteen days more to finish the repairing of the New Inlet Dam (“Rocks”). The break occasioned by a recent storm was not only being made good, but the dam was being further strengthened, and extended at the east end so as to extend well over on the sand reaches. About 25 men were on this work. (Star, 3-5-1897)
A number of men from Fort Macon, N.C. went down the river on the steamer WILMINGTON on their way to Corn Cake Inlet. They were to erect a battery to defend the inlet which makes in at the upper end of Smith’s Island. The inlet was large enough now to admit small steamers such as torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers. (Messenger, 5-13-1898; Dispatch, 5-12-1898)
The stone dam (Rocks) between Zeke’s Island and the Big Marsh was damaged by the recent hurricane. The force of the waves knocked the coping to the dam down in several places. Allen Clemmons with a small force of eight men had been at work the past week, putting the rocks back in place. (Messenger, 9-22-1899)
The government was to use the rock which was dug up in dredging the Wilmington shoal in making repairs to the “rock dam” (The Rocks) at the mouth of the river. (Dispatch, 1-10-1900)
A sturgeon, 7 feet long and weighing over 300 pounds, was caught at “The Rocks” and taken to Wilmington on the steamer WILMINGTON. The fish was a monster. (Dispatch, 5-17-1902)
Capt. John W. Harper was contemplating the erection of a pier head at “The Rocks” near Fort Fisher. He gave the contract to Mr. A.J. Robbins, of Southport, and the work was to be completed by April 15th. (Dispatch, 3-8-1902)
R.H. Pickett and Roger Moore laid claim to 20 acres of vacant and unappropriated land in Federal Point Township, known as Zekes Island, which land was bounded by the water of the Cape Fear River and New Inlet. Entered in the office of the Register of Deeds of New Hanover County, Entry No. 1901. (Messenger, 8-13-1905)
Through his attorneys, Messrs. Davis & Davis, Capt. J. Alvin Walker made a formal protest against Messrs. Pickett and Moore who were claiming Zeke‘s Island property. The property was claimed by the Walker heirs and they resisted the occupation of the island by Messrs. Pickett & Moore. (Star, 8-29-1905)
The entry of Zeke‘s Island by Messrs. Roger Moore and R. H. Pickett, of Wilmington, was upset at a hearing in Brunswick County Superior Court in behalf of the Walker heirs, the original claimants.
The recent storm resulted in more damage to the government breakwater known as ‘the Rocks.’ A member of the Corps of Engineers, following an inspection, stated that the damage done was almost beyond comprehension. There was scarcely 100 feet of the New Inlet dam which was not damaged.
In the two dams, the New Inlet Dam, and the Swash Deference Dam, there were a number of breaks from 50 feet to about 500 feet. The entire stone coping of the New Inlet dam was completely destroyed by the terrific force of the wind and waves. The stone coping was composed of tremendous stone blocks weighing from 2 to 6 tons each. Some of these were thrown by the wind from 25 to 50 feet from their original position. The only thing that saved the Swash Defense Dam from being completely obliterated was the fact that the stone coping was cemented and it resisted the attacking power of wind and wave.
Prior to the storm, $60,000 worth of improvements had recently been added to the work on the dams, and all of this will prove a total loss as it will all have to be fixed again. The stone coping alone on the New Inlet Dam would cost $50,000 to replace. (Dispatch, 9-20-1906)
A launch CLIFTON was making regular runs from Wilmington to ‘The Rocks’ for fishermen.
The launch CLIFFORD was to be used for fishing expeditions from Wilmington to ‘The Rocks’. Anglers would be taken down in the morning and returned in the afternoon. (Dispatch, 7-25-1906)
The government secured five lighter loads of cobblestones from the streets of Wilmington to be used in the repair work on ‘The Rocks.’ The streets were being repaired with ‘Belgian Blocks.’
The CHARLOTTE OBSERVER wrote about “The Rocks” and in the article they mentioned that “The length of the dam from Federal Point to Zeke‘s Island is one mile, but the extension of Zeke‘s Island jetties to Smith‘s Island made the line much longer.
The rock foundation of this wall was from 90 feet to 120 feet wide at the base, and for three-fourths of the line the average depth of the stone wall is 30 feet from the top of the dam. In some places it is 36 feet deep. A better idea of the vastness of the undertaking may be gained from the fact that the rock used in this great structure would build a solid wall eight feet high, four feet thick, extending from Charlotte to Greensboro and one mile beyond. (Star, 7-30-1908)
Edmund Alexander, of Wilmington, was promoting the idea of a ferry from Fort Fisher to Southport. He suggested the improvement of the road from Fort Fisher to the end of Federal Point, a distance of two miles, and at a point where the government dam known as ‘The Rocks’ begins. He suggested of the building of a small wharf and shelter at Federal Point for safely handling passengers. He reported that the distance from the wharf to Southport by ferry would be five miles. (Star, 6-12-1922)
Mr. Edmund Alexander received the endorsement of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club for repairing the two miles of road between Fort Fisher and Federal Point. As soon as the road was repaired and a river landing arranged, the managers of the Carolina Bus Line indicated their willingness to aid in the undertaking by making connection with the passenger yacht plying between Federal Point and Southport.
Captain W.E. Fountain, of Southport, had recently purchased a handsomely equipped passenger yacht of Mr. McClammy, of Wilmington, and was willing to run in connection with the bus line. The yacht had every convenience and a trip from the “Rocks” to Southport, over the broadest part of the Cape Fear River and within sight and sound of the ocean, would indeed be a delightful recreation.
It was now up to the citizens of Brunswick and New Hanover counties to establish a connecting link between the southern portions of the two counties. (Dispatch, 7-10-1922)
From Battery Buchanan out to
Capt. Edgar D. Williams, one of the leaders in the movement for conversion of the battleground at Fort Fisher into a national park, reported that certain parties were claiming considerable property within the boundaries of the old fort.
One of the parties claimed that his title to the property was based upon a land grant which was granted on payment of 12 1⁄2 cents an acre for the property. (News 6-2-1923)
Plans for repair of the Swash Defense and New Inlet dams were started as Wilmington District army engineers opened bids on a contract to supply 400 tons of stone that will be used in the work. The Raleigh Granite Company, of Raleigh, submitted the lowest bid. It was $2.35 a ton, delivered. Work was to begin early in May. (News, 4-19-1933)
Repairs to be Swash Defense and New Inlet dams were expected to be completed in two weeks. Several carloads of cement and rock had been used in the work. (News, 7-25-1933)
A petition for a semi-improved road extending from Fort Fisher Beach to “The Rocks”, signed by 70 citizens, was presented to the Board of County commissioners to be forwarded to the State Highway and Public Works
The petitioners were not asking for a standardized highway, but were seeking a semi-improved roadway, so that “The Rocks” could be made more accessible for the many anglers from Wilmington and New Hanover County. (News, 4-27-1937)
The U.S. Corps of Engineers applied a coat of cement to the top of “The Rocks” for added protection. (Star, 3-18-1971)
The Rocks – by Susan Taylor Block
StarNews – Sunday, August 30, 2015
Editorial – Rocks solid
Coastal Review Online – Beach and Inlet Management: 8/28/15
Senate Plan for ‘The Rocks’ Still Unknown
StarNews 7/29/15:
Remove ‘The Rocks’?
by Sandy Jackson: Federal Point Historical Society
Lumina News 7/14/15:
Rock wall removal could cause shoaling in shipping channel, some say
NC Rep. Michael Lee proposes doing away with “The Rocks”
Excerpted from StarNews Article by Gareth McGrath, April 28, 2015
The Bill Reaves Collection – Introduction
The Reaves Collection, compiled by Bill Reaves, of Wilmington, North Carolina, was donated by him to the North Carolina Room of the New Hanover County Public Library during the 1990’s.
The collection came about in 1971 when Mr. Reaves was an employee of the Wilmington Star-News and keeper of the “newspaper morgue.” When the company decided to have 100+ years of newspapers destroyed, he was, to a large extent, able to personally salvage them. The bound volumes of newspapers found their way to his home and from there began a most unusual collection of Lower Cape Fear historical and genealogical materials, a compilation which consumed the rest of his life.
Bill Reaves spent nearly thirty years clipping the old newspapers, and then dating, cross-indexing and filing the clippings. Mr. Reaves generated individual file folders for local history subjects, local buildings, local addresses, local organizations and family (surname) files. He then organized the clippings within some of the folders chronologically and in some cases proceeded to type up extracts of the information.
The organized folders then became the basis for his many publications. Some clippings date back to the mid and late 1800’s.
While the bulk of this clipping collection dates from 1860 through 1960, Mr. Reaves also added clippings from the newspapers of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, as well as various interesting, and often surprising, ephemera he collected as a champion of local history over the years. These folders have benefited numerous museums, galleries, researchers, genealogists and historical institutions around the state and country.
It is important to understand that the Wilmington newspapers reported events happening not only in New Hanover County but also in the surrounding counties – Brunswick, Duplin, Pender, Onslow, Columbus, Bladen, Sampson.
All of the Reaves Collection material is located in the North Carolina Room, on the second floor of the Main New Hanover County Public Library in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. His body of work consists of some 9,000 clipping folders, 50+ publications, and too-many-to-count typed manuscripts.
The Collection is organized into five sections: Publications (on the shelves of the North Carolina Room, New Hanover County Public Library), Block Books (clippings organized by street address), Series I Family Files chronologically organized and typed (900 surnames, bound, each surname has an individual index), Series II Family File clippings (some organized chronologically, mostly loose clippings), and Subject files (a few organized chronologically, mostly loose clippings).
Not every article was necessarily clipped and saved, nor are clippings for every newspaper issue or even every year captured in these files. Many newspaper issues were unsalvageable. Some folders contain hundreds of clippings, while others may have only two or three. Mr. Reaves was working with one set of newspapers, requiring him to assign each article to one Block Book file or one Family file or one Subject file, as well as dealing with the articles on the back side of each page as the pages were being clipped.. To partially overcome this limitation, Mr. Reaves included frequent cross-references – following these will require the researcher to examine additional FAMILY or SUBJECT files and/or refer to the available newspaper microfilms.
It was the wish of Mr. Reaves, and is the hope of the Library, that this collection will help the genealogist and historian find vital and interesting information that cannot be found elsewhere. In the search of his own family Mr. Reaves said, “I have found both famous and infamous, rich and poor, the educated and illiterate, the Union and Confederate and I cherish every ‘skeleton’ that I have found in my many closets.”
http://www.onhgs.org/reavesmain.htm
Bill Reaves
William Marion (Bill) Reaves
William M. Reaves was born on June 3, 1934, in Newark, New Jersey, the son of the late Marion William Whitford Reaves and Florence Belle Lynk Reaves. His grandfather, Richard Martin Van Buren Reaves, was a Confederate Veteran. In 1968, Mr. Reaves became a resident of Wilmington, his father’s childhood home.
During the 1970s, he worked both as a librarian and reporter for the Wilmington Star-News, where he wrote the popular local columns, “Inside Old Wilmington” and “Looking Back.” In 1976, during the United States’ Bicentennial, he wrote an award-winning series of articles on the history of the Lower Cape Fear.
Working with the Historic Wilmington Foundation, he was actively involved in Wilmington’s historic preservation movement.
In the 1980s, he helped catalog the artifact and image collection of the Cape Fear Museum. He also worked for North Carolina State Historic Sites at Brunswick Town, Fort Fisher and the Town Creek Indian Mound. A popular lecturer, he taught local history at Cape Fear Community College and the New Hanover Public Library.
A noted historian, Mr. Reaves was involved in over fifty local history publications and genealogical abstracts, covering New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender and Duplin counties.
A charter member of the Southport Historical Society, he wrote a remarkable four volume history of Southport. He was the author of Strength Through Struggle, The Chronological and Historical Record of the African-American Community in Wilmington, North Carolina, 1865-1950, for which he received a national award from the American Association of State and Local History.
His works have also been honored by the North Carolina Society of County Historians, the North Carolina Department of Archives and History, the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society and the Old New Hanover Genealogical Society.
In 1992, the North Carolina Underwater Archeology Unit Library at Fort Fisher was dedicated as the William M. Reaves Research Room. Mr. Reaves shared his extensive newspaper clippings and other historical files with the North Carolina Room of the New Hanover Public Library. The library’s Bill Reaves Collection has benefited researchers throughout the United States.
Source: Old New Hanover Genealogical Society
Federal Point, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Fort Fisher
– from the Wilmington Star, Wilmington News, Wilmington Post, Wilmington Dispatch, Wilmington Messenger, The Daily Journal.
The Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas granted to Maurice Moore the land upon which Carolina Beach is now located.
The land was sold to Thomas Merrick. He died about 1767, devising the property to his daughters, Sarah and Dorothy Merrick. Sarah later married Samuel Ashe and Dorothy married James Augustus Tabb. (Star, 6-15-1941)
The “Haulover” tract of land within Carolina Beach, nearly opposite Brunswick, was conveyed by Maurice Moore to Colonel Thomas Merrick.
In 1761, the pilot road across the beach at the “Hawl-over” was blown out by a terrific hurricane and was converted into what was to be known as “New Inlet.” (Star, 8-25-1877)
New Inlet was formed by a great storm, which visited the coast and lasted four days. This inlet grew in width and depth until large sailing vessels could pass through, and later steamships. VOL.I
The Wilmington Committee of Safety ordered that all river pilots be taken into protective custody. Vol. 1
The land formerly owned by the Merrick family came into the possession of Peter Maxwell, and upon his death it was sold by his executors to James Telfair. (Star, 6-15-1941)
Malcolm Ross, author of THE CAPE FEAR, 1965, wrote that across from Orton, on the less socially acceptable eastern shore of the estuary, lived Major Jack Wheeler, a military man and one who excelled in abusiveness. He was fond of personal fights, yet good-natured and never seriously injured anyone, except, when he indulged his fun-loving habit of carrying a forceps with which he used to extract a tooth from a prostrate antagonist. His abilities later raised him to the rank of brevet major on the battlefield of Brandywine.
John McFarlane gave notice in the newspaper for all persons to be forwarned and forbidden from hunting or traveling over any part of my lands, on which Mr. Jonah Clark resides, nearly opposite Brunswick, and adjoining the river, also on the lands adjoining me, near to the Sugar Loaf, the property of Peter Carpenter. Any persons or persons found trespassing thereon with dog or gun, after this notice, would be prosecuted as the law directs. (Wilm.Gazette, 3-18-1802)
Edward Newton gave notice in the newspaper forwarning all persons from running any lines on my land lying between and adjoining the lands of Capt. John McFarlane and Mr. Simon Sellers in New Hanover County – or hunting or traveling over any part thereof, with dog or gun, after this notice, under the penalty of law. (Wilm.Gazette, 3-25-1802)
Joseph Gardner Swift, of the U.S. Army Engineer Corps, suggested in a report to the Secretary of War in Washington, D.C. among other items that an enclosed battery be built at New Inlet, Federal Point. Vol. 1 In 1809, Engineer J.G. Swift inspected a site for the proposed fort on Federal Point, near New Inlet. Vol. 1.
Engineer Joseph G. Swift inspected a site for the proposed fort on Federal Point.
Mrs. Mary Newton, 68, wife of Joseph Newton, died.
William Grissom, 65 years old, died at Federal Point, after an illness of 11 days. He had been a resident of Federal Point for about 40 years. He was survived by his wife and nine children (Peoples Press and Wilm Advertiser, 8-28-1835)
Proposals were requested to build a lighthouse and dwelling house at Federal Point. (Wilm. Newspaper, 5-1-1937)
It was reported from New Inlet, Federal Point, that an accident occurred there on March 31, which caused the instantaneous death of two men; Jonathan Derby Wilson, of Lowell, Mass. and Nehemiah Healey, of Waterville, Maine. A number of men were engaged in launching the schooner Susan and Benjamin, a vessel that had gone ashore there, and when she was nearly afloat, a heavy swell of the sea threw her over crushing the two to death.
The schooner Venus which went ashore near the Federal Point light, some weeks since, being bound hence to Philadelphia, was got off last week and towed up to town. It is said she is not at all injured in the hull. (Wilmington Chronicle, 8-17-1842)
A deed was made transferring property from Joseph Newton, Jr. to Thomas Craig, Jr. …for sum of $200… all that tract or parcel of land on Federal Point in the county of New Hanover…100 acres, more or less, to Benjamin Craig‘s north corner. (NEW HANOVER COUNTY DEED BOOK Z, PAGE 574, Registered March 25, 1843)
The dwelling house of Mr. Joseph Newton, at Federal Point, this county, was destroyed by fire a few days since, at an early hour in the morning. A negro man belonging to one of Mr. Newton‘s neighbors was examined before a magistrate here ion the charge of having set fire to it, but nothing was proved and he was released. (Wilmington Chronicle, 3-1-1843)
Mrs. Clarisse Newton, 30, wife of James Newton, died on Federal Point. Vol. 1.
A deed was made transferring property from Benjamin Craig to Thomas Craig, Jr…. for sum of $50…being in the county of New Hanover on Federal Point, beginning at Thomas Craig, Jr, line, thnce running down the river the distance of one acre in width to Simon Grissom‘s line…to the seashore thence with the sea beach…containing three acres. (NEW HANOVER COUNTY DEED BOOK AA, page 271, Registered March 25, 1844)
Joseph Newton, 82 years old, died at Federal Point, New Hanover County. (Wilmington Chronicle, 6-19-1845)
Mrs. Effie Grissom, 72 years old, died at Federal Point. (Wilmington Chronicle, July 26, 1848)
We understand the federal government contemplates erecting a battery at Federal Point, at a cost of about $18,000; and that an appropriation for that purpose will be made by the next Congress. That such work is needed everyone who is entitled to an opinion must admit No one need require a stronger argument, of the necessity of such a work than the United States has afforded by fortifying the main bar at the mouth of the river. That system of defense is certainly incomplete which only guards one entrance into the river; and to refrain from perfecting the system for the paltry sum of $18,000 or $20,000, is certainly to be penny wise and pound foolish. (Wilmington Chronicle, 9-10-1845)
A deed was made transferring property from Thomas Craig to Jesse Craig Sr… for the sum of $900…Land lying and being on Federal Point…including a small piece or parcel of land on which the Dwelling House stands…100 acres more or less. (NEW HANOVER COUNTY DEED BOOK FF, page 578, March 28, 1849)
A deed was made transferring property from Simon S. Grissom to Jesse Craig…for the sum of (not given)…being in the county of New Hanover, commencing at, Jesse Craig Sr.‘s north line and running easterly to the sea at low water mark thence running in a northern direction to Simon Grissom‘s south line, thence back to the River, containing 100 acres more or less… (NEW HANOVER COUNTY DEED BOOK GG, page 478, registered Jan. 8, 1850)
– from the Wilmington Star, Wilmington News, Wilmington Post, Wilmington Dispatch, Wilmington Messenger, The Daily Journal, Wilmington, N C.
James Newton, 76, died.
Isaac Newton, 33, son of James Newton, died.
John J. Newton, 49 years old, died at his residence on Federal Point, New Hanover County, after a painful illness of almost 16 months. Buried in Federal Point Cemetery. (The Daily Journal, 10-6-1851)
William H. King was appointed Fumigator at Federal Point by the Commissioners of Navigation. (Wilmington Commercial, 5-7-1853)
Mr. Julius H. Dozier, of Smithville, N.C., married Miss Hester Ann Newton, at Federal Point, with J. G. Pickett, Esq, officiating. (Wilmington Commercial, 9-15-1853)
Hester Ann Elizabeth Dozier, wife of Julius Dozier, died. She was born June 14, 1834. Internment was on Federal Point. Vol. 1.
The Lighthouse Board recommended that the Cape Fear Lighthouse be made a fixed flashing light to distinguish it from the Federal Point Lighthouse, about 8 miles away.
Hester Ann Elizabeth Doshier, wife of Julius Doshier, died and was buried on Federal Point. She was born June 14, 1834.
General Theophilus Holmes was ordered to take charge of coast defenses from New River in Onslow County to the South Carolina line. He engaged engineers, constructors, laborers, materials and went to work building up the defenses in his department. Fort Fisher was begun at this time. Vol. 1
General Joseph R. Anderson, of Virginia, was ordered to take charge of the defenses around Wilmington. He had only 4,669 men present for duty in his district. He dispersed the men available to eight different points, one of which was Camp Wyett with 740 men and Confederate Point with 85 men. Vol.1
Company B., 36th Regiment, N.C. Troops, (Second Regiment, N.C. Artillery) was assigned to man the battery on Zeke‘s Island, Cape Fear River.
The Light Boat, which was taken from the Frying Pan Shoals, was anchored opposite Fort Anderson with four guns mounted aboard it. The Light Boat from the Horse Shoe Shoals was anchored inside Zeke‘s Island with four guns mounted.
Sterling F. Newton died. Born April 7, 1834. Internment was on Federal Point. Vol.1
Mr. John L. Newton, aged 23 years, died at Confederate Point. (The Daily Journal, 8-9-1864
John L. Newton died. Born August 13,1839. Internment was on Federal Point. Vol.1.
Two divisions of Union General Schofield‘s army were ferried across the Cape Fear River from Federal Point to Smithville, and there they were joined by an additional brigade, all under the command of Major General Jacob D. Cox. The plan was for a combined army-navy attack on Fort Anderson. Vol.1
Major General Cox‘s troops marched out of Smithville. About 3 miles outside of the town, Confederate pickets started a running skirmish and continued until Major Cox‘s force was within 2 miles of Fort Anderson. Here Cox opened communications with Admiral Porter‘s force on the river.
Sterling L. Newton died. Born April 1, 1865. Internment was on Federal Point. Vol. 1
John W. Newton died. Born April 10, 1860. Internment on Federal Point. Vol.1.
A deed was made transferring property from Charles W. Craig to Henry Howard…for the sum of $200…situated on the Cape Fear River in Federal Point District, beginning at the river at Jesse Craig Sr.‘s south line and running in an easterly direction to the sea at low water mark…containing 82 acres…
A deed was made transferring property from Jesse Craig to Charles W. Craig…for the sum of $100…situated on the Cape Fear River in Federal Point District, to John H. Burriss‘s south line…50 acres more or less… (NEW HANOVER COUNTY DEED BOOK TT, page 376, registered July 30, 1866)
Mrs. Elizabeth Newton, 81, died.
We are informed on reliable authority that there is now in possession of Mr. E.A. Grissom, a gentleman residing in the vicinity of Fort Fisher, a young cow – for cow she must be, although little more than a calf – that was born in April 1865, was nurtured by its mother until July 1866 and gave birth to a calf in the month of September of the same year. This we consider one of the most remarkable incidents of the character on record and are informed that the facts we have related are undoubtedly correct. (The Daily Journal, 2-9-1867)
James Newton, an old and highly respectable pilot, who was born and raised, lived and died, at Federal Point, told a member of a river improvement committee, a short time before his death a few years ago, that he well remembered the first breaking out of New Inlet during the prevalence of a long and terrific northeast gale, in the month of September, 1781; that prior to that time he had frequently walked and ridden to Bald Head beach, now Smith‘s Island. (Star, 12-13-1868)
The steamship “Lucille,” went aground near Zeke‘s Island. More than half her cargo was removed from the vessel and carried to Smithville. In drifting, part of her keel was knocked off, causing her to leak considerably.
On Rip – 9 1⁄2 feet. (Star, 1-23-1870)
Anthony A. Hawes © offered his resignation as a member of the School Committee for Federal Point Township, which was accepted, and R.B. Freeman © was appointed in his place. (Star, 12-7-1870)
A report issued on this date mentioned that the beach south of the government works was growing. The catch-sand fences had proven successful. Not a rail had been removed by the recent storm, and the brush had been completely covered with sand to the top of the fence, presenting an embankment 3 to 5 feet high, and far above the reach of any tide. This, and the weak parts of the beach where the wind had blown out trenches between the hills, was now being strengthened by a system of cultivating the “beach grass.”. This grass bore transplanting well; none of that which was set out in July and August had died; but all growing and doing well, and it was suggested that transplanting could be done at any season of the year. Where the “beach grass” was planted, it had not only successfully resisted the blowing away of sand, but has already collected, it at many places, a foot or over in height. (Star, 9-8-1871)
Between August 12 and Sept. 2, 1871 …. Federal Point
C.W. Craig gave satisfactory evidence to the Local Inspectors of Steam Vessels for the District of Charleston, that he was a skillful Pilot of steam vessels and he could be entrusted to perform his duties on the Cape Fear Bar and River to Wilmington, and he was licensed to act as First Class Pilot on steam vessels for one year from this date.
December 3, 1872 …. Federal Point
Sale of Land for Taxes-James Newton, 400 acres inside Fort Fisher, Federal Point Township $4.80 WILM.STAR, 12-3-1872
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Home About FOG
FOG - A Retrospective
It began in August 2009 when Joe Keon made a post on the internet inviting other enthusiasts to join him for a drive. Five strangers, united by an eagerness to exercise their cars in the myriad of back roads in Marin County, showed up for the inaugural drive followed by a relaxed breakfast before returning home. Every two weeks thereafter, the group reconvened, the same place, the same time, for a FOG drive and breakfast.
Word spread rapidly amongst friends, acquaintances, and the numerous other automobile organizations in the area. A website was established and members began to regularly receive dedicated emails to coordinate events that quickly grew in size and scope.
Organized drives have always been at the core of the experience; new initiates are often astounded by the sight and sound of twenty or more Ferraris touring “in formation.” At the breakfast following each back country drive, stories are shared and new friendships forged, many lifelong bonds have been established in the community.
This is the summation of the diligent efforts of founder Joe Keon, and a few members who have taken the time and made the effort to help organize events, cultivate a unique atmosphere, and form the strong social nucleus that unites a highly diverse group.
FOG sought to provide a calendar of driving, motorsport, and social events throughout the years for its members, and to reinvigorate the concept of a formal car organization. In the span of just a few years, 400 Ferrari owners in the Bay Area and beyond have joined the ranks of FOG. There have been over 250 FOG drives to date and the group attracts the gazes of onlookers everywhere it goes…
Organized Drives
Million Miles Driven
Ferrari Owners Charitable Foundation (FOCF)
With a desire to harness the spectacle of a pack of Ferraris traveling the road together, and give back to the San Francisco Bay Area community at large, Keon founded the FOG Rally in 2011. It was imagined to be an extended FOG drive that would last a full weekend. Fifty FOG members would come together to share in the passion for Ferraris, tour some of California’s most iconic roads, and raise funds for charitable causes about which the members were enthusiastic. In 2013, Keon founded the Ferrari Owners Charitable Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) organization, to administer the Rally.
The inaugural FOG Rally benefitted Opportunity Impact, a San Francisco-based charity that provides after school literacy support, tutoring, academic counseling, and mentoring for San Francisco’s most disadvantaged youth.
In 2012, the FOG community partnered with Bay Area-based Blue Planet Network, an international organization that provides clean-water solutions to impoverished regions. Their technologies and long-term implementation resolve not only basic public health concerns but open critical opportunities for youth and adults alike. In 2014, the FOG Rally partnered with Make-A-Wish, Greater Bay Area. The relationship has lasted 6 years and enabled numerous FOG members to participate in wish-granting experiences. The FOG Rally became the single largest external fundraising event for Make-A-Wish in the nation.
Having raised over $2,000,000 for charity since its inception, the FOG Rally has proven to be a powerful means for raising funds and awareness for worthy charitable causes in the San Francisco Bay Area. In reflection of the past half-decade, the friendships seeded from FOG extend far beyond the commonality of owning a Ferrari. The powerful camaraderie of this tightly knit group has had a positive cascading effect on the lives of the individuals and families involved, and indeed, upon the communities they inhabit. In this spirit, we are driven to make a difference.
Learn About FOG Membership
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Tuesday, December 3 2019 19:08
First Deputy Finance Minister: The program "Public Finance Management in the South Caucasus in 2017- 2020" in Armenia can be considered successful
ArmInfo. The implementation of the program "Public Finance Management in the South Caucasus in 2017-2020" in Armenia can be called successful. This was stated by First Deputy Minister of Finance of Armenia Karen Brutyan on December 3 at the closing ceremony of the program "Strengthening Public Finance Management of Armenia" co-financed by the European Union.
According to Brutyan, thanks to the program, it was managed to develop the budget for 2019 and present in full in the format of program budgeting. "There is no other more effective grading system than matching plans with actual work," he said.
Nevertheless, as Karen Brutyan told ArmInfo correspondent, this does not mean that the Ministry of Finance is completely satisfied with the work done. Key performance indicators - KPI, which allow us to analyze the effectiveness of certain activities, as well as the level of achievement of goals, still need improvement, there is also a serious task associated with the development of public control systems.
"For the second year in a row, all information regarding the budget process becomes public at the planning stage, but, despite the feedback from individual activists of civil society, there is a task in its systematic manifestation," said the First Deputy Minister of Finance. As a result, according to Karen Brutyan, the public finance management system should ensure an equitable distribution of public wealth.
The need to establish a more effective feedback between the government and civil society, and the direct participation of the latter in the decision-making process was also indicated by the head of the cooperation department of the EU Delegation to Armenia Gonzalo Serrano de la Rosa. According to him, the effectiveness of public finance management is important for the European Union. Earlier, ArmInfo reported that the EU will support Armenia in the effective management of public finances. On September 19, 2017, in Yerevan, the closing ceremony of the EU-funded program "Strengthening, Efficiency and Transparency of the External Audit System in Armenia" and the launch of the "Public Finance Management in the South Caucasus in 2017-2020" program took place. The budget of the program implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) for Armenia and Georgia is 5.75 million euros, about 1 million euros - EU co-financing. The main partners of the program in the Republic of Armenia were the Ministry of Finance, the National Assembly, the Audit Chamber, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) and civil society. The goal of the program is to bring public finance infrastructure in line with European and international standards, helping to increase their efficiency and accountability. In Armenia, the GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation) office was opened in 2014 and includes completed and ongoing projects to support economic competition, environmental protection, biodiversity protection and natural resource management, as well as advising the Government on reforms in the legislative and legal systems .
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Artwork of Radd from Mystery of the Emblem.
Mercenary (Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light and Mystery of the Emblem)
Myrmidon (Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow
Radd (Japanese: ラディ Radei) is a mercenary in the service of Port Warren. He appears in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Mystery of the Emblem and both of the DS remakes.
Radd joins the Archanean League with Caesar during their battle at Port Warren.
Recruitment: Chapter 8, automatically from turn 1
W. Level
Hero +x to 24 +x to 8 +x to 14 +x to 14 +0 +x to 8 +0 +0 +x to 10
In Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, promotion gains consist on giving the character as many points as necessary -the "x" value shown in the table- to reach the promoted class' base stats. If the character's stats are higher than their promoted class' base stats, they will not receive any bonus.
Of the six Mercenary- and Hero-class party members in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Radd has the strongest growth rates, but gets off to arguably the weakest start. His low base stat values in HP and Strength hurt him, but high growths in both stats make it likely that these weaknesses will abate if Radd is given the chance to level up. Ogma, Navarre, and Astram remain superior infantry swordfighter options overall, but Radd is fully capable of catching up if the player sees fit to invest in him.
Hero +x to 22 +2 +2 +2 +0 +2 +3 +0 +x to 2
In Mystery of the Emblem, promotion gains for HP and Weapon Level consist of giving the character as many points as necessary—the "x" value shown in the table—to reach the promoted class's base value. If the character's value for one of those two stats is higher than their promoted class's base value, they will not receive any bonus in that stat.
D -- --
Cavalier/Paladin Dracoknight Archer/Sniper Mage Sage/Bishop Curate
Cavalier/Paladin 70% 45% 0% 40% 30% 40% 30% 0% {{{cha}}}
Dracoknight 60% 40% 0% 35% 45% 40% 25% 0% {{{cha}}}
Archer/Sniper 70% 40% 0% 35% 50% 40% 25% 0% {{{cha}}}
Mage 50% 20% 30% 35% 40% 40% 0% 10% {{{cha}}}
Sage/Bishop 50% 15% 20% 35% 40% 40% 0% 20% {{{cha}}}
Curate 50% 15% 10% 30% 40% 40% 5% 30% {{{cha}}}
Myrmidon Curate Archer Cavalier Mage
Swordmaster +6 +2 +1 +2 +2 +0 +2 +3 +1 +75
Bishop +6 +1 +2 +1 +0 +0 +0 +3 +1 +30, E
Sniper +8 +2 +1 +5 +5 +0 +1 +3 +2 +75
Paladin +4 +2 +1 +3 +1 +0 +1 +6 +1 +30
Sage +6 +3 +1 +1 +1 +0 +1 +2 +0 +30, E
In Shadow Dragon, Radd fares significantly worse than in the original, being one of the weakest characters in the game. He has subpar base stats, a poor weapon type, and faces heavy competition from Abel, Cain, Hardin, and Frey for any potential spot he could fill by reclassing. Even if he opts to stay a Myrmidon, Navarre joins six chapters earlier with higher base stats across the board, and a higher sword rank that enables him to use the Killing Edge to bypass his low Strength. His growths are only average at best, and the effort required to raise him to any level of self-sufficiency far outweighs the payoff for doing so. As the investment required for Radd to catch up with other characters is unlikely to be worthwhile by any objective metric, he is best left on the bench by those seeking to play optimally.
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
Recruitment: Chapter 6x, automatically at the end of the chapter if he survived
C -- --
Original set
Dracoknight 70% 50% 0% 45% 60% 50% 25% 10% {{{cha}}}
These classes are only available after beating Hard Mode.
Knight/General Mercenary/Hero Fighter/Warrior Hunter/Horseman Pirate/Berserker Dark Mage/Sorcerer
Knight/General 100% 55% 0% 45% 35% 50% 45% 0% {{{cha}}}
Mercenary/Hero 90% 60% 0% 50% 55% 50% 25% 0% {{{cha}}}
Fighter/Warrior 110% 80% 0% 50% 45% 50% 20% 0% {{{cha}}}
Hunter/Horseman 80% 60% 0% 40% 60% 50% 20% 0% {{{cha}}}
Pirate/Berserker 110% 70% 0% 40% 65% 50% 15% 0% {{{cha}}}
Dark Mage/Sorcerer 60% 25% 20% 45% 55% 50% 0% 30% {{{cha}}}
Mercenary Pirate Dark Mage Fighter Hunter Knight
Hero +8 +2 +1 +2 +2 +0 +2 +3 +1 +30, E
Berserker +6 +2 +0 +1 +1 +0 +2 +0 +1 +30
Sorcerer +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 +0 +0 +3 +0 +30, E
Warrior +6 +2 +0 +1 +1 +0 +2 +1 +1 +30, E
Horseman +2 +0 +1 +2 +2 +0 +3 +3 +3 +30, E
General +10 +2 +1 +1 +4 +0 +4 +3 +1 +30, E
Mercenary Supports:
[[{{{supportg1}}}]] Bishop
Bonus: {{{bonusg1}}}
[[{{{supporto1}}}]] Bishop
Bonus: {{{bonuso1}}}
Myrmidon Mutual supports:
Mercenary C: 5
[[{{{supportm2}}}]]
Bishop C: {{{cm2}}}
B: {{{bm2}}}
A: {{{am2}}}
Supported by:*
[[{{{supporto1}}}]]
Bishop C: {{{co1}}}
B: {{{bo1}}}
A: {{{ao1}}}
New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow
Base conversations
Main article: Radd/Conversations
Falls madly in love with a girl he met during the war and throws down his sword for good.
Radd, Caesar's Partner
It was rumoured that he fell in love during the war and later discarded his sword.
Radd, Lady-Killer
Radd fell in love during the war, and gave up his sword to win the woman’s heart. Whether he succeeded, we shall never know.
Radd found a lover after the war, but his whereabouts after that are unrecorded.
“ Crap... Is this the end...? ”
— Radd, in Mystery of the Emblem.
“ End of...the road... ”
— Radd, in Shadow Dragon.
“ For Caesar and her... I can't... die here... ”
— Radd's death quote in Classic Mode in New Mystery of the Emblem.
“ Damn... I'll retreat for now, but next time...! ”
— Radd's retreat quote in Casual Mode in New Mystery of the Emblem.
Everyone's Conditions quotes
“ I feel pretty spiffy today. My body's as light as a feather. ”
— When receiving a temporary stat boost in New Mystery of the Emblem.
“ Alright, time for some training. Letting my skills rust would be an offense to my employer. ”
— When receiving experience in New Mystery of the Emblem.
“ I got something odd. I wonder if it's useful? ”
— When finding an item in New Mystery of the Emblem.
“ I've been earning gold slowly, but steadily. I need to maintain this pace. ”
— When failing to receive a bonus in New Mystery of the Emblem.
“ Kris kinda interests me... I should try talking to Kris. ”
— When receiving support with Kris in New Mystery of the Emblem.
Commonly known by this name prior to Shadow Dragon's international release.
ラディ
Officially romanized as Radei.
Levin Sword
Artwork of Caesar and Radd from Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light.
Artwork of Radd from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game.
Retrieved from "https://fireemblemwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Radd&oldid=346024"
Playable characters in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
Playable characters in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
Playable characters in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Playable characters in Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
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Home Asia Pacific Climate change media tools helpful, but more Pacific indigenous perspectives needed
Climate change media tools helpful, but more Pacific indigenous perspectives needed
Sylvia Frain
Sylvia Frain profiles the achievements and challenges of four days at the second Pacific Ocean Climate Change Conference, Cyclone Gita interrupted the timely and relevant second Pacific Ocean Climate Change Conference held at Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington last week. I was fortunate to arrive on the last flight before Wellington Airport closed on Tuesday afternoon in anticipation for Gita’s arrival. Many presenters and participants had their flights delayed or cancelled, which solidified the urgency and importance of the conference. As independent researcher and keynote speaker Aroha Te Pareake Mead pointed out, Air New Zealand acknowledges the disruptions and increased storm activities and is currently working on developing digital solutions and asks its customers for patience and flexibility. While the Pacific Media Centre featured several pieces highlighting speakers at the conference, the pre-conference workshops and public lecture set the tone for the next few days. The gathering provided a platform for researchers and scientists, practitioners and state representatives to collaborate, share knowledge and plan for the future. The Climate Change Media and Communication pre-conference workshop, facilitated by Dacia Herbulock, senior media advisor at the Science Media Centre, included media professionals, freelancers, and those using visual and written communications to convey the depth and urgency of climate change. Visual stereotypes
The visual stereotypes and the challenges of long-term reporting in a fast-paced media environment dominated the discussion of how to best, and most appropriately, make a relatively “abstract” issue seem “real”. Participants provided practical solutions, including creative strategies and diverse delivery mechanisms for academic researchers to produce text, audio, video, and used new media platforms to reach a wider audience. Two examples are the interactive piece by Charlie Mitchell, “The Angry Sea Will Kill Us All: Our Disappearing Neighbours” on Stuff, organised in a new multimedia format. The second online outlet is The Conversation, (the academic and journalism collaboration currently in Australia, and soon to be launched in New Zealand) which provides researchers and academics editorial support and the ability to track and evaluate the online publication’s reach and audience. While these platforms are improving climate change reporting capabilities, there remains an urgent need to ensure that Pacific and indigenous perspectives are at the forefront directing climate change resiliency and adaption policies. This is a reminder that current climate change is a contemporary manifestation of colonialism and the continued exploitation of stolen land and resources. While Pacific and indigenous populations are not the leading contributors to emissions, they are on the frontlines experiencing the impacts disproportionally. ‘Discoveries’ already known
Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn highlighted how “a significant proportion of [scientific] ‘discoveries’” are not discoveries at all, but that “indigenous peoples already knew about many of these ‘scientific’ ideas”. She called upon the Western scientific community to follow the example of the World Council of Churches, who in 2012 denounced the Doctrine of Discovery, and “denounce the ‘Doctrine of Scientific Discovery’ as it relates to indigenous knowledge”. She also invited scientists, journalists, and policymakers “to build good faith collaborative partnerships with indigenous peoples so we can together explore ‘consciousness’ with a view to identifying ‘technologies’ that would help mitigate and adapt to climate crisis”. She reminded the audience that Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” While the law and legal frameworks can be a tool to encourage states to make commitments to lower emissions and create national standards, there are limitations to enforcement and accountability.
During the pre-conference public lecture, Law as an Activism Strategy, Julian Aguon of Blue Ocean Law, spoke of how he “practices law for change” and “uses international human rights law for self-determination” for Guam. His work is currently focused on deep sea mining, (DSM), an experimental and newly emerging form of mineral extraction. The Pacific Region is seen as the “latest frontier” which is more politically stable with less potential for conflict than other mineral-rich regions of the globe. However, the minerals are hundreds of kilometres under the sea – a region that is relatively unknown. Aguon discussed how scientists know more about the moon’s surface than about deep sea ecologies, hydrothermal vents, and tectonic environments. Asia Pacific Report coverage of the conference
SECOND PACIFIC OCEAN CLIMATE
CHANGE CONFERENCE
CLIMATE: Sylvia Frain: Cyclone Gita interrupted the timely and relevant second Pacific Ocean Climate Change Conference held at Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington last week.
http://www.confer.co.nz/pcc2018/
Dacia Herbulock, senior media advisor at the Science Media Centre,speaking at the media and climate change communication pre-conference workshop. Image: David Robie/PMC
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Banana Gringo Runs Central America
Buy The Fish that Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen
The Fish that Ate the Whale is a biography of Sam Zemurray, a man of many labels: immigrant success story, self-made American, hypercapitalist, domineering gringo, exploitative imperialist, benevolent philanthropist, Zionist. His story is amazing.
Zemurray was a Russian Jew who emigrated to the US in 1901 at the age of 14. He got involved in the banana trade on the docks of New Orleans, unloading “ripes” from boats. He got his hands on a near-rotted inventory and hawked them on the street from a cart. He rose in the industry until he was at the top, founding Cuyamel Fruit Company which was bought out by United Fruit, and then staged a hostile takeover of United Fruit to be the top banana seller in the world.
One theme in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (which is quoted often in The Fish that Ate the Whale) is the arrival of the banana gringos, the banana colony of professionals segregated from the locals, and their all-encompassing power culminating in the Banana Massacre.
In 2010 I published Guatemala and United Fruit, about the US-sponsored coup d’etat of Guatemala’s democratically elected leader in 1954. Again, we see banana gringos causing chaos in Latin America. United Fruit changed its name to Chiquita, but didn’t escape scandal. In 2007 Chiquita was fined $25 million for making illegal payments to paramilitaries in Colombia.
So when I heard of this Zemurray biography, I had to buy. Here’s Cohen’s summary of this amazing life:
[Sam Zemurray was] a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof that America is the land of opportunity, but also a classic example of the Ugly American, the corporate pirate who treats foreign nations as the backdrop for his adventures.
Cohen on the banana industry:
The original sin of the industry touched everyone: the way the banana men viewed the people and the land of the isthmus as no more than a resource, not very different from the rhizomes, soil, sun, or rain. A source of cheap labor, local color. One definition of evil is to fail to recognize the humanity in the other: to see a person as an object or tool, something to be put to use. The spirit of colonialism infected the trade from the start.
I don’t like to judge men of history by today’s standards. Someday people may call you evil for eating meat or driving a car. You’re a product of your time, as were slave-owners before Christ and the Spanish conquistadors who felt they were bringing Catholicism and civilization to the American savages. It wasn’t a question of morality at that time, as eating meat and driving a car aren’t moral issues today.
It may be difficult to imagine, but the banana industry was much like the present-day oil industry. The companies were extremely powerful with both Washington-based and geopolitical influence. There’s an entire Wikipedia article on the Banana Wars, “a series of occupations, police actions, and interventions involving the United States in Central America and the Caribbean … Between the time of the war with Spain and 1934, the United States conducted military operations and occupations in Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The series of conflicts ended with the withdrawal of troops from Haiti and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy in 1934.”
There were a generation of entrepreneurs exploring the Caribbean and Central America, looking for how to make a banana business work. Zemurray was one of these gringos:
You see him in the cantinas of Omoa, the big Russian in the doorway, buying drinks for everyone. Unlike most banana executives, Zemurray was comfortable with the people of the isthmus. “Sam adapted himself to the ways of life of those he contacted,” Fortune reported. “He cultivated friendship, and did not scorn to take a drink with the peasants. He acquired a wonderful command of their language, including swear words, which he didn’t hesitate to employ. He became a Hondureño.” Zemurray told the locals he would bring them wealth and good jobs. When it came time to hire, he offered a wage ten times the going rate, which angered other employers.
Unlike other bosses, Zemurray lived in the jungle with his workers, spoke their language, knew what they wanted and what scared them … It’s why he was hated and why he was loved. Because he was a person and a person you can disagree with and be angry at but still admire, whereas United Fruit was faceless in a way that terrifies. It’s why banana workers rallied to the big Russian as their own hedge against El Pulpo. It’s why some people in Honduras still speak of Samuel Zemurray with rueful affection.
Zemurray wasn’t just mingling with peasants. His main goal was to make connections with power:
He was seeking sweetheart deals that would exempt his company from taxes and duties. Such corrupt understandings were common enough in the business to have a name: concessions, unofficial agreements without which no banana man could succeed. The trade depended on cheap fruit, necessitating cheap labor, cheap land, and no extra fees. The smallest additional cost – a penny per bunch, say – would drive the price above the market rate set by United Fruit. Though the Dávila government was not the most pliable, Zemurray did eventually secure his concessions (by kickback, by bribe). In Honduras, Cuyamel would be exempted from import duties on all equipment, such as freight engines, train tracks, railroad ties, steam shovels, machetes; exempted, too, from paying property, labor, and export tax. Zemurray’s bananas would arrive in the United States unencumbered by such fees – this meant he could sell his product just as cheaply as United Fruit.
Once set up, the gringos would come down to manage the banana operations. They were known as the banana cowboys:
In the first weeks, they lived in tents, then moved into cabins, barracks, and bungalows. They worked from four a.m. till noon, after which it was too hot to linger outdoors. They wore sandals when they worked, shirts opened to the belly, straw hats, and pants with a machete hooked to the waist.
Central America was a fantasyland where nostalgic North Americans could live their dream of Western wilderness. There were old hands who had been on the isthmus long before the incorporation of the United Fruit Company, men who had come looking for a personal El Dorado and realized too late they were ruined for any other kind of life. There were managers who came to get their cards punched and planned to stay no more than a season or two but got stuck. There were rowdies who had come on a spree, to dress in khaki and carry a gun. There were college men who came for the job but stayed for the stuff, how far the dollar could go, a life of leisure, servants, and clubs. Unifruco, the United Fruit magazine, which was as slick as The New Yorker, speaks of company men returning to an earlier stage of American history on the isthmus, of living as men used to live before the women took over and softened us with their rules and finery, of confronting nature in the spirit of Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone, of again seeing the forest as primeval, wild, and mysterious.
Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador – no matter the country, the scene was always the same. The grid of streets, houses and stores, the electrified fences, golf courses, banana fields, bowling alleys, and swimming pools … gin and tonics and Dewar’s White label Scotch on tropical verandas; endless miles of private jungle fiefdoms, natives who were variously brooding, surly or submissive; boots, khaki uniforms, horses and pistols … the early morning produce markets and the colorful, crude men who ran them: longshoremen, traders, plantation managers, ambitious men, hard men, lazy men, rich men; and behind it all a tradition of enormous wealth and power and privilege … By 1940, the network of banana colonies had developed its own society, its own codes, poets, heroes. There was cruelty and racism, the dark-skinned made to scrape and bow, the white man king (the constant mention of skin color, defined to the minutest degree, is perhaps the most miserable relic of that era). There was the sporting life, baseball stars who played for U.F. teams in Ecuador and Cuba, who barnstormed, packing the wooden bleachers.
The cultural exchange from banana cowboys is a major reason why baseball dominates many Caribbean countries, and why so many of Major Leage Baseball’s best players today hail from the Caribbean.
These conditions are what coined the term, banana republic, “a politically unstable country that economically depends upon the exports of a limited resource (fruits, minerals), and usually features a society composed of stratified social classes, such as a great, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy, composed of the elites of business, politics, and the military.”
Zemurray was credited with the quote: “A mule costs more than a deputy.” Here’s Cohen on that quote:
Though Zemurray denied speaking these words … Are these words evil, or are they a simple statement of fact?
If a man wanted to do business in Nicaragua, there were certain things he had to buy – these included banana mules and police deputies. When balancing the books, you could not miss the fact: a mule did indeed cost more than a deputy.
The book starts with Zemurray’s craziest story, his privately sponsored coup in Honduras. Long before Zemurray had scored concessions from Závila, Honduras paid far too much for a railroad project that was never finished (Tegucilgalpa still has no train service). The government owed $100 million to British bondholders. This concerned American leaders, given the Monroe Doctrine of preventing European powers from invading or occupying any nation in the Western Hemisphere.
The US government enlisted the help of famous banker, JP Morgan, to help the Honduran government. He bought all the outstanding railroad bonds, satisfying British banks. Then he was going to refinance, issuing $5 million in new loans to Honduras on one condition: JP Morgan bankers would have a seat at the Honduras customs office in Puerto Cortés and collect a duty on all imports. The terms, unpopular among Hondurans, were ratified by the Honduran Congress.
With JP Morgan bankers at the port, Zemurray couldn’t import all the equipment he needed to build his business tax-free.
[S]o that set up Zemurray’s leading a revolution to get Davila’s government replaced with someone who would honor his concessions. They picked General Manuel Bonilla, who was deposed in a 1907 coup and exiled to New Orleans. “[H]e was dark skinned and broad nosed, features described by diplomats as Indian in a way that would give the operation the aura of popular revolt.”
Zemurray hired a gang of gringo mercenaries who had fought wars in Central America and formed an expat community in the New Orleans French Quarter. The title of the chapter is ‘Revolutin’ (as in, “Let’s go ‘revolutin’!”), a term coined by soldier of fortune Lee Christmas.
The band of mercenaries set off with the deposed General to overthrow the Honduran government with weapons bought by Zemurray. Once in the region, the gringos got all drunk the night before a morning raid on a key fort. Too eager to wait till morning, they stormed the station at 4 AM drunk, and succeeded.
As rebels celebrated the conquest, the captain of the Hornet sat on deck with a man named Florian Davadi. Papers were signed, and everyone shook hands. Having promised to pay $40,000, Davadi had become the owner of the Hornet. As the property of a citizen and current resident of Honduras, the ship could take part in the war without violating the U.S. Neutrality Act.
Less than two weeks later, the ship was seized by the U.S. gunboat Tacoma for violating the U.S. Neutrality Act. After dismissing Bonilla’s protest regarding ownership, the navy towed the Hornet to New Orleans to be held as evidence in a criminal investigation. In a strange way, the seizure, which would have been helpful to President Dávila a week earlier, hurt him now. Having established a base in Trujillo, the insurgents no longer needed the Hornet. But its seizure made it look to Hondurans like the United States was intervening in a civil war on the side of the government. It was a feat of propaganda: Bonilla and Christmas, working with Zemurray, were able to frame the war as an insurgency, the people rising up against a government selling the nation to gringos and Yankee bankers, whereas what you really had was more sinister and interesting – a battle waged by a private American citizen, a corporate chief, against a debt-ridden but sovereign nation.
The government fell on the condition Bonilla wouldn’t be president, but he was elected by a landslide in the first election.
“Bonilla did not forget his benefactor,” reported Life. “One of his first official acts was to have congress give Zemurray concessions covering the next 25 years.”
Zemurray’s settlement included permission to import any and all equipment duty-free; to build any and all railroads, highways, and other infrastructure he might need; a $500,000 loan to repay “all expenses incurred while funding the revolution”; as well as an additional 24,700 acres on the north coast of Honduras to be claimed at a later date. No taxes, no duties, free land – these were the conditions that would let Sam Zemurray take on United Fruit.
As for the issue that caused the war in the first place: Zemurray tried to refinance the national debt of Honduras himself, working with banks in New Orleans and Mobile to buy out British bondholders. In the end, he was able to chip away at the fringes, but the bulk remained and grew, accumulating interest. As of 1926, Honduras still owed $135 million on the railroad that went nowhere.
Then the book tells the story behind the top conspiracy theory surrounding Sam Zemurray: that he authored the assassination of an American governor. Sam Zemurray’s hometown was New Orleans, and with the Great Depression came the emergence of a populist liberal in Louisiana, Huey Long AKA Kingfish. Zemurray was a New Deal Democrat and supporter of FDR, but Long was a different kind of Democrat altogether, more similar to Hugo Chavez or Evo Morales. Zemurray was the epitome of a capitalist, and the top politician in his back yard was Hugo Chavez. New Orleans is an important city in American history, but it’s a small city in a small state. It was just a matter of time before these juggernauts bumped heads. When Long was killed, there were circumstances that pointed at Zemurray, but Cohen largely dismisses them as heresy, adding that all the big business leaders in New Orleans spoke openly about assassinating Long.
After the Kingfish episode, Cohen tells of a different kind of banana war – one between banana companies – when Cuyamel territory expanded to the Honduras/Guatemala border, where the Utila river separated them from United Fruit’s land:
The struggle commenced as a war of pranks, with each company taunting and testing its rival. Agents from United Fruit crossed the river at night, cut water lines, tipped over trucks, ripped up train rails. Zemurray sent his own team of brigands across the Utila to retaliate. These were the last of the roughnecks who had wandered away from Texas, riding south as the frontier closed, a brooding tribe out of time, each with a horse and pistola, working for next to nothing. I want here to sing an ode to the banana cowboy, that wild, unshaven, hell-raising fighter of yore, terror of the isthmus, hired guy in time of conflict, filibuster in time of revolution, arrived from the streets of New Orleans and San Francisco and Galveston, no good for decent society, spitting tobacco juice and humping extra shells in his saddlebag. These roughnecks found a benefactor in Zemurray, who rode and drank with them. When the Banana War came, they were his avant-garde, crossing the frontier at night, raising hell in the fields.
By this time, the new Honduran president favored United Fruit and refused Cuyamel permission to build an important bridge. Zemurray coped with temporary solutions, but he didn’t just cope.
How did Zemurray respond? By making room in his southbound banana ships, not for produce or seed but for hardware, guns, and bullets that found their way to the liberal insurgents who had taken to the hills in Honduras. It was always an option: if the leader is in the pocket of the other guy, change the leader. The State Department, then run by Frank B. Kellogg, received reports of smuggled weapons. A Cuyamel boat, anchored at a Hudson River pier in New York, was searched by the Port Authority. Fifty thousand dollars’ worth of weapons were found.
The Banana War between Cuyamel and United Fruit continued to escalate.
At the last possible moment, the diplomats got involved and a sort of peace conference was convened. In normal cases, this would be the head of the League of Nations calling the presidents of the feuding countries to Vienna or Yalta. In this case, it was officials from the U.S. State Department summoning the bosses of the fruit companies to Washington, D.C. The Banana War threatened American interests, breeding hatred for the United States on the isthmus and posing a danger to a region that included the Panama Canal.
The State Department pressured the companies to merge, despite its creating a monopoly, to end the Banana War. Zemurray sold Cuyamel’s business to United Fruit and retired a rich man. But as the Great Depression raged on, United Fruit’s business declined and Zemurray’s wealth collapsed.
Zemurray had remained an advisor to the company, but the United Fruit management looked down on him as the obnoxious Jew, the cart-pushing immigrant, the pain in the ass. He was ignored.
“I realized that the greatest mistake the United Fruit management had made was to assume it could run its activities in many tropical countries from an office on the 10th floor of a Boston office building,” Zemurray told Fortune.
Zemurray decided to get active again. He studied the business, visiting ship captains and banana field managers to learn why operations were suffering. He visited shareholders across the country to plead his case, that the top United Fruit managers were fucking it all up and only his ideas could restore the company to profitability. He won the necessary votes and spoke his mind at the next board meeting. In an unforgettable scene, the top executive (of what I imagine a 100% WASP, New England elite, Ivy League MBA junta of snobs) responds that he didn’t understand a word the Russian said, to stifled laughter. Zemurray showed him his proxies and shouted, “You’re fired! Understand that?”
That’s how Zemurray took control of the much larger United Fruit in a boardroom coup that inspired the title, The Fish that Ate the Whale. He went back to work as a banana gringo and slowly restored the company to profitability and growth. Struggling to survive the Great Depression, World War II started.
All shipments to Britain and its colonies were banned. One day, the British market accounted for 20 percent of United Fruit’s profits; the next day, it was gone … Soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the American War Department followed the British example, limiting the importation of bananas (a quota) and seizing most of the Great White Fleet. (The company was left with only the clunkers.)
Zemurray overhauled his business model to survive, making rubber, quinine, and other products that helped the war effort. His son, an Air Force pilot, was killed in North Africa, a defining moment for him. Hitler’s extermination of Jews also affected him.
On Zemurray’s Jewishness:
Zemurray did not have a strong sense of Jewish identity. It was never how he described himself … The fact that neither of his children married Jews, raised Jewish children, or much cared about Jewish causes tells you that Sam did not dwell on the subject at home, obsess, or fill his children with fear of goyim. When offered the freedom of America, which is not only freedom here and now, but also freedom from the past, freedom to choose what to remember, he grabbed it.
And yet, like more than a few such men – European-born Jews who shrugged off ethnic identity as soon as they touched American soil – Zemurray became, in late middle age, a champion of Zionism.
The Holocaust changed everything:
It’s hard to explain the effect of the Holocaust on men like Sam Zemurray. Self-made Americans who had always felt secure in their adopted country, they were suddenly reminded, in the middle of life, of the true nature of their condition. No matter his wealth or power, the Hebrew would always be a stranger in a strange land …
What’s more, as the details emerged – six million – men like Zemurray came to regard themselves as all that remained of a lost world. The Jews of Europe had been a remnant of an ancient kingdom. The Jews of America were thus a remnant of a remnant, invested with special responsibility. It’s up to us to see it never happens again was the sentiment of the moment. For many, the only solution was the creation of a Jewish state. Not only would it protect the living, providing shelter and a place of refuge, it would redeem the millions who had died.
After the war Zemurray was contacted by Zionist activist Ze’ev Schind, who was smuggling Jews out of Europe and into the newly created state of Israel, defying Britain’s maximum 75,000 immigrants per year under the White Paper of 1939. Schind asked for Zemurray’s help.
Contacts established, money raised, ships purchased, papers issued – documents that caused the harbormaster to sign the manifest and open the gates. Zionist agents spirited refugees out of the DP camps, leading them over mountain trails to ports in Romania, France, Italy, where ships waited at anchor. Some of these tubs, jammed with poor lost souls, made it through the blockade. Others were stopped by the Royal Navy, boarded, turned back.
The British Mandate of Palestine was terminated in May 1948. According to The Jews’ Secret Fleet by Joseph Hochstein and Murray Greenfield, the Bricha had by then carried thirty-seven thousand Jewish refugees to Palestine – many of them on American ships procured or sped along by Sam Zemurray.
With the coming end of the British occupation, the fate of such a state had been turned over to the United Nations, where it would be decided by a vote in the General Assembly. The resolution to divide Palestine into two nations – one Arab, one Jew – needed a two-thirds majority to pass. A season of politicking would begin as soon as that vote was scheduled, a game Zemurray was uniquely positioned to play.
Sam Zemurray went to work, calling key players in banana land, wheeling, cajoling, strong-arming. It was the culmination of his career, the hour when Zemurray could finally use everything he had learned to play a secretly decisive role on the world stage … Zemurray told Weizmann that every vote from Mexico to Colombia was for sale, but the price was often prohibitively high … The ensuing bribing and lobbying became so intense that President Harry Truman complained to Weizmann of hardball tactics: Truman found it “unbecoming.”
By the time of the final vote tally, enough countries had changed their vote – Haiti from no to abstain; Nicaragua from abstain to yes – to pass Resolution 181. Knowing about the work of Zemurray, certain yes votes that might otherwise seem mysterious – Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama – suddenly make perfect sense. Behind them, behind the creation of the Jewish state, was the Gringo pushing his cart piled high with stinking ripes.
But of course it wasn’t over. As soon as they were independent, Israel faced regional hostility and the eruption of war from all sides: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. First world countries declared an arms embargo on the region and, being a brand new nation, Israel had no weapons to defend itself.
You name it, they did not have enough: bullets, rifles, pistols, grenades, trucks, tanks … Israel survived on the smuggled weapon, the clandestine arrival, the box hidden behind the false panel on the container ship – it says vegetables, but it smells like gunpowder. In the first days of the war, the majority of these boxes came from only three places, sent by three types of interested parties: Czechoslovakia, where Communists shipped trucks, guns, and planes with the consent of the Soviets, who believed a prolonged Middle Eastern conflict would embarrass the British; New York and New Jersey, where, at the urging of Meyer Lansky and Longy Zwillman, dock bosses like Socks Lanza looked the other way as ships bound for Hiafa or Tel Aviv were filled with weapons; and Central America, where banana men filled ship after ship with boxes marked FOOD or SUPPLIES, carried weapons to the Israeli Defense Force.
Much help came from Anastasio Somoza García, known as “Tacho,” who ruled Nicaragua from 1936 until 1956, when he was assassinated. According to Ignacio Klich, Somoza smuggled weapons to Israel throughout the 1948 war. Years later, when world opinion turned against Somoza’s grandson Tachito, who ruled Nicaragua from 1967 until he was assassinated in 1980, only Israel continued to ship arms to the dictator. When asked about this, Prime Minister Menachem Begin spoke of an old debt that needed to be honored.
Latin America changed after World War II.
Asked to name a hero, most South American liberals of that era would mention FDR, specifically citing his four freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. In short, the Central Americans heard our words and actually believed them …
The call of increased rights and freedoms was a challenge to United Fruit, which depended on compliant governments and cheap labor. What’s more, with the start of the cold war, the struggle on the isthmus got tangled up with the global battle between capitalism and communism, which turned even the smallest feud into a test of ideologies …
One of Zemurray’s tactics in surviving the Depression was to devalue land holdings to reduce tax burden, which was legitimately worth less at that time. The undervaluation mentioned in my earlier Guatemala coup piece was particularly incriminating, but Cohen put it into context. Another incriminating detail was how much land United Fruit left fallow, but the book explains that buying up as much land as possible was Zemurray’s hedge against the havoc-wreaking Panama Disease.
Still, those two facts didn’t help Zemurray’s cause when the Guatemalan Revolution arrived. A major demonstration – demanding their dictator step down, a social security system, decent wages, etc. – turned into a riot that killed hundreds in Guatemala City. It forced Jorge Ubico from power, and his military successor called for elections. At the time:
[United Fruit] owned 70 percent of all private land in Guatemala, controlled 75 percent of all trade, and owned most of the roads, power stations and phone lines, the only Pacific seaport, and every mile of railroad.
Juan Arévalo won the presidency with 85 percent of the vote, the first popularly elected leader in the history of Guatemala … His inaugural address promised a new age. He had three audiences in mind: Guatemalans, the government of the United States, and the president of United Fruit. He spoke of his past – a childhood of poverty. He spoke of the future – a vision of big landowners forced to reform and share. And he spoke of his heroes, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, who “taught us there is no need to cancel the concept of freedom in the democratic system in order to breathe into it a socialist spirit.” He said he would govern by a philosophy of his own invention, which he called “spiritual socialism.”
Arévalo, a smart man who understood the limits of his power, was exceedingly careful in dealing with United Fruit. Though he passed land form legislation, he left it unenforced. He focused instead on crowd-pleasing issues that Zemurray could hardly oppose. A forty-hour workweek, social security guarantees, rights of the unions to organize – all based on the New Deal legislation that Zemurray himself had championed in the United States.
In 1951, Arévalo was succeeded by his vice president, Jacobo Arbenz …
Arbenz was a different sort of president than his predecessor. Arévalo condemned United Fruit but never undermined the company or challenged Zemurray directly. He was cautious, deliberate. Arbenz advanced soldier-style, by quick, decisive strokes. He was a man aware of time, who wanted to push through his program before the weather changed. He did not fear Zemurray. In fact, it seemed he wanted to infuriate the bosses of United Fruit, make a display of his independence and defiance. He wanted to remind the banana moguls who the elected leader of the country really was. In his inaugural speech, Arbenz promised to make Guatemala “a dependent nation with a semi-colonial economy, [into] an economically independent country.” He said achieving this would mean ridding the nation of the latifundios, large private estates and farms, once and for all.
Arbenz nationalized much of United Fruit’s fallow land, paying them the amount of their official, devalued appraisal from the Great Depression.
United Fruit officials complained to the Guatemalan government and to the U.S. State Department. Even if the seizure were legal, the price seemed grossly unfair. Auditors valued the land at $16 million. The Guatemalans said their appraisal had been determined by the company itself – from its own tax filings … When a formal complaint was filed in Guatemala City – it said undervaluing for tax purposes was an accepted practice understood by previous governments and irrelevant to the land’s actual worth; it demanded full payment of the property’s real value – this came not from United Fruit but from the U.S. State Department, a detail Arbenz should have noticed.
Arbenz rejected the complaint and carried on as if no one could stop him … By defying El Pulpo, Arbenz became a liberal hero across Latin America … It marked the dawn of a new revolutionary era in the South. Spanish-speaking reformers of every variety – Communists, Socialists, Trotskyites – as well as adventure seekers and people simply curious to taste freedom, set off for Guatemala. By becoming a symbol and a refuge for the disenchanted, the country drew still more attention from the State Department. In the minds of diplomats, Guatemala was turning into a rogues gallery … All the rabble-rousers who would long bedevil the United States seemed to be in Guatemala City, or on their way [including a young Che Guevara].
Impossible to justify or even pull off a “popular revolution,” Zemurray went to work on the American side. He hired an infamous PR specialist to manipulate public opinion. They portrayed Arbenz as a Communist to key opinion leaders in America.
Never mind that Arbenz claimed no allegiance to the Communist Party; never mind that Arbenz cited Franklin Roosevelt as among his heroes; never mind that many of the Arbenz policies that United Fruit found so offensive were patterned on the New Deal – the signs were evident for those who knew where to look.
The situation on the isthmus, unheard of a few months before, moved onto the national agenda, where it was described not as a threat to a corporate interest, nor as a threat to the region, but as a threat to the American way of life.
A Guatemalan coup was planned.
Some experts consider Zemurray’s overthrow of the Honduran government a model for almost all the CIA missions that followed. In 1911, Sam deployed many tactics that would become standard procedure for clandestine operations: the hired guerrilla band, the phony popular leader, the subterfuge that convinces the elected politician he is surrounded when there are really no more than a few hundred guys out there.
Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for Guatemala in August 1953, at a meeting of something called the 10/2 Committee. Operation Success would replace the Arbenz government, defeating communism on the isthmus …
The CIA eventually selected Carlos Castillo Armas, a thirty-nine-year-old disaffected officer in the Guatemalan military living in exile in Honduras. Because he agreed to all the conditions and because … he “had that Indian look …, which was great for the people.”
[Castillo Armas] was flown to Florida, then driven to a CIA base in the palmetto grove, where he sat with the clean-cut young men running Operation Success. The outlines of the plan were explained: Castillo Armas would be placed at the head of a liberation movement invented by the CIA, given $3 million in cash, guns, grenades, and, at the right time, technical and air support. If he needed more guns, these would come from the United Fruit Company. Castillo Armas would train his army on island bases in Lake Managua, Nicaragua. A handful of American pilots were meanwhile stationed in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, the same strip later used during the Bay of Pigs invasion. CIA operatives were scattered among a dozen locations, in camps and safe houses, where they prepared the psychological tricks crucial to Operation Success. Exiled Guatemalan newspapermen wrote fake stories that warned of the swelling ranks of the rebel army; printers made up flyers to be dropped from airplanes in the first hours of the war; engineers recorded sound effects – Hunt called them “terror broadcasts” – to be played during the invasion. Panicked newsmen, terrified crowds, exploding bombs – the same sort of tricks Orson Welles used during his War of the Worlds radio drama.
It began with a couple of Second World War fighter props piloted by retired air force men flying low and loud, dropping smoke bombs and paper flyers (GET OUT!) on Guatemala City. This was followed by strafing runs, bombs. If you saw three planes in the sky, you were seeing the entire rebel air force. Then came the psychological tricks meant to confuse the people and terrify Arbenz and his loyalists. Hidden speakers boomed out the sound of guns and shells. Fake newscasts filled the entire bandwidth, some calling for the overthrow of the dictator, some claiming the dictator had already been overthrown. Others heralded the arrival of Castillo Armas and his men in the capital, where they were being greeted by jubilant crowds.
Castillo Armas, having mustered his army on a U.F. banana plantation in Honduras, marched across the border into Guatemala. His soldiers and weapons were carried on U.F. trains and U.F. boats. He met little resistance. It was less a war than a walk in the country, afternoons of daisy picking, a parade in the mountains. Guatemala 1954 would be the last of the easy overthrows. Because peasants did not want war, because the government believed it could not win, because Arbenz was willing to go farther than anyone had gone but was still not willing to go all the way.
On June 27, 1954, [Arbenz] addressed his people for the last time. “For fifteen days a cruel war against Guatemala has been under way,” he said on the radio. “The United Fruit Company, in collaboration with the governing circles of the United States, is responsible for what is happening to us.”
He resigned as soon as he got off the air, turned control of the government over to General Carlos Díaz, crossed the street to the Mexican embassy, and asked for asylum. By that time, Castillo Armas was on the outskirts of Guatemala City.
Castillo Armas fulfilled his part of the bargain soon after he secured power. His soldiers tracked down and arrested or killed the military officers and politicians who championed the Guatemalan Revolution. He rounded up or chased away the ideological vagabonds who streamed into the country in the days of delirium that followed Decree 900. He had soon established a police state, imposing the sort of lockdown that would make the rise of another Arbenz impossible. He abolished political parties and trade unions, closed newspapers and banned books he considered dangerous, including the collected works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Victor Hugo. He took care of the fruit company, stripping U.F. workers of their right to bargain collectively and shuttering the Banana Workers Federation. Seven of the labor organizers who had been attempting to unionize the banana field hands – there were scores of them; they gave the plantation managers fits – were found dead in Guatemala City. By 1955, the hundreds of thousands of acres seized from the company had been returned.
Five days after the Guatemala coup, the Justice Department sued United Fruit for violating antitrust laws, despite their having pressured Zemurray into merging with United Fruit two decades prior. The image of United Fruit deteriorated. It came to be seen as Halliburton is today: a company with too much power and influence that is hurting long-term American interests in foreign regions. By that time, Zemurray was an old man. He’d already led an amazing life, and had nothing left to do.
On Zemurray’s charity:
Among the highest forms of tzedakah is to give anonymously, in a way that does not disgrace the person in need. Whenever possible, Sam gave without affixing his signature: neither press conference nor public announcement nor strings attached. A private man who shunned publicity, he believed charity was sacred but that those things that often surround it – newspaper pomp, ribbon cutting – were tawdry. I don’t know whether Zemurray read the Bible or knew the code, only that he’d clearly been affected by the folk wisdom, what his father told his mother over the dinner table in Russia: that giving with display is not giving, but trading. I give you money, you give me prestige. Philanthropy that does not degrade is done so quietly not even the rescued learns the name of his rescuer. For this reason, we’ll never know how much Zemurray gave, or to whom. Life said, “Zemurray has given millions for philanthropic purposes – usually in secrecy.” We know of only the public projects and causes, those that could not be advanced without drawing a crowd.
Zemurray gave money to establish a clinic for troubled children in New Orleans, funded the city’s first hospital for “Negro” women, and, at the urging of his daughter, made a $250,000 gift to Radcliffe College to endow a professorship at Harvard, an endowment that resulted in the first woman professor on the Arts and Sciences Faculty of the university … He gave vast amounts to The Nation magazine, which had fallen on hard times, and more to found the Zamorano, the Panamerican Agricultural School, which is a short drive from Tegucigalpa. Still considered among the best schools of its kind in Central America, the Zamorano was tuition free. Graduates were discouraged from taking jobs in the banana industry. Zemurray wanted to build an educated Central American class independent of the trade; the overreliance of the people on the fruit companies had become a problem for everyone. he had passion for giving money on the isthmus. His charity in Central America included hospitals, highways, power grids, seawalls, levees, orphanages, and schools. There was a saying in New Orleans: “If you want something from Sam Zemurray, ask for it in Spanish.”
Cohen’s summary on Zemurray’s life:
[Zemurray] started as a kid, a set of eyes peering from the steerage deck of an Atlantic steamer. He grew into a young man, a go-getter hauling ripes. He became a hustler, hurrying through the streets of the French Quarter with a pocketfull of bills. When he went to the isthmus, he became the Gringo humping over the mountains on a mule, buying and clearing swaths of jungle. Then he was El Amigo, the father of the revolution, a man with nothing to lose. Then he was the little guy at war with the Octopus. Then he was a millionaire, a sellout, a retiree, a battler in a political war, a symbol of everything good an bad about America, the opportunity to rise and the inevitable corruption, the best and worst. He had finally become the boss, the kind, one of the most powerful men in America.
Perhaps [Zemurray]’s best understood as a last player in the drama of Manifest Destiny, a man who lived as if the wild places of the hemisphere were his for the taking. It was in this spirit that he built his company into a colossus, so big its size became the most important fact of life on the isthmus. The United Fruit Company’s dominance in Central America made a mockery of regional governments, and was humiliating and infantilizing in ways that were hardly understood at the time … Those who lived in the banana lands were ruled not by foreign nationals bringing “civilization” and the word of God but by businessmen who looked on their fields with a cold moneymaking precision.
Sam Zemurray lived one of the greatest lives in history. This article’s been such a monster because the story’s such a monster, and it still doesn’t do the book justice. I had to nix a lot of great content, reduce the Huey Long and boardroom coup stories to a paragraph, the Panama Disease epidemic to a brief mention, and completely omit banana economics, geopolitical implications, and the anti-Semitism. So read the book!
BTW, I learned of this book from Ryan Holiday’s recommended reading newsletter, which I highly recommend for avid readers. I choose at least one book from each edition.
americabookseconomicsgovernmentguatemalahistoryhondurasnicaraguapoliticswar
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In general, when gringos negotiate/trade with latinos, they prevail. It has been happening this way since the first American traders found their way from Missouri to Santa Fe or the anglo settlers who who were invited into Texas and later revolted. This pattern will always be repeated as the USA expands trade into Latin America.
Colin, you need to find this book: Confessions of an “Economic Hitman” by John Perkins.
@ Mark – I’d heard of it. Ignored by The Economist, WSJ, and FT. The only serious paper to review it was the NY Times Travel section, and they poked light fun at it. http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/business/yourmoney/19confess.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This was all I needed to hear from that review: “Mr. Perkins’s coup has been to overlay a dry, mainstream notion — that American companies and multinational institutions were less than discriminate in lending to third-world nations — with sex, confession and fiery plane crashes.”
Interesting about this book, the Sam Zemurray story, is that some people see the evils of capitalism, some see the evils of the United States of America, and some (me) just think it’s COOL.
Things to google: Wiliam Walker, Blackwater Colombia, Airscan Colombia, Sir Henry Morgan.
Mercenaries and pirates.
Wanted to let you know I read all this the other day but didnt get to comment. Fascinating stuff, to be sure. It would have been a hell of a time to be alive, and to be in the mix with dealings like that.
Makes for a hell of a story, and being a storyteller, story is king.
xsplat says:
First class read. An interesting story well told.
Maicol says:
The book sounds like a truly great read, and this is a great article too.
A book addressing these business wars is Smedley Butler’s “War is a Racket”
To nitpick a point: the conquistadors brought the opposite of civilization. They stole, plundered and killed from an already existing civilization. They did this out of pure greed and dogmatic ignorance.
They burnt the libraries of already existing civilizations to ensure THEIR God stood alone unopposed in the eyes of history.
I don’t believe Spanish reports about “human sacrifices” just as I would be unlikely to believe what a Nazi says about Jews.
But to be fair I find your posts educational and I’ve been reading a fuck of a lot of them lately 🙂
Pingback: Reds in Guatemala: 1954 Revisited » Choosing Life - God's Gift To The Unborn
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Pirates of the carribean hack tool.
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CorruptionIslamMiddle EastWorld News
Israeli Toddler Suffers Serious Head Injury After Rock Attack By “Palestinian” Islamists
Janna Brock November 29, 2013
There is no “peace” with the Islamists of Palestine. A brutal rock attack happened on Thursday in Jerusalem, and a two-year-old Israeli toddler was seriously injured. The little girl was pelted by Islamic thugs with a three pound rock to the head. In the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv, located on the Green Line which separates the West Bank from pre-1967 Israel, the little girl was hit by a rock that went through a passenger window of the car she was riding in. The violence is unending and the culprits are always the same. The Islamic “Palestinians” are forever waging war against Israelis. A rock, when used as a weapon, that can cause significant damage to a person hit by it, especially a small child. In this war, there is no one who remains untouched by the Islamic mercenaries.
In this incident, it’s an innocent Israeli toddler who got caught in the crossfire. A two-year-old who’s life might be forever altered by a severe blow to the head. A three pound rock can a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. If a sucker punch can cause death, a rock is even worse. It’s jagged and heavy, and unpredictable when thrown by a bunch of lunatics.
The girl, 2, identified as Avigayil, was hit in the head Thursday evening while traveling through the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. The child, who reportedly lost consciousness after the blow, was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital where her condition was identified as serious. She regained consciousness and her condition was upgraded to moderate, according to Haaretz.
Paramedics who responded on the scene evacuated the girl to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.
“When we arrived on the scene we saw a woman holding a 2-year-old baby girl whose head was bleeding,” said Raphael Herbst, a paramedic who treated the infant. “While we were treating her on the way to the hospital, she began recuperating and regained consciousness,” he added.
The violence in the area has increased significantly in the recent months and weeks. Though forever blamed on the issue of Israelis building more settlements, the cause is Islam. Jews do nothing to incite such violence from their hostile neighbors except for living in Israel. With the recent prisoner release of dangerous Islamic terrorists, the violent acts against innocent Jews are likely to increase in number. The recent murder of a sleeping Israeli soldier by an Palestinian Islamist is a terrifying example of what is to come. Thursday’s rock attack was brutal and senseless, with the innocent victim being an Israeli toddler. Hopefully she will recover fully, but there is always a question with significant head injuries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attack that Israel’s security forces “will find these criminals and bring them to justice.” Speaking at a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony at the Western Wall, Netanyahu added that “the first thing I would like to do on this evening is to wish a speedy recovery to the little baby who was wounded by criminals here in Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat visited the toddler’s family. “It must be made clear that a rock is a weapon, and should be treated as such.”
A rock is more than a dangerous weapon when used to inflict damage. It can be lethal. Had it hit the baby head on and not through a car window, she could have died on the spot. This is the essence of cruelty. Any blow to the head can be deadly in an instant. This should be treated as a serious offense.
It is believed that the incident was nationalistically motivated, with some media reporting that the rock may have been thrown from the adjacent Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher.
The State Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges against several minors this week, alleging that they belong to a gang that hurled firebombs in the city’s French Hill neighborhood and toward the Hadassah Mt. Scopus Medical Center. The defendants are residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiyah.
The hospital has recently begun building a stone fence between the facility and the neighborhood.
The problem with the fence is that it is causing problems for drivers on nearby roads. With the violence increasing, and the security of the hospital of utmost importance, there are few options available. The fundamental issue is Islam, hatred for Jews and for all infidels. In the meantime, more innocents will be killed. For this Israeli toddler, seriously injured by a three pound rock, the damage is already done. The hope is that she recovers fully without suffering any permanent damage.
islamisraeljanna brock
Previous True Freedom Cannot Exist Without Biblical Morality
Next Stand With the People or Go Home
Janna Brock
I am a Christian and a staunch conservative. I am very interested in civil liberties and also arts and entertainment from a conservative point of view. I am interested in a wide variety of topics that have to do with the liberal war against conservatives. Christians are being attacked on all fronts, be it the homosexual agenda, abortion issues, and other forms of persecution. It is time to stand for Christ in a sin sick world. Janna Brock also contributes to The BrennerBrief.com.
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The Democrats' Has-Beens
FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | 7/28/04 | Don Feder
The Democrats opened their 44th National Convention with Has-Beens Night at Boston’s Fleet Center. The party stuck in a time warp offered us a bit of nostalgia – golden oldies of political buffoonery.
The musical Clin-tones – Bill and Hillary – headlined the evening. In the former first couple, we have Louis XIV and Madame Defarge in one delightful package.
Former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Edward Kennedy rounded out the entertainment. No wonder The Cartoon Network got higher ratings in the same time-slot.
Unlike Bill, "Jimmuh" didn’t brag on the economic achievements of his administration -- 20 percent interest rates, hyper-inflation and "economic malaise."
Instead the man whose White House tenure brought the low point of American prestige abroad, delivered the most direct attacks on the current administration.
"The Middle East peace process has come to a screeching halt for the first time since Israel became a nation," the accident of history complained. "The achievements of Camp David a quarter century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril," Carter cautioned.
As Ronald Reagan would say, "Well, there you go again."
Under Clinton, Arafat was the most frequent foreign visitor to the White House. After then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the PLO potentate everything but Tel Aviv, Arafat walked away from negotiations and launched the most bloody chapter in Israel’s history, with more than 1,000 civilian deaths.
And Carter calls this Clinton’s progress?
Let us briefly consider the foreign policy accomplishments of the Carter years – the Red Army invading Afghanistan, Castro clones in Central America, the fall of the Shah of Iran and his replacement by a viciously anti-American mullah-ocracy – not to mention the humiliation of the 444-day Tehran hostage crisis. Since then, little Jimmuh has devoted himself to serving as a good-will ambassador to the scum of the universe – offering tea and sympathy, and a wet kiss, to monsters like Fidel Castro.
Perhaps Carter will campaign for Kerry where the ex-president is appreciated – say, North Korea.
Al Gore took the stage for a brief 13 minutes to the strains of "This Land Is Your Land." ("I Talk To the Trees" might have made a better musical intro for Earth-In-the-Balance Al.)
Regarding Gore, there were several allusions to what the Democratic hardcore is still calling the stolen presidential election.
"Let’s make sure that this time every vote is counted. Let’s make sure …that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president." The Supreme Court didn’t pick this president. It simply ended the farce of the Democrats’ never-ending Florida recount. ("We’ll keep counting until we’re ahead. Then, we’ll stop.")
Perhaps they trotted out Al so the party’s charisma-challenged nominee (the political equivalent of valium) could outshine at least one of the other speakers. Or maybe Gore was there to provide the Senator with a few timely lessons in campaigning. After all, Al almost carried his home state in 2000.
New York’s junior Senator and Bill-enabler, Hillary Clinton, introduced her hubby with one of her rousing orations.
"I visited Ground Zero the day after we were attacked, and I felt like I was standing at the gates of hHell," the Rodham declared, with her penchant for the dramatic. And her presence at the ruins of the World Trade Center was certainly appreciated by the police and firefighters who roundly boo-ed her.
Hillary unveiled the Democrats’ national security strategy. Said she, "We need to fully equip and train our firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians – our first responders in the event of a terrorist attack." It’s hardly surprising that the heirs of LBJ would see national security in welfare-state terms.
Not, "We’ll hunt the bastards down and kill them to the last man." Not, "We pledge to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, no matter what it takes." Not, "We have a plan to deal with the other legs of the Axis of Evil." Instead, let’s increase domestic spending – and try to buy a few votes in the process.
And what would a Hillary speech be without a plea for socialized medicine. "We need to rededicate ourselves to the task of providing coverage for the 44 million Americans who are uninsured and the millions of others who face rising costs." Now, let’s see: Since we all face rising costs – that would be everyone! Hillary is like a welfare state Chatty Cathy – pull the string, and the same stuff comes out of her mouth, over and over again.
But the high point of Monday’s festivities was a speech by the former Felon in Chief, the Hillbilly Hunk, Mr. Never Inhaled and The Great Grammarian ("that depends on what the meaning of….").
The man who epitomizes the modern Democratic Party was given 30 minutes to rouse the faithful to battle. Slick Willie was at his oily best.
Clinton spent at much of his speech reminding us of Kerry’s heroism. (More reminiscent of Sgt. York or Audie Murphy, wouldn't you say?) Kerry "could have avoided going, too. But instead he said ‘Send me,’" the ROTC no-show informed us.
And then Kerry said, send me home after 4 months and 12 days in the boonies. Then he betrayed his buddies by joining the antiwar movement. Then he told a congressional committee that Americans in Vietnam were bloodthirsty war criminals. Then he threw away his medals – or someone else’s – at an antiwar demonstration. Then he spent almost 20 years voting against military expenditures, body armor, intelligence funding and new weapons systems.
But Clinton was just getting warmed up. "We Democrats want to build a world and an America of shared responsibilities and shared benefits. We want a world with more global cooperation where we go it alone only when we absolutely have to."
Global cooperation are code words for "put our security and survival in the hands of those fair-minded folks at the United Nations" (who think Israel is a menace to peace). Go it alone only when we absolutely have to means "rely on the fierce French and the valiant Germans to help us rid the world of megalomaniac warmongers who consort with terrorists."
Bill neglected to mention his own foreign-policy triumphs – Haiti, where the U.S. intervened to "restore democracy" (have we restored it yet?) and Kosovo, where we bombed the Christian Serbs to establish another Moslem terrorist mini-state on the doorstep of Europe.
The man who was getting oral gratification from that woman, Miss Lewinsky, while discussing troop deployments on the phone, also neglected to mention the Sudanese offer to give him bin Laden – but Clinton didn’t consider it important, or didn’t know how we could take custody of the soon-to-be mass murderer under international law. Besides, Bill never goes it alone, unless he absolutely has to.
As president, Kerry threatens to reprise the foreign-policy triumphs of the Clinton years. Ramsey Clarke must be so excited.
The man from Hope (more or less) also took the opportunity to engage in some classic Democratic class-warfare. Republicans "believe the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their economic, political and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on important matters like health care and retirement security," Clinton warned.
Those wretched, champagne-guzzling Republicans! They believe in government by and for the rich (like the millionaire felons Clinton pardoned in his last days in office). They can’t relate to the little guy – unlike Mr. Teresa ($750 million) Heinz or that man of the masses, Edward Moore (never worked a day in his life) Kennedy.
The Democrats really care about the little guy – which is why they want to keep him from ever growing bigger or stronger. They talk about making the wealthy pay their "fair share" of taxes but always end up increasing the burden on the middle class. In their eyes, if you make over $80,000 per year, you’re rich. Over $100,000 qualifies as super-rich.
But that’s the cost of progress – here defined as creating new bureaucracies, taking more power out of the hands of ordinary Americans and giving us the health-care system of Canada.
If Monday night was round one, I can hardly wait for Thursday, when the nominee will – we’re told – introduce himself to the nation. (Apparently, his 19 years in the Senate have been so memorable that he still needs a formal introduction.) And he’ll finally tell us what he stands for – his grand vision for America. Snore....
As I mentioned earlier, The Cartoon Network beat the Democratic Convention in Monday night’s ratings. Poor Yosemite Al, Deppity Dog Jimmuh, and Pepe Le Bill just don’t measure up to the cartoon characters of yesteryear.
Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer who is now a political/communications consultant. He also maintains his own website, DonFeder.com.
KEYWORDS: dncconvention; kerry
And remember that professor named Singer who thinks you should pay 33% tax on the FIRST $30,000 and 100% after that??
I sure bet he makes more than he says people should be limited to. Another leftist hypocrite.
2 posted on 07/28/2004 2:06:52 AM PDT by GeronL (geocities.com/geronl is back under construction, just check in and tell me what ya think?)
Excellent piece but he really does not attack the Democrats defense scheme the way he should. To defend America by hiring more people to pull the dead and wounded out of the rubble of the next horric set of terrorist attacks, and then the next, and the next, the next...is not a defense policy at all.
It is a Death To America policy.
3 posted on 07/28/2004 2:13:51 AM PDT by Robert Taylor (Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Glock and Benchmade they comfort me)
"I visited Ground Zero the day after we were attacked, and I felt like I was standing at the gates of hHell,"
Must have felt like a bit of a homecoming for old Hil...
4 posted on 07/28/2004 2:15:35 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Democrats.. Socialists..Commies..Traitors...Who can tell the difference?)
Wow, if the Cartoon Network beat the DNC on Monday, I wonder how many obscure stations beat the crap out of them on Tuesday. Then figure that many of those watching were Republicans lolol.
5 posted on 07/28/2004 2:21:06 AM PDT by Citizen of the Savage Nation
Bill Clinton, as in travelgate, whitewater, J. Flowers, M. Lewinsky (Is she speaking?,) Impeachment, less second pardons, etc.
The onner"bull" Rev Al Sharpton, as in Tawana Brawley, 1991 crown heights riots, 1995 Freddy’s Fashion Mart in Harlem, etc.
Ted Kennedy, as in alcohol, Chappaquiddick, etc,
Why can't the Republicans get speakers like these? Oh yeah, I just remembered, we put them in jail where they belong, not on speaking tours.
6 posted on 07/28/2004 2:30:40 AM PDT by mikvahyid (Political incorrectness is a badge of honor to worn proudly and publicly)
To: mikvahyid
Bill Clinton said (Referring to Kerry) "Send me!" OK, we will-right back to Massholechussetts where he and Teddy K can drown their sorrows in their mutal admiration society.
7 posted on 07/28/2004 3:15:51 AM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (Democrats and Hollywood-has-beens of a feather flock together.)
"The achievements of Camp David a quarter century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril," Carter cautioned.
. . . Perhaps Carter will campaign for Kerry where the ex-president is appreciated – say, North Korea.
The man actually had the nerve to point out how dangerous North Korea has become . . . after he negotiated the deal that gave them the Uranium!!
8 posted on 07/28/2004 3:59:06 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
I guess I'll place myself in the category of the naive. I used to think Jimmy Carter, though an incompetent President, at least was a decent man. In the last few years, he seems to have had his brain replaced with peanuts, and has sunk to the level of Ted Kennedy and the rest of the political hacks.
9 posted on 07/28/2004 4:24:30 AM PDT by aardvark1 (I am doing this because I can.)
Republicans "believe the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their economic, political and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on important matters like health care and retirement security," Clinton warned. Those wretched, champagne-guzzling Republicans! They believe in government by and for the rich
The Democrats are the party of patronization - the party of
voters who are willing to be patronized as victims rather than full adult Americans,
the PR Establishment happy to patronize their own Democratic voters as "poor" - and, e.g., Palm Beach County Dumbocrat voters, even stupid.
the Warren Buffet rich who position themselves above the middle class by boasting that they are too rich to "need a tax cut." People whose contributions to the party are useful to the PR Establishment and therefore buy self-flattering PR.
Republicans can never forget the middle class because they are the party of the middle class. Only a rich Democratic politician like Al Gore would ever think of speaking of "the forgotten middle class."
10 posted on 07/28/2004 4:28:09 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters but PR.)
My take on the first night of the Convention... the Democrats don't have any fresh blood and ideas to offer America? Oh and John F*ckin' himself is not exactly a spring chicken. This is the first Democratic convention I haven't bothered to tune into. Same, same old and its as exciting as a game of whist. The Democrats and their nominee have taken their party's major achievements and turned them into a colossal bore. Don't get me started on addressing the challenges of this century: the Democrats aren't offering any answers to the threats we face. As I mentioned the other night, this is the party filled with Crooks, Sexed Wabbits and Lunatics. No wondering Americans aren't tuning in to listening to the retread message from a by-gone age.
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Four Months in Vietnam Won't Cut It ("Kerry Believes Americans Are Children...")
TownHall.com ^ | 8/4/04 | Ben Shapiro
Posted on 08/04/2004 8:49:40 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
John Kerry served in Vietnam.
And I couldn't care less.
I was born in 1984, over eight years after the end of the Vietnam War. The fact that John Kerry served in the Navy on a swift boat for four months means little to me, beyond the fact that I'm grateful for the service of any veteran -- even if that service was clearly an excuse to bulk up a resume.
John Kerry was anti-war before he ever set foot in Vietnam, so the idea that he became pacifistic only after seeing the horrors of war is baloney. In 1966, two years before Kerry entered the Gulf of Tonkin, he told his graduating class at Yale that "The United States must, I think, bring itself to understand that the policy of intervention that was right for Western Europe does not and cannot find the same application to the rest of the world."
In any case, I'm far more concerned with John Kerry's record since he got back to the United States. His record starts with stabbing in the back American soldiers who were still under fire. In 1971, he told Congress that American military members "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, (blew) up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam ... "
Hilariously, Kerry has attempted to build his 2004 presidential campaign on the idea that he was a famous war hero. Kerry infamously intoned upon reaching the stage at the Democratic National Convention: "I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty." In his nomination acceptance speech, Kerry referred to his Vietnam service no fewer than eight times. He didn't refer to his 1971 testimony before Congress once.
But the fact remains that had Kerry not defamed American troops, he would be an obscure war veteran, not a presidential candidate. To ignore this essential element of Kerry's history is to overlook his opportunism. If experiencing enemy fire makes you a better president, being a selfish mercenary surely makes you a worse one.
Despite his encouragement to judge him by his record, during his acceptance speech, Kerry completely overlooked his tenure as Massachusetts lieutenant governor under Michael Dukakis. He explicitly mentioned his Senate service a grand total of one time and even then only mentioned three policies he pursued. This is a man obviously attempting to escape his record -- which is why he can only point to his four months of service in Vietnam.
Kerry believes Americans are children who will accept platitudes over substance, who will overlook 30 years of radical liberalism in favor of four months in Vietnam. We are not. Whether "help is on the way" or whether Kerry is campaigning for "a stronger America," Americans want real policy solutions, not tired one-liners. And merely hearkening back to Vietnam, when candidate Kerry led men into combat -- men whom he would later slander -- won't do the trick. Those voters within my general age range especially refuse to look back years before our births to find the last recorded example of Kerry's honorability.
It's much easier and much more accurate to examine Kerry's actions in the past few years. In fact, let's simply scrutinize the key point in Kerry's acceptance speech: "I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to."
The idea that elective war must be denounced is absurd. Yet Kerry reiterated this ridiculous idea, stating: "Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response."
Apparently, Kerry believes that only a direct attack on the United States justifies war, which would invalidate every major American military action since 1900 aside from World War II in the Pacific sphere and the Afghanistan war. In John Kerry's world, Americans have to die in Los Angeles or New York or Chicago or Washington, D.C., before the American military can defang the monster.
That solution is unacceptable. John Kerry can talk all he likes about avoiding military engagements around the world. But fighting abroad is certainly a better solution than watching as more American buildings become smoking rubble -- or standing by as millions die from the effects of a biological or dirty-bomb attack. No amount of posturing about service in Vietnam can justify Kerry's lack of a pre-emptive strategy. And I'm not willing to risk that a President John Kerry would prevent such an attack, just because he spent four months on a swift boat.
TOPICS: Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: benshapiro; election2004; johnfkerry; kerry; lyingliars; unfitforcommand
1 posted on 08/04/2004 8:49:43 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
I could really use some background information that supports the commonly-made claim that Kerry served only four months in Vietnam. I have searched but not been able to find anything of value, except repetitions of the claim.
I could use some real proof to help me refute the lefties I debate with who are constantly telling me that he served two years. Where they get that number, I don't know, and they don't have any verification either. It would be good to get some evidence to support my claim. Can anyone point me to any good sources?
2 posted on 08/04/2004 8:55:02 AM PDT by Joe Brower (The Constitution defines Conservatism.)
To: Joe Brower
I don't have a good source for you, but I'm fairly sure that sometime in the last week I saw on Fox News that he arrived in VN in October or November of '68 and departed in March of '69. Perhaps a search with that little bit of info will yield more.
3 posted on 08/04/2004 9:03:20 AM PDT by Axeslinger (Where has my country gone?)
try here http://www.swiftvets.com
4 posted on 08/04/2004 9:04:22 AM PDT by Coroner
http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/service_timeline.html
5 posted on 08/04/2004 9:04:46 AM PDT by MindyW
To: MindyW
6 posted on 08/04/2004 9:06:18 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I don't do diplomacy either.)
Thanks for posting this. barset
7 posted on 08/04/2004 9:07:06 AM PDT by Barset
Democrata especially the power elite democrats believe that people are sheep that need to be lead to do what is in their best intersts.
The concept of "the sheeple" is something that excites them because "they" are the wolves among the sheep.
8 posted on 08/04/2004 9:10:53 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
This is Kerry's bait and switch. Kerry is avoiding discussion of his record in the Senate by rambling on about his pitiful war record. Ask a liberal about his voting record-it's the best kept secret of the Kerry campaign!!
9 posted on 08/04/2004 9:12:10 AM PDT by Spok
John Kerry thinks he is Audie Murphy!
10 posted on 08/04/2004 9:15:10 AM PDT by lonestar (Me, too!--Weinie)
"I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to."
Does that mean he would or would not have gone to war in Bosnia? How about Haiti? How about Kuwait? How about Germany in WWII? What a pandering, pusillanimous piece of partisan political puke!
11 posted on 08/04/2004 9:15:34 AM PDT by pt17
Forget about the nice article. I'm just happy to see someone using this phrase as it was intended. :-)
C'mon, give Gigilo John a break! Sure, he mention his Nam service a lot, but, truth be told, he was extremely modest about the awards and tributes he got from his few weeks there and the months that followed.
The Peoples' Rebpublic of Viet Nam awarded Kerry three Purple Stars of the Peoples' Work, a palm leaf cluster, three Hero of the Peoples' Republic medals (one, first class), and made him a Colonel in the Peoples' Ministry of Propanganda.
Of course, most Americans view his actions after he returned from Nam and finished the yacht races off the Cape to be treason, but the Vietnamese view them as heroism and honor him for his efforts in support of winning the war.
BTW, Kerry's Naval Reserve service after Nam won't stand the level of investigation that Bush's ANG service has. Kerry simply didn't bother showing up for anything. He DD-214 may indicate a problem in this regard. Has anyone actually seen Kerry's DD-214 or are we still accepting was he says is his record to be true?
13 posted on 08/04/2004 9:22:07 AM PDT by Tacis
The fact the Kerry has avoided discussing his anti-war activities is an embarrassment. In fact, it's an embarrassment for an entire generation that has worn it's 1960's revolutionary activism on it's sleeve.
14 posted on 08/04/2004 9:24:30 AM PDT by zarf
...invalidate every major American military action since 1900 aside from World War II in the Pacific sphere...
Actually Roosevelt ordered our navy into action against the Germans on 9/11/41, ie.. prior to 12/7/41. Pearl Harbor just gave us a reason for a declared and open war. One that we were already in. So, I guess that leaves Afaganistan.
15 posted on 08/04/2004 9:26:57 AM PDT by D Rider
"My name is Steve Gardner. I served in 1966 and 1967 on my first tour of duty in Vietnam on Swift boats, and I did my second tour in '68 and '69, involved with John Kerry in the last 2 1/2 months of my tour. The John Kerry that I know is not the John Kerry that everybody else is portraying. I served alongside him and behind him, five feet away from him in a gun tub, and watched as he made indecisive moves with our boat, put our boats in jeopardy, put our crews in jeopardy... if a man like that can't handle that 6-man crew boat, how can you expect him to be our Commander-in-Chief?"
-- Steven Gardner
The above quote was from a press conference given at the National Press Club in Washington on May 4, 2004. You may view Steven’s comments at the following web site. Just scroll down to Steven’s picture and click on it.
http://www.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=SwiftVetQuotes
Searching through that web site, you will find 250 men who served on Swift boats, including the entire chain of command above Lt. Kerry, agree with Steven Gardner that Kerry is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief. That compares to the 13 crew members who support his candidacy.
16 posted on 08/04/2004 9:38:59 AM PDT by LOC1
I have searched but not been able to find anything of value, except repetitions of the claim.
No offense ok, but you haven't searched hard enough. There's only about a gazillion threads in the FR archives and almost every major newspaper - all with the facts you seek.
Ergo, let your fingers do the walking.
17 posted on 08/04/2004 9:44:02 AM PDT by Condor51 (May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't. -- Gen G. Patton Jr)
His service in Vietnam on the swift boats was Dec 2 1968 to March 17 1969, according to the bio on johnkerry.com, the campaign website. That is 3 1/2 months. He was in the Navy for a total of 4 years.
18 posted on 08/04/2004 9:48:37 AM PDT by WOSG (George W Bush - Right for our Times!)
To: Tacis
"The Peoples' Rebpublic of Viet Nam awarded Kerry three Purple Stars of the Peoples' Work, a palm leaf cluster, three Hero of the Peoples' Republic medals (one, first class), and made him a Colonel in the Peoples' Ministry of Propanganda"
Are you joking or are you serious???
So true, Coop!! It's like nails on a chalkboard when I hear people say "I could care less". That doesn't make any sense.
Can anyone believe that the person who wrote this article was only 20? Great writer!!
20 posted on 08/04/2004 9:53:52 AM PDT by cwiz24
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America's Enemies Have Been Running Around The Desert In Captured American Tanks
A USMC M1A1 fires its 120mm main gun during a training exercise in Djibouti.
Photo: USMC Photo
Since the summer of 2014, one of America’s most prized battlefield weapons, the M1 Abrams tank, has been used by those it was meant to fight. Captured M1 tanks have fought with ISIS and have recently been used by Iranian-backed Shia militias to put down a Kurdish movement for independence.
After the US invaded Iraq in 2003, the new Iraqi government installed by the Americans agreed to buy 140 re-manufactured M1A1s to Iraq, with the last of those tanks delivered in late 2011.
The M1s were supposed to be a major component of the Iraqi army’s recapitalization, and a leading element to begin enforcing Iraq’s newly found sovereignty following the withdrawal of American forces in 2011 under the Obama administration. The reality, however, was that even three years after the U.S. military left Iraq, that nation’s armed forces were in no way prepared for the onslaught of ISIS in the summer of 2014.
ISIS was able to obtain large caches of abandoned Iraqi equipment during the fall of large Iraqi cities such as Ramadi and Mosul, including M1 tanks. One report suggested that ISIS captured over 2,000 Humvees during the fall of Mosul, many of which were turned into car bombs, or VBIEDs (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices) in military-speak.
While the exact number of Iraqi M1s that ISIS got their hands on has never been fully acknowledged, the count is believed to be at least 40. It is unclear how many of those captured Iraqi tanks were taken into combat by ISIS as the Abrams is a complicated piece of machinery to operate and maintain, not to mention that it’s enormously thirsty for fuel. The 1,500-horsepower engine can push the M1 to speeds approaching 40 mph, but the tank only gets a little over half a mile per gallon of fuel used. That is not to say ISIS could not have operated the tank. American crews run around with manuals present within the vehicle, so it can only be assumed that instruction manuals in Arabic were carried by the Iraqi crews.
“We captured the American tanks and other military vehicles from IS, who, in turn, seized them from what was left by the Iraqi army. Now, they are under our control, and we are seeking more,” a spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah, one of the Shia-militias who obtained at least one of the M1 tanks told The New Arab.
The US government initially was hesitant to confirm that a number of M1s had been captured, despite video and images of Shia-militias, and previously ISIS, appearing.
Eventually the U.S. State Department admitted to The New Arab that “not all US-provided defense articles are under the control of the intended recipient ministry/unit. We are concerned that a small number of M1A1 tanks may be in the possession of forces other than the Ministry of Defense and Iraqi.”
Which is an understatement, if we’ve ever heard one.
When ISIS initially rolled through large swaths of Iraq, much of the Iraqi military crumbled and fled, abandoning large amounts of weapons and ammunition that would be perfect to help ISIS and its reign of terror. As many as six M1s were captured by ISIS back in 2015, which then put into use on the battlefield to push deeper into Iraqi territory.
In an ironic twist, some of these American-made tanks soon became the target of American air strikes.
Despite Iraqi claims that most of the captured (or abandoned) M1 tanks have been currently accounted for, the idea of foreign forces using one of America’s most dominant weapons system against its own interests poses a number of questions about who to arm, and the worry of having to eventually face its weapons one day on the battlefield.
Just last month, the U.S. government finally acknowledged that at least nine M1 Abrams tanks had also fallen into the hands of Iranian-backed militias. The report from the Office of the Inspector General confirmed what had been widely circulated information from as far back as 2015 that the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, had become the new owners of the Abrams. The report was written in typical bureaucratic speak:
This quarter, the DoS (Department of State) acknowledged that some U.S.-provided military equipment was in the hands of non-authorized end-users.
The Iranian-backed Shia group obtained the M1s one of two ways: The first was that M1s were taken by the PMF from ISIS, who originally captured the American-made tanks, as fleeing Iraqi forces abandoned their equipment during the ISIS capture of the Ramadi, which is about 60 miles west of Baghdad. Videos published by the pro-Shia militias show the captured M1s being transported and flying the flag of the Hezbollah Brigade, which is a designated terror group by the American government and has been fighting and killing American soldiers in Iraq since at least 2007.
PMF militants pose with an American M1 tank shortly after they captured the tank from ISIS. The fighter on the right is holding an American made AT-4 recoilless anti-tank weapon.
Photo: YouTube Screen Capture
The second, and more concerning, way was that the Iraqi forces simply handed the M1s over to the militias to help them fight achieve their objectives, one of which involved using the American made tanks to attack American-armed Kurdish fighters in October 2017. At least one M1 was destroyed during the fight, but more were involved. The lethality and power of the M1 was not lost on the Kurdish Pesmerga fighters according Ben Alexander, an American volunteering to fight with the Kurds, who was speaking with the Military Times:
You can’t take out an Abrams with anything they have over here. The peshmerga don’t make IEDs [improvised explosive device] or VBIEDs [vehicle borne IEDs], so they’re shit out of luck for Abrams.
A recent report indicates that seven of the nine M1s have been reclaimed by they Iraqi military, but the Pentagon is still not happy with the situation.
As a result, General Dynamics, who built and maintained the M1s that Iraq bought, suspended that service earlier this year as a result of Iraq’s “sharing” of the M1s with the Shia militia. The tank loaners violated the purchase contract and once the contractors left for Christmas trips home, they never returned to Iraq. Subsequently, the availability and battle readiness of the Iraqi M1s has dropped considerably.
During the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the first Abrams was reported destroyed, and not by Iraqi forces, but through American air power. An Abrams that had been damaged by enemy action had to be abandoned, and with the Americans uninterested in the tank falling into enemy hands, the tank was hit by at least one bomb from an American fighter aircraft.
The M1 Abrams main battle tank has been around for some time now, with the original version of the tank first reaching American armor units in 1980. In the nearly 40 years since then, the M1 has been bestowed with an aura of near invincibility on the battlefield. Proven in combat during Desert Storm at places like 73 Easting and in Operation Iraqi Freedom on the famous Thunder Runs to capture Baghdad, the Abrams tanks appeared better than advertised, able to survive even the most arduous of combat conditions.
As ISIS began its sweep across Iraq, Iraqi armor forces took a beating with 28 M1A1 Abrams being damaged during the initial fighting in 2014. At least five of the Abrams had their armor penetrated by shaped-charge weapons, which force hot jets of metal straight into the tanks themselves, and were total losses. (While the details of the damaged and destroyed tanks have not been fully provided, it is worth noting that the 140 M1s sold to the Iraqis did not come equipped with depleted uranium armor that increases protection over the tank’s front, nor were they fitted with explosive reactive armor that could help defeat a large portion of anti-tank weapons ISIS had available to them in the fighting’s early days.)
This lack of advanced protection has led to the Iraqi M1s being more vulnerable to anti-tank guided missiles. The greatest dangers tanks face today is most likely not from an enemy tank, but from a concealed, small unit employing an anti-tank weapon. The ubiquitous RPG, or rocket-propelled grenade, has been a staple of the insurgent arsenal for decades due to is inexpensive nature, effective results and ability to be used with little or no training. Anti-tank missiles such as the American TOW (tube launched, optically-tracked, wireless-guided) and the Russian 9M133 Kornet have rapidly proliferated across today’s battlefield of Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Ukraine, proving even the most modern armor can be penetrated by these weapons.
An Iraqi M1 is hit by a Russian-made Kornet missile.
With American support, the Iraqi army began the slow push back against ISIS, and the M1 tanks that survived played an important part for the Iraqi army. One tank, nicknamed ‘the Beast’ was bringing the pain to ISIS insurgents in the Iraqi city of Hīt, even featured in a tweet from CENTCOM showing the tank destroying a car packed with explosives that was charging towards the Iraqi positions.
The threat to ISIS from the M1 was unmistakable. From destroying sniper’s nests to detonating VBIEDs prematurely, the tanks were a frequent target of ISIS, including air attacks from drones. In early 2017, an ISIS drone video shows an attack on an unsuspecting Iraqi M1, impacting the top of the tank and killing the exposed tank commander who was standing in his cupola.
The M1 Abrams tank was designed to charge across the German landscape to clog the Fulda Gap against the swarming hordes of Soviet and Warsaw Pact armor, but it found its success in the deserts of the Middle East. And with that success came the idea that the tank was impossible to destroy, much the same way the word stealth has taken on the meaning of being invisible to radar. Neither is true, especially when it may be facing itself on the battlefield in the hands of the enemy.
TheSchrat
This is why I subscribe to the ‘factory outlet’ theory of selling weapons: keep the good stuff to ourselves and sell cheaper, purpose-made, inferior stuff to everyone else.
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Home biography Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson Biography
Facts of Terry Richardson
1965 , August-14
Quick Timeline of Terry Richardson
1965 Born in New York City, New York
1981 Joined Nordhoff High School
1982 His mother gave his his first snapshot camera
1994 His first fashion photo was published in Vibe
1996 Married to Nikki Uberti
1999 Divorced with Nikki Uberti
2005 His father died
1998 Held his first gallery showing
2019 Terry Richardson has a net worth of $8 million
Detail Timeline of Terry Richardson
Born in New York City, New York
Terry Richardson born as Terrence Richardson in New York City, New York, United States of America to Norma Kessler and Bob Richardson, Richardson was solely raised by his mother. He is an American and is of white ethnicity.
Joined Nordhoff High School
Terry Richardson received his formal education from Hollywood High School. However, when he was just 16 years old, his mother took him to Ojai, California from Los Angeles and there he began studying at Nordhoff High School.
His mother gave his his first snapshot camera
Though Terry Richardson childhood dream was music, he later followed his father's footstep after his mother; actress Norma Kessler gave him his first snapshot camera. With that camera, he began filming his own life and his musical career.
His first fashion photo was published in Vibe
Terry Richardson began filming his own life and his musical career but later he quit his musical career and began focusing mainly in photography. In 1994, he published his debut fashion photo in Vibe and that was the beginning of his dominance in the fashion photography.
Married to Nikki Uberti
While Terry Richardson was working in some fashion magazines, he met Nikki Uberti. Nikki Uberti is a fashion model and they began their love affairs since that time. She is also an established actress. They got married in 1996.
Divorced with Nikki Uberti
Like his parents, Terry Richardson was also not able to hold his married life with fashion model and actress, Nikki Uberti. After being married with her for about three years, they decided to get separated and they finally got divorced in 1999.
His father died
Terry Richardson was born to actress, Norma Kessler and fashion photographer, Bob Richardson. While he was young, his parents got divorced because of his addiction to drugs and on 5th of December 2005, that drugs also took him away from this earth.
Held his first gallery showing
After receiving positive feedbacks from his published photos, Terry Richardson desired to hold his own gallery showing and he finally did in 1998 under the name These Colors Don’t Run. The same time, he also published his book.
Terry Richardson has a net worth of $8 million
As of 2019, Terry Richardson has an estimated net worth of $8 million, accumulated from his career in photography.
Great American photographer, Terry Richardson who is known for his fashion and portrait photography is popular for his work with magazines such as Rolling Stone, GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair and many more. Besides his photographic career, he is also a former musician but did receive any recognizance from it.
Terry Richardson's early life
Terry Richardson was born as Terrence Richardson on the 14th August 1965 in New York City, New York, United States of America to Norma Kessler and Bob Richardson, Richardson was solely raised by his mother. He is an American and is of white ethnicity.
Though Terry Richardson childhood dream was music, he later followed his father's footstep after his mother; actress Norma Kessler gave him his first snapshot camera.
CAPTION: Terry Richardson
As a child, Terry attended Hollywood High School and was enrolled at Nordhoff High School.
Terry Richardson's career
Terry Richardson began filming his own life and his musical career but later he quit his musical career and began focusing mainly on photography.
In 1994, Terry Richardson published his debut fashion photo in Vibe and that was the beginning of his dominance in fashion photography.
But he also has negative in the fashion world as he has been accused of sexual misconduct by several fashion models.
Terry Richardson's personal life
While he was working in some fashion magazines, he met Nikki Uberti. Nikki Uberti is a fashion model and they began their love affairs since that time.
Some years later, they decided to get married and they got married in 1996 but this married life didn't last that long as they got divorced in 1999.
Terry Richardson's net worth
His net worth is rumored to be around $8 million dollars.
# Marc Jacobs
# Terry Richardson
Related Posts on Terry Richardson
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History of the Trampoline
Madhavi Ghare Aug 6, 2020
This story will tell you about the trampoline, its history, and its many uses. Have a look...
A trampoline is a device which contains a strong piece of fabric which is pulled taut (or tight) over a steel frame, and uses coiled springs to provide a bouncing effect.
A person using the trampoline usually jumps on the fabric, and the springs propel him/her high into the air.
It is to be noted that the fabric used has no elasticity whatsoever, but it is the coiled springs which provide the bounce effect to the person who jumps on it.
The trampoline has an interesting historical background. Circus folklore states that the trampoline was built by an artiste called Du Trampolin.
Apparently, he saw the usefulness of taking the trapeze safety net and using it as a device for propelling people.
He experimented with it, and finally devised the trampoline device. This device is often used in circus performances, where it is covered by bedclothes, and acrobats use it in the 'bouncing bed' routines. Though, there is no documentary evidence to support this particular circus folklore.
A trampoline-like device is also used by the Inuits to toss each other into the air. They use walrus skin for that purpose. A similar game is also found in England, where people use blankets to toss people in the air.
Around 1934, George Nissen and Larry Griswold watched trapeze artistes using a tight net to add to their performance in a circus. George Nissen was a gymnast and diver, while Larry Griswold was a tumbler in the gymnastics team in the University of Iowa in the US.
They got together and experimented with a piece of canvas cloth, and inserted grommets along each side of the cloth, and attached it to an angled iron frame using coiled springs. George Nissen had heard the Spanish word 'trampolin', which means 'diving board' during a tour to Mexico.
Based on that name, he decided to call his apparatus a 'trampoline'. They trademarked the name, and in 1942 formed the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company. The company began to make and sell trampolines on a commercial basis.
The trampoline has found several uses in the most unusual places. It was used by the United States Navy Flight School during World War II, for training pilots and navigators in spatial orientation, and later on to train pilots for various body positions in flight.
It has also become a major competitive sport. Since the year 2000, it has also become an Olympic sport.
Modern competitive trampolines allow an athlete to bounce quite high, as far as ten meters in the air while performing somersaults and twists. It is a part of gymnastics and synchronized trampoline jumping, and is quite appreciated by many players and viewers alike.
Trampolines are also used as part of exercise and training routines for several sports such as skiing and diving. Apart from that, they are also specially built for home use. Many homes have a smaller version of the trampoline kept in their yards for children to jump on. They come in different shapes―circular, octagonal, square, and so on.
Home trampolines have, however, come under a lot of criticism for being unsafe. Children jumping on them often end up landing elsewhere and hurting themselves.
Children may also try doing somersaults and end up falling on their heads and twisting their necks―which can even paralyze or kill them.
Therefore, while installing a trampoline in your backyard, it is advised that parents must be present to supervise their children when they are playing on it.
One can also sink a trampoline into a bed and cover, and pad the frame on the sides to make it safer for children.
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These biological machines have the ability to move toward a target, pick up, say, medicine that needs to be carried to a specific location within a live patient, and heal themselves after being cut, they said.
The scientists revealed the results of their efforts in a paper ("A Scalable Pipeline for Designing Reconfigurable Organisms"), available now on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Web page. Their research was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
"These are novel machines," study co-leader Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont, said in a statement. "They're neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It's a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism."
The team used the Deep Green supercomputer cluster at the university's Vermont Advanced Computing Core (VACC) to create a scalable "pipeline" for designing these novel machines in silico (computer models), evolving them with an algorithm, programming them to perform specific functions, and then using those designs to make cell-based living systems with predicted behaviors.
"The approach is organized as a linear pipeline that takes as input a description of the biological building blocks to be used and the desired behavior the manufactured system should exhibit," the scientists wrote. "The pipeline continuously outputs performant living systems that embody that behavior in different ways. The resulting living systems are novel aggregates of cells that yield novel functions: above the cellular level, they bear little resemblance to existing organs or organisms."
They designed these novel machines at UVM and then assembled and tested them at Tufts University.
"We can imagine many useful applications of these living robots that other machines can't do, like searching out nasty compounds or radioactive contamination, gathering microplastic in the oceans, traveling in arteries to scrape out plaque," said study co-leader Michael Levin, who directs the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts, in a statement.
Also on the team were doctoral student Sam Kriegman and microsurgeon Douglas Blackiston, who worked with Levin to harvest and assemble the microscopic stem cells of the Xenopus laevis, from which the moniker "xenobots" comes.
The ability to create "reconfigurable organisms" has enormous potential, the scientists argued in their report, for everything from health care to combating the effects of climate change. And they're certainly not the only ones working in this area. What these researchers may have done, however, is to provide the scalability piece, with a process that employs an evolutionary algorithm that can be reconfigured to design drugs, autonomous machines, metamaterials or architecture.
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President Speaks to Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
International Training Facility
11:02 A.M PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thank you all, very much. Thank you all, very much, for coming. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's good to be back here in Nevada.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) I want to thank -- I want to thank Doug and the good folks here in this training facility for welcoming us. I appreciate your smart work and your hard work and your dedication to helping our fellow citizens gain the skills necessary to be able to find work.
And I just want to talk a little bit about the importance of education, but the reason I'm so grateful that the Carpenters have been so hospitable here is that this is an example of what works. That's what we're interested in in life; we're interested in finding things that work and heralding them. And I want to thank Doug for your leadership. (Applause.)
I'm not the only Bush who's recently been in Las Vegas. You might remember my wife was back here recently. (Applause.) She went on the Leno show the next night. (Laughter.) She said something along the lines, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. (Laughter.) I was interested in hearing her say that. (Laughter and applause.)
She's doing great, by the way. I was a lucky fellow when she said, yes. (Applause.) And she's a wonderful First Lady and great mom. I'm going to meet up with her here in a little bit to continue our journey throughout the West.
Really what I'm doing is traveling around, letting the people know that I'm interested in earning your vote. I really believe that a person running for office -- (applause). I'm also interested in letting people know I've got more to do to make this country a better place, a stronger place, and a safer place. And I appreciate the chance to come and talk about my vision for the future of this country here.
I want to thank Doug, and I also want to thank his brother Mike. I'm not sure which one of them is prettier. (Laughter.) But they're both smart, and they're both good Americans.
I want to thank Dale Shoemaker for his leadership here. I want to thank Doug Banes, and Andy Silins, Bill Irwin. These are all folks who make this facility work well -- appreciate your hospitality. It's great to meet the workers from all around our country.
I went to the facility next door where Doug and his folks are training people how to work on these big GE engines and there's people from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and southern Indiana, some are from McAllen, Texas. People from all around the country are here to gain the skills necessary to be able to work and put food on the table. And again, that's why I'm here. This is a program that works.
I want to thank my friend the Governor, Kenny Guinn, for coming out to say hello. I appreciate him being here. (Applause.) Congressman Jon Porter -- he's a good fellow, a really good fellow, and I appreciate him coming out. (Applause.) Congressman Jim Gibbons -- he's from northern Nevada. (Applause.)
I know we got members of the Nevada National Guard, First Squadron, 221st Calvary. I appreciate you being here. (Applause.) I appreciate you being here. Thanks for your service.
I told you, one of the things I'm working on is to make the country a better country. See, I know the strength of the country is the hearts and souls of the citizens. Right here in Nevada, you've got a lot of loving citizens who are willing to help neighbors in need. (Applause.)
When I landed today, I met a fellow named Mike Peschl. Where are you, Mike? There he is. Thank you for coming, Mike. Here's what Mike does. Mike has now worked on his 34th home for Habitat for Humanity. It is a -- (applause) --
He spends every Saturday at a Habitat building site. What he is doing is helping to transform America one heart and one soul at a time. He knows what I know, that there's nothing better at a Habitat site to work with the eventual homeowner. And that accomplishes two things. One, it shows somebody cares about them. That's what Mike works -- Mike is loving a neighbor like he'd like to be loved himself. You know what else it does? It encourages an ownership society in America. We want more people owning things. We want more people owning their own home in this country. (Applause.)
We'll continue rallying the armies of compassion all across the country. See, I understand government can hand out money, but it cannot put hope in a person's heart or sense of purpose in a person's life. (Applause.) That's done when people have heard a call and are willing to put an arm around somebody who is lonely or hurts or is addicted and says, I love you, brother or sister; what can I do to help you? America will change. America will change one soul at a time. (Applause.)
The stronger -- the stronger America is an America where people can find work. And I was obviously concerned about our country after a recession. That means people weren't working. It means we were going backwards.
Of course, we started to recover from that recession, and then we got attacked, and that hurt our economy. Make no mistake about it, the attacks of September the 11th hurt. We had some corporate scandals. That hurt. And we've got people who don't tell the truth, it begins to shake the confidence of our economy.
We dealt with these situations. I'm going to talk a little bit about the war later on, but we passed laws that say to our corporate citizens, you will be held to account if you do not tell the truth to your shareholders and your employees. (Applause.)
We've overcome the obstacles. You know why? We've got great workers. We've got productive, hardworking people in America. We've overcome these obstacles because the entrepreneurial spirit is strong, the small business sector of our economy is alive and well. We have overcome these obstacles because our farmers and ranchers are good. We've overcome these obstacles because we refuse to -- we refuse to be intimidated. The spirit of America is strong, and our economy is strong as well. (Applause.)
I also believe one of the reasons that we have overcome these obstacles is because we provided well-timed tax relief to the small businesses and the workers of America. (Applause.) If a construction worker has got more money in his pocket, he's going to demand an additional good or a service. And when they demand that additional good or a service, somebody has to produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces a good or a service, somebody is more likely to keep a job or find work. That's how the economy works. That's why the tax relief was important.
We also helped people with families. If you're working and you've got a child, we helped you raise that child by raising the child credit. (Applause.) If you're married, we helped you with the marriage penalty. Let me -- (applause). It's a backward tax code, isn't it, when you penalize marriage? We ought to be encouraging marriage in our country. (Applause.)
We helped small businesses.
Listen, this economy is strong, it's getting stronger, there's still work to be done. I mean, think about it, the unemployment rate in this state is at 4.2 percent. People are working in Nevada. (Applause.) People can make a living in this state. (Applause.) National unemployment rate is at 5.5 percent, of the strongest economy in the world amongst industrialized nations.
But there's more to do. In order to keep jobs here at home, we need an energy policy in America to make us less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.) In order to keep jobs at home, we ought to be confident about our ability to compete in the world.
There's some economic isolationists that want to wall us off. I think that's a mistake. Listen, we've opened up our markets. It's good for American consumers when there's more products coming in for people to choose from. That's how you get better quality at better price. What I'm asking is for other countries to treat us the way we treat them because we can compete with anybody, anyplace, anywhere in the world. (Applause.)
In order to make sure jobs stay here, we got to have health care policies that make it more affordable for people to have health insurance. Most small businesses have trouble affording health insurance. Large businesses are fine. It's the small business sector that is having trouble providing health insurance for our fellow citizens. And therefore, I think small businesses ought to be allowed to pool risk across jurisdictional boundaries so they can get the same discounts for health insurance that big companies get. (Applause.)
Listen, we're going to use technology to help change health care to make it more efficient, to cut down on mistakes, and to help control costs. The health care industry needs to become modernized. It needs to welcome technology so that it can be a more efficient deliverer of services. We've got to make sure that the patient and doctor are central to the decision-making processes in health care, not federal bureaucrats. That's why I'm for health savings accounts, which are important. (Applause.)
We'll make sure the Medicare modernization bill I signed works, gives seniors choices and prescription drug coverage. We'll continue to provide community health centers for the poorest of our citizens. And to make sure that health care is available and affordable, we need medical liability reform. (Applause.)
You know what I'm talking about in Nevada when it comes to medical liability reform. (Laughter.) You've seen the costs of frivolous lawsuits. Ask your small business neighbor what it's like to try to provide health care when the costs are going up because of these frivolous lawsuits. Ask your neighbors what it's like when there's a threat of lawsuit. That's why we need tort reform, as well. These are practical ways to make sure this economy grows. (Applause.)
And finally, to make sure this economy grows and continues to grow, we need to be wise about how we spend your money in Washington, and keep your taxes low. (Applause.) Just be careful -- all I ask you is be careful about all this talk about taxing the rich. You know how that goes. The so-called rich hire accountants and lawyers to maybe not pay as much, and therefore, in order to meets all these promises guess who gets to end up stuck with the bill?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We do.
THE PRESIDENT: The working people. Be careful of this language. We've heard it before in American politics.
Now, one of the reasons I'm here is because I understand the importance of education when it comes to making sure our workers are able to find jobs. (Applause.) Doug's outfit has been really innovative. In other words, what he says is, is that, we got the skilled workers. We got hard working people, and now we want to match their desire to work and their skills with the jobs which actually exist. That's why we went and saw the -- these big turbine-driven engines. People are looking for workers, people who know these engines. And so that's what the apprenticeship program was all about and the skill training programs are all about, it's the practical use of people's time so that people can do what they want to do, which is work. And my attitude is, is that we ought to listen carefully to the strategy employed by this union and implement at places like our community colleges, as well.
See, there are a lot of people who want to work but the jobs, the nature of the jobs are changing. These jobs are changing. And therefore, they need help. They need a little extra education to be able to fill the new jobs. I think, for example, of meeting with textile workers. Their jobs left, but there's enough government money to pay for the re-education. And now they're in the health care field, and they're making more money in the new job after getting some additional education.
That's what Doug understands, a little added value. If you help somebody with some extra training, they become more productive. And more productive workers makes more money. And so the federal government ought to be wise about how we use taxpayers' money, and that includes providing training at community colleges for people who want to work and need new skills to fill the jobs of the 21st century. (Applause.)
So I've laid out a plan to double the number of workers that get re-educated, find additional skills so they can make more money. They got to have innovative training accounts. They need less bureaucracy. If you look at the work force training programs in the government, if you put an objective look on them, you'll find that a lot of money goes to bureaucracy and not enough goes to the workers. And that's what we want to focus on. We want to focus on the people who we're trying to help. We want to make sure that -- (applause.) I believe we ought to increase our budgets for these training programs, and we'll call upon -- continue to call upon Congress to do so -- because it's money well-spent.
See, I think the role of government is to help people help themselves. And one way to do so is through good valid education programs, just like they do here at this site. (Applause.) Doug was telling me he went over to the Labor Department to tell them what for, I guess, or at least to give them a little nudge in the right direction. But I appreciate that. The reason I bring that up is I do think it's very important to work with people like Doug and the union here, to help people understand that we need a million new jobs to fill the construction jobs over the next decade. And that's a challenge all of us have got to work on together. We've got to make it clear there are jobs available. That's why these job fair hosts need to be notified about the opportunities available for our citizens. That's why we need guidance counselors to understand. That's why the governors, like Kenny, must understand that there are great career opportunities available for people in the construction field. And there's also an opportunity for these good people to be able to be trained and get the skills necessary. Like right here at this union hall.
The other thing we've got to do is make sure our kids learn early before it's too late. Listen, when I got up there, there was -- too many of the kids were being shuffled from grade to grade without the skills necessary to succeed. It's time somebody said, let's stop this practice. For the sake of our future, let's make sure we raise the standards and hold people accountable in our public schools. (Applause.) We did. We've increased funding at the federal level for public schools by some 49 percent since 2001. But now we're asking some questions, like is the money being well-spent? Can you read, can you write, can you add and subtract? Seems like legitimate questions to ask. (Applause.) And if not, here is extra help to make sure our children can read, write, add and subtract -- early before it is too late.
There is more work to do to make sure a high school diploma means something. There is more work to do for intervention programs in junior high, for example. And there is more work to do to spend money to encourage our children in math and science, because the truth of the matter is, for example, those 1 million construction jobs are going to require a higher level skill than ever before. And our schools must lay the foundation to help these folks with the jobs of the 21st century. That's what we're talking about, and that's the kind of education program that makes sense. (Applause.) That's why I'm at this facility. Education is the best way to make sure we keep jobs right here in America. (Applause.)
I want to talk about a couple more issues before I want to spend a little time on how to -- on how to secure the country and make the world a more peaceful place. But I do want to talk about two issues related here to Nevada. One, water. I was raised in Midland, Texas. (Applause.) There you go. (Laughter.) Remember what it was like out there? No water. I understand how precious water is. People in Nevada understand how precious water is. And there is a role for the federal government. For example, there is a role for the federal government to resolve disputes like the Colorado River water dispute.
I instructed Gale Norton, my Secretary of the Interior, to work with all parties to develop innovative strategies, to develop conservation plans to help meet Nevada's water needs. And there is an agreement in place. After years of discussion and adherence to the status quo, we got an agreement. What I'm telling you is that we see problems, and this administration works to solve them. (Applause.) Last summer we lost what's called Water 2025 initiative. Gale is a Westerner, by the way; she understands water needs. She understands the problems in the West. She understands there are competing interests for scarce water. This program promotes conservation, as I mentioned. It expands the use of voluntary water markets. It provides advanced technology, like automated pumping and canal controls. It funds research into new technologies to better deliver water and conserve resources. In other words, it is a comprehensive strategy to deal with a problem that needs to be dealt with.
And we look forward to working with the states and the local authorities to better safeguard this precious resource. I know the Mayor of Henderson is with us today. Mr. Mayor, we will listen to you. And I know Kenny will listen to you. This is an effort where we've all got to work together to bring the stakeholders in place so the people of this part of the world will have water not only today but in future years.
And we're spending money. My budget for Water 2025 more than doubles the $8.4 million that had been spent to date to $21 million. I mean, we're beginning an effort to make sure that the people of this part of the world understand how precious your resource is and how best to not only conserve it and use it, but to develop it in a way that will enable your quality of life to continue on.
The other issue, of course, I want to talk about is Yucca Mountain. This is a vital question, and we need to keep facts, not politics, at the center of the debate. (Applause.) It's an issue that's been developing for a while. Since the 1987 congressional vote to focus exclusively on Yucca Mountain, Presidents have considered this issue, as did I. When I campaigned here in this state, I said I would make a decision based upon science, not politics. I said I would listen to the scientists, those involved with determining whether or not this project could move forward in a safe manner. And that's exactly what I did. I listened -- I listened to the -- I listened to the people -- (applause) -- who know the facts and know the science, and made a decision.
Now, I've listened, also, as well, to your Governor and Senator Ensign and to the congressmen and to your fine Attorney General. They didn't agree with my decision. I understand that. They made themselves very clear. And I said, well, I appreciate your opinion, but I will -- I'll tell you what I will do. I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (Applause.)
Now, my opponent is trying to turn Yucca Mountain into a political poker chip. (Laughter.) He says he's strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it several times. (Applause.) And so did his running mate. My point to you is that, if they're going to change, one day they may change again. (Laughter and applause.) I think we need -- I think you need straight talk on this issue. I think you need somebody who is going to do what he says he's going to do. (Applause.)
Let me talk about one other subject. I know it's on your mind, it's clearly on my mind -- and that's how best to secure our country. (Applause.) We -- they're -- first of all, no President wants to be a war President. That was my last choice. And the enemy attacked us and we got to respond.
I'm going to share some lessons about September the 11th: first, the nature of the people that attacked us. I tell people that you cannot negotiate with these folks. You cannot -- you cannot reason with them. Their hearts are so filled with hatred, they're willing to take innocent life (snaps fingers) like that. These are people that -- they only understand one thing and that is force and justice. And that's what they will get. We will pursue them wherever they exist. (Applause.)
Thank you all. (Applause.) See, I understand we must pursue them overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.) I understand. The second lesson is that this is a different kind of war than we were used to, and this is a shadowy network of cold-blooded killers that can hide in cities around the world where they can find safe haven. And therefore, in order to better secure America, we not only needed to say to them that we will bring you to justice, but we needed to say to their allies and people willing to harbor them, or feed them, or hide them that you're just as guilty as those who came and killed the people in America. (Applause.)
And when America speaks, it better mean what it says. And so when I said to the Taliban, give them up or face serious consequences, I meant exactly what I said. (Applause.) And today the world is safer, and America is safer because Afghanistan has been liberated from the Taliban. I want you -- just think about this -- in less than four years' time, Afghanistan has gone from a brutal dictatorship that denied many young girls the right to go to school, that was more than willing to drag their moms or women into the public square and whip them, and in some cases, kill them, to a society in which over 8 million people have registered to vote. They're going to have presidential elections in October. (Applause.) Afghanistan is an ally in the war on terror.
Another lesson of September the 11th is that when we see a threat, we must take it seriously before it fully materializes. That is a vital lesson. It's a change, obviously, of doctrine because prior to 9/11, we used to think, well, gosh, if we saw a threat, we're safe anyway. It may affect somebody somewhere else, but it surely can't affect America. That's what changed on that fateful day. And it's really important for our country to understand it. I want you to know I clearly understand that.
And so, therefore, when we looked at -- when we looked around the world and saw threats, we began to act in a different fashion. Now, look, I want -- I would like to deal with all threat diplomatically. That's the first choice. The use of our military is the last option. And so we saw a threat with Saddam Hussein. You say, why did you see a threat? Of course, we looked at intelligence and saw a threat, but we also remembered the nature of the regime of Saddam Hussein. He used weapons of mass destruction. He harbored terrorist organizations, Abu Nidal's organization. This is a guy that killed Leon Klinghoffer. He's a known terrorist, killed an American. He's in and out of Iraq. Actually, he received safe harbor in Iraq.
Now, Zarqawi's network -- he's the people -- he's the guy now -- he just beheads people like that to try to shake our will and our conscience. Saddam Hussein paid the families of suiciders. Paying people whose loved one goes and kills somebody is a part of a terrorist act. He is a dangerous man. He was shooting at our pilots. (Applause.)
We had been to war with Saddam Hussein before. And he was a source of instability. And so I looked at the intelligence. Now remember, the United States Congress -- I thought it was important to bring the Congress -- get Congress involved with this very important matter. They understood the stakes. They looked at the intelligence. They remembered the nature of Saddam Hussein. Members of both political parties stood up and said, we support the President, if he has to use force, in using force -- including my opponent. (Applause.)
It looked like for a while he was trying to squirm out of that vote. (Laughter.) The other day, he said that knowing what we know today, he still -- he agreed that the use of force in Iraq was necessary. I welcome -- I welcome that clarification. (Laughter and applause.) He's still got 82 days left in the campaign, though. (Laughter and applause.)
I went to the -- I went to the United Nations. See, I -- as I told you, I think diplomacy should be tried first. And I went to the United States, and the U.N. Security Council voted 15 to nothing that said to the tyrant, disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. And so the world was once again saying to Saddam, you're a threat. Everybody recognized that in the post-9/11 world that a threat needed to be dealt with. He defied the world, as he had done for over a decade. He systematically deceived the inspectors. Remember we sent inspectors in to try to find the truth, and they were systematically deceived. That's the reality. And so after a period of time, I had a choice to make. Tony Blair had a choice to make. Other leaders had choices to make. (Applause.) And that is, do we forget the lessons of the modern world and hope for the best, and hope that Saddam Hussein all of a sudden miraculously changes his attitude about America and terrorism and weapons, or do we take action necessary to defend ourselves and to spread freedom and peace? And given that choice, I will take action every time. (Applause.)
Knowing what we know today -- I thought we were going to find stockpiles; everybody did. But he had the capability of making weapons. And if the world had turned away from watching Saddam, that capability could have been passed on to terrorist enemies. It's a risk we could not afford to take. Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decision, and the world is better off for it. (Applause.) The world is better off for it.
Because America has led, the world is safer. We put together a great coalition. Over the next four years, I'll continue to work with our friends and allies. If you think about Afghanistan, there's nearly 40 nations there. If you think about Iraq, with allies and friends -- Japan, South Korea, Great Britain, the Dutch, the Danes, Poles -- countries all around the world understand what we know, that free societies are peaceful societies. They understand the stakes. The know what's really important. But I'll assure you, I'll never turn over America's national security decisions to leaders of other countries. (Applause.)
I also want to say to the loved ones who are here, those whose loved one wear a uniform, the government has an obligation to your husbands, wives, sons or daughters to make sure you've got all -- your loved one has all he or she needs to fulfill the mission. That's an important part of this debate. (Applause.) And I would ask you to ask your fellow citizens to remember what happened when I submitted a supplemental funding request to the United States Congress in September of last year. It was an $87 billion request for more body armor and fuel and spare parts and ammunition, money necessary so that we could complete our missions. And it was overwhelmingly approved by the Congress. Members of both parties supported it; my opponent didn't. And he gave this explanation -- he said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." (Laughter and applause.) I think you need somebody who speaks plainly and honors our commitment -- honors our commitment of our government to those who wear our uniform. And that $87 billion was necessary. (Applause.)
I believe these are historic times. I believe history -- historians will look back and say, this was a really important period. This is a time where we need firm resolve and clear vision about the stakes. But not only -- not only must we stay on the offense to protect our country, and not only make sure our homeland defenses are wise and the strategies are good and the people are well-compensated -- and you've just got to know a lot of people are working hard to protect us -- but we've got to also take on another mission, and that is to deal with the conditions that give rise to terrorism.
So there's a long-term strategy, and it's spreading freedom. We, in America, understand that liberty can be a transforming power for societies. If you've got a loved one in Iraq -- does anybody here have a loved one in Iraq? You do? Thank you. (Applause.) Let me -- I appreciate -- I appreciate that. I want you to know that your loved one is serving the country and the world in a powerful way. Not only -- as I said, we'll defeat people there so we don't have to face them here, but a free Iraq in the midst of the Middle East is going to be a transforming event. This is a part of the world where people -- (applause) -- the people are desperate for freedom. This is a part of the world where people -- they're frustrated, the deep resentments because they're not free. We, in America, believe everybody deserves to be free. We believe it's the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman on Earth -- freedom. (Applause.)
And, therefore -- and therefore, I want you all to know that the long-term consequences of a free Iraq will make our children safer; it will make the children in other parts of the world safer, as well. It's going to -- this is -- these are transforming times.
I'll tell you an interesting story, at least I think it is. I was having lunch with the Prime Minister of Japan -- a dinner with him, and he's a friend of mine. And there I was sitting down with the head of a country that my dad fought against, and I'm sure some of your dads fought against him, too. It was an enemy, and he represented a country which was an enemy of our country. We lost a lot of lives in World War II because we fought each other. And after World War II, my predecessor and others understood, however, that a country could be transformed by liberty, by the habits of liberty. And they stuck to their guns. They didn't listen to the critics and the pessimists. And eventually, Japan became a self-governing nation where the people were free.
And therefore, the discussion had changed over a period of time, hadn't it, from one where there was war, and Prime Minister Koizumi and I were now discussing peace. We were discussing how best we could deal together with Kim Jong-il and his nuclear weapons ambitions. We were talking about the peace. This country loves peace. I want there to be a peaceful world. (Applause.) But I was able to have that conversation, in large part, because after World War II, there was a strategy to help our enemies become free countries. Some day, an American President will be sitting down with an elected leader from Iraq, talking about the peace,
talking about how to make the world a more peaceful place. (Applause.)
That's what's at stake. And that's why it's really important for us to complete the mission. There's a lot of people watching America right now. They're wondering whether or not we've got what it takes to complete the mission. They hear things like, well, I'm going to substantially reduce our troops in six months. That's a bad signal, as far as I'm concerned. It's a signal that says all the enemy has to do is wait us out. It means that the Iraqis who are worried about their future -- after all, what they don't want to do is go back to the day where a tyrant could come and summarily execute them if he felt like it, therefore, they're afraid to take risks for peace. So they kind of say, well, I wonder whether or not this country really means what it says. It's essential that when America speaks, it means what it says and that we should not be sending mixed signals to allies and enemy alike. (Applause.)
We will succeed. We will succeed. You know why we're going to succeed? One, we do have what it takes.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible). (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: We -- we do have what it takes. We've got the vision and the courage and the willingness to serve a great cause. The other reason we'll succeed is because people want to be free. People from all walks of life want to be free. Mothers and dads in Iraq want to raise their children in a peaceful environment, just like moms and dads here in America do. People long for peace. They want peace. They've got peace in their hearts. They long for a world where -- that is a decent world. And that stands in stark contrast to the enemy. And we've been called --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You rock, Mr. President! (Laughter and applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Let me finish my one story that is a compelling story. I've told it several times here on this trip and out on the road. It's the story about the time seven Iraqi citizens came to see me in the Oval Office. The Oval Office is a powerful place. It's -- you know, people walk in and just get overwhelmed by the majesty of this shrine to democracy. I do, on a daily basis. And the only person I know that didn't was my mother, who walked in and continued to tell me what to do. Anyway -- (laughter) -- that's a cheap shot, I know.
Anyway, the seven men come in. They -- they're Iraqi citizens. All seven had had their right hands cut off by Saddam Hussein because the currency -- his currency had devalued and he needed to blame somebody. And one fellow explained to me why him, and it was because he had sold dinars to buy -- I think he said Euros or dollars to buy gold so he could then manufacture jewelry. He was a small merchant. And so he picks these seven guys out and cuts their right hands off. And then burns an X in their foreheads and charges them for the operation.
Fortunately, a documentary was made of the plights of these people. And a guy in Houston, Texas saw it. He was a successful person who believed that you have a duty in life to help others, and flew these seven men over to Houston where they were fitted with new hands. And it was shortly thereafter that they came to see me. And it was -- I'm telling you, it was a powerful moment to see the stark contrast between a society that -- where somebody could just summarily say, I don't like you, I'm going to chop your hand off, and a society full of compassionate people that were willing to heal the hurt by helping these people with a new hand. (Applause.) And that's what we're really working on.
I told these men there, I said, come in the Oval Office. I want you to be in a place where the office is bigger than the person. That's what free societies that are stable societies do. They have institutions that are bigger than the people. And some day, I said to them, you will have institutions bigger than your people, so that never again can somebody summarily disfigure you.
And that's what we're talking about, really, when you think about it. We're talking about the difference between good and evil. We're talking about the difference between compassion and tyranny. And we're talking about a world in which people are able to realize their hopes and dreams and aspirations without fear of brutal tyranny.
America will be safer, and the world will be better, because of the actions we are taking today. May God bless you all, and may God bless our country. (Applause.) Thank you all. (Applause.)
END 11:48 A.M. PDT
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Irresponsible M’sian Suspected with Wuhan Virus Fled Hospital After Waiting for Too Long
Written By Siti Hawa
When it comes to dire situations, it’s truly every man for himself.
The first thing a lot of people are gonna want to do: save themselves, even at the expense of others.
Especially as the Wuhan virus is in full swing and the number of confirmed cases (over 14,500) and death toll (over 300) keeps increasing.
Countries are taking it so seriously that extra precautions and even travel restrictions are being implemented for those who have travelled to China recently.
This particular man, however, is not:
A 24-year-old Malaysian man who had just come home from China had been experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus.
He had spent two days in Wuhan and two other provinces before he returned to Malaysia.
The symptoms included cough and fever which lasted for longer than a day. He then decided to visit the Sungai Buloh Hospital to get himself treated.
Sounds pretty responsible of him, right?
The hospital then decided to quarantine him at around 1pm after observing that he had symptoms of the novel coronavirus.
This is the part where he made a bad decision.
At around 3.30pm, the medical staff realised that he was missing. A police report was immediately made so that the man could be tracked down for the safety of the public.
It is believed that he had run away while waiting to be assigned a quarantine ward because of the long wait time.
That being said, he did finally return to the hospital after around an hour of searching for him, so we have to at least give that to him.
Netizens weren’t quite as forgiving though, and he drew flak for leaving the hospital at all as he could’ve been infected with the virus and might have risked infecting others as well.
If anything, at least he came back to the hospital to get treated. However, here’s a gentle reminder for everyone to adhere to the quarantine rules and precautions put into place.
Lastly, do remember to see a medical professional if you are displaying symptoms of the coronavirus.
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LGBTQ trailblazing women from the history books you should know
These women helped create a better world than the one they found
Jeff Taylor / Social Media Editor on March 23, 2018
LGBTQ history, like history more generally, has a tendency to overrepresent the male heroes of the movement. Female members of the LGBTQ community are often overlooked, and during this Women’s History Month, qnotes wanted not only to highlight some local leading ladies currently doing important work in the community, but also spotlight heroines from the history books.
Here are six, of too numerous to count, badass women who helped shape the world into a more accepting and progressive place.
Edythe Eyde (aka Lisa Ben)
Edythe Eyde (aka Lisa Ben).
Courtesy of ONE Archives
Southern California Libraries
Edythe Eyde, who went by the pen and performance name Lisa Ben (an acronym of “lesbian”), created the first gay magazine in the United States. While working as a secretary and being told to look busy at all times by her boss, Eyde decided to use her time to create something she had longed to see: a magazine for the community.
Eyde hand published the small run of her publication, called Vice Versa, and passed them out, in spite of restrictive laws at the time that deemed such content obscene. While there were only nine issues in total, published during 1947 and 1948, the magazine set a precedent for queer media to follow.
Eyde passed away in 2015, at the age of 94. To read all nine issues, and learn more about Eyde, go to goqnotes.com/54559.
Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings.
Photo Credit: Kay Tobin Lahusen.
CC 2.0 License
Barbara Gittings was an early LGBTQ activist. She organized the New York chapter of the lesbian social and civil rights group the Daughters of Bilitis from 1958 to 1963, edited the group’s magazine, The Ladder, from 1963 to 1966, and was a driving force in the 1960s during the first pickets to bring attention to the ban on employment of gay people by the U.S. government.
Gittings also protested to get the American Psychiatric Association to stop classifying being gay as a mental illness.
Additionally, she joined the gay group in the American Library Association, the first gay caucus in a professional association, becoming its coordinator in 1971. Gittings passed away in 2007, at the age of 74.
Mable Hampton
Mabel Hampton.
Photo Credit: Lesbian Herstory Archives
Mable Hampton was a lesbian activist, a philanthropist and a dancer during the Harlem Renaissance. Hampton was born in Winston-Salem, N.C. and was raised in New York City and New Jersey. She danced in productions for Harlem Renaissance notables like Jackie “Moms” Mabley.
She marched in the first National Gay and Lesbian March on Washington in 1979 and can be seen in the films “Silent Pioneers” and “Before Stonewall.”
“I, Mabel Hampton, have been a lesbian all my life, for 82 years, and I am proud of myself and my people,” she told the crowd at the New York City Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade in 1984. “I would like all my people to be free in this country and all over the world, my gay people and my black people.”
Hampton passed away at 86, in 1989.
Marsha P. Johnson. Photo Credit: Netflix
Marsha P. Johnson was a transgender activist and performer who was a key figure in the early demonstrations for LGBTQ rights in New York City. Johnson also helped her fellow transgender activist and close friend Sylvia Rivera found the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), to help transgender individuals escape homelessness.
Johnson also modeled for Andy Warhol and was an active member of ACT UP, protesting against the inaction of the government during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Johnson died under mysterious circumstances in 1992, at the age of 46.
Audre Lorde.
Photo Credit: K. Kendall,
Audre Lorde was a prominent feminist, activist and librarian, who pushed the ideas of intersectionality, well before the birth of the term, illustrating that marginalized groups are facing a shared oppressor.
“From my membership in all of these groups I have learned that oppression and the intolerance of difference come in all shapes and sizes and colors and sexualities; and that among those of us who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children, there can be no hierarchies of oppression,” she wrote in the essay “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppressions.”
Lorde passed away in 1992, at the age of 58. She penned dozens of poems and essays, and her quotable words still show up in many places today, such as the famous observation that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
Sylvia Rivera. Public Domain
Sylvia Rivera was another key LGBTQ rights activist in New York City during the early days of demonstrations and protests, including at the Stonewall Uprising.
Rivera, who as stated above co-founded STAR, was a vocal supporter of marginalized and disenfranchised people, born in part from her own experiences with homelessness. While she drifted from advocacy work for a time, she resumed those activities toward the end of her life.
Rivera died in 2002, at the age of 50.
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Champions are all around us
Leading Ladies: influential women in the LGBTQ community
The fascinating story of the first lesbian magazine in North America, plus where to read it
The spotlight isn’t just for the stage
Watch: ‘Drunk History’ takes on the Stonewall riots
Black History Month: LGBTQ black civil rights icons
Category: Featured Stories
Tag: ACT UP, activist, Audre Lorde, Barbara Gittings, Daughters of Bilitis, intersectionality, lesbian, lgbtq, Lisa Ben, Mable Hampton, March on Washington, Marsha P. Johnson, Print Edition 2018-03-23, Silvia Rivera, STAR, Stonewall, Stonewall Uprising, transgender, women's history month
Previous: Previous post: Jamie Hildreth sets out on a run for Mecklenburg County Commission
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Essays & Papers Essays Database The composition core and mantle
The composition core and mantle
Journey to the Center of the Earth Pages: 2 (446 words)
Comets, its Composition and Origin Pages: 10 (2347 words)
about Jupiter planet Pages: 4 (870 words)
Plate Tectonics and Crust Oceanic Lithosphere Pages: 7 (1566 words)
The Poisoning of Our Ozone Layer The poisoning of Pages: 3 (533 words)
Over the course of this paper, the composition and formation of Hess layers will be described more specifically. According to ‘Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology’, “The inner core did not exist early in earth’s history, when Our planet was hotter. However, as the Earth cooled, iron began to crystallize at the center to form the solid inner core and even today the inner core continues to grow as the planet cools. ” The idea is that the core is composed of an iron-nickel alloy with traces of oxygen, silicon, and sulfur.
The average density of this iron rich substance is fourteen times the density of water. The core is split into two separate regions, inner and outer core. The inner core is spherical and has a radius of 750 miles. The iron located within the inner core is solid, despite the high temperature; this is because of the mighty pressures in the middle of earth. The outer core is about 1400 miles thick and is a layer of liquid.
Earth’s magnetic field is the cause of the movement of metallic iron within this area.
The mantle contains eighty two percent of the volume of Earth. It is described as a rocky, solid shell that goes 1800 miles deep. The mantle consists of an upper and lower section. From the edge of the crust to about four hundred miles deep is considered the upper mantle. The upper mantle is divided into three separate parts. The lithosphere forms the rigid outer shell of Earth, making it the upper most part. In some areas below continents it can be more than 250 kilometers thick. Below the lithosphere lies the stenographer, which is a soft and weak layer.
The top part of this layer has a temperature that causes some melting, which causes the lithosphere to detach from the layer and move independently. The upper part of the stenographer is near its melting point which makes it so weak. Below the stenographer, down about 660 kilometers deep is the section of the mantle known as the transition zone. The lower mantle is the largest part of the mantle. It lies at a depth of 660 kilometers down to 2900 kilometers. Increased pressure causes the mantle to strengthen as it becomes deeper.
There is a layer between the lowest part of the rocky mantle and the hot outer core known as the “Dee double prime”. The face or rocky outer skin of the earth is known as the crust. The major features Of the crust include the difference between the continental crust and oceanic crust. Oceanic crust IS composed of basalt, a dark igneous rock, and is roughly five miles thick. Continental crust consists of many rock types, unlike oceanic crust. The thickness of continental crust averages about twenty five miles, but can be up to forty miles thick in some mountainous areas.
Oceanic crust is denser because of the basalt in it. All the layers that make up the solid Earth are considered the exosphere. Above this sphere is called the biosphere. The biosphere includes all forms of life on our planet. The hydrosphere is a mass amount of water that is constantly on the move. From the oceans, it evaporates to the atmosphere, precipitates to the land, and then runs back to the ocean. About seventy percent of the planet’s surface insists of global ocean. The final sphere of Earth is the atmosphere and without it life here would not exist.
The atmosphere is divided into five layers. The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth. This layer starts at the surface of Earth and extends outward about ten miles. It is in this area that weather occurs. Roughly eighty percent of the atmosphere is located in the troposphere. The stratosphere is the layer above the troposphere. This layer extends thirty miles above the planet’s surface. The temperature of this layer does rise, however it still remains below freezing. The next layer is the mesosphere, and rises about forty to fifty miles above the surface of Earth.
The air is very thin in this layer and can reach temperatures as low as -184 degrees Fahrenheit. This layer is considered the middle atmosphere along with the troposphere. The troposphere extends several hundred miles above the surface. The temperature of this layer can rise up to 2000 degrees Celsius. The troposphere is considered the upper atmosphere. The top of the troposphere is known as the exosphere. The exosphere rises 6200 miles above the Earth. This layer is called the outermost are of Earth’s atmosphere. So how do we know what we know?
Geologists have discovered a lot about the core of our planet by looking at Earth’s magnetic field and measuring seismic waves as they pass through the earth. Changes in these waves are studied, and Geologists are able to draw up conclusions about the Earths density and what it must look like inside. Rocks that originated in the mantle, and were collected at Earth’s surface have provided evidence that supports the composition of our planets interior. Meteorites also provide important clues for the composition of the core and mantle.
Cite this The composition core and mantle
The composition core and mantle. (2018, Mar 11). Retrieved from https://graduateway.com/earth-layers-research-paper/
Topic: The composition core and mantle
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What Do Whole Foods’ Woes Mean For Organic Produce?
As organic food goes mainstream, its ethics may suffer.
When the flagship Whole Foods opened more than 35 years ago, its founders probably never imagined they’d one day compete with big-box megastores like Walmart.
The two retailers seem to be complete opposites: Walmart is known for low prices, while Whole Foods is sometimes called “Whole Paycheck” for selling eco-friendly products that command a higher price tag.
But as organic food becomes more popular, retailers ranging from big-box stores to discount grocers want in, and Whole Foods is falling victim of the very movement it helped create.
“Whole Foods created this space and had it all to themselves for years,” Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones, told the Washington Post. “But in the past five years, a lot of people started piling in. And now there's a lot of competition.”
Last week, the Austin-based grocery store announced plans to shut down nine stores — the most it’s ever closed at once. The plans follow six consecutive quarters of dropping same-store sales and mark a sharp contrast to less than two years ago, when the company predicted it could nearly triple the number of US locations from 440 to more than 1,200.
Despite Whole Foods’ woes, it’s a good thing for major stores to sell more organic produce, right? Well, it’s not quite that simple.
Before we break down the pros and cons of cheaper organic produce, let’s talk about what it means when food is called “organic.” Unlike “all natural,” organic is not just another greenwashed buzzword.
In order to be certified organic, food producers must adhere to a long list of strict government regulations from farm to fork. Here are just a few requirements all organic products must meet:
Organic produce can’t contain pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or anything on this long list of banned substances.
Animals that will become organic meat have additional protections to ensure they’re raised humanely.
Products that are made with organic ingredients must include at least 70% certified organic ingredients.
You may have heard the term “GMO” in conversations about organic foods. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a plant, animal, or other organism whose genetic makeup has been modified through scientific methods like gene splicing.
Many genetically modified crops are engineered for herbicide tolerance, which causes other weeds in the field to develop an immunity to conventional herbicides. As these “super weeds” evolve, the only way to get rid of them is through increasingly toxic poisons, according to the Non-GMO Project.
So, does organic mean non-GMO? It absolutely does. In order to meet the organic regulations mentioned above, farmers have to prove that their produce hasn’t come in contact with prohibited substances — including GMOs. So, farmers can’t plant GMO seeds, animals that will become organic meat can’t eat food containing GMOs, and companies who create processed food can’t use any GMO ingredients.
Related: What Is GMO, And Is It Bad For You?
To make sure farmers and producers are following all of these regulations, a USDA-certified agent also has to oversee production of everything labeled organic.
As a whole, these rigid standards illustrate why organic produce costs more than its conventionally grown cousins. At the same time, the pressure for lower costs could become problematic if these regulations fall by the wayside.
Is Cheaper Organic Food Good Or Bad?
As organic food becomes more popular and affordable, greater accessibility is an important win for consumers.
“We don’t want organic to be an exclusive club,” said Myra Goodman, co-founder of Earthbound Farm, at TEDxManhattan. “The benefits of organic farming are just too huge.”
When you can buy organic veggies everywhere from the big-box stores to discount grocers, it levels the playing field. Instead of isolating fresh, organic produce in the high-end stores of affluent neighborhoods, people from a greater range of socioeconomic backgrounds can enjoy fruits and vegetables that are free of banned substances. And as organic food becomes a larger part of our food supply, more farmers will enter the game — which translates into a big win for the environment.
Earthbound Farm is one of the largest organic produce growers in the nation, encompassing 200 farmers who grow crops on 53,000 crop acres. This isn’t much compared to the total number of acres used for farming nationwide. However, organic produce from this one farm prevents the use of 19 million pounds of conventional agricultural chemicals, she said.
That’s 19 million pounds of chemicals that won’t enter our bodies, our soil, or our water, which does have a measurable impact. Water treatment plants spend millions of dollars on chemicals to clean up agricultural runoff from fertilizers and pesticides.
Related: Interview: The Seafood Watch App Makes It Easy To Find Sustainable Seafood
Race To The Bottom For Organic Produce
As more large companies look to cash in on the popularity of organic food, the pressure to keep prices low could lead to a race to the bottom.
There’s a reason Whole Foods has a reputation for being expensive — sustainability isn’t cheap. Keeping food compliant with national regulations means the cost of organic products is higher, which is reflected at the cash register.
But when large conglomerates want to cash in on organic produce while pinching pennies, the ethos of the organic movement suffers. Back in 2006, the Cornucopia Institute — an organic farming watchdog — criticized Walmart’s partnership with Dean Foods to produce organic milk under its Horizon label, claiming large percentages of the company’s milk came from factory farms that did not follow organic practices. The largest dairy operation supplying Horizon was ultimately decertified.
Unfortunately, the controversy over Walmart’s organic milk producers isn’t the only threat to organic food production. General Mills, Hillshire Foods, and Coca Cola are just a few of the large companies acquiring smaller organic food brands. Earthbound Farm, the company whose founder touted the benefits of organic becoming mainstream, was acquired by food corporation WhiteWave in 2013.
Jim Gerritsen, President of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, told the Huffington Post, “The organic industry is experiencing a corporate takeover, and too often those corporations are exerting pressure to lessen organic integrity.”
In the 2015 fiscal year alone, the USDA reviewed or investigated 390 complaints alleging violations of organic standards, which is significantly higher than the previous year’s total of 286.
Whether cheaper organic produce is ultimately good or bad hinges on strict government regulations. Should they remain intact, we all benefit from the greater availability of eco-friendly food. But if they become watered down, our bodies and planet will pay the price.
Update: This story has been edited to clarify the dairy operation supplying Horizon was decertified.
"The organic industry is experiencing a corporate takeover, and too often those corporations are exerting pressure to lessen organic integrity."
Jim Gerritsen
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Official opening of the Yandina Ladies Bowling Club, Yandina on 17 May 1956. The Club held their inaugural meeting in May 1953. The ladies first game of bowls took place on 17 March 1955 and on 5 November 1956, the Club affiliated with the North Coast District Ladies Bowling Association.
There are many stories about the hardship and sheer determination of pioneer women in our region.
Nevertheless, as you will see in this week’s images, women got on with life and made significant contributions to their communities over the years.
Queensland Women’s Week recognises and celebrates the achievements of women and girls in Queensland.
International Women’s Day is recognised globally each year on March 8.
Over the years, women have fought for equality, including their right to vote, own land and even take out a home loan and manage large corporations or government agencies.
The development and progress of the Sunshine Coast would not have been possible without the contributions of women from all walks of life.
Women have contributed through their labour, intelligence, handicrafts and community spirit.
Women have freely given their time for the betterment of the Sunshine Coast.
Courageous pioneer women came to this area when it was nothing more than scrub and rainforest.
They worked the land, raised their children and laboured tirelessly through all seasons in an extremely hard, isolated environment.
We acknowledge the significant contribution to this region made by midwife Nurse Bade, Eumundi’s Nurse Luke from Sunny Brae Hospital, Yandina’s Christina Low, Mary Cairncross, the Thynne sisters, Sybil Vise and Nurse Axe – to name only a few.
The bravery of our police force is demonstrated by the work of Nambour police Constable Margaret Little who, with fellow officer Trevor Rice, received the Queen’s Medal for Gallantry when they apprehended an armed man in Nambour in 1977.
Constable Little wrestled a rifle from a man in a domestic situation, who had fired shots, as Constable Rice restrained him.
Noosa’s police officer Deb Mahoney (retired) also deserves to be mentioned as a courageous, kind woman who did so much for her community.
During World War II, women again assisted and worked within their communities.
Nambour’s Selangor Private Hospital has a proud history around two extraordinary women who we should never forget.
Ex-Australian Army nurses Sister Christine Oxley and Sister Dorothy Ralston established Selangor Hospital.
Sister Oxley was taken prisoner and interred in Malaya’s Selangor War camp.
Sister Ralston saw active service in Singapore, then thankfully evacuated just before Singapore fell to the Japanese during WWII.
Upon their return to Australia, the nurses set up an old home in Nambour using their savings and a war service loan.
They called the building Selangor after the prisoner of war camp.
It was a tremendous effort and the two women never faltered, opening the hospital in 1947 and dutifully looking after everyone in the district, including returned veterans.
In 2017, Selangor still looks after Australian veterans and others in the Sunshine Coast community.
Many women who have made a difference to our community and its betterment include environmentalists and historians Isabel Jordan, Kathleen McArthur, Crs Jill Jordan and Charmaine Foley, Esma Armstrong, Audienne Blyth, Berenis Alcorn, Erica Riis, Elaine Green and Jill Chamberlain.
Caloundra’s Joan Sheldon, a Liberal Party politician and leader of the Liberal Party in Queensland from 1991-1998, became the first female party leader in Queensland.
In 2011, Joan was appointed the inaugural Ethics and Integrity officer for the Local Government Association of Queensland.
Looking back, so much has changed for women.
On January 1, 1891, The Married Women’s Property Act came into effect in Queensland.
This allowed married women to both acquire and dispose of property and their own investments separate from their husbands.
Also under this act, what a woman owned prior to marriage was her own to retain.
Fighting for the rights of women was another step forward.
Women obtained the right to vote in state elections and the first time women voted in Queensland was the state election of 1907.
By 1915, women could be elected into Queensland Parliament.
The Queensland Jury Act in 1923 introduced the right for women to take part in jury service.
Did you know Queensland was the first state in Australia to give women this right?
Hard to believe today, but there was a ban on married women as permanent employees in the Queensland state public sector, which was lifted in 1969.
If you wanted to continue working after marriage women needed departmental approval up until 1973 in many states.
No wonder there were some radical ladies making headlines at this time.
Australian Helen Reddy’s song “I am woman - hear me roar” rocketed up the charts in Australia and overseas during the 1960s.
By 1970, women were no longer excluded from drinking in public bars in Queensland.
Did you know, two women chained themselves to the bar of a Brisbane Hotel in protest? They did not budge and bolt cutters were used to cut the chains of resistance.
Politics was also a hurdle for the fairer sex.
In 1975, Senator Margaret Guilfoyle became the first woman to be given a Federal Government portfolio – Minister of Education. She later became the Finance Minister which was also a first.
In 2007, Anna Bligh was voted in as the first female Premier of Queensland.
Queenslander, Dame Quentin Bryce became the first Governor General of Australia in 2008, after finishing her role as Queensland governor.
In 2010, Australia had its first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
Justice Mary Gaudron became the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia, appointed in 1987.
In 2011, the Australian Government agreed to the removal of gender restrictions from Australian Defence Force (ADF) combat roles.
Women can now work in any ADF position, including combat roles, provided they have the ability to meet all of the physical demands of the role.
Times have changed and today life is much fairer for all.
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Home Features Features Come Out With Pride Orlando: A Week of Events
Come Out With Pride Orlando: A Week of Events
This year’s Come Out with Pride Orlando celebrations, presented by Macy’s, started on October 1…
COME OUT WITH PRIDE ORLANDO
A WEEKEND PACKED WITH OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED EVENTS
by: Mike Halterman
This year’s Come Out with Pride Orlando celebrations, presented by Macy’s, started on October 1 with an appearance from filmmaker John Waters at The Abbey. There are many official events going on throughout Orlando coming up from this issue’s distribution date (Thursday, October 3) through to Sunday, October 6. Here are descriptions of Pride-sanctioned events.
Pride takes center stage at the opening ceremonies, which will be held at Cheyenne Saloon on
128 West Church Street. Out gay country singer Steve Grand (“All American Boy,” “Stay”, see his interview in this week’s Hotspots) will be performing for the crowds, and there will also be a performance by the cast of the musical Disenchanted!
Have you had a chance to experience Halloween Horror Nights? The Halloween-themed event at Universal Studios Florida is in its 23rd year, and this will be the second year that the LGBT community will be converging on the theme park to experience some good, scary fun. Be sure to wear purple like the others coming out with pride! Single admission tickets cost $39.99 and a special package, including single admission, a T-shirt, and drink tickets to Pride and Ember, are $55, and both can be purchased in advance at ComeOutWithPride.com. All proceeds go directly to benefit future Come Out with Pride celebrations.
Church Street Station will be hosting a Pride Outdoor Block Party, starting at 8 p.m. in front of Hamburger Mary’s. Martha Wash, formerly one half of The Weather Girls (“It’s Raining Men”), will be performing live on-stage. Other entertainment during the party will include the duo of Amy and Freddy, The Broadway Babes, DJ Bill Bennett, and DJ Kirk.
A 5k community run/walk, called Be the Change, will start on Magnolia Avenue near Lake Eola at 7:30 a.m. and will take participants through downtown Orlando. The walk/run is presented by Reeves United Methodist Church. Major thoroughfares included in the route include East Livingston Street, North Hampton Avenue, and East Central Boulevard.
Lake Eola hosts a day-long pride festival starting at noon. Over 150 vendors will be set up, showcasing their products and services. There will also be 10 full bars and six beer tents along the lake for your convenience. Live music will be playing on the main stage and throughout the park.
The pride parade starts at 4 p.m. The staging area will be along East Robinson Street, with the actual parade following the route down North Summerlin Avenue, East Central Boulevard and North Rosalind Avenue.
The fireworks presentation on the lake starts at 9 p.m. A twilight dinner, presented by BMO Harris Bank, John Michael Weddings and Events, and Barefoot Wine, will start for reserved ticketholders at 7 p.m. at the promenade on Central Avenue. There will also be a lakeside dance party, sponsored by One Magical Weekend and Hotspots Magazine, with music by DJ Scott Robert and the special dancing Riptide Boys. The dancing starts at 8 p.m. and continues on until 10 p.m. at Washington Plaza, to the right of the main stage.
After Pride, you have two officially sanctioned events as party options. The first is Mansion Escape, which starts at 10 p.m. at a secret waterfront mansion in Winter Park (you will be told of the venue and its location when you buy tickets). DJ Chris Cox, well-known for his remixes of Britney, Christina and Whitney, will be coming into town from Los Angeles to spin at the mansion. DJ Truelove will also be dropping those beats, coming in from Las Vegas for one of Orlando’s after-Pride parties. (Buy
tickets at MansionEscape.com.) The second is Parliament House’s Pride Dance Party, featuring Taylor Dayne, performing some of her hits such as “Tell It To My Heart,” “Love Will Lead You Back,” “Naked Without You,” “Prove Your Love,” and others. DJ Randy Bettis is in town from New York to get the crowds grooving, and he will be assisted by local DJ Brianna.
The official pride brunch, Sunday Funday, will start at 1 p.m. at Ember on 42 West Central Boulevard in downtown Orlando. There will be quite a few drink specials, in addition to such delicious food options as the world famous crab cakes benedict, cinnamon apple French toast, brunch flatbreads, entrée salads and a build-your-own-omelet option.
There are three extracurricular options for your Sunday: attending the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival (two options, 2 and 4 p.m.), boarding a shuttle to Kennedy Space Center for a tour (leaving 11 a.m. from Lake Eola Fifth Third Bank branch), or going to the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre in the evening to attend the special Come Out with Pride showing of Mamma Mia! at 6:30 p.m. Adult tickets for these events vary from $56 to $79 and you can purchase tickets for all three of these excursions at ComeOutWithPride.com.
https://www.facebook.com/comeoutwithpride
Previous articleThe 9th Annual Oakland Park Oktoberfest
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Miss Coco Peru Comes to the Sunshine Cathedral
Ian Maloney - March 8, 2017 0
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HARRIS COUNTY - HSA INSIDER
A weekly look at all things Houston sports from the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority: Halfway home at the rodeo
Seth Livingston
The Marlie McDonald interview was an early highlight. abc13.com
The Harris County – Houston Sports Authority Insider will take you inside Houston Sports each Friday because #WeAreHoustonSports!
We’re at the midway point for Rodeo Houston: 10 days down, 10 to go.
And, yes, there are times when it feels like all the days run together. The events that get the crowds going are the same events you see every performance. But even though those of us who do all 20 shows chuckle and say we feel like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day, there are moments every night that get you going.
For me, it’s just before they come to me for the intro for first event of the night: tie-down roping. As Boyd Polhamus, Bob Tallman and Andy Seiler welcome the crowd, I wait on the incredible new star stage, which is pushed back toward the ropers.
The Grand Entry wagons and riders circle the arena. The Star Spangled Banner echoes through NRG and the virtual flyover fighter jets race across the big screens. Then the lights go down and they crank up the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s theme song – Party With Your Boots On.
That’s when routine goes out the window. I get chills and goosebumps and I’m ready to go. It’s the adrenaline shot. It’s like chugging a Red Bull before the rodeo starts.
That’s always the moment for me. Every night.
What follows next is my introduction of one of the tie-down ropers. Each night I pick one and try to give the crowd a little insight into not only his accomplishments, but into his story. Maybe it’s something about his strategy, or his hometown – Fred Whitfield from Hockley, TX, or Richie Champion from The Woodlands. Or Tyson Durfey who wears pink because he’s trying to raise breast cancer awareness. It’s about telling the story, and helping the crowd trying to identify with these cowboys.
With that, the night is off and running.
Groundhog moments notwithstanding, there have been a lot of great moments in the first half of Rodeo so here are a few of my favorite moments thus far:
* Most people love the Mutton Bustin’ and always ask or comment about interviewing those five and six year old winners. Well, I love it. One of my favorite moments so far was interviewing the opening night winner – six-year-old Marlie McDonald, who stole the show with her curly red hair and dreams of saving the world as a spy.
* A few nights later, a little boy with little red glasses and little red tennis shoes was pretty precious, too. He said he practiced on his mom and used a blanket, but that kept slipping off. They tired a towel and that worked. When I asked him where he got his glasses, he looked at me and said, “at the prescription store of course!”
* The night Astros president Reid Ryan and Hall of Famer Craig Biggio rode into the arena and Reid had the World Series Trophy cradled in his right arm. Some folks were concerned about Reid carrying the trophy on horseback, but as the saying goes, “This wasn’t his first rodeo...” and he knew EXACTLY what he was doing! When Bob and Boyd announced that the World Series Trophy was in the house, the entire crowd erupted and went crazy.
* Later that same night, Craig came over and helped present the Mutton Bustin’ award. The little boy who won wants to be an Aggie baseball player when he grew up. I asked if he knew who that was kneeling next to him. He said no. The one kid who actually wanted to be a baseball player had no idea who Craig Biggio was. So I told him he was getting his buckle from perhaps one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His mom and dad appreciated the moment a lot more than he did!
* Now I’m not a huge country music fan, but opening night with Garth Brooks had more energy than any night I’d ever seen. One, it was opening night. Two, Garth Brooks hadn’t played at the Rodeo in years so the place was packed. They closed down gates and even people with (go everywhere) gold badges couldn’t get in. The usually late arriving crowd was in early, they were amped up, it was crazy and it was a great way to kick things off.
* The new stage has just been phenomenal and one of the highlights was on Black Heritage night with Leon Bridges. All five points on the star actually rise up, so it goes pretty high. The points have a tip on them and a guardrail. He was the first entertainer to take it up and actually utilize it. As cool as the stage has been and just watching it for the first time – the whole on countdown, the intro, the lights – everything is impressive. But to see Leon Bridges up there was really cool.
* On First Responders’ Night, Rascal Flatts did an incredibly emotional tribute recognizing hurricane Harvey and the efforts of the first responders. The first responders surrounded the stage and arena on the dirt and Rascal Flatts sang, showed videos, expressed their gratitude, and had tears in everyone’s eyes.
* And there’s one other favorite that really epitomizes what it’s like to work the Rodeo. It’s the Mares and Foals. It’s the second year for the generational presentation and it falls between the bull riding and calf scramble. They dim the lights and spotlight a 24 year-old mare, then introduce her daughter and the daughter’s daughter and, finally, a leggy foal who is the youngest in the line. They all run the arena floor together, and the crowd just eats it up. It’s all about family, just like the Rodeo itself. And it never gets old.
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This year’s budget day will be stripped of its traditional pageantry, with the king’s glass coach tour through the streets of The Hague and appearance on the balcony of Noordeinde palace cancelled because of coronavirus restrictions.
Tens of thousands of people traditionally come to The Hague on the third Tuesday in September to watch the ceremonies unfold that go with the official presentation of the budget on Prinsjesdag, which this year falls on the 15th.
The sight of the royal couple in their glass coach as they make their way from the palace to the parliament complex at the Binnenhof is particularly popular. Many take their place behind the gates of the palace early in the morning for the balcony scene, which takes place after the king delivers his speech from the throne.
There will ‘limited military ceremonial’ activity around the Noordeinde palace and the Grote Kerk but no members of the public will be allowed to attend, the mayor of The Hague, the chair of the Senate and the commander of the military police said in a joint statement.
It is the first time since the start of the tradition in 1904 that member of the public have been excluded from the events.
‘It’s a wonderful and festive day but it simply attracts too big a crowd,’ city mayor Jan van Zanen told broadcaster NOS. ‘It’s not safe so there’s was nothing for it but to cancel.’
Van Zanen said he did not believe people would be able to keep to the 1.5 metre social distance and it would be ‘impossible’ to police.
The speech itself has been moved from the Ridderzaal at the Binnenhof, which is too small for social distancing, to the Grote Kerk. The guest list has also been substantially shortened, the broadcaster said, with MPs’ partners, social organisations and diplomats having their invitations cancelled.
This is expected to impact severely on the number of extravagant outfits and hats which are a feature of the day. Chair of the Senate Jan Antonie Bruijn said the throne will be making the move to the Grote Kerk as well. ‘It’s going to be a special day,’ he said.
Source: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/07/prinsjesdag-festivities-cancelled-for-the-first-time-since-1904/
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