pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 68
1.02M
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__wiki
| 0.549503
| 0.549503
|
Adair, John G. 1984. “The Hawthorne Effect: A Reconsideration of the Methodological Artifact.” Journal of Applied Psychology 69 (2): 334–45. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.69.2.334.
Agresti, Alan. 1996. An Introduction to Categorical Data Analysis. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
———. 2013. Categorical Data Analysis. Third. Wiley.
Akaike, H. 1974. “A New Look at the Statistical Model Identification.” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 19 (6): 716–23. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.1974.1100705.
Anscombe, F. J. 1973. “Graphs in Statistical Analysis.” The American Statistician 27 (1): 17–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.1973.10478966.
Bickel, P. J., E. A. Hammel, and J. W. O’Connell. 1975. “Sex Bias in Graduate Admissions: Data from Berkeley.” Science 187 (4175): 398–404. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.187.4175.398.
Box, George E. P. 1976. “Science and Statistics.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 71 (356): 791–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1976.10480949.
Box, G. E. P. 1953. “Non-Normality and Tests on Variances.” Biometrika 40 (3/4): 318–35. https://doi.org/10.2307/2333350.
Box, Joan Fisher. 1987. “Guinness, Gosset, Fisher, and Small Samples.” Statistical Science 2 (1): 45–52. https://doi.org/10.1214/ss/1177013437.
Brown, Morton B., and Alan B. Forsythe. 1974. “Robust Tests for the Equality of Variances.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 69 (346): 364–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/2285659.
Campbell, Donald Thomas, and Julian Cecil Stanley. 1967. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. 2. print; Reprinted from "Handbook of research on teaching". Boston: Houghton Mifflin Comp.
Cochran, William G. 1952. “The \(X\)2 Test of Goodness of Fit.” The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 23 (3): 315–45.
Cohen, Jacob. 1988. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd ed. Hillsdale, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Cramer, Harald. 1999. Mathematical Methods of Statistics. 19. printing. Princeton Landmarks in Mathematics and Physics. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
Cronbach, Lee J. 1951. “Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests.” Psychometrika 16 (3): 297–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555.
Dunn, Olive Jean. 1961. “Multiple Comparisons Among Means.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 56 (293): 52–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1961.10482090.
Ellis, Paul D. 2010. The Essential Guide to Effect Sizes: Statistical Power, Meta-Analysis, and the Interpretation of Research Results. Cambridge University Press.
Evans, J. St. B. T., Julie L. Barston, and Paul Pollard. 1983. “On the Conflict Between Logic and Belief in Syllogistic Reasoning.” Memory & Cognition 11 (3): 295–306. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196976.
Everitt, Brian S. 1996. Making Sense of Statistics in Psychology: A Second-Level Course. Making Sense of Statistics in Psychology: A Second-Level Course. New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press.
Fisher, R. A. 1922. “On the Interpretation of \(X\)2 from Contingency Tables, and the Calculation of P.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 85 (1): 87–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/2340521.
Fox, John, and Sanford Weisberg. 2011. An R Companion to Applied Regression. 2nd Revised edition. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Gelman, Andrew, and Eric Loken. 2014. “The Statistical Crisis in Science.” American Scientist 102 (November): 460. https://doi.org/10.1511/2014.111.460.
Gelman, Andrew, and Hal Stern. 2006. “The Difference Between ‘Significant’ and ‘Not Significant’ Is Not Itself Statistically Significant.” The American Statistician 60 (4): 328–31. https://doi.org/10.1198/000313006X152649.
Geschwind, Norman. 1972. “Language and the Brain.” Scientific American 226 (4): 76–83.
Hedges, Larry V. 1981. “Distribution Theory for Glass’s Estimator of Effect Size and Related Estimators.” Journal of Educational Statistics 6 (2): 107–28. https://doi.org/10.3102/10769986006002107.
Hedges, Larry V., and Ingram Olkin. 2014. Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis. Academic Press.
Hewitt, Anthea K., David R. Foxcroft, and John MacDonald. 2004. “Multitrait-Multimethod Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Attributional Style Questionnaire.” Personality and Individual Differences 37 (7): 1483–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.02.005.
Hogg, Robert V., and Allen T. Craig. 2005. Introduction to Mathematical Statistics. 6th ed. New York: Pearson.
Holm, Sture. 1979. “A Simple Sequentially Rejective Multiple Test Procedure.” Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 6 (2): 65–70.
Hothersall, David. 2004. History of Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hsu, Jason. 1996. Multiple Comparisons: Theory and Methods. London: Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Ioannidis, John P A. 2005. “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” PLoS Medicine 2 (8): 6.
Jeffreys, Sir Harold. 1998. The Theory of Probability. Third Edition. Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Kahneman, Daniel, and Amos Tversky. 1973. “On the Psychology of Prediction.” Psychological Review 80 (4): 237–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034747.
Kass, Robert E., and Adrian E. Raftery. 1995. “Bayes Factors.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 90 (430): 773–95. https://doi.org/10.2307/2291091.
Keynes, John Maynard. 2009. A Tract on Monetary Reform. Place of publication not identified: WWW.Therichestmaninbabylon.Org.
Kruschke, John K. 2011. Doing Bayesian Data Analysis: A Tutorial with R and BUGS. Academic Press.
Kruskal, William H., and W. Allen Wallis. 1952. “Use of Ranks in One-Criterion Variance Analysis.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 47 (260): 583–621. https://doi.org/10.2307/2280779.
Kühberger, Anton, Astrid Fritz, and Thomas Scherndl. 2014. “Publication Bias in Psychology: A Diagnosis Based on the Correlation Between Effect Size and Sample Size.” PLOS ONE 9 (9): e105825. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0105825.
Larntz, Kinley. 1978. “Small-Sample Comparisons of Exact Levels for Chi-Squared Goodness-of-Fit Statistics.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 73 (362): 253–63. https://doi.org/10.2307/2286650.
Lee, Michael D., and Eric-Jan Wagenmakers. 2014. Bayesian Cognitive Modeling: A Practical Course. Cambridge University Press.
Lehmann, Erich L. 2011. Fisher, Neyman, and the Creation of Classical Statistics. New York: Springer-Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9500-1.
Levene, H. 1960. “Robust Tests for Equality of Variances.” In Contributions to Probability and Statistics: Essays in Honor of Harold Hotelling, edited by I. Oklin, Sudhish G. Ghurye, w; Hoeffding, W. G. Madow, and Henry B. Mann, 278–92. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
McGrath, Robert E., and Gregory J. Meyer. 2006. “When Effect Sizes Disagree: The Case of R and d.” Psychological Methods 11 (4): 386–401. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.11.4.386.
McNEMAR, Q. 1947. “Note on the Sampling Error of the Difference Between Correlated Proportions or Percentages.” Psychometrika 12 (2): 153–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02295996.
Meehl, Paul E. 1967. “Theory-Testing in Psychology and Physics: A Methodological Paradox.” Philosophy of Science 34 (2): 103–15.
Navarro, Daniel Joseph. 2014. Learning Statistics with R: A Tutorial for Psychology Students and Other Beginners. Université d’Adelaide,
Navarro, Danielle J, David R Foxcroft, and Thomas J Faulkenberry. 2019. Learning Statistics with JASP.
Pearson, Karl. 1900. “X. On the Criterion That a Given System of Deviations from the Probable in the Case of a Correlated System of Variables Is Such That It Can Be Reasonably Supposed to Have Arisen from Random Sampling.” The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 50 (302): 157–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786440009463897.
Peterson, Christopher, and Martin E P Seligman. 1984. “Causal Explanations as a Risk Factor for Depression: Theory and Evidence,” 28.
Pfungst, Oskar. 1911. Clever Hans (the Horse of Mr. Von Osten) a Contribution to Experimental Animal and Human Psychology, New York, H. Holt and company.
Sahai, Hardeo, and Mohammed I. Ageel. 2000. The Analysis of Variance: Fixed, Random and Mixed Models. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1344-4.
Shaffer, J P. 1995. “Multiple Hypothesis Testing.” Annual Review of Psychology 46 (1): 561–84. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.46.020195.003021.
Shapiro, S. S., and M. B. Wilk. 1965. “An Analysis of Variance Test for Normality (Complete Samples).” Biometrika 52 (3/4): 591–611. https://doi.org/10.2307/2333709.
Stigler, Sm. 1986. The History of Statistics the Measurement of Uncertainty Before 1900. Reprint. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Student, A. 1908. “The Probable Error of a Mean.” Biometrika 6 (1): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/6.1.1.
Welch, B. L. 1947. “The Generalisation of Student’s Problems When Several Different Population Variances Are Involved.” Biometrika 34 (1-2): 28–35. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/34.1-2.28.
———. 1951. “On the Comparison of Several Mean Values: An Alternative Approach.” Biometrika 38 (3/4): 330–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/2332579.
Wilkinson, Leland. 2005. The Grammar of Graphics. Second. Statistics and Computing. New York: Springer-Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-28695-0.
Yates, F. 1934. “Contingency Tables Involving Small Numbers and the \(X\)2 Test.” Supplement to the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 1 (2): 217–35. https://doi.org/10.2307/2983604.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line549
|
__label__wiki
| 0.650842
| 0.650842
|
‘Beware the robots,’ chief justice tells high school graduates
‘Beware the robots,’ chief justice tells…
Posted June 8, 2018, 4:10 pm CDT
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. advised high school graduates on Thursday near the nation’s capital to be aware how artificial intelligence and “big data” can change perception.
In other words, “beware the robots,” Roberts said in a speech to graduates of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school in Bethesda, Maryland. Roberts’ daughter, Josie, was among those graduating. USA Today covered the speech, while How Appealing links to a YouTube video.
“My worry is not that machines will start thinking like us,” Roberts said. “I worry that we will start thinking like machines.”
Roberts also said private companies use artificial intelligence to “tell you what to read, to watch and listen to, based on what you’ve read, watched and listened to.” Those suggestions can narrow and oversimplify information, stifling individuality and creativity, he said.
Roberts said machines can advise lawmakers about the views of their constituents and how best to appeal to them. “Any politician would find it very difficult not to shape his or her message to what constituents want to hear,” Roberts said. “Artificial intelligence can change leaders into followers.”
The remedy is to use real intelligence—meaning thinking rather than gathering more information, Roberts said.
Roberts advised the graduates to set aside some time each day to reflect. “Do not read more, do not research more, do not take notes,” he said. “Put aside books, papers, computers, telephones. Sit, perhaps just for a half hour, and think about what you’re learning. Acquiring more information is less important than thinking about the information you have.”
Roberts also told the graduates not to stress about decisions because sometimes life changes from twists of fate. The United States is founded on the pursuit of happiness, he said, and the graduates “have a patriotic duty to be happy.”
Roberts began his speech by saying he was given only 10 minutes for his address. He asked how he can possibly communicate all the wisdom he has acquired in a 10-minute period.
The answer, he quipped, was, “Speak very slowly.”
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line550
|
__label__wiki
| 0.624472
| 0.624472
|
NFL Plans In Texas For This Year’s Upcoming Season
Mark Cunningham
Doug Pensinger
COVID-19 has done quite the number on America this year. We have to wear masks in stores, restaurants - if they've opened back up - are operating at much lower capacities, Zoom and other virtual conference services have become the norm...and I could go on.
But, a truly eye-opening change has come across the sports world. The MLB is playing a much shorter schedule, with no fans in attendance. The NBA is also playing a much shorter season with every game taking place at Disney World in Florida. There will also be no fans in attendance at these games.
So then, the question becomes: What are the plans for the NFL? ESPN answered that question this morning. Instead of going through all 32 teams and their COVID-19 plans, I'll just focus on our two local teams here in Texas. Also, keep in mind that these are the plans IF the NFL decided to allow any fans at all into the stadiums.
Houston Texans:
NRG Stadium in Houston holds just over 72,000 people, when it's at full-capacity. If they go strictly off of Governor Gregg Abbott's order for 50% capacity, that would drop it down to 36,000. However, if you check out the article, it says that they will be limiting attendance to about 14,000 seats, which means about 19% capacity. Plus, the seats in the first eight rows of the seats won't be sold.
Dallas Cowboys:
AT&T Stadium in Arlington holds 80,000 people at max capacity. According to the ESPN article, they plan to have fans at the games, but haven't released any exact numbers, much like the rest of the league. The did say that Dallas will not be using field suites and, just like in Houston, the first eight rows of seats will not be sold. In addition to these changes, Dallas did cancel all season tickets for this season. They've given the ticket holders the option to buy tickets on a per-game basis, and choose to get a refund or use that money towards next year's season tickets.
These are just the Texas teams, but the other NFL teams are facing these same challenges, with some teams already saying that fans aren't permitted in the stadiums. This year continues to be a year of firsts, but I'm ready to see things move back to normal...
You can read the full article from ESPN here.
Filed Under: attendance, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Fans, football, nfl
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line552
|
__label__wiki
| 0.773653
| 0.773653
|
Start Making Sense
Trump Watch
Jon Wiener
on the radio – and in print
How Abortion Rights Triumphed in Ireland: Katha Pollitt; plus Wendy Pearlman on Syrian Refugees and Tom Engelhardt on ‘America’s Empire of Nothing’
Everyone said the Irish vote on abortion would be close – but 66 per cent voted “yes” last Friday, including a majority of men, and a majority of every age group except those over 65. Katha Pollitt was there – she reports on the campaign, and the victory celebrations.
Also: the American military is the most massive, the most technologically advanced, and the best-funded fighting force in the world — but in the last fifteen years of constant war it has won nothing. Tom Engelhardt comments; he’s the legendary editor who created and runs the TomDispatch website, and his new book is “A Nation Unmade by War.”
Plus: Trump and Syrian refugees: During Obama’s last year, about 10,000 were admitted to the US; so far this year, the number is eleven. Wendy Pearlman explains – she interviewed hundreds of Syrian refugees across the Middle East and Europe. Her new book is “We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria.” 5/30/18
“Start Making Sense” is The Nation magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Jon Wiener. It’s political talk without the boring parts.
New episodes posted every Thursday morning. More info at https://www.thenation.com/authors/start-making-sense/.
Listen or Subscribe to “Start Making Sense”:
© 2021 Jon Wiener.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line561
|
__label__cc
| 0.682436
| 0.317564
|
Multi-media Resources
Movies (ZionTube)
Scripture Resources
Papers & Articles
LDS Answers
Learn about Joseph Smith
How to join Raising the Bar
Raising the Bar Events
Foundational Zion Standards Training Modules
02) OFFICIAL POSITION: Does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have an official position regarding the theory of organic evolution?
ZionTube
Guardians of an Altar
Try these: joseph smithfree moviesfaith crisishomeschool
faqs August 28, 2012 FAQs, Science (FAQs)No comments
Author: James F. Stoddard III and L. Hannah Stoddard
Please see Gary Shapiro’s excellent blog for additional information on this topic.
Doctrine for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not for any individual to declare apart from the President of the Church. Therefore this website makes no attempt to declare the position of the Church, but rather to make resources available to individuals who desire to know the mind of the Lord as declared by prophets on this vital subject. There are many statements which are included in the scriptures and which have been made by the Presidents and the First Presidency of the Church. Some of these have been compiled here.
The February 2002 Ensign seems to make it very clear what the official position of the Church is on evolution. In this issue the 1909 First Presidency statement on organic evolution was reprinted with this header:
“In the early 1900s, questions concerning the Creation of the earth and the theories of evolution became the subject of much public discussion. In the midst of these controversies, the First Presidency issued the following in 1909, which expresses the Church’s doctrinal position on these matters. A reprinting of this important First Presidency statement will be helpful as members of the Church study the Old Testament this year.”
This First Presidency Message was given in response to the events surrounding the one hundred year anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 1809. One such event occurred on June 22, 1909. After two years of preparation, scholars and dignitaries met for a three-day celebration at Cambridge University to honor the centennial of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin. During these proceedings, presentations were delivered from leading delegates of prestigious universities, colleges and academies. The presentations focused on Darwin’s life, thought and rapidly growing influence in the world, both in scientific and in religious thought. These are excerpts from one of the presentations given at this commemoration:
“Darwin felt to the full all the ignorance that lay hidden under specious phrases like ‘The Plan of Creation.'”
“It is interesting to note that the very word ‘Creator’ has nowadays almost passed into the region of mythology.”
” . . . The Temptation . . . The confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel . . . The doctrine of Original Sin . . . The Virgin Birth . . . Vicarious Atonement, and the Resurrection . . .”
“It is hard for the present generation, unless their breeding has been singularly archaic, to realize that these amazing doctrines were literally held and believed . . .”
“It is the doctrine of evolution that has made this outlook possible and even necessary.”
Darwin’s work was quickly becoming a standard in biology, anthropology, geology and other branches of science. Additionally, these concepts were increasingly being applied to history, theology, philosophy and other social sciences.
At the time of the 1909 anniversary of Charles Darwin, President Joseph F. Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency felt concern with the acceptance of evolutionary thought which clearly opposed the teachings found in the scriptures. The 1909 Presidency statement referenced above was their response. This statement proclaims clearly that the evolutionary assumptions that man descended from a lower order of animals and is not the physical descendant of God are “the theories of men” and that the truth on these matters can only be known by the Lord through revelation.
“Man, by searching, cannot find out God. Never, unaided, will he discover the truth about the beginning of human life. The Lord must reveal Himself or remain unrevealed; and the same is true of the facts relating to the origin of Adam’s race—God alone can reveal them.”3
This message also teaches that “it is our duty” to receive what the Lord has revealed on this subject. What has the Lord revealed? It is surprising the breadth and depth of revelation that has been given. In this referenced 1909 Presidency statement the truth about the origin of man and this earth is clear:
“It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was ‘the first man of all men’ Moses 1:34.”
In other words, the philosophy that man descended from lower forms of life is one of the false theories of men. Opposing this worldly wisdom is the pronouncement of prophets that man is a child of God, both directly in the spirit body and lineally through the physical body.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.” “
The word of the Lord is very clear and unmistakable. Also, note that this Presidency message is in perfect harmony with the other statements made by Presidents of the Church before and since. The one person on earth possessing the keys to declare doctrine for the Church is the President of the Church. Note these words from President Ezra Taft Benson:
“As a Church we sing the song, ‘We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet.’ Here then is the grand key: follow the prophet. And here now are fourteen fundamentals in following the prophet, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
First: The prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything. In section 132, verse 7, of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord speaks of the Prophet–the President–and says: “There is never but one on the earth at a time on whom his power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred.” Then in section 21, verses 4-6, the Lord states: Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
Did you hear what the Lord said about the words of the prophet? We are to ‘give heed unto all his words’–as if from the Lord’s ‘own mouth.’ “
President Benson noted the importance of giving heed to the words of the Presidents of the Church. At times it is inferred that unless something is stated in an official First Presidency message there is no need to heed the words or take them seriously. If this is the case why even attend general conference. Official proclamations and statements are rare. If that is all that should be considered why does the President speak at all? The true doctrine was declared by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants.
“And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.” D&C 68:4
The Lord here declares that the test of his word is that it is declared by His Spirit. This places the responsibility upon the individual to live in tune with the Spirit to know that the Lord is speaking through His appointed servants.
Another test is the Law of Witnesses. When Prophets speak, their word is generally accompanied by witnesses. President Joseph Fielding Smith testified:
“The Lord says: ‘Wo be unto him that rejecteth the word of God’ –as it comes to us through two, three, or eight witnesses. And that witness will stand against the world at the last day . . .”
This FAQ compilation contains the combined witnesses of nearly every President of the Church in this dispensation as to the danger and error in believing in and promoting the false principles in Darwinian evolution. If woes are pronounced upon those who reject the witness of two or three, what is the standing of those rejecting more than a dozen?
In addition to the First Presidency statements, the words of the Brethren as they speak while moved upon by the Holy Ghost and the testimony of combined witnesses, we also have the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. The scriptures are the foundation for doctrine in the Church, not the opinions of any man. The Lord declared:
“Thou shalt take the things which thou hast received, which have been given unto thee in my scriptures for a law, to be my law to govern my church.” D&C 42:59
The scriptures are the foundation for doctrine. When the scripture committee, headed by Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer and Bruce R. McConkie completed the new edition of the scriptures it contained this passage under the Fall of Adam:
Fall of Adam
The process by which mankind became mortal on this earth. The event is recorded in Genesis 2, 3, 4 ; and Moses 3, 4 . The fall of Adam is one of the most important occurrences in the history of man. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had physical bodies but no blood. There was no sin, no death, and no children among any of the earthly creations. With the eating of the “forbidden fruit,” Adam and Eve became mortal, sin entered, blood formed in their bodies, and death became a part of life. Adam became the “first flesh” upon the earth (Moses 3:7 ), meaning that he and Eve were the first to become mortal. After Adam fell, the whole creation fell and became mortal. Adam’s fall brought both physical and spiritual death into the world upon all mankind (Helaman 14:16-17 ).
The fall was no surprise to the Lord. It was a necessary step in the progress of man, and provisions for a Savior had been made even before the fall had occurred. Jesus Christ came to atone for the fall of Adam and also for man’s individual sins.
Latter-day revelation supports the biblical account of the fall, showing that it was a historical event that literally occurred in the history of man. Many points in latter-day revelation are also clarified that are not discernible from the Bible. Among other things it makes clear that the fall is a blessing, and that Adam and Eve should be honored in their station as the first parents of the earth. Significant references are 2 Nephi 2:15-16 ; 2 Nephi 9:6-21 ; Mosiah 3:11-16 ; Alma 22:12-14 ; Alma 42:2-15 ; D&C 29:34-44 ; Moses 5:9-13 .
While the Bible Dictionary is not “canon,” this passage sums up what the scriptures teach about the true origin of man and the beginning of life on this earth. The scriptures are the word of the Lord and can be trusted. Please see the introduction to this compilation for emphasis of this truth. The scriptures contain the doctrine of this Church. Another passage in the Bible Dictionary adds more emphasis to the doctrine that there was no death on this earth prior to the Fall:
Two kinds of death are spoken of in the scriptures. One is the death of the body, which is caused by the separation of the body from the spirit; i.e., “The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2: 26 ). The other is spiritual death, which is to die as pertaining to, or to be separated from, righteousness – to be alienated from the things of God (Alma 12: 16, 32 ; Alma 40: 26 ). Both of these deaths were introduced into the world by the fall of Adam.
Latter-day revelation teaches that there was no death on this earth for any forms of life before the fall of Adam. Indeed, death entered the world as a direct result of the fall (2 Ne. 2: 22 ; Moses 6: 48 ).
The scriptures truly cut through the wiles of the devil and the false philosophies found in the world today. The Bible Dictionary also teaches that Adam was the first man and that he spoke with a perfect language:
The name Adam is given to the first man of the human family on this earth as cited in the account of the creation in the books of Genesis, Moses, and Abraham, and in many instances in the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. From these scriptures we learn that Adam is the father and patriarch of the human race on the earth.
From latter-day revelation we learn that Adam had a pure and perfect language that was both written and spoken (Moses 6: 5-6 );
In addition to the scriptures clarifying the truth that Adam lived as a real person and was involved in a literal Fall rather than developing from lower forms, the scriptures also clarify the reality of Eve:
The name given in Genesis 2: 21-22 ; Genesis 3: 20 to the first woman; see also Genesis 3 (cf. 2 Corinthians 11: 3 ; 1 Timothy 2: 13 ); Genesis 4: 1, 25 . The name means “the mother of all living” (Moses 4: 26 ; cf. 1 Ne. 5: 11 ). She was the wife of Adam and will share eternal glory with him. Eve’s recognition of the necessity of the fall and the joys of redemption is recorded in Moses 5: 11 . Latter-day revelation confirms the biblical account of Eve and gives us an awareness of her nobility.
Each of these scripture chains entirely refute Darwinism and the so called “facts” sometimes portrayed as modern science. The reference under Genesis also adds further weight to the truth of these doctrines:
A Greek word meaning origin or beginning. In the book of Genesis we find an account of many beginnings, such as the creation of the earth, the placing of animals and man thereon, the introduction of sin, the revelation of the gospel to Adam, the beginning of tribes and races, the origin of various languages at Babel, . . .
1. Adam (chs. 1 – 3 ). The creation and early history of the world; all mankind as yet one family.
2. Noah (chs. 4 – 9). The line of Cain branching off; while the history follows the fortune of Seth, whose descendants are traced in genealogical succession as far as Noah, whose history is followed up to his death.
3. Abraham. (a) The peopling of the whole earth by the descendants of Noah’s sons and the diffusion of tongues at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9 ).
Darwinists and Neo-Darwinists mock all of these literal occurrences. They ridicule the Creation by God, the literal Fall, the perfect language of Adam revealed by God, the literal universal Flood and the peopling of the entire earth by only eight souls after this worldwide Flood. The common thread of Darwinism is a rejection of these foundations in scripture. For evidence of this, search these blogs and links:
http://sciencebysteve.net/
Click to access evolution.pdf
http://mormonevolution.blogspot.com/
http://evolution.nfshost.com/
http://en.fairmormon.org/Death_before_the_Fall
http://en.fairmormon.org/Global_or_local_Flood
http://en.fairmormon.org/Procreation_before_the_Fall
http://eyring.hplx.net/Eyring/faq/evolution/Jeffery-SSE.html
http://www.dhbailey.com/papers/
Again the common thread of all of these writings is a rejection of the clear scriptural teachings and witnesses of the Prophets of God. Regardless of the number of individuals who fight against the word of God, President Joseph Fielding Smith taught this clear principle:
“It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man’s doctrine.”
Is the true testimony of this work in the fact that all of the above prophetic witnesses are in perfect harmony on this subject?
Prophetic Statements
Note: All statements in this section were given by Presidents of the Church while serving in that office. This is not an exhaustive list, but contains a sampling of selections.
First Presidency
View the 1909 First Presidency Message.
“Our father Adam—that is our earthly father—the progenitor of the human race of man, stands at the head being ‘Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days,’ and…was not fashioned from earth like an adobe but begotten by his Father in Heaven.” President Joseph F. Smith, President Anthon H. Lund, and President Charles W. Penrose.10
“Man, by searching, cannot find out God. Never, unaided, will he discover the truth about the beginning of human life. The Lord must reveal Himself or remain unrevealed; and the same is true of the facts relating to the origin of Adam’s race—God alone can reveal them.” 11
“It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was ‘the first man of all men’ Moses 1:34.”13
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.”15
“In the early 1900s, questions concerning the Creation of the earth and the theories of evolution became the subject of much public discussion. In the midst of these controversies, the First Presidency issued the following in 1909, which expresses the Church’s doctrinal position on these matters. A reprinting of this important First Presidency statement will be helpful as members of the Church study the Old Testament this year.”17
“… the voice of reason, the language of inspiration, and the Spirit of the living God, our Creator, teaches us, as we hold the record of truth in our hands, that this [that mortality is the only life] is not the case, that this is not so; for, the heavens declare the glory of a God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork; and a moment’s reflection is sufficient to teach every man of common intelligence, that all these are not the mere production of chance, nor could they be supported by any power less than an Almighty hand; and He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God’s own handwriting in the sacred volume: and he who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know the hand wherever he can see it; and when once discovered, it will not only receive an acknowledgment, but an obedience to all its heavenly precepts.”18
“The world has had a fair trial for six thousand years; the Lord will try the seventh thousand Himself;”19
“God has made certain decrees which are fixed and immovable; for instance—God set the sun, the moon and the stars in the heavens, and gave them their laws conditions and bounds, which they cannot pass, except by his commandments; they all move in perfect harmony in their sphere and order, and are as lights, wonders, and signs unto us. The sea also has its bounds which it cannot pass. God has set many signs on the earth, as well as in the heavens; for instance, the oak of the forest, the fruit of the tree, the herb of the field—all bear a sign that seed hath been planted there; for it is a decree of the Lord that every tree, plant, and herb bearing seed should bring forth of its kind, and cannot come forth after any other law or principle.”20.
“The Priesthood was first given to Adam. . . . He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed, as in Genesis 1:26, 27, 28 . He had dominion given him over every living creature. . . . Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of days; he means the oldest man, our Father Adam, Michael, he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He (Adam) is the father of the human family, and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council. . . . Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family.
The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal; and earth, water, etc., had their existence in an elementary state, from eternity. . . . The Father called all spirits before Him at the creation of man, and organized them. He (Adam) is the head, and was told to multiply. The keys were first given to him, and by him to others. He will have to give an account of his stewardship, and they to him.”21
“He [Joseph Smith] taught us that God was the great head of human procreation, was really and truly the father of both our spirits and our bodies; that we were but parts of a great whole, mutually and equally dependent upon each other, according to conditions. And in our love of God we show, as do the members of our bodies, a greater love and protection for our head.
You will not forget that the march in science has in many things reversed the world’s thought, changed its “modus” and almost its face, and in fact, exploded the dogmas of outside theology. The keys to all this knowledge were first committed to the Prophet Joseph, as a part of the gospel, for the world’s benefit, for all of which he was derided. He was the first to teach in this age “substantialism,” the eternity of matter, that no part or particle of the great universe could become annihilated or destroyed; that light and life and spirit were one; that all light and heat are the “glory of God,” which is His power, that fills the “immensity of space,” and is the life of all things, and permeates with latent life, and heat, every particle of which all worlds are composed; that light or spirit, and gross matter, are the two first great primary principles of the universe, or of being; that they are self-existent, co-existent, indestructible, and eternal, and from these two elements both our spirits and our bodies were formulated.
He taught that all systems or worlds were in revolution, the lesser around the greater. He taught that all the animal kingdoms would be resurrected, and made us understand that they would remain in the dominion of those who, with creative power, reach out for dominion, through the power of eternal lives.” 22
“How often we hear men philosophize about what would have been suppose we had not been here, and suppose the earth had not been made, and suppose Adam had not come into the garden of Eden, and suppose he had not sinned, what would have been the condition of the world! Always arguing from false premises, and on a false foundation. Facts are facts, and we might as well argue that there is not a railway across this continent to carry the people and goods as to argue that Adam was not in the garden of Eden, that he did not fall, that sin is not in the world or that Jesus is not the Christ. The negative of these propositions is hard to prove, but the affirmative is easy to prove and comprehend, and easy to understand and live by.” 23
“In the infancy of creation the human family commenced down at the bottom of the ladder, and had to make their way upward. How small and frail that commencement looks now; why it is considered almost beneath the notice of the wise of this day to talk of the intelligence of our First Parents. When they waked from their sleep and found themselves in a state of nudity, we are told that they hid themselves, because they were ashamed and mortified and did not wish to expose themselves when the Lord came along And he picked some fig leaves—what a simple idea! He picked some fig leaves and sewed them together and made aprons of them. I do not know whether he used scissors or His penknife for the cutting out of the garments, or what kind of a needle and thread He used, but he made aprons for the whole human family—Adam and Eve! What a simple idea! It is beneath the notice of the mechanic or artist, or the science of the world now-a-days. Yet simple as it seems now, the Lord had to reveal to our first parents the modus operandi of the manufacture of an apron of fig leaves. And when they wanted a little copper made up, after having found the ore, the Lord had to come along and show them how to do it; and how to manufacture the iron. How simple this is! It is beneath the notice of the intelligence and science that are in the world now; the scientific men of the present time say those were the days of ignorance. Yes, that was in the period of the childhood of the human family, in the infancy of the world. But what does it manifest unto us? Why that there is a Being superior to man, and though we may not know the place where He resides, He has come along occasionally and shown His creatures how to make and work up brass, iron, copper, and in fact has revealed to them everything they know at various stages of their development and progress.
The people of this day think they know more than all who have preceded them—that this is the wisest generation that ever did live on the earth. Perhaps it is in worldly things, and in some of the arts and sciences it may be; but there is no question that many things of great worth known anciently have been lost. Archaeological developments and investigations bring to light facts in the mechanical arts which set at defiance the skill of the world in our day. For instance, where is the mechanic now, who can sharpen copper so that it would shave the beard from a man’s face, or chop timber like an axe made of steel? The skill to do that is not in existence now; yet it once was, and many other arts, revealed to man anciently, have been lost through the wickedness of the people.”24
A false principle, a false theory, whether in mechanism or philosophy, requires much argument and superior talent to sustain it, but when the truth is presented it commends itself to the understanding of the people so readily that it requires no great amount of learning to substantiate it, nor much skill to declare it to the honest who want truth, and it remains firm and sound.25
All the works of God connected with the world which we inhabit, and with all other worlds, are strictly governed by law…the animal and vegetable creations are governed by certain laws, and are composed of certain elements peculiar to themselves. This applies to man, to the beasts, fowls, fish and creeping things, to the insects and to all animated nature; each one possessing its own distinctive features, each requiring a specific sustenance, each having an organism and faculties governed by prescribed laws to perpetuate its own kind. So accurate is the formation of the various living creatures that an intelligent student of nature can tell by any particular bone of the skeleton of an animal to what class or order it belongs.
These principles do not change, as represented by evolutionists of the Darwinian school, but the primitive organisms of all living beings exist in the same form as when they first received their impress from their Maker. There are, indeed, some very slight exceptions, as for instance, the ass may mix with the mare and produce the mule; but there it ends, the violation of the laws of procreation receives a check, and its operations can go no further. Similar compounds may possibly be made by experimentalists in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, but the original elements remain the same. Yet this is not the normal, but an abnormal condition with them, as with animals, birds, etc.; and if we take man, he is said to have been made in the image of God, for the simple reason that he is a son of God; and being His son, he is, of course, His offspring, an emanation from God, in whose likeness, we are told, he is made. He did not originate from a chaotic mass of matter, moving or inert, but came forth possessing, in an embryotic state, all the faculties and powers of a God. And when he shall be perfected, and have progressed to maturity, he will be like his Father—a God; being indeed His offspring. As the horse, the ox, the sheep, and every living creature, including man, propagates its own species and perpetuates its own kind, so does God perpetuate His.26
We acknowledge that through Adam all have died, that death through the fall must pass upon the whole human family, also upon the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and all the works of God, as far as this earth is concerned. It is a law that is unchangeable and irrevocable…The Savior himself tasted of death; He died to redeem the world; His body was laid in the tomb, but it did not see corruption; and after three days it arose from the grave and put on immortality. He was the first fruit of the resurrection.27
I believe that we are the sons and daughters of God, and that He has bestowed upon us the capacity for infinite wisdom and knowledge, because He has given us a portion of Himself. We are told that we were made in His own image, and we find that there is a character of immortality in the soul of man. There is a spiritual organism within this tabernacle, and that spiritual organism has a divinity in itself, though perhaps in an infantile state; but it has within itself the capability of improving and advancing, as the infant that receives sustenance from its mother. Though the infant may be very ignorant, yet there are possibilities in it that by passing through the various ordeals of childhood to maturity enable it to rise to a superiority that is perfectly marvelous, compared with its infantile ignorance. Why and how is it that this is accomplished? Because it possesses the susceptibilities and the capabilities of its father. So in regard to ourselves. There is a divinity within ourselves that is immortal and never dies. Thousands and thousands of years hence we will be ourselves, and nobody else, so far as our individuality is concerned. That never dies from all eternity to all eternity.28.
God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son…cannot be any other than themselves. They cannot be changed; they are from everlasting to everlasting, eternally the same; so it will be with us. We will progress and develop and grow in wisdom and understanding, but our identity can never change. We did not spring from spawn. Our spirits existed from the beginning, have existed always, and will continue forever. We did not pass through the ordeals of embodiment in the lesser animals in order to reach the perfection to which we have attained in manhood and womanhood, in the image and likeness of God. God was and is our Father, and his children were begotten in the flesh of his own image and likeness, male and female. There may have been times when they did not possess the same intelligence that they possessed at other times. There are periods in the history of the world when men have dwindled into ignorance and barbarism, and then there were other times when they have grown in intelligence, developed in understanding, enlarged in spirit and comprehension, approaching nearer to the condition and likeness of their Father and God.29
Note: President Heber J. Grant issued an official First Presidency Message in 1925 entitled, “Mormon View of Evolution.” To view, [click here].
The Holy Bible contains the advice of our Heavenly Father, and I accept without mental reservation the statements made in Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and every living thing that has inhabited the earth, including man.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. (Genesis 1:27, 28)
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. (Genesis 2:4, 5)
This was all a spiritual creation. Then follows the physical creation.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
It was in the plan of our Heavenly Father that every living thing that he created should each reproduce after its kind. Adam and Eve were the children of God; they were our first parents, and every human being that has lived upon the earth descended from them. God gave them their agency to decide for themselves in all matters and held them responsible for their conduct. They received their instructions in the Garden of Eden from our Heavenly Father and those teachings were preserved for succeeding generations.30
I said to a man one day, ‘You can find out all about your ancestors if you will go with me to the Genealogical Library.’ He said, ‘I don’t want to know anything about them.’ I wouldn’t either if I thought my ancestors could be traced back to an orangutan or a baboon. But like William Jennings Bryan [stated], ‘Those who have any pride in that kind of ancestry will not connect me with their family tree.”31.
Note: This first quote was given by President Smith at the General Conference in October 1925. This immediately followed the Scopes Trial and President Smith’s remarks accompanied the things President Heber J. Grant said in the same conference about William Jennings Bryan. Here is what President Smith taught:
Man did not come from a lower order of life. I am grateful that in the midst of the confusion of our Father’s children there has been given to the members of this great organization a sure knowledge of the origin of man, that we came from the spirit world where our spirits were begotten by our Father in Heaven, that he formed our first parents from the dust of the earth, and that their spirits were placed in their bodies, and that man came, not as some have believed, not as some have preferred to believe, from some of the lower walks of life, but our ancestors were those beings who lived in the courts of heaven. We came not from some menial order of life, but our ancestor is God our Heavenly Father. I am grateful that we are not laboring under a handicap such as I feel that some men are who feel that they have grown up and evolved from some unknown condition; but, on the contrary, standing as we do, facing the problems of life, believing as we do that we were first created in the image of God.”32
(Comments in response to the Scopes Monkey Trial) Man did not come from a lower order of life. I am grateful that in the midst of the confusion of our Father’s children there has been given to the members of this great organization a sure knowledge of the origin of man, that we came from the spirit world where our spirits were begotten by our Father in Heaven, that he formed our first parents from the dust of the earth, and that their spirits were placed in their bodies, and that man came, not as some have believed, not as some have preferred to believe, from some of the lower walks of life, but our ancestors were those beings who lived in the courts of heaven. We came not from some menial order of life, but our ancestor is God our Heavenly Father. I am grateful that we are not laboring under a handicap such as I feel that some men are who feel that they have grown up and evolved from some unknown condition; but, on the contrary, standing as we do, facing the problems of life, believing as we do that we were first created in the image of God.33
David O. McKay
Youth need religion to comply properly with the purposes of creation. There is a purposeful design permeating all nature, the crowning event of which is man. Here, on this thought, science again leads the student up to a certain point, and sometimes leaves him with his soul unanchored. For example, evolution’s theory of the creation of the world offers many perplexing problems to the inquiring mind. Inevitably, a teacher who denies divine agency in creation, who insists that there is no intelligent purpose in it, undoubtedly impresses the student with the thought that all may be chance. I say that no youth should be left without a counterbalancing thought.34
There is a perpetual design permeating all purposes of creation. On this thought, science again leads the student up to a certain point, and sometimes leaves him with his soul unanchored. Miliken is right when he says “science without religion obviously may become a curse rather than a blessing to mankind; but science dominated by the spirit of religion is the key to progress and the hope for the future. ” For example, evolution’s *beautiful theory of the creation of the world offers many perplexing problems to the inquiring mind. Inevitably a teacher who denies divine agency in creation, who insists that there is no intelligent purpose in it, will impress the student with the thought that all may be chance. I say that no youth should be so left without a counterbalancing thought…
…In the Brigham Young University and every other Church school the teacher can say “God is at the helm.” God is the Creator of the earth. He is the Father of our souls and spirits. No question about it. You have your testimony (if you haven’t you shouldn’t be on the faculty) that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, and the purpose of Creation is theirs…
…The world needs religion, TRUE religion. It’s the world’s greatest need, and the responsibility of proclaiming that need and supply it rests upon The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and every student in the Brigham Young University should be imbued with that truth, and be inspired with a desire to proclaim it. God help us to teach the true religion as revealed in this dispensation by the Lord Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith.35
President McKay did not use the word “beautiful” when repeating this statement in General Conference raising question of the accuracy of this transcript. Additionally, the word “beautiful” does not seem to flow with the surrounding context.
As President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Joseph Fielding Smith said: “What I have taught and written in the past I would teach and write again under the same circumstances.”36
The following statements were given before his service as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, yet they are included here because of the above statement as well as the fact that Selections from Answers to Gospel Questions [Salt Lake City: The First Presidency, 1972] was the 1972-73 Melchizedek Priesthood manual while Joseph Fielding Smith was serving as President of the Church.
We now come to this vital point. My fellow believers in the mission of Jesus Christ, in Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Gospel, as I have said, you are entitled through faithfully keeping the commandments of the Lord, to individual guidance. It is your right under these conditions to know the truth which makes us free. You cannot be a true member of the Church and reject Jesus Christ. You cannot be a faithful member and reject the scriptures—Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price—for these are the standards of our faith. If you accept them you cannot accept organic evolution, for they are diametrically opposed.37
These theories [of organic evolution] taught in our schools should be taught only as theories for they can be nothing more. Unfortunately as previously said, they are presented by many instructors as though they were well established facts, with a positive assurance that belongs only to established truth. Between belief in God and the fact that he has directed and does direct his servants by revelation, vision, and personal visitation, and the theories based on organic evolution, there is a gulf that can never be bridged. These theories are man-made deductions but the testimony of the prophets are actual facts, attested by sufficient witnesses, according to the decree of the Almighty, and thus it becomes incumbent upon every soul unto whom these testimonies come to carefully weigh them in the spirit of humility and prayer by which the knowledge of the truth may be received, and then accepted.38
. . . so they guess that once many millions of years ago, life must have come on the earth spontaneously. They have no proof, they can discover no proof, and before any court where justice is dispensed and evidence is required, their case would have to be thrown out of court. In all seriousness, their case has been thrown out of court before the Just Judge who rules both on earth and in the heavens; and the day is not far distant when the advocates of this pernicious doctrine will have to answer for the countless souls they have blinded by their craftiness and turned away from worshiping the Living God!39
I repeat that if the doctrine of organic evolution were based in truth, there would be no need to search the world over for the remains of “missing links.” The world would be full of them. They would be walking our streets, and as William Jennings Bryan has said, the hypothesis of evolution “would find support on every foot of the earth’s surface.” As it is, the advocates of this pernicious theory go to the most ridiculous lengths and resort to the most absurd conclusions based on imaginary discoveries and fables. They are possessed with imaginary minds and when the facts fail them, as the facts always do, they can create species and groups and supply missing parts which in their imaginations disappeared millions of years ago.
It is unnecessary to continue this phase of the subject more than to say that in all of these “finds” the wish has been father to the thought, so overly anxious have these “discoverers” been to find some connecting links between man and the lower animals that would give evidence of a common origin. These “missing links” have not been forthcoming and the plotters have been forced to resort to fraud and deception to bolster up their futile attempts to prove a Satan-inspired cause, the real purpose being to destroy faith in God. Verily the words of our Lord are true and made manifest in this last dispensation with confirmation in the actions of men: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.40
Question asked of Joseph Fielding Smith: “Since reading your book, Man: His Origin, and Destiny, I have been troubled by your difference in view of organic evolution and the age of man and the teachings of some of our most outstanding scientists who maintain that scientific evidence prove the earth and man to be much older than you claim. Your statements are contrary to what I have been taught and believe.”
President Smith’s Answer: If what I have written is in criticism of the present theories in relation to organic evolution and the age of man upon the earth, in which you believe, then I can readily see why you disagree with what I have taught. I will state frankly and positively that I am opposed to the present biological theories and the doctrine that man has been on the earth for millions of years. I am opposed to the present teachings in relation to the age of the earth which declare that the earth is millions of years old. Some modern scientists even claim that it is a billion years old. Naturally, since I believe in modern revelation, I cannot accept these so-called scientific teachings, for I believe them to be in conflict with the simple and direct word of the Lord that has come to us by divine revelation.”41
Briefly we will consider the lower part of the bone formation. The skeleton of the lower part of the body is attached to the pelvis, a basin-shaped structure of very strong bones. These bones help to balance the body and like the ribs form a protection for certain other vital parts of the body. To the pelvis the femur, or upper bone of the leg, is attached. This bone like the bone of the upper arm is formed with a ball-shaped end that fits into a socket in the pelvis bone. This gives multiple movement of the leg as the shoulder socket does to the arm, where multiple movement is most needed, and we may be sure that this was no accident and not due to “emergent evolution,” a meaningless term manufactured to bolster up a faulty theory—but the intelligent work of the Divine Creator. We might imagine—yet that would be a great stretch of the imagination—that nature might have made one joint connecting two bones but the relation between bone and bone, each part being built in a definite way to serve the definite purpose, and this occurring scores of times, we are forced to the conclusion that all of this came by design and not by “emergency,” or chance. This is just too much to believe, and there is no real evidence sustaining it. We might as well say—to use a familiar comparison—that the wheels, joints and springs in a watch came by means of chance, or that the lens in a telescope just happened to grow there. It would be just as consistent! The femur, or upper leg, is joined to the fibula, or lower leg bone at the knees, and like the hand, wrist and arm, it is attached at the knee by design thus giving free movement to the leg, and this was no accident. Moreover, the lower or fibula bone is attached to the bones of the ankle and the ankle to the foot and the foot to the toes thus composing a flexible system to make walking easy. That the bones of the arm, wrist, hand and fingers correspond in large measure in their unity to the leg, ankle, foot and toes, is evidence that should be good in any court of justice that they did not reach that condition by any law of chance.
These modernists, who are instructing and leading astray the people of this and other lands, reject the doctrine of the atonement of Christ; they reject the resurrection of the Son of God and consequently the resurrection of all mankind. They have discarded entirely the miracles of the scriptures and make light of the saving ordinances of the gospel which the Lord declared to be so essential to our salvation; and in the stead thereof they have accepted the theories and notions advanced by modern scientists which are evidently false, and have taken to their hearts and hugged to their bosoms the falsehoods set forth in the theories of evolution and of higher criticism of the scriptures. And why have they done this thing? Because the simple truth, which is understood by the Spirit of God and not understood and comprehended by the spirit of man, does not appeal to their reason..42
APOSTASY COMES WHEN TRUTH NOT TAUGHT. Modern education declares that there never was such a thing as the fall of man, but that conditions have always gone on in the same way as now in this mortal world. Here, say they, death and mutation have always held sway as natural conditions on this earth and everywhere throughout the universe the same laws obtain. It is declared that man has made his ascent to the exalted place he now occupies through countless ages of development which has gradually distinguished him from lower forms of life.
Such a doctrine of necessity discards the story of Adam and the Garden of Eden, which it looks upon as a myth coming down to us from an early age of foolish ignorance and superstition. Moreover, it is taught that since death was always here, and a natural condition prevailing throughout all space, there could not possibly come a redemption from Adam’s transgression, hence there was no need for a Savior for a fallen world.
Is it any wonder, under such circumstances, that churches are deserted; that more than half of the population of this country has become indifferent, if not antagonistic, to religion? This, also, is just as true of other lands.43
As I ponder the principles of the gospel, I am struck forcibly by the uniform manner in which I and all the Brethren have taught them over the years. The truths of the gospel are everlastingly the same. Like God himself, they are the same yesterday, today and forever. What I have taught and written in the past I would teach and write again under the same circumstances.
And what I say of myself should be true for all the Brethren and for all the elders of the Church. We are all called to preach the gospel, to be ministers of Christ, to raise the warning voice, and to “teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.”44
President Harold B. Lee was a strong supporter of Joseph Fielding Smith’s book Man, His Origin and Destiny. President Lee also taught the following in a First Presidency Message as the President of the Church:
I was somewhat sorrowed recently to hear someone, a sister who comes from a church family, ask, ‘What about the pre-Adamic people?’ Here was someone who I thought was fully grounded in the faith. I asked, ‘What about the pre-Adamic people?’ She replied, ‘Well, aren’t there evidences that people preceded the Adamic period of the earth?’ I said, ‘Have you forgotten the scripture that says, ‘And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also….’ (Moses 3:7) I asked, ‘Do you believe that?’ She wondered about the creation because she had read the theories of the scientists, and the question that she was really asking was: How do you reconcile science with religion? The answer must be, If science is not true, you cannot reconcile truth with error.45
The Gods organized the earth of materials at hand, over which they had control and power. This truth is absolute. A million educated folk might speculate and determine in their minds that the earth came into being by chance. The truth remains. The earth was made by the Gods…opinions do not change that. The Gods organized and gave life to man and placed him on the earth. This is absolute. It cannot be disproved. A million brilliant minds might conjecture otherwise, but it is still true.46
But it is the living prophet who really upsets the world. ‘Even in the Church,’ . . . . Why? Because the living prophet gets at what we need to know now, and the world prefers that prophets either be dead or mind their own business. . . . Some would-be authorities on evolution want the prophet to keep still on evolution. . . . How we respond to the words of a living prophet when he tells us what we need to know, but would rather not hear, is a test of our faithfulness.47
Today, students are subjected in their textbooks and classroom lectures to a subtle propaganda that there is a ‘natural’ or rational explanation to all causes and events. Such a position removes the need for faith in God.48
As a watchman on the tower, I feel to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying the family unit is our educational institutions. There is more than one reason why the Church is advising our youth to attend colleges close to their homes where institutes of religion are available. It gives the parents the opportunity to stay close to their children, and if they become alerted and informed, these parents can help expose some of the deceptions of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, John Keynes, and others. Today there are much worse things that can happen to a child than not getting a full education. In fact, some of the worst things have happened to our children while attending colleges led by administrators who wink at subversion and amorality.49
We have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism, and so forth.50.
We all need to take a careful inventory of our performance and also the performance of those over whom we preside to be sure that we are teaching the “great plan of the Eternal God” to the Saints. Are we accepting and teaching what the revelations tell us about the Creation, Adam and the fall of man, and redemption from that fall through the atonement of Christ?51
Sometimes, from behind the pulpit, in our classrooms, in our council meetings, and in our Church publications, we hear, read, or witness things that do not square with the truth. . . . Now, do not let this serve as an excuse for your own wrongdoing. The Lord is letting the wheat and the tares mature before He fully purges the Church. He is also testing you to see if you will be misled. The devil is trying to deceive the very elect.
Let me give you a crucial key to help you avoid being deceived. It is this-learn to keep your eye on the prophet. He is the Lord’s mouthpiece and the only man who can speak for the Lord today. Let his inspired counsel take precedence. Let his inspired words be a basis for evaluating the counsel of all lesser authorities. Then live close to the Spirit so you may know the truth of all things.52
The gospel can be viewed from two perspectives. In the broadest sense, the gospel embraces all truth, all light, all revealed knowledge to mankind. In a more restrictive sense, the gospel means the doctrine of the Fall, the consequences of the fall of man that brought into the world physical and spiritual death, the atonement of Jesus Christ which brings to pass immortality and eternal life, and the ordinances of salvation.53
No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effect upon all mankind. . . . Are we accepting and teaching what the revelations tell us about the Creation, Adam and the fall of man, and redemption from that fall through the atonement of Christ?54
Howard W. Hunter
The Old Testament unfolds the story of the creation of the earth and mankind by God. Should we now disregard this account and modernize the creation according to the theories of the modernists? Can we say there was no Garden of Eden or an Adam and Eve? Because modernists now declare the story of the flood is unreasonable and impossible, should we disbelieve the account of Noah and the flood as related in the Old Testament? Let us examine what the Master said when the disciples came to him as he sat on the Mount of Olives. They asked him to tell them of the time of his coming and of the end of the world. Jesus answered: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:36–39. In this statement the Master confirmed the story of the flood without modernizing it. Can we accept some of the statements of the Lord as being true and at the same time reject others as being false? When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, and they discussed the matter of the death of her brother and the resurrection. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” John 11:25 . Both of these statements, the one regarding Noah and the fact of the flood and the one in which he declared himself to be the resurrection and the life, were made by the Lord. How can we believe one and not the other? How can we modernize the story of the flood, or refer to it as a myth, and yet cling to the truth of the other? How can we modernize the Bible and still have it be a guiding light to us and a vital influence in our beliefs? There are those who declare it is old-fashioned to believe in the Bible. Is it old-fashioned to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God? Is it old-fashioned to believe in his atoning sacrifice and the resurrection? If it is, I declare myself to be old-fashioned and the Church to be old-fashioned. In great simplicity, the Master taught the principles of life eternal and lessons that bring happiness to those with the faith to believe”55
None of us . . . knows enough. The learning process is an endless process. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds. I believe in evolution, not organic evolution, as it is called, but in the evolution of the mind, the heart, and the soul of man. I believe in improvement. I believe in growth.56.
When I was a college student there were many discussions on the question of organic evolution. I took classes in geology and biology and heard the whole story of Darwinism as it was then taught. I wondered about it. I thought much about it. But I did not let it sway me, for I read what the scriptures said about our origins and our relationship to God.57 Note: This book was in print when he was serving as President of the Church.
Darwinist and Neo-Darwinist
http://www.mormonfortress.com/evolution.pdf
Michael R. Ash
Like other myths, both inside and outside the church, the myth of “evil evolution” is perpetuated by the masses who are unfamiliar with information which refutes such falsehoods. The topic of evolution is not unique in this aspect. . . . While a greater number of Latter-day Saints will read Ensign articles which generally disesteem evolution, there is some comfort in the fact that in addition to the aforementioned Encyclopedia of Mormonism articles and the BYU evolution packet, other conservative albeit less familiar LDS publications are more liberal in their approach to organic evolution. BYU Studies and FARMS Review of Books, for example, tend to express an overwhelming pro or neutral stance toward the topic. The popularity of these alternate sources of LDS-related publications, as well as publications such as Dialogue and Sunstone and the mushrooming growth of the LDS-information-websites—many of which advance a neutral or pro position to evolution—suggests that in time we may see the demise of the Mormon myth that teaching or accepting evolution amounts to apostasy.58
Bible Dictionary: Flesh
The flesh is often spoken of as being a part of our mortal or fallen nature (as in Matthew 26:41 ; Romans 7:5, 14-23 ; Romans 8: 3 ; 1 Corinthians 3: 1-2 ; Ephesians 2: 3 ); as opposed to the Spirit (Romans 8: 5-9 ; Galatians 3: 3 ; Galatians 5: 17-25 ), and as needing to be overcome (Matthew 4: 4 ; Romans 8: 7, 12-13 ; Galatians 5: 17, 24 ; Galatians 6: 8 ; Colossians 2: 11 ; Colossians 3: 5 ; 1 Peter 4: 2 ; 1 John 2: 16-17 ). Since flesh often means mortality, Adam is spoken of as the “first flesh” upon the earth, meaning he was the first mortal on the earth, all things being created in a nonmortal condition, and becoming mortal through the fall of Adam. Jesus is the “Only Begotten of the Father” in the flesh, meaning he is the only one begotten of the Father into mortality (Moses 3: 7 ).
Bible Dictionary: Fall of Adam
The process by which mankind became mortal on this earth. The event is recorded in Genesis 2, 3, 4 ; and Moses 3, 4 . The fall of Adam is one of the most important occurrences in the history of man. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had physical bodies but no blood. There was no sin, no death, and no children among any of the earthly creations. With the eating of the “forbidden fruit,” Adam and Eve became mortal, sin entered, blood formed in their bodies, and death became a part of life. Adam became the “first flesh” upon the earth (Moses 3: 7 ), meaning that he and Eve were the first to become mortal. After Adam fell, the whole creation fell and became mortal. Adam’s fall brought both physical and spiritual death into the world upon all mankind (Helaman 14: 16-17 ).
Latter-day revelation supports the biblical account of the fall, showing that it was a historical event that literally occurred in the history of man. Many points in latter-day revelation are also clarified that are not discernible from the Bible. Among other things it makes clear that the fall is a blessing, and that Adam and Eve should be honored in their station as the first parents of the earth. Significant references are 2 Nephi 2: 15-16 ; 2 Nephi 9: 6-21 ; Mosiah 3: 11-16 ; Alma 22: 12-14 ; Alma 42: 2-15 ; D&C 29: 34-44 ; Moses 5: 9-13 .
Doctrine and Covenants 77:12
“. . . as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man . . .”
Doctrine and Covenants 77:6
“. . . the revealed will, mysteries, and the works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or it temporal existence.”
Jacob 4:6-10
“. . . we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure? Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand.”
2 Nephi 2:22, 25
. . . if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. . . . but behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
Moses 5:11
Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.”
Moses 3:7
“And I, the Lord God, formed man . . . the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also . . .”
Supporting Statements
Russell M. Nelson
Through the ages, some without scriptural understanding have tried to explain our existence by pretentious words such as ex nihilo (out of nothing). Others have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been an organic evolution from one form to another. Many of these have concluded that the universe began as a “big bang” that eventually resulted in the creation of our planet and life upon it.
To me, such theories are unbelievable! Could an explosion in a printing shop produce a dictionary? It is unthinkable! Even if it could be argued to be within a remote realm of possibility, such a dictionary could certainly not heal its own torn pages or renew its own worn corners or reproduce its own subsequent editions! We are children of God, created by him and formed in his image. At least 55 verses of scripture attest to our divine creation. 59
Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
Jane Ellen Harrison, The Influence of Darwinism on the Study of Religions, 1909 Darwin Commemoration at Cambridge University
First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81, as republished in the February 2002 Ensign, p. 26
Ezra Taft Benson, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, BYU devotional, February 26, 1980
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation Vol. I, p. 228
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:203.
The First Presidency, Letter to Samuel O. Bennion, February 26, 1912; Quoted in Melvin A. Cook and M. Garfield Cook, Science and Mormonism, p. 156
Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 56
Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Five 1842-43, p.252
Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 197
Joseph Smith, Teachings of Joseph Smith, pp. 157-158
Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, comps., They Knew the Prophet [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974], 95
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 280 – 281
President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 13: 305 – 306
Journal of Discourses, 18:361
John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, pp. 163-165
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, 2000, p. 20
Lorenzo Snow, 10 April 1898, Conference Report, p. 63
Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 25
President George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1945, Third Day—Morning Meeting p. 135
President George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p. 183
George Albert Smith, Conference Reports, October 1925, 33; George Albert Smith, The Teachings of George Albert Smith, p. 14
George Albert Smith, Conference Reports, October 1925, 33; George Albert Smith, The Teachings of George Albert Smith, p.14
President David O. Mckay, Conference Report, April 1968, General Priesthood Meeting, p. 92
David O. McKay, “A Message for LDS College Youth,” BYU Devotional Address, Oct. 10, 1952, p. 6-7
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1970, p. 5
Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 276.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny, p. 5
Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], pp. 160 – 161
Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5: 112
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:315
General Conference, October 1970.
Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, December 1972, 2.
Spencer W. Kimball, “Absolute Truth”, Ensign, September 1978, 3.
Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 140
Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 320
Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp. 60-61
Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28 – 29
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 134.
Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 30.
Howard W. Hunter, That We Might Have Joy, p. 23.
Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 298
Gordon B. Hinckley, Faith: The Essence of True Religion, p. 18
“The Mormon Myth of Evil Evolution,” Michael R. Ash.
Russell M. Nelson, “The Magnificence of Man,” New Era, October 1987. Quoted in General Conference, April 2012,in “Thanks Be To God,” by Russell M. Nelson.
31) HANG BY A THREAD: What have latter-day prophets taught concerning the prophecy of Joseph Smith that . . .
01) BIRTH-CONTROL: What is the first commandment ever given by the Lord to man? How does the . . .
01) ADOPTION: Are members of the Church literal descendants of Israel or merely adopted? Why is it . . .
Choose a category Anti Christian (FAQs) Book of Mormon Geography FAQs Church Programs & Policies (FAQs) Doctrinal Issues (FAQs) Education (FAQs) Founding Fathers (FAQs) Gospel Rumors (FAQs) Government (FAQs) Health FAQs Home and Family (FAQs) House of Israel (FAQs) Joseph Smith (FAQs) Missionary Reference (FAQs) Music & Dance (FAQs) Preparedness & the Last Days (FAQs) Priesthood & Keys (FAQs) Reformation FAQs Salvation, Grace & Unconditional Love (FAQs) Satan & the Occult (FAQs) Science (FAQs) Social Science (FAQs)
Choose a tag abortion actor adultery age of the earth america american colonization american covenant american heritage american history american revolution amusements/entertainment ancestry animals answers apathy apostle archeology art artist asia astronomy atheism atonement authors autism autobiography baal babies baptism betrothal bible biblical birth control blessings blood book of mormon book of mormon geography book of mormon translation books burma cancer cartoon catholic ces letter children christ christian christian persecution christmas Church History civil war classics closed caption communism constitution courtship covenant creation creationism culture curriculum dance darwin dating death declaration of independence devil dinosaur disease doctrine early christians easter education egypt Eliza R. Snow eminent spirits of wilford woodruff england europe evil evil spirits evolution Exiled From Church Headquarters explorer ezra taft benson faith faith crisis fall family fantasy fashion fathers feminism firm foundation food forgiveness founding fathers freedom freemasonry friends gardening government grace hanukkah health hebrew Helen Mar Kimball hero hill cumorah history holiday holidays hollywood home homeschool humanitarian Icon and Battleground of New Mormon History india indians intelligent design israel jane austen jerusalem joseph smith Joseph Smith Foundation korea last days law lds church lds church history leonard arrington liberty lost tribes love magic Mark Hofmann marriage Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner meat medical military miracle missionaries missionary work music nephite New Mormon History NEW Research noah's flood occult parenting patriarchal order pilgrims pioneer plural marriage plural wives of joseph smith poland polygamy preparedness presentations presidents of the church priesthood principles pro-life progressive promised land prophecy prophets psychology public schools Rachel Ivins Grant reformation relationship restoration revolutionary war rock music salvation satan science scripture secret combination Seer Stone self-sufficiency service socialism south america symbols teen rebellion teens temple testimony tithing two prophets vaccines Virtual Expo war We Were Not Betrayed witch word of wisdom world war 2 youth
Try these: sciencehealtheducationhome & familyhouse of israelunconditional lovejoseph smithmusic & dancechurch programs & policiessociel sciencepriesthoodbook of mormon geographymissionary referencesatandoctrinal issuesfounding fathersgospel rumorsreformation
Discover prophetic answers!
Science FAQs
Health FAQs
Home and Family FAQs
Government FAQs
House of Israel FAQs
Music & Dance FAQs
Joseph Smith FAQs
Founding Fathers FAQs
Salvation, Grace & Unconditional Love FAQs
Doctrinal Issues FAQs
Church Programs & Policies FAQs
Social Science FAQs
Missionary Reference FAQs
Book of Mormon Geography FAQs
Satan & the Occult FAQs
Gospel Rumors FAQs
Reformation FAQs
Priesthood & Keys FAQs
Anti Christian FAQs
Watch FREE family movies!
ZionTube is a collection of the best known videos from YouTube and Vimeo, organized by category and made searchable from one site. (learn more)
truejosephsmith@gmail.com
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you have about our organization.
Latter-day Answers
Connecting with like minds
Nephites in Europe
Hidden Bloodlines
Unlocking the Mystery of the Two Prophets
The Prophet Joseph: More than we know
Statesmen & Symbols
For Our Day: Divinely Sanctioned Governments
For Our Day: Covenant on the Land
© 2020 Joseph Smith Foundation®
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line562
|
__label__wiki
| 0.733516
| 0.733516
|
Patricia Adams: Haiti needs rights
By Patricia Adams on January 11, 2011 • ( Leave a comment )
(January 11, 2011) One option for Haiti is to make it a U.S. territory like Puerto Rico, writes Probe International’s Executive Director, Patricia Adams.
One year after Haiti’s earthquake, the country is no better off. Nearly 3,500 people have now died as a result of cholera and just one-quarter of 1% of the 400,000 buildings that were damaged or destroyed have been rebuilt, leaving over one million in squalid tent cities. The country’s $12-billion reconstruction plan — run by Bill Clinton and mired in political infighting and bureaucratic delays — calls for the aid agencies to build houses. As a result, families are loath to use their own funds in rebuilding, especially since a spanking new residence would encourage those with political connections to seize it — in Haiti, most do not have secure rights to their property.
Needless to say, had just one-third of the $12-billion in aid monies been given directly to the million homeless Haitians — say $4,000 per person, or $20,000 for a family of five — and had Haitians had secure property rights, most today would be in new housing better than their crude pre-earthquake abodes, and with cash to spare. The construction activity from building homes for one million people would have provided jobs for all during the last year with lasting effects after the construction boon was over. (Ironically, had secure property rights been in place all along, the earthquake damage would have been much diminished — Haiti’s residential and commercial buildings alike all fell like pancakes because, in the absence of secure rights, Haitians did not build to last.)
The $12-billion is not being disbursed according to plan because Bill Clinton and his Haitian cronies are still debating how to divvy it up — everyone is jockeying for a share of the lucrative contracts that one of these years will be let. But even had the $12-billion not been hoarded by these Foreign Aid Czars, little of lasting value would have been accomplished. In the absence of secure title, few individuals and businesses would be investing for the future. The law of the jungle — the rule in Haiti since its “independence” in 1804 — would soon make waste of the $12-billion, the same fate as befell the estimated $10-billion in foreign aid previously “invested.”
History need not be repeated. It should be self-evident to all that a first order of business for those concerned about Haiti’s future development must involve a validation of property rights for Haiti’s 10 million people. The $12-billion fund should establish a Property Rights Commission that converts the insecure, informal property rights that most Haitians now recognize — in effect, these are a form of squatter’s rights — into formal and secure rights. Where ownership is ambiguous or disputed, the $12-billion fund could be used to settle the dispute by giving the disputants fair compensation.
As a prerequisite to the Property Rights Commission, however, a legal system must be in place to enforce the property rights to be assigned. Haitians won’t trust any property rights regime that isn’t accompanied by a system of governance that they can trust. Certainly, the past history of thugs and dictators following phony elections in which a small percentage of the population votes, won’t do. For this reason, a new governance structure must come in, one credibly backed by the Haitian people. I recommend this occur via a referendum, administered by Canada and the United States under United Nations auspices, in which the Haitian people are given a choice between their existing system of government and that of their island neighbour, Puerto Rico, which is a commonwealth under U.S. protection.
In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the populace periodically votes on whether to become independent of the U.S., to seek U.S. statehood, or to maintain the status quo. To date, Puerto Ricans have exercised their sovereignty as a people by sticking with their commonwealth: They elect a local governor and local representatives, and run a local judicial system with a twist — the ultimate appeal in matters dealing with the constitution and federal law is to the U.S. Supreme Court. With the assurance that justice will ultimately prevail, Puerto Rico has been a safe place for locals and foreigners to invest, and one of the most prosperous jurisdictions in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico is a lively democracy in which more than 80% of the population turns out to vote.
Haitians have long watched the Puerto Rican system and, if given a choice in a referendum, may well choose to seek a commonwealth relationship under the protection of the U.S., which in any case sees itself as the regional guardian under its Monroe Doctrine, and has unhesitatingly occupied Haiti when it has deemed it necessary. Alternatively, Haiti may prefer to seek some form of territorial status under Canada. (In either case, Haitians, as suitors, would need to make the case to its would-be guardian.)
Should Haitians in a high-turnout referendum choose instead to remain an independent country under a new constitution that entrenched their newly acquired property rights, the result would again be promising. Haitians for the first time would have exercised their sovereignty as a people, and for the first time they would have legal, constitutionally protected deeds to their property. In effect, Haiti would now have a broad property-owning class with much to protect, giving these former squatters political clout. The citizens of Haiti would have new-found stakes in their country and the means to make higher demands of their government.
Patricia Adams is executive director of Probe International.
Patricia Adams, January 11,2010, Financial Post
Further Reading from Probe International:
Haiti: ‘The Republic of NGOs’
How to Best Help Haiti: Reduce Foreign Aid
Rebuilding Haiti depends on redeveloping Haiti’s government
Tackling corruption in Haiti is possible. Here’s how
Aid in Haiti creates competition with local business owners
How best to help Haiti
Billions for Haiti, a criticism for every dollar
Marshall Plan to Haiti? Not so fast.
Help Haiti build a real government
The betrayal of Haiti
Haiti heads for debt crisis as emergency loans pile up earthquake
Why foreign aid to Haiti failed
To help Haiti, end foreign aid
Further Resources about Property Rights in Haiti:
http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Caribbean/Haiti/property-rights-index
http://www.heritage.org/index/country/Haiti
http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Caribbean/Haiti
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1982.htm [PDF]
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100301/EDITORIAL/3010333
Article with practical solutions for solving Haiti’s property rights problem
http://www.ideasinactiontv.com/tcs_daily/2010/09/the-opportunity-in-haiti.html [PDF]
Hernando de Soto and Madeleine Albright, Commission on Legal Empowerment and the Poor
http://www.undp.org/legalempowerment/report/presskit1.html [PDF]
http://www.undp.org/legalempowerment/report/Making-the-Law-Work-for-Everyone.pdf [PDF]
http://www.undp.org/legalempowerment/report/Making_the_Law_Work_for_Everyone.pdf
http://ijdh.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Justice1pagerbcdraft7-12-2010.pdf [PDF]
Senator Lugar calls for land titling
http://lugar.senate.gov/issues/foreign/lac/haiti/ [PDF]
Articles explaining deterrents to investing in Haiti
http://plsurvey.com/wp/?p=566 [PDF]
http://www.propertyuncovered.com/for-sale/property-for-sale-in-haiti.html [PDF]
CARE International report that describes the informality of property rights in pre-earthquake Port au Prince and cautions that titling will not meet the needs of those who own no property
http://www.odihpn.org/report.asp?id=3148 [PDF]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/12/world/main6670281.shtml [PDF]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/12/eveningnews/main6477611.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody [PDF]
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/15/world/la-fg-haiti-land-20100915 [PDF]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/project-jacmel/rebuilding-a-city-one-year-later/article1861528/ [PDF]
Categories: Foreign Aid, Haiti
Tagged as: Bill Clinton, Corruption, development assistance, Foreign Aid, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, Haiti Reconstruction Fund, IHRC, Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, Monroe Doctrine, ODA, Patricia Adams, Port-au-Prince, Probe International, property rights, Puerto Rico, Rene Preval
What happens when WWF is in charge of the weather?
Dry up city’s water shortage by using less
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line563
|
__label__wiki
| 0.983305
| 0.983305
|
08/04/05 World News: Three More US Sodiers Killed in Iraq
Three U.S. soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad -- bringing to 24 the number of American troops killed in insurgent attacks this week. The U.S. military says the latest attack occurred Wednesday night, hours after a similar bomb blast near Haditha, northwest of Baghdad, killed 14 U.S. Marines and a civilian interpreter.
Thousands of British police are patrolling London's streets and subway system, four weeks after the July 7th bomb attacks on the city's transit system. At least six-thousand officers, some armed, were scheduled to be on duty today (Thursday), and police said undercover officers would be riding buses and trains.
Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program stretched into a tenth day in Beijing today (Thursday), after Pyongyang delayed a decision on a proposal to end its weapons program. The North had been expected to deliver its verdict Wednesday on a statement of principles drafted by China and agreed to by the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia. Delegates say China is expected to press North Korea today to agree to the statement.
Authorities in Thailand say a British man has admitted to killing his girlfriend on the southern resort island of Phuket. Paul Chetwynd-Talbot turned himself in Wednesday, a day after the brutally beaten body of 31-year-old Debra O'Hanlon, also from Britain, was found in her hotel room. Police say Ms. O'Hanlon sustained a broken neck and other injuries.
The confessed killer once ran a bar on Phuket, a popular attraction for international tourists. But the business failed after last December's earthquake and tsunami, which killed thousands of people and crippled Thailand's tourist industry. Mr. Chetwynd-Talbot surrendered after trying to commit suicide by slashing his wrists. Authorities say he will be charged with murder after he recovers.
Listen to our World News for details of these and other news.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line568
|
__label__wiki
| 0.751069
| 0.751069
|
Londregan Commercial Real Estate Group completes Stop & Shop Gasoline lease
Londregan was the sole broker in the lease transaction for the Stop & Shop Gas Station lease just off Exit 74 of I-95 at 252 Flanders Road in East Lyme, Connecticut.
East Lyme, CT - Timothy Londregan of Londregan Commercial Real Estate Group was the sole broker in the lease of the property located at 252 Flanders Road, East Lyme, Connecticut. Stop & Shop will operate a gasoline station on this property that is contiguous to their Stop & Shop Supermarket.
The former Exxon station has gone through an extensive renovation. In fact, the high pylon sign structure is all that was salvaged from the former operation. Following environmental contamination remediation, demolition and construction, the new facility has opened with great initial success.
The new gasoline station is located just off exit 74 of Interstate 95. The property has the pylon sign visible from I-95 in both north and southbound directions. The gasoline station has a cross easement access to the new Super Stop & Shop Supermarket which opened in the summer of 2005.
Londregan Commercial Real Estate Group is a full-service brokerage firm located in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. While specializing in the retail and fast food site selection niches, Londregan Commercial is highly sought after for its marketing and closing abilities in all areas of commercial real estate. Retail and restaurant land sites, investment properties of all types, hotel and motel sites have also been an integral part of the firm’s activity. For more information please visit www.londregan.com.
© 2021 Londregan Commercial Real Estate Group. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line572
|
__label__wiki
| 0.88289
| 0.88289
|
Humans of State High
2020-21 ISSUES
Lions' Digest
The End of Star Wars (Spoilers Ahead)
Photo courtesy of Britannica Imagequest
The childhood home of Luke Skywalker, originally seen in the original 1977 Star Wars (A New Hope), is the sight of the final scene of The Rise of Skywalker. The connection brought the saga full circle from the first movie to the last. While it got mixed reviews from fans and critics, The Rise of Skyalker was a fitting end to the Star Wars saga.
Reece Steidle, Staff Writer
After years of bickering between Star Wars fans about the prequels, what’s canon or not, and whether Jar Jar Binks is the real Sith Lord, there’s something most die-hard fans of Star Wars can agree on: the appearance of the words “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” brings an excitement that not much else can match. However, with the release of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker last month, there has been much debate on whether it was a satisfying conclusion to the saga that started with A New Hope’s release 42 years prior. Despite some plot holes–which all movies are guilty of to some degree–The Rise of Skywalker brought the saga to a clean conclusion and paid tribute to the originals without remaking them shot for shot.
Up until this movie, one of my biggest issues with the sequel trilogy was how similar it seemed to the original trilogy. The Force Awakens was simply A New Hope; The Last Jedi was a mashup of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Obviously, they were not exactly the same, but the plot similarities were astounding. An orphan is stranded on a desert planet, longing to be a pilot and leave the past behind. A rebel on a search for secret information is captured by a Sith Warrior in a mask. A planet-destroying battle station is defeated by a pilot hitting its one weak spot. The mentor character is killed by the Dark Lord. Then the rebels are on the run from the forces of evil. The main character finds a wizened old master and trains to become a Jedi. The evil leader tries to convince the hero to kill the dark lord and take up their position as his apprentice. The dark lord turns and kills his master. All of these plot points are fairly common, but the same movie series used all of them twice. This seemed like a major issue, until the next movie explained why it seemed like the same plan; because it was! Palpatine failed the first time, so he wanted a do-over. He was pulling the strings all along, and attempting to do the same thing, but expecting more success this time.
Another thing The Rise of Skywalker does very well is paying tribute to the past. The climactic scene, where Rey fends off Palpatine’s sith lighting with the power of past Jedi, features the voices of characters such as Mace Windu, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi (both Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness), Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Ahsoka Tano, Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, Kanan Jarrus, and Lunimara Unduli. These characters are from both of the previous movie series, as well as animated shows (Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Some of these characters had yet to receive any in-movie recognition. This all changed with their voice cameos encouraging Rey during her final battle with Palpatine. Another good reference was when Leia Organa used her force sensitivity to communicate a memory of Han Solo to their son, Ben, when he really needs it. The scene is essentially the same as when Ben killed his father in The Force Awakens, except this time, he throws his lightsaber into the sea instead of stabbing Han, and decides once and for all, that he’s Ben Solo, a hero, and not the evil Kylo Ren. At the end of the scene, Ben struggles to say something and is unable to get it out. Han simply replies with, “I know.” This was a throwback to The Empire Strikes Back, when Leia told Han she loved him and he responded the same way. The thing Ben was trying to say was “I love you.” One of the greatest fan services was when Chewbacca received a medal, to make up for his distinct lack of recognition in the celebration scene at the end of A New Hope. Han and Luke both got medals and many fans objected to Chewie being left out. They can rest easy now knowing he was rewarded by Maz Kanata. Overall, The Rise of Skywalker gives good recognition to the originals with the return of Luke Skywalker (as a ghost), Han Solo (as a memory), Leia Organa, and even Lando Calrissian.
Most of the fans’ objections were focused on the ending. Some people claim Rey should have died instead of Ben Solo. The argument is that it was called The Rise of Skywalker for a reason, and Rey was a Palpatine, not a Skywalker, so Ben (a Skywalker) should have been the one to rise at the end. Another argument is that Rey and Ben had a better bond simply as friends, and that their kiss was unnecessary. I wholeheartedly agree with the second point. The kiss was my biggest objection to the movie. As for Ben’s death, it was important to his character arc. In the first movie he appeared in, he told Darth Vader’s disembodied mask: “I will finish what you started.” His plotline was the conflict between whether that was a promise to finish what Darth Vader started, or a promise to Anakin Skywalker to finish his mission and bring balance to the force. Eventually, he decided it was a promise to Anakin. His arc from a scared young kid, who was torn between the light and the dark, to a hero and the grandchild of the Chosen One was completed when he sacrificed himself to save Rey. People also objected to the scene at the end of the movie where Rey introduced herself as Rey Skywalker. The theme here is the idea of a chosen family. Your blood doesn’t determine who you are. You choose your family; you choose your identity. Palpatine tried to show Rey that she was just like him, and she defied him and showed she was more like Luke or Leia. Also, Palpatine told her that if she killed him, he would be one with her. She didn’t, and later Ben Skywalker healed her. The Sith are always about death and the Jedi are about the exact opposite. So maybe when Ben healed her, he became one with her, the same way Palpatine wanted to. When she sees Luke and Leia’s force ghosts on Tatooine, that’s them accepting her and telling her she’s part of their family, regardless of her lineage. The supposed plot holes of that movie did have a purpose.
Regardless of one’s personal opinions on The Rise of Skywalker, it must be acknowledged that it gave fans a lot of moments they really wanted, and brought peace to the galaxy, maybe once and for all. It was first and foremost a farewell to a saga that’s been around for decades. Star Wars has been a part of so many people’s lives, and will continue to be through shows and spin-offs, but this was a goodbye to the original form it took and an homage to the actors who carried the original trilogy on their backs. The Rise of Skywalker was a fresh mint clearing away the bad taste left in many fan’s mouths from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. It paid tribute to past movies, as Endgame did for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and brought it to a close. And while there could be speculation about what might have happened had Rey died instead of Ben, there was meaning to his death, and it gave the messages of family and power of choice that the Star Wars franchise has been about since day one. Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker was exactly the grande finale that was needed to end the epic space opera that all started a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
My name is Reece Steidle and I'm a freshman. I am a hurdler on the track team and I am a member of Quiz Bowl. My interests include music, shiny things,...
2020 Book Recap
A Review of “The Queen’s Gambit ”
Album of The Year?
Hollywood Adds More Diversity To American Television: Actor Elliot Page Comes Out as Transgender
Album Review: “evermore” saved 2020
Ranked: Top 10 Christmas Movies to Watch This 2020
New To Netflix This Month
10 Essential Films to Check Out This Fall
A Q&A With The Coffin Campers
Student news from State College Area High School
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line579
|
__label__wiki
| 0.515198
| 0.515198
|
TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE'S NATIONAL
ADVISORY COUNCIL ON DRUG ABUSE
I had intended to submit information to the members of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (NACDA) during the public comment period of the September 18, 2003, meeting, but a hurricane caused that meeting to be cancelled. I'm writing to you now to request that the NACDA issue two recommendations in order to facilitate FDA-approved scientific research with marijuana and MDMA (Ecstasy).
I'm requesting that
The NACDA support the establishment of a privately- funded and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-licensed facility to produce marijuana exclusively for federally-approved research. In order to facilitate privately-funded research, it is essential to provide an alternative to NIDA's monopoly on the supply of marijuana, but no other Schedule I drug, that can be used in research, and that
The NACDA support the full disclosure of information about the NIDA-funded pre-clinical research conducted by Drs. George Ricaurte and Dr. Una McCann with mislabeled bottles of MDMA and methamphetamine, as well as information about their primate research with genuine MDMA that showed no dopaminergic neurotoxicity.
By way of introduction, I'm Rick Doblin, Ph.D., President of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS,www.maps.org), a non-profit research and educational organization. My Ph.D. is in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, with my dissertation focusing on the regulation of the medical uses of Schedule I drugs. MAPS is working to sponsor scientific research investigating the safety and efficacy of the therapeutic uses of MDMA (Ecstasy) and marijuana, with the goal of developing them into FDA-approved prescription medicines. I estimate that it will cost roughly $5 million over 5 years to investigate thoroughly each clinical indication for marijuana or MDMA.
Requested Recommendation #1: NACDA Support for Privately-Funded Marijuana Production Facility
The US Supreme Court has recently let stand the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that doctors can recommend marijuana to their patients without fear of having DEA revoke their licenses to prescribe scheduled drugs. As a result, additional state medical marijuana initiatives and legislative actions can be expected. In order to facilitate the resolution of the issue of the potential medical uses of marijuana through scientific research rather than just through the ballot box or legislative action, I'm requesting that NACDA support the establishment of a privately-funded facility to produce marijuana exclusively for use in federally-approved research.
The January 1998, NACDA document entitled, "The Provision of Marijuana and Other Compounds For Scientific Research," begins by noting that "Since its inception in 1974, NIDA has been the sole administrator of a contract to grow cannabis (marijuana) for research purposes and the only legal source for cannabis in the United States." For reasons explained below and in the enclosed letter sent to NIDA Director Nora Volkow on September 16, 2003, NIDA's monopoly stands squarely in the way of privately-funded research into the potential risks and benefits of the medical uses of marijuana.
As long as NIDA retains its monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in research, private sponsors of medical marijuana research 1) cannot select the exact strain of marijuana with the exact mix of cannabinoid content that the sponsors consider most likely to be safe and efficacious, 2) cannot manufacture the drug they wish to research and thus are not in control of either availability and cost, and 3) cannot guarantee to supply the exact drug that was researched for possible prescription use since NIDA is legally authorized to grow marijuana for research but cannot supply it on a prescription basis. No rational sponsor will invest millions of dollars in medical marijuana research while it remains dependent for its supply of research material on NIDA, whose institutional mission is diametrically opposed to exploring the beneficial uses of marijuana and which cannot in any case legally provide marijuana for prescription use.
In order to facilitate a privately-funded, FDA-approved drug development research program, MAPS is currently seeking to sponsor a privately-funded marijuana production facility at UMass Amherst, under the direction of Prof. Lyle Craker, Director of the Laboratories for Natural Products, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. Dr. Craker initially submitted his application to DEA for a license to establish a growing facility on June 25, 2001. On July 24, 2003, after stonewalling for over two years, DEA finally posted the legally required Federal Register notice about Prof. Craker's application. The public comment period ended September 22, 2003 and a decision from the DEA is expected within the next month or two.
In "The Provision of Marijuana and Other Compounds For Scientific Research," the NACDA states that "Because of international treaty agreements (Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961) which prohibit entities other than the Federal Government from legally supplying cannabis, NIDA has remained its only legal source." Enclosed is a legal analysis of US obligations under the Single Convention, prepared by Peter Barton Hutt and Alexei Silverman, Covington & Burling (a prominent DC law firm), and Graham Boyd, ACLU Drug Policy Litigation Group. This analysis shows that the private production of marijuana is not prohibited by the Single Convention. Clear evidence supporting this analysis is the British Home Office's April 1998 licensing of the privately-funded GW Pharmaceuticals to grow marijuana for manufacture into marijuana extracts for medical research. The International Narcotic Control Board (INCB), which monitors compliance with the Single Convention, has not objected to the British Home Office licensing of GW Pharmaceuticals in any of its annual reports on treaty compliance.
Furthermore, U.S. laws that regulate the production of Schedule I drugs (21 C.F.R. 1301.33(b)) state that, "*In order to provide adequate competition,* the [DEA] Administrator shall *not* be required to limit the number of manufacturers in any basic class to a number less than that consistent with maintenance of effective controls against diversion *solely because* a smaller number is capable of producing an adequate and uninterrupted supply." [emphasis added] In other words, the laws governing the licensing of manufacturers of Schedule I drugs specifically address the possibility of monopolies and are written so that monopolies are not permitted to exist.
For your information, MAPS is working to address the concerns expressed in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)-funded Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on the medical uses of marijuana, which recommended the development of non-smoking delivery systems. MAPS and California NORML have funded laboratory research into the use of vaporizers that heat the marijuana but don't burn it, releasing a vapor stream that contains substantial amounts of cannabinoids without the products of combustion. Vaporizers are the only non-smoking delivery system that uses the marijuana plant itself rather than an extract. FDA is currently reviewing (and early indications are that it is likely to approve) the first human study to compare the subjective effects, cannabinoid blood levels, and amounts of expired carbon monoxide in subjects who both smoke marijuana and at a different time inhale the steam produced by vaporization (specifically from the Volcano vaporizer, www.vapormed.de). This clinical study will be conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams, UC San Francisco and will be funded by California's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. While we anticipate that there will be little functional differences between subjects either smoking or vaporizing high-potency marijuana, we propose to investigate this issue objectively by conducting clinical trials with both smoked and vaporized groups.
Requested Recommendation #2: NACDA Support for the Release of Information about NIDA-Funded MDMA (Ecstasy) Research Conducted by Dr. George Ricaurte and Dr. Una McCann
In early September 2003, Drs. Ricaurte and McCann retracted an article they published a year before in Science in which they reported that what they considered a common recreational dose regimen of MDMA caused severe dopaminergic neurotoxicity that could lead to Ecstasy users developing Parkinson's. The research was retracted since it turned out that all but one of the primates used for the research published in Science were mistakenly administered methamphetamine instead of MDMA. The mistake was claimed to have resulted from the mislabeling by the supplier, Research Triangle Institute (RTI), of two10 gram bottles of MDMA and methamphetamine, delivered by RTI to Drs. Ricaurte and McCann in the same shipment.
In a September 18, 2003, letter to NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow (enclosed) and in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-request, MAPS asked NIDA to release specific additional information about some of the NIDA-funded research conducted by Drs. Ricaurte and McCann. I'm now asking that the NACDA recommend the release of the information specified in the letter and in the FOIA request. That information includes 1) A list of all the studies that were conducted with mislabeled MDMA or methamphetamine, including the amounts of mislabeled MDMA or methamphetamine used in each study, the route of administration, the number and type of animal, the death rate of those animals, the starting and concluding dates of those studies, and whether the studies in question need to be retracted or have yet to be published, and 2) The doses, routes of administration (oral or injection), number and kind of animals, ambient temperatures, and starting and concluding dates for all the failed attempts with genuine MDMA to replicate the erroneous findings reported in the now-retracted Science article.
A September 18, 2003 editorial in Nature, which is enclosed, calls on NIDA Director Nora Volkow to conduct a "thorough public review of the circumstances and participant's roles in one of the more bizzare episodes in the history of drug research." A September 18, 2003 article in The Scientist, also enclosed, mentions a second article that was retracted by Drs. Ricaurte and McCann and reports that two senior British scientists have written to the editor of Science requesting that Science conduct an independent inquiry and release the peer-reviewers comments on the original article.
Unfortunately, the retraction letter leaves quite a few questions unanswered. Drs. Ricaurte and McCann report having used in various research studies the entire 10 grams of what they thought was MDMA before they later learned that the bottle actually contained methamphetamine. At this point in time, only two papers have been retracted, in which no more than 2 1/4 grams of material was administered to the test animals. At least 7 3/4 grams of mislabeled methamphetamine used in research studies remains unaccounted for. In addition, there has been no accounting of which studies used any of the 10 grams of what was considered to be methamphetamine but was later determined to be MDMA.
In the retraction letter, Drs. Ricaurte and McCann still claim that doses of MDMA used by some humans could cause dopaminergic neurotoxicity. The retraction letter concludes by stating that, "it remains possible that dose regimens in the range of those used by some humans, but different from those thus far tested, produce dopamine neurotoxicity in primates, as they do in rodents. Moreover, lasting effects of MDMA on dopaminergic function in humans have recently been reported, and some humans with a history of MDMA abuse have developed Parkinsonism. However, until the dopamine neurotoxic potential of MDMA in primates can be examined more fully, this possibility remains uncertain." Since MAPS is seeking to conduct FDA-approved research in which MDMA is administered to human subjects, we are requesting the release of more details about the results of Dr. Ricaurte and McCann's subsequent studies administering genuine MDMA to primates in which they found no evidence of dopaminergic neurotoxicity. These studies provide data that bears directly on the estimation of the risk of dopaminergic neurotoxicity to subjects in the human research that MAPS is seeking to conduct.
For your information, MAPS has both FDA and IRB approval for a double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study investigating the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This pilot study will be the first FDA-approved investigation of the therapeutic use of MDMA ever conducted. The study can begin once Dr. Michael Mithoefer receives a Schedule I license from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Dr. Mithoefer applied over 15 months ago to the DEA for his license to handle a total of 3 grams of MDMA that will be administered to the subjects in his study (protocol and related information posted at http://www.maps.org/mdma/). DEA has scheduled an inspection of Dr. Mithoefer's facility for October 28 and we anticipate that he will probably receive his Schedule I license shortly thereafter.
Though a separate issue, it's important to note that the massive serotonin reductions in Ecstasy users that Drs. McCann and Ricaurte reported in their 1998 Lancet PET paper have not been replicated by Buchert et al.'s much larger (N=117 v. N=29) and better controlled PET study published in 2003 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Images from the Lancet paper that are now generally considered methodologically flawed were used by NIDA in its major anti-ecstasy campaign, which has been withdrawn.
I look forward to learning what recommendations, if any, the NACDA decides to make concerning the production of marijuana for federally-approved research and the release of additional information about Drs. Ricaurte and McCann's NIDA-funded MDMA and methamphetamine research. The controversy over the medical use of marijuana deserves to be resolved through FDA-approved scientific research, which NACDA can facilitate by supporting the establishment of a privately-funded production facility. Regarding Drs. Ricaurte and McCann's research with mislabeled MDMA and methamphetamine, NACDA can help strengthen NIDA's credibility, which is its most essential asset, especially in regards to the drug abuse prevention and educational campaigns that it conducts, by recommending that additional informed be released.
If you need any additional information, I can be reached at 617 484-8711.
Rick Doblin, Ph.D.
MAPS President
MAPS Sept. 16, 2003 letter to NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow
Covington & Burling/ACLU legal analysis of US Int. treaty obligations
September 18, 2003 editorial in Nature
September 18, 2003 article in The Scientist
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
MAPS � Rick Doblin � 3 Francis Street � Belmont, MA. 02478-2218 �
617 484-8711, Fax: -8427 � www.maps.org � rick@maps.org
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line582
|
__label__wiki
| 0.554321
| 0.554321
|
"Rock Stars of the Promotional Products Industry" Brings Promo Heavyweights to PROMOTIONS EAST
By Kyle A. Richardson
Familiar faces could be seen all around the PROMOTIONS EAST trade show floor on Monday, as suppliers and distributors attended education sessions and prepared their booths for Tuesday's exhibits. What was surprising, however, was seeing some of those faces in the same place.
Monday's big draw was the keynote panel, "Rock Stars of the Promotional Products Industry." Moderated by Joel Schaffer, MAS, president of Soundline, this roundtable discussion saw some of the industry's most active members on stage together for the first time: Tim Andrews, president and CEO of ASI; Paul Bellantone, president and CEO of PPAI; Jonathan Isaacson, president of Gemline; Jo-An Lantz, MAS, executive vice president of Geiger; Anne McKeough, vice president of global sales for Staples Promotional Products; and Ira Neaman, president of Vantage Apparel were all answering questions from Schaffer, which had been provided by industry members.
The discussion began with Schaffer asking the panelists for their industry forecasts, and they were nearly universal in being cautiously optimistic for the future. Paul Bellantone noted that the industry grew 7 percent last year, and that compared to other advertising mediums, "only Internet marketing and mobile marketing are growing faster." Other topics included questions about financing, the impacts of social media, how technology is changing sales and the importance of product safety.
China was a recurring topic in the conversation, although for a change, it was not centered around U.S. jobs being sent overseas. During a section on international developments and the influence of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), several of the speakers noted that these countries may be viewed as threats, but they may also be viewed as opportunities. Ira Neaman said that "BRIC has the largest bureoning middle class," and Tim Andrews added that China alone "will have 700 million people in the middle class."
1 2 AllNext »
PPAI
Vantage Apparel
E Kyle A. Richardson Author's page
Kyle A. Richardson is the editorial director of Promo Marketing. He joined the company in 2006 brings more than a decade of publishing, marketing and media experience to the magazine. If you see him, buy him a drink.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line584
|
__label__wiki
| 0.984169
| 0.984169
|
7. Vigilante Holding The Watch Over Europe
Roger Taylor, better known as QUEEN's drummer had seen MAGNUM's Hammersmith show on the previous tour. He contacted the band offering to produce their next album, which they quickly agreed to. Co-producer was Dave Richards. Band and producers set to work after Tony had completed the new songs in May. To record and mix them MAGNUM went into QUEEN's own Mountain Studio in Montreux/Switzerland. The production budget now soared up to around 200.000 pounds!!
Tony about working with Roger Taylor: “I must admit there were times I thought to myself “Oh God, what's he doing“, but it turned out just fine in the end. The guitars weren't heavy enough but the keyboards sounded great.“
Asked how he could be so successful with his songwriting Tony said: “Success for me is being able to achieve a level of commercial integrity without sacrificing the commodity that touch you there in the very first place.“
A new single, “Lonely Night“ was put out in June, followed by the next album “Vigilante“ in September. The album contained only nine tracks, but most of them were rather long, up to almost seven minutes. The songs were “Lonely Night“, “Need A Lot Of Love“, “Sometime Love“, “Midnight (You Won't Be Sleeping)“,“Red On The Highway“, “Holyrider“, “When The World Comes Down“, “Vigilante“ and “Back Street Kid“. Another new song, “It Must Have Been Love“ was dropped during production but only to be recorded for the next album.
This time, Tony had the idea for the cover. He wanted to have a white unicorn and asked Rodney Matthews to design a cover with one on it. So he did, but somehow Matthews' design with a check
board floor, a big white unicorn and a black remote controlled toy car on the right side didn't suit the record company. Although Tony protested, Mr Matthews' cover vanished into his second book and Chris Moore designed the final artwork with a white unicorn in front of a big black rock within a semi-circled pink temple. Snow-covered mountains, a lake and a starry sky in the background give the picture an atmosphere of magic. Moore also designed a new band logo in broad letters that was to be on most future albums.
No less than four singles were lifted from the album, which all came in different formats with different previously unreleased B-sides. “Lonely Night“ doesn't need much explaining as the title says all about the contents of the song. The single came out on 7“, 12“ and a double 7“-EP. The B-side of the 7“ was “Les Morts Dansant (live)“, whereas on the 12“ there was a much longer “extended version“ of the song and the additional live-track “Hold Back Your Love“.
The EP contained the single version of the song, “Les Morts Dansant (live)“, ”All England's Eyes (live)“ and “Hit And Run (live)“. MAGNUM were even given the chance to perform “Lonely Night” on a British TV show called “Razzamataz”
The second single was “Midnight“ whose working title had been “Candle Bright”, which came out on 7“, 12“ and picture 12“.“Midnight“ is a song about a lover's feelings in the middle of the night. The B-side was “Back Street Kid“. The 12“es both contained a “remix“ of the title track, which was considerably longer, and the picture 12“ also had an unreleased track on the B-side which was “Kingdom Of Madness (live)“
A song with fantastic lyrics was “When The World Comes Down“. It describes the well-known situation of a person who is about to give up hope in life as everything seems to go wrong. The lyrics encourage this person to go on and never give up, ending with “May all your dreams come true for you.“ This song came out as a 7“, which featured disappointing “edit“-versions of the title track and “Vigilante“. The 12“ contained the full length album versions. “When The World Comes Down“ was the first MAGNUM-track to appear as a CD-single which featured the same tracks as the 12“. Tony describes this song as “really passionate, with lots of harmonies like a national anthem“. He was especially pleased with Robert’s and Dave’s production which had added much of the sparkle the finished song has.
The strangest single was “Need A Lot Of Love“, because it didn't come out in the band's home country at all, but only in France and Germany. The 12“ featured a “remix“-version on the A-side and a live-version on the B-side; both versions appeared as “edits“ on the 7“. There were also a few CD-single promo-copies which contained one more song, a live version of “How Far Jerusalem“. The song is an appeal to humanity badly needed in a warfaring world. Examples named in the text are the Berlin Wall, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Vietnam. The live tracks were originally recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire during the previous Christmas tour for a possible live album, but that never materialized.
The “Vigilante“-album was unique in several ways. Roger contributed background vocals to “When The World Comes Down“ and “Sometime Love“ and a lot of uncredited percussion parts. An additional musician, Daniel Bourquin, played the saxophone part of “Midnight“. This album was the first MAGNUM-album to be put out on picture disc (now very collectable) and on CD.
“Vigilante“ shot up the charts immediately after its release. It went up to No.24 in the UK national charts, even to No.11 in the Heavy Metal charts. It was No. 18 in Sweden and No. 57 in Germany (which is very good!) and was even released in Japan, the USA and Canada.
The album and single sales were pushed by a lot of radio airplay and by videos made to support the singles. The “Lonely Night“-clip showed Bob walking through dark streets encountering all kinds of strange people. The “Midnight“-clip strangely showed shipwrecked children looking for their parents.
The only thing that actually refers to the album is a unicorn skull the children find on the beach. The third clip for “When The World Comes Down“ was filmed at a live stage performance on the following European tour. Although no clip was made for “Need A Lot Of Love“ there actually is a fourth clip! The band were filmed doing “Vigilante“, the best-known song of the album for the ITV-programme “The Tube“. This monochrome clip was also broadcast, but as “Vigilante“ was no single it was never officially released on video, only as bonus material on DVD much later. There even is a second video of that song that shows the band performing the song in front of a medieval building wearing coats and jackets for the Jools Holland TV-show. It was not until 2004 that it was officially published as a bonus track to the re-release of the “A Winter’s Tale”-DVD under the name on “MAGNUM-Live Legends”.
Immediately after finishing the album the band went to play some open air festivals in summer. They played alongside MARILLION in Milton Keynes at a concert that became known as the “Garden Party“ and was broadcast live on the radio. Then they supported STATUS QUO at the Arborn festival in Switzerland.
The “Vigilante“-tour was the biggest one MAGNUM had ever ventured so far. It started in September in the UK with FM supporting the band. Unfortunately, this lead to a lawsuit as FM were treated really badly by some people responsible for the tour, but MAGNUM themselves were not to be blamed at all. Another 33 concerts all over Europe and Scandinavia followed, which really put the band on the map, especially in Germany, where they were supported by SINNER. The tour ended with the band performing in Dublin and Belfast. The running order was: Intro (a sound sample that eventually took up the rhythm of “Vigilante“) /“Vigilante“/ „Back Street Kid“/ „All England's Eyes“/ „On A Storyteller's Night“/ „How Far Jerusalem“/ „Need A Lot Of Love“/ „Two Hearts“/
“Midnight“/ „Les Morts Dansant“/ „The Spirit“/ „Holyrider“/ „Lonely Night“/ „Changes“/ „Just Like An Arrow“/ „Kingdom Of Madness“/ and “Sacred Hour“.
Not only was this the longest tour the band had ever been on, but it was also the most outstanding stage performance. The stage was decorated with a temple, just like the one on the album cover with a semi-circular staircase, which could be raised to serve as stage entrance. Whereas the others wore medieval-style black stage costumes Bob came on in a white uniform jacket.
There also were various merchandising items on sale now. Except the obligatory tour books and T-shirts there were buttons, posters, pins, caps and other items, that sold as fast as the tour tickets. Many of the venues were even sold out.
The second leg of the tour started in March 1987. The running order was slightly changed. Now it was: “Intro“/ „Vigilante“/ „All England's Eyes“/ „On A Storyteller's Night“/ „Need A Lot Of Love“/ „Two Hearts“/ „It Must Have Been Love“/ „How Far Jerusalem“/ „Midnight“/ „Les Morts Dansant“/ „The Spirit“/ „Backstreet Kid“/ „Lonely Night“/ „Just Like An Arrow“/ „Kingdom Of Madness“/ „When The World Comes Down“.
MAGNUM were supported by HEAVY PETTIN and the concerts at Birmingham Odeon and in the Hammersmith Odeon in London were sold out. The latter was even broadcast live on BBC Radio 1.
After that it was back to the continent again, this time including Denmark, France, Austria and Italy. Support on these concerts were the German TALLEN. Between the second and the third leg of the tour the band made a quick stop at the studio to rehearse and arrange some new songs Tony had meanwhile written.
In June and July they did some more concerts, some supporting MARILLION, some as headliners. In Germany they played at the “Out In The Green“-festival in Dinkelsbühl. This show was broadcast live on TV, which earned them even more fans. In August MAGNUM performed at the famous Reading Festival, where they first played two new songs called “Don't Wake The Lion“ and “Days Of No Trust“.
The band was popular all over Europe now, especially in the UK, Germany and Sweden. Mark about success in Germany: “With only one tour of Germany we had already achieved as much success as after ten years in England!“ Backed by a major record label they were on the way to their very top.
FM-records had now bought the rights for the band's back catalogue, and issued their first compilation called “Mirador“ with a beautiful Rodney Matthews-cover showing white elks. It contained MAGNUM's best songs up to “On A Storyteller's Night“. As LPs started to disappear from the market now all the older MAGNUM albums were re-released on CD.
Some bands even started to cover MAGNUM now .“Just Like An Arrow“ was re-recorded by the Canadian band WHITE WOLF and Patty Smyth (Yes, the two “Y“s are correct!) recorded “Call To Heaven“, which was a cover of “Les Morts Dansant“ for her album “Never Enough“.
Although being very busy with MAGNUM, Mark Stanway still found the time to contribute the keyboards to the album “The Sanctuary“ by the Swedish white metal band MOTHERLODE. The cover design for this album was also created by Rodney Matthews. A few years later a dubious bootleg called “MAGNUM – 12”history” could be found in second hand record shops. It contained many B-sides and a strange “extended remix” of “Back Street Kid”. The fans still disagree whether this is a very clever home mix or a version that was officially recorded for a potential 12” of the song.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line585
|
__label__wiki
| 0.763153
| 0.763153
|
Bernard D'Mello
Bernard D'Mello is a senior journalist with the Economic & Political Weekly and a civil rights activist with the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights, Mumbai.
India After Naxalbari
Although the 1967 revolutionary armed peasant uprising in Naxalbari, at the foot of the Indian Himalayas, was brutally crushed, the insurgency gained new life elsewhere in India. In fact, this revo...
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel,
Perumal Murugan
Perumal Murugan is a prominent author of Tamil literature. An award-winning writer, poet and scholar, he has garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success for his vast array of work. Some of h
D.D. Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (July 31, 1907 – June 29, 1966) was a man with a Renaissance type of versatility: he had a wide range of knowledge without sacrificing depth. He was a mathematician, stat
JoAnn Jaffe
JoAnn Jaffe is a Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Studies, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Doug Lorimer
Doug Lorimer is a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party of Australia.
Deeptha Achar
Deeptha Achar teaches at the Department of English, M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara. Her publications include The Age of Adventure: Childhood, Reading and British Boys Fiction (2010). She has c
Maurice Cornforth
Maurice Campbell Cornforth (1909-1980) was a British Marxist philosopher. He is the author of several popular works such as Science versus Idealism (1946), The Theory of Knowledge (1954)
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, logician, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsk
Rohini Hensman
Rohini Hensman is a writer and independent scholar based in Bombay. She has published extensively on issues of workers' rights, women's rights and the rights of minorities, and is the coauthor of B
Anupama Rao
Anupama Rao is TOW Associate Professor, History and MESAAS, Barnard College, Columbia University, and Senior Editor, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She has research
Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (1872-1952) was a Russian revolutionary, writer, and diplomat. After the October Revolution, she was appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare. Her diplomatic
José Julián Martí y Pérez (1853-95), writer and revolutionary, was an iconic figure in Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain. He was to become a symbol of liberty
Richard Lewontin is Alexander Agassiz Research Professor at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. He is the author of The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment; It Ain
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was one of the most influential Marxist revolutionaries and thinkers of the twentieth century. A key figure in the October Revolution of 1917 as part of the Bolshevik
K.B. Saxena
K.B. Saxena retired from the Indian Administrative Service in 2001. He is currently Professor of Social Justice and Governance in the Council for Social Development.
Jodie Dean is a Professor of Political Science at Hobart & William Smith College. She is the author of The Communist Horizon (2012) and Crowds and Party (2016).
Shaswati Mazumdar
SHASWATI MAZUMDAR teaches German at the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Delhi. Her research has included a focus on the German writer Bertolt Brecht. She has edited a coll
Sharmistha Mohanty
Sharmistha Mohanty is the author of two previous works of fiction – Book One and New Life. She has also translated a selection of Tagore's fictional work, Broken Nest and Other Stories.
Sivanath Sastri
Sivanath Sastri (1847–1919) was a scholar, religious reformer, educator, writer and historian. He played an active role in the society of his times and kept a wonderful record of events but for whi
Kunal Ray
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line588
|
__label__cc
| 0.62481
| 0.37519
|
About Age Of Consent
“Leimbach’s scenes are convincing, whether they portray harrowing abuse or subtle moments of healing.”—Publishers Weekly
“Leimbach is known for tackling tough subjects in an unflinching manner, and this novel is no exception.”—Booklist, STARRED review
“…offers a horribly believable depiction of a child ensnared by a predator. In giving a voice to Bobbie’s mother as well as Bobbie, she foregoes the urge to simply blame a woman who failed to protect her daughter….Devastatingly powerful.”—Kirkus
About The Man From Saigon
“Leimbach’s mastery of place, of the scents, sounds, terrors, and sorrows of that time reminded me as perhaps only a great novel can that we are never done with a war even when it is long over, and that only wars and love endure.” —Dr. Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
“Vivid and powerful” —Publisher’s Weekly (starred)
“Fast-paced, vividly descriptive. . . . Leimbach’s emphasis on a female reporter in a war that was so often covered by men is refreshing.” —The New York Times Book Review
Writers are always told in writing classes to write about what you know. What Leimbach knows and writes about superbly is the human heart, its relationship with others, and its conflicts with duty, fear, and ambition… You won’t want to put it down for anything except reluctant pauses for necessities. —Karl Marlantes, author of the international bestselling book, Matterhorn
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line598
|
__label__cc
| 0.503702
| 0.496298
|
Father Michael G. Collins, MM
Ordained: June 13, 1959
Died: September 18, 2002
Father Michael Collins died at the China Medical College Hospital in Taichung, Taiwan in the early morning of September 18, 2002. He was 74 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 43 years.
Michael, son of Patrick and Mary Elizabeth (Amy) Collins, was born on July 22, 1928 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He has one brother, Bob, and four sisters: Mary, Joanne, Nancy and Eileen. Michael attended Grover Cleveland Int. School, Boston English and Dorchester High Schools. After serving in the United States Navy for four years, he decided that a foreign mission vocation would be his choice. He entered Maryknoll at the Venard, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania on June 25, 1949. He reflected on his call to mission and Priesthood in the following letter written in 1949 as he prepared to enter the Society: “I was assigned to the Naval Air Transport Service and for the next 27 months I was flying to China’s major cities. During my stay in China I was appalled by the existing conditions such as food and shelter. But most important was their lack of knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is where I first heard of Maryknoll and it was through an old copy of the Field Afar that I realized that there are people in the world trying to save the souls of this war torn nation, and at the same time helping them with their material needs. Each day I pray for more faith and that I may have a vocation so that I may go forth into the world preaching the word of God, and saving souls among those who knew him not.” He was ordained to the priesthood on June 13, 1959 and assigned to the Maryknoll Mission Region of Taiwan.
During Father Collins’ time in Taiwan, he served as Assistant Pastor/Pastor in many parishes, beginning with Nantou and Changhua to Lukang in 1967. In 1968 he was assigned Procurator of the Taichung Society House and was appointed to the Regional Council in July 1973. After nineteen years in Taiwan, on July 1, 1978 he was assigned to the Development Department working in the Philadelphia House and later, in July 1979, he was appointed Director and Local Superior of Maryknoll’s regional office in St. Louis. During his time on Promotion he spent many hours with youth informing them of Maryknoll.
Father Collins was among a number of Maryknollers who deeply believed that the Society needed a more formal ‘Contemplative Community’ of Priests and Brothers. The dream of this community was to pray, fast and make sacrifices for the sanctification of all Maryknollers and for an increase of zeal in their works of evangelization. Although there was support and encouragement from leadership and other Maryknollers, the dream was never formalized.
On January 1, 1984 he was reassigned to the Taiwan Region to an Aborigine parish, among the Bunun tribe. His work for the most part entailed the care of souls and translating the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament into a Romanized version of the unwritten Bunun langnage. Father Collins was very active in the contemplative prayer group in Taiwan. In February 1999, he was formally retired but continued to live among the Bunun people in Central Taiwan. He had recently taken up residence in the Taichung Society House where he assisted local parishes.
A Mass of Christian burial was held on Tuesday, September 24, 2002 in Taichung Diocese, Nantou County, Kuo Kheng, with Bishop Joseph Wang as celebrant and Rev. Eugene Murray M.M. as homilist. A memorial service was held at Maryknoll, New York on Saturday, October 19, 2002.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line599
|
__label__cc
| 0.711592
| 0.288408
|
Michelle Solomon
Journalist. Writer. Researcher. Editor.
Why I didn’t report
Home › Activism › Why I won’t respond to your tweets about false rape accusations
Follow Michelle Solomon on WordPress.com
Subscribe to mishsolomon.com
Enter your email address to subscribe to mishsolomon.com and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Why I won’t respond to your tweets about false rape accusations
By Michelle Solomon • August 4, 2013
Over and over and over again commenters and tweeple insist on discussing false rape accusations over rape survivors’ experiences and the challenges they face in dealing with their trauma, finding support and reporting to the police. This despite the fact that false rape accusations make up less than a percentage of the total projected rapes in this country.
Disclaimer: Read this fantastic post by Lauren Nelson on American false report data. It was such a great idea that I decided to mimic it with our own data that’s available. Nelson makes brilliant points, so I will be copy-pasting her brilliance here (see the green text). I will get into this in more depth when I have a chance and write a more eloquent post.
This study is the most reliable study we have in South Africa into how prevalent false rape reports may be. While the study focusses on Gauteng, the team that produced this are currently working to do the same study nationally. Until that study is completed, this is the best data we have on rape case attrition and false rape accusations. According to the study, 3.3% of rape reports may be false accusations (see page 43). That’s 3.3 false accusations out of every hundred rape cases, and it looks like this:
Nelson writes:
Here’s the next problem though – that’s only about reported rapes. In order for false accusations to be the pervasive counter-cultural revolution some claim, it would have to be a significant portion of all instances of rape. After all, if we’re looking to measure misery, we should make sure we have context.
According to the Medical Research Council, only 1 in 9 women report their rape. What does that mean for the false reports? Well, false rape accusations that end up at the cop shop make up less than a percentage of all rape in South Africa. What does that look like?
Just to clarify: This is based on a projected rape frequency using the most up to date report rate of 1 in 9.
As Nelson put it – this number is far from justifiable as an interruption to the discourse about rape and how we relate to the issue and can support rape survivors, and she got 3%. While our limited data means I have to stop here (but I believe I’ve made my point), Nelson takes it further:
Let’s talk hypothetically.
Let’s give the police the benefit of the doubt, and assume that their frequency of subjective dismissal justifies an adjustment down in the false reporting rate to 7%. There’s enough out there to justify a stronger cut, but we’ll be conservative.
And let’s say that, with only 37% of rapes being reported and sexual violence education woefully lacking, the amount of “unfounded” cases labeled as such due to lack of evidence to take it to trial – as women shower, dispose of clothing, and so forth post attack – brings false accusation rate down again to 6%.
And lets assume – given that only 9% of cases ever go to trial and only 3% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail – that rape culture factors such as dress, former sexual encounters, use of alcohol, and so forth, account for enough perceived potential for reasonable doubt to derail an additional portion of those “unfounded” cases bringing down the rate once more to 4% (and that’s being generous).
I know this is all conjecture. It’s an exercise. Stay with me.
So if the percentage of reported cases with false accusations is measured at 4%, how does this egregious harm compare to the big picture?
Since we already got less than half a percentage with the South African data available, can you imagine how small a number false rape accusations actually make up? Pretty much non-existent.
And that, dear readers, is why I will not have discussions about rape, reporting rape and rape survivors’ rights be constantly hijacked. Yes, false rape accusations do considerable damage, but we cannot keep focussing on something that only effects less than 1% of people who are adversely affected by rape. To suggest that we constantly focus our attention on that 1% instead of the vastly bigger problem that people are not reporting their rapes is patently absurd, as well as callous and, yes, a perfect example of rape culture at work.
But Nelson continues:
But wait, wait, wait! You might say. What about that one report with the DNA thing?
Oh, you’re talking about that adorable Fox News article with about as much merit as their “fair and balanced” mantra? Let me break it down:
This article is old. Like, 1996 old. Like, operating on data from way before that. You’ll have to forgive me if I prefer more recent data.
The author points out the differences in false rape accusation rates among studies and calls them irreconcilable. That’s pretty lazy. A couple of hours of reading and the ability to think critically got me there just fine (see above). But again, this is old, and other studies have come out since it was published.
Just because DNA exonerated someone does not mean that they were falsely accused by the rape victim. There are times where the victim has no memory of the attack, but other pieces of evidence are used to make the case. Splitting hairs? Maybe, but in terms of tackling rape culture, it’s an important clarification – this is not necessarily reflective of malicious accusations. To be fair, the article acknowledges that as well, but I want to drive that point home.
The study looked at percentage of convictions where DNA exonerated the accused. But it was also only based on the cases referred to the FBI. Given the reasons for referring cases all the way to the FBI, extrapolating the data to apply to the entirety of the incarcerated rapist population makes approximately zero sense. Further, if we remember that only 3% of rapists ever spend a day in jail, that means that false accusations were verified in the study in 0.6% of all projected rape cases. At best.Context.
All this means that people who tout false rape accusations as a critical element of establishing balance in rape culture discussions are equating the suffering of a statistically minuscule portion of the population to a (probably understated) massive population of rape victims.
Guess what? THAT IS RAPE CULTURE.
The idea that we must pepper discourse on the suffering of the marginalized by bemoaning comparatively insignificant harms suffered by the group that has historically had a cultural and institutional advantage in the legal system reeks of privilege.
The very notion that by focusing on the suffering of the majority without excusing the suffering of a minority is a form of discrimination is nonsensical.
The fact that false accusations are perpetually injected into accounts of substantial grief as an equal comparison is a distraction at best, and offensive more often. It is the equivalent of saying, “Rape is terrible, but…”
No – there is no “but.” Rape is terrible, and that statement needs no caveat.
While that is the righteously indignant response that comes to mind when I look at this data, when the temper has cooled and I attempt to be objective, I’m not entirely comfortable with this line of reasoning. I would not want to silence the voice of a victim of admittedly rare female-on-male rape just because they were representative of a very small proportion of the sexual violence victim population, and I don’t like the idea of doing that to other people who have suffered an injustice, either.
So while I feel like the comparison of false rape accusations to the extensive harms of rape culture is a bad one, that’s not why I’m refusing to publish comments bringing it up.
The reason is that this comparison has struck fear into the hearts of sexual violence victims for decades. It makes victims feel as though they won’t be believed if they do come forward. It gives rape culture perpetrators the “backing” to say a victim “wanted” it, or changed their mind because they were embarrassed. It gives the most vile of commenters their “grounds” for claiming a victim was “obviously” lying because so-and-so could have “anyone they wanted.”
That doesn’t help rape culture, but more importantly, that doesn’t help the victims. Coming forward can be important to receiving proper medical treatment, counseling and – should they choose to press charges – justice. And it can be the difference between putting a rapist behind bars, or allowing them to rape again. I don’t want to be a part of a culture that does that.
The reason is that – for better or worse – those concerned about false rape accusations have a heavyweight ally in their corner already: rape culture itself. The culture hand-delivers skepticism for any allegation that might be made. Victims, on the other hand, have no such ally in their corner. I’m not worried about giving those concerned about false rape accusations a platform, particularly if it’s going to continue to skew the odds against sexual violence victims by perpetuating rape culture overall.
Finally, it’s about creating a safe space.
Nelson ends with:
To be clear, I don’t believe the commenters were intending to foster a hostile environment for discourse. I believe they were trying to make an argument, and either were unaware of the what their statements did in context, or don’t understand the gravity of the rape culture problem. In any case, my decision is made.
If you want to comment about false rape accusations, it won’t be on this blog.
The 0.4% of false rape accusations I have calculated above come to less than three minutes in every hour. It comes to 2’24” to be exact.
And my minutes are up.
If you want to talk to talk about false rape accusations, it won’t be on my Twitter TL.
Who “let’s rape happen” in South Africa? [TRIGGER WARNING] (journoactivist.com)
Naming rape accusers? Beatty, just don’t. (journoactivist.com)
On the necessity of extensive reading and comprehension in combatting rape culture (notinmynamesouthafrica.wordpress.com)
Tagged as: Crime, False accusation, Lauren Nelson, Medical Research Council, rape, Sexual violence, south africa
Categorised in: Activism, Opinion, Why I didn't report, Writing
« Who “let’s rape happen” in South Africa? [TRIGGER WARNING]
My rape as “alleged” »
Why I Won’t Respond To… | The Order of the White Feather
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line605
|
__label__wiki
| 0.99715
| 0.99715
|
Harry Styles Reveals Why He Passed on Playing Prince Eric in ‘The Little Mermaid’
Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images
Harry Styles revealed the real reason he passed on playing Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid.
For months, there was speculation that the former One Direction singer was going to land the role opposite Halle Bailey's Ariel in Disney's live-action remake. However, after some sources confirmed he officially signed on to the project, E! News quickly reported Styles had "respectfully declined the offer."
Now, in a new interview with The Face published on Thursday (September 5), Styles finally set the rumors straight. “It was discussed,” he told the magazine. “I want to put music out and focus on that for a while. But everyone involved in it was amazing, so I think it’s going to be great. I’ll enjoy watching it, I’m sure.”
The 25-year-old also quickly discussed the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic, which he auditioned for. Unfortunately, the role went to Austin Butler, but Styles says there are no hard feelings. "I feel like if I’m not the right person for the thing, then it’s best for both of us that I don’t do it, you know?" he explained.
As for his forthcoming second solo album, which Styles said is "all about sex" in a previous interview, it'll be nothing like his self-titled debut record, according to Stevie Nicks. "It’s not like anything One Direction ever did. It’s pure Harry, as Harry would say. He’s made a very different record and it’s spectacular," she said.
Hary Styles' Hottest Red Carpet Photos
Source: Harry Styles Reveals Why He Passed on Playing Prince Eric in ‘The Little Mermaid’
Filed Under: harry styles
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line607
|
__label__wiki
| 0.868162
| 0.868162
|
Home / Z Report
Lazer Lloyd – American Singer Swears By Blues & Miracles
[Source: haaretz.com]
By Ben Shalev
New York-born blues musician Lazer Lloydsays his life has been full of miracles – such as encountering the charismatic Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and, recently, finding a fan willing to underwrite his latest CD.
At 6:30 in the evening, as Lazer Lloyd’s old Suzuki approaches Hadera on its long trip north to Mitzpe Hila, the man who invited Lloyd to perform at the event in that northern community phoned. “Lazer, I just want to let you know it’s raining really hard here,” said the man, named Mark.
“Of course, there has to be a deluge – it’s because I am coming!” replied Lloyd merrily, in heavily American-accented Hebrew. “Last week I performed in Mitzpe Ramon and there were such big floods there my car almost drowned. Even the camels were afraid to go outside.”
Mark, who knows Lloyd’s hippie-like soul, wanted to be sure the blues guitarist would be on time for the performance.
“It’ll be fine,” Lloyd assured him, “but let’s talk about the important things: Have you warmed up the arak yet?”
Two hours later, in the small pub at Mitzpe Hila (which is in fact a nonprofit members’ club ) Lloyd stood on stage, quickly checked the sound – and then waxed poetic about the quality of the Turkish arak that had been served to him. At 9 P.M., an hour and a half before the start of the performance, the bottle was already half-empty, and Lloyd wandered around the pub hugging everyone who came in. “Eitan! I’m crazy about you.” “Amir, how I love you!!” “Jackson, my man, I missed you! I’m crazy about you!” “Daniella, what fun to see you! I love this place so much!!”
The most remarkable thing about this outpouring of emotion was that Lloyd had only seen these people once before – and remembered their names. That had been around four months earlier – two days after soldier Gilad Shalit, a resident of this Galilee community near the Lebanon border, had been released from Hamas captivity. There had been a special atmosphere at the moshav pub that night. Lloyd and his band played for three and half hours and turned the place into a hive of hot blues. Several of those who had been present that night at the pub recalled Lloyd’s performance as both amazing and unforgettable.
Would Lloyd succeed in replicating the power of that night in this performance, in which he would be performing solo, without backup? And wouldn’t it be a good idea for him to slow down a bit with the arak?
Mississippi style
Lloyd, whom some people call “the Hasidic blues man” (a label he doesn’t like ), loves to talk about miracles. The sound balance at the Mitzpe Hila pub was sorted out without a hitch? It’s a miracle. The soundman’s console didn’t get wet in the rain? A miracle. They invited him to perform at Mitzpe Hila the week Gilad Shalit was released? A miracle. But the biggest miracle of all that has happened recently to Lloyd is the one that enabled him to record his new, second disc, “My Own Blues.” He had pondered making such an album for some time, but didn’t have the means to pay for it. He wanted to record at a good studio, and that costs money.
Lloyd is the father of five children and his performances in small clubs do not make him a wealthy man. Until not long a ago he drove an old Skoda, which he was trying to sell for NIS 4,000. In the meantime, he had bought the Suzuki, for NIS 10,000. How was he going to pay for a studio? Help from a record company was not even a long shot: The Israeli blues market is not exactly a gold mine and in any case Lloyd, a disciple of the late Shlomo Carlebach – the progressive Hasidic rabbi who loved singing – does not approve of record companies in principle.
“Rabbi Carlebach used to say there are two kinds of record companies: the big thieves and the small thieves,” he explains. “The rabbi said he always landed with the big thieves, so he never had to face the challenge of what to do with the money.”
So how would Lloyd pay for his disc? He decided to sell some of his guitars, among them his favorite Fender Telecaster. He advertised this on his Facebook page and invited people to come. But then he received an e-mail from a wealthy American, who had heard Lloyd’s music online and had become a fan.
“Why are you selling the Telecaster?” asked the man. “How much money do you need to make the disc?”
Lloyd gave an estimate – and the man replied: “Just tell me where to send the money.”
“Heaven opened up for me,” says Lloyd, his eyes gleaming. “After all those years of work and prayer, at long last I could do it properly.”
When he says “properly,” he means a number of things. First of all, that the [double] album would have two parts: electric and acoustic.
“Because that’s Lazer. Those are my two sides: the big, strong side of electronic blues and the relaxed Mississippi style – the way I sound when I sit and play by myself at home. I felt a need for expressing both sides, the way it is with Neil Young.” He goes on to reminisce about attending a performance of that well-known American singer, which he says was the best he’d ever seen in his life. He also tells about a friend who was a roadie on a Young tour. “He told me that when they were on the road Neil would get off the bus with a backpack in the afternoon and tell them: Pick me up here in the morning. What a person! I am crazy about him!”
Another thing that was important to Lloyd during the recording of the disc in Tel Aviv was that the music be recorded live, without “enhancements” – various elements that are tacked on afterward.
“It’s the blues,” he says. “When you listen to Robert Johnson or Blind Lemon Jefferson, you hear a man and a guitar connected. You hear something wild, not processed. And if the singing doesn’t sound the best, that’s okay. I am a heart person, not a throat person.”
“It means that when you come to hear Lazer, you’re not coming to hear beautiful singing. I don’t have anything against it, but it’s not me. I want to pour my heart out on the stage. Not the most beautiful, but the most real. Like Johnny Winter, the singer I love most in the world. Did you know I was once the warm-up for him?”
Where? When?
“The truth is that I’m just boasting. He came to play at the college I went to and I played in the band there . I also warmed up for Prince. That doesn’t mean Prince called me and said, ‘Lloyd, I want you to be my warm-up.’”
Lazer Lloyd was born 45 years ago in New York, as Lloyd Blumen. His father was a guitarist and Lloyd relates that at the start of the 1960s he played with Paul Simon. “It was almost Simon and Blumen instead of Simon and Garfunkel,” he chortles as the Suzuki approaches the Yagur Junction.
Beethoven and blues
For his part Lloyd started playing guitar when he was bar-mitzvah age. He played in a band that did covers of hits from the 1950s and tried a bit of jazz – but fell in love with the blues. For some reason, however, he went on to study classical music in college.
“Joints every day,” is how he describes his days there. When for his final paper he was asked to compare seven of Beethoven’s symphonies, he submitted poems to his professor describing what he felt when he listened to the great composer’s music. “I got a D minus,” he laughs.
“All I wanted to do was sit in my room and play blues, but even when I was doing that I felt I wasn’t finding what I was looking for. And then I saw an item on television about B.B. King. The interviewer asked him how he chose his backup musicians and King replied: ‘I don’t listen to their playing. I take them to a bar, I drink with them, I talk with them and if I see they are good people I know they will be good musicians.’
“At that moment I said: This is it. Enough of playing 10 hours a day. You need to make a switch … To try to get to the depths of the soul. And then the big miracle happened.”
Lloyd is referring to his encounter with Rabbi Carlebach, in 1993. The younger man was then living in Manhattan and was in advanced negotiations with Atlantic to record a debut album by his band, The Last Mavericks (“It was like Stevie Ray Vaughan meets Bruce with a bit of a grungy sound”).
“Someone asked me if I would accompany Rabbi Carlebach on guitar and I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it, but I’m not keen on rabbis or Jewish music.’ The only connection I had to Judaism then was that I knew my grandmother had been observant.”
The encounter with Carlebach turned Lloyd’s world upside down. “First of all, he gave me a big hug, which I haven’t forgotten to this day,” he recalls. “I felt like I was face to face with a person who loves the world. And I was also turned on by the music. I heard a bluesy core in the niggunim [Hasidic melodies] as well. That kind of sound of the soul, which is stuck in the body and wants to get free and get out − you hear it in B.B. King and you hear it in the niggunim of the Ba’al Shem Tov,” Lloyd explains, referring to 18th-century rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, considered the founder of Hasidism.
Carlebach, who died the following year, gave Lloyd recordings from old performances of his and Lloyd was overjoyed when he heard them. “I don’t understand Yiddish,” he says, “but every word touched me. He pours out his heart there. There’s a climax of crying and a climax or joy. Anyone who hears this and doesn’t cry needs to get his heart checked.”
A week later Lloyd told his band he was resigning and several months after that, he was in a yeshiva in Jerusalem. “I make changes fast,” he quips.
In Israel, Lloyd got married, established a family, moved to Beit Shemesh, where he still lives, and began performing. He made the most money in his early years in the country, with a band called Reva L’Sheva (“Carlebach meets The Grateful Dead”), which went on tour in the United States. In 2005 he issued his first album with the help of Ofir Leibovitz of the Israeli rock band Nikmat Hatraktor.
Lloyd’s name began to blink brightly on the radar of blues lovers in Israel when, about two years ago, he was the warm-up act for the performance by English guitarist Snowy White in Tel Aviv. From the first chord, he says, “there was a huge connection with the audience [which included, among others, Shalom Hanoch and broadcaster Ben Rad of 88 FM, who since then has played Lloyd frequently]. There was magic. After the performance, everyone was all over me. I realized I’d stolen the show from Snowy.”
Lloyd really is an extraordinary performer, and his recent show at Mitzpe Hila − in front of several dozen devotees (Shalit did not come, though Lloyd prayed he would) was not only a huge pleasure musically speaking, but also a rare sight in pure human terms. Of course it didn’t hurt that he is an excellent guitarist and a good singer, but Lloyd’s most important asset is his personality, and his amazing ability to connect with the people who are listening to him and tell them his story. In this respect he truly is a blues man.
“It’s no big deal. I come from there. In America there are millions of people like this,” he says modestly. “It will be like an Israeli playing Mizrahi music in Connecticut. There, people will think he is a genius.”
Enchanting and liberating
During the first moments of Lloyd’s performance it seemed that he was too drunk from the arak to be able to concentrate, but it quickly became clear that even though he was intoxicated he was both focused and in control. The drinking, it emerged, enables him to open up completely, drop all inhibition and pour out his heart the way he loves to do. At times he even came down from the stage and sat on the laps of people in the audience − women as well as men − while continuing to play. On paper this sounds disturbing, but in fact it was enchanting and liberating.
Lloyd also told some funny stories (for example, about how he fools policemen who stop him on the road to check his blood alcohol level: he sticks the straw into his beard and blows). He entertained the audience with the skill of a stand-up comedian, and then from time to time turned serious, extinguished the laughter and sunk deep into the blues (as in the case of an anti-war song that developed into an excellent one-man jam that went on for 20 minutes).
After more than two hours of blues, Lloyd moved into niggunim. It was already 1 A.M. by then and over half the audience, more lovers of blues than of Jewish music, went home. The few who remained earned a hug at the end of the performance.
On the way back from the north, Lloyd slept most of the way, but at 4 A.M., when his driver – myself – got out of the car, he had to drive himself another hour to Beit Shemesh. The next day he reported that when he reached town a police car stopped him: “But they didn’t hassle me. I didn’t need to use the trick with the straw. A miracle!”
For more on Lazer Lloyd check out his website www.lazerlloyd.com/ and his Facebook Page. His new album is available on Reverbnation.com.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line610
|
__label__wiki
| 0.892335
| 0.892335
|
Report: Could IndyCar return to the Gold Coast in Australia?
By Tony DiZinnoJun 29, 2016, 11:15 AM EDT
The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule features a number of welcome returns. Phoenix International Raceway was a decent return back in April, while Road America’s return last weekend was all sorts of warm and fuzzy. Watkins Glen International will have its chance on Labor Day weekend in September.
Could the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise in Australia, be next?
The Gold Coast Bulletin in Australia caught wind of some government talks that lock in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship – the series formerly known as V8 Supercars – through 2019 on the Gold Coast at the truncated Surfers Paradise street circuit.
And if a private consortium has its way, and can negotiate with the Supercars, IndyCars could return perhaps in 2017 with a greater likelihood in 2018.
“We are talking to TEQ and the US-based IndyCars,” a consortium spokesman told the Bulletin.
“All our concern at the moment is on securing the approval through government to hold the event with IndyCars as the major attraction — 2017 is a possibility, 2018 is more than possible,” the spokesman added.
INDYCAR later added a statement Wednesday afternoon:
“INDYCAR is in the process of investigating potential venues for the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, which includes a number of conversations with international parties interested in hosting an event. INDYCAR has an extended history at Surfers Paradise and many of its teams and drivers fondly recall the great events and large crowds in Australia. However, at this time, we are not going to comment on specifics as it pertains to the status of any prospective venue.”
IndyCar – in its prior guise as CART or Champ Car – raced points events at Surfers Paradise from 1991 through 2007. It ran in March through 1997 before shifting to October in 1998. The race only had one repeat winner in Sebastien Bourdais, who won in both 2005 and 2007.
In 2008, Surfers Paradise was added as part of the Champ Car-IndyCar merger but as a non-points race following that year’s season finale at Chicagoland Speedway. Ryan Briscoe won it for Team Penske, the Australian driver thus becoming the only local to have won in his home country in any prior open-wheel running.
Australia still has a heavy presence in IndyCar with Will Power running full-time in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, while Matthew Brabham made his series debut in the No. 61 PIRTEK Team Murray Chevrolet throughout the month of May. Brabham has been a regular fixture at tracks this year even though he hasn’t been driving in every event.
Scott Dixon hails from New Zealand and only had the opportunity to race on the Gold Coast three times, in 2001 with PacWest Racing and in 2002 and 2008 with his current team, Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
A number of IndyCar stars also moonlighted in the Gold Coast 600 Supercars race as guest co-drivers within the last decade.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line611
|
__label__wiki
| 0.550998
| 0.550998
|
Head Of Biden’s HHS Transition Underreporting Already High Number Of Vaccines Sitting On Shelves
Director Gordon should resign from the Biden transition team immediately to focus on distributing the vaccine to Michigan’s most vulnerable.
A new report from Crain’s Detroit has revealed that Michigan is underreporting an already extremely high number of vaccines that are simply sitting on shelves instead of being distributed to the most vulnerable. The report states that 160,000 doses intended for nursing homes are missing from the state’s data.
“Michigan’s early rate of inoculating the population with COVID-19 vaccines — already lagging most other states — is underreporting how many doses of the vaccine are sitting on shelves in hospitals, pharmacies and government health departments.”
The Daily Caller reported yesterday that “Vaccine distribution run by a leading member of Biden transition team is one of the worst in the country.”
The state’s vaccine administration is headed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon. Whitmer serves as the co-chair of Biden’s inauguration and Gordon leads Biden’s Health and Human Services transition team.
It’s clear that Governor Whitmer and Director Gordon are either unable or unwilling to put forth and oversee an effective vaccine distribution plan. The fact that they are underreporting the number of vaccines sitting on shelves that are meant for nursing home residents is a complete failure. Director Gordon should resign from the Biden transition team immediately to focus on distributing the vaccine to Michigan’s most vulnerable. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action
According to data from the state of Michigan, individuals over the age of 80 are the most likely to suffer illness and death from COVID-19. The data also shows that as of Jan. 4, 2021, long-term care facilities are still the leading locations for outbreaks.
Sponsored by Michigan Rising Action
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line614
|
__label__wiki
| 0.954575
| 0.954575
|
Harry Atkins
Harry Atkins spent all of his nearly 40-year reporting career in Michigan, and in that time shared with state and national readers the stories one only finds through hard work, keen observation and a friendly manner.
Beginning his career at the St. Clair County Independent Press and then the Utica Daily Sentinel, Atkins joined The Associated Press Detroit bureau in 1971. He would spend 29 years there, the last 21 as sports editor. In that time, Atkins covered the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and high school football, as well as World Series and Stanley Cups. To all his coverage, he brought quality writing and a commitment to gelling it right.
Not only did Atkins spend his entire journalism career in Michigan, he spent most of his life here as well. Born in Port Huron, he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wayne State University.
Atkins won numerous awards during his career. He is the only writer to win AP Michigan Staffer of the Year twice, and he was a three-time runner-up for National AP Sports Writer of the Year. In 2000, the Michigan Associated Press named its annual writing award after Atkins.
For all his recognized excellence in reporting, Atkins also was highly regarded as a teacher and mentor. He taught journalism at Oakland University as a part-time lecturer for 10 years, covering basic journalism, feature writing and sports writing. Atkins has also conducted writing workshops for AP, the Mid-America Press Institute and several newspapers.
AP Projects Editor Paula Froke, Atkins’ editor for nearly 10 years, wrote, “I was one of his bosses, but it was he who helped me be a better journalist. He epitomizes all that a journalist should be.”
Atkins retired in 2000, but his influence remains tangible to all who worked with him.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line615
|
__label__wiki
| 0.870626
| 0.870626
|
John Budreski |
Mr. Budreski is a Director and Executive Chairman of the Board for EnWave Corp. He was formerly a Vice Chairman of Cormark Securities Inc. and prior to that, President and CEO of Orion Securities Inc. He has over 25 years of experience in the resource and resource financing industries. Mr. Budreski is also a Director of Sandstorm Gold Ltd. and NuLegacy Corporation. John holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Dalhousie / TUNS University and an MBA from the University of Calgary.
Dawson Brisco |
President, CEO and Director, P.Geo
Mr. Brisco was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation in 2018.
Dawson is a Professional Geologist with over 15 years of business development and mining industry experience in a variety of roles in the bulk commodity and energy sectors. Prior to joining the Corporation, Mr. Brisco managed an exploration alliance with Xstrata Coal in Asia from 2005 to 2010. Mr. Brisco is an independent Director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia. Mr. Brisco holds a Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
John Byrne |
John Byrne has been a director of Morien since October 2012. Mr. Byrne is President of Petroleum Corporation of Canada Exploration Limited (“Petrex”) since 1997 and brings more than 30 years of investment banking and corporate finance experience to Morien. Pretrex helped establish and finance Enerplus Energy Services Ltd. for which Mr. Byrne served as its Vice Chairman (1986-2000). Mr. Byrne has also served in senior executive roles with Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion Inc. (now National Bank Financial), A.E. Ames & Company/Dominion Securities Ames and The First Boston Corporation. Mr. Byrne holds a B.A. from McGill University and an LL.B from the University of Toronto Law School. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Charles Pitcher |
Charles Pitcher was appointed as an independent director in Oct 2012. He has four decades of experience in operations, engineering, management and project development of both civil and mining projects. His most recent coal experience was President of Wilson Creek Coal in Pennsylvania. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Western Canadian Coal Corp. from 2002 through June 2004 where he led the acquisition, development and startup of two major coal projects in Northeast British Columbia. He continued as a Director of the Company until 2010. Additionally he has served as Director of PBS Coals Limited (TSX-PBS) from November 2007 until August 2008. Mr. Pitcher holds a B.Sc. Mining Engineering degree (1979) from the Colorado School of Mines and is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.
Mary Ritchie |
Ms. Ritchie is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Richford Holdings Ltd., an accounting and investment advisory services firm based in Edmonton, Alberta. Ms. Ritchie has over 30 years of experience in both the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and is a Fellow of CPA Alberta. She is a member of the board of directors and audit committees of Alaris Royalty Corp. (TSX), EnWave Corporation (TSXV) and IPL Plastics Inc. (TSX). She has been a past director on a number of boards, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Industrial Alliance Insurance, Financial Services Inc. (TSX), iA Financial Corporation Inc. (TSX) and a past member of the RBC Global Asset Management’s independent oversight committee.
https://morienres.com/board-of-directors/
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line621
|
__label__wiki
| 0.862248
| 0.862248
|
Al-Razi
Born on 865
Died on 925
Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Rāzī;
(Persian: ابوبكر محمّد زکرياى رازى Abūbakr Mohammad-e Zakariyyā-ye Rāzī, also known by his Latinized name Rhazes (/ˈrɑːziːz/) or Rasis; 854–925 CE), was a Persian polymath, physician, alchemist, philosopher, and important figure in the history of medicine. He also wrote on logic, astronomy and grammar.
A comprehensive thinker, Razi made fundamental and enduring contributions to various fields, which he recorded in over 200 manuscripts, and is particularly remembered for numerous advances in medicine through his observations and discoveries. An early proponent of experimental medicine, he became a successful doctor, and served as chief physician of Baghdad and Ray hospitals. As a teacher of medicine, he attracted students of all backgrounds and interests and was said to be compassionate and devoted to the service of his patients, whether rich or poor.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line623
|
__label__cc
| 0.627729
| 0.372271
|
Anaheim continues to respond to the coronavirus outbreak as we enter a second surge in cases across our county, state and nation.
With last week's holiday, it's been a couple weeks since we provided an email update on COVID-19 cases for Anaheim and Orange County.
A lot has changed in that time for Anaheim and Orange County.
If you've been following us on social media, you've likely seen the rapid increase of new cases reported in our daily updates. We are seeing a coronavirus surge that has already outpaced the peak we saw during our summer surge in July.
Anaheim saw an increase of 1,190 cases in the past seven days, while Orange County saw 7,792 new cases in that time.
Orange County is at a cumulative 82,887 cases, with 6,902 among children.
As of Dec. 4, the county has processed 1,512,749 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, the standard for diagnosing COVID-19 cases.
Orange County, along with much of California, remains in the most restrictive purple Tier 1 category based on our case rate and positivity rate. This is the most restrictive tier in the state's color-coded reopening framework, which determines what businesses can be open with modifications.
The county's current positivity rate is 8.8 percent.
We're also currently under a limited stay-at-home order from the state, which restricts business operations and gatherings in the overnight hours.
In the coming days, we could see Anaheim, as part of a larger Southern California region defined by the state's road to recovery task force, move into a more restrictive stay-at-home order. More on that below.
Seven-day positivity rate: 11.2 percent, up from 8.5 percent the week prior
Seven-day case rate: 35.2, up from 21.5 the week prior
Nursing facility cases: 72
Seven-day case rate: 2.5, up from 30.8 the week prior
Seven-day case rate: 34, up from 25.9 the week prior
Seven-day positivity rate: 7.6 percent, up from 7.3 percent the week prior
Deaths: listed as "less than five" since July 4 with three Anaheim deaths now likely assigned to this ZIP code
Seven-day positivity rate: 8.7 percent, down from 8.9 percent the week prior
Among cities, Santa Ana has the most cumulative cases at 16,041, followed by Anaheim at 13,862, Garden Grove at 4,820, Orange at 3,938 and Fullerton at 3,923.
Pending regional stay-at-home order
Anaheim and Orange County could fall under a new, more restrictive stay-at-home order in coming days, if our region hits a key hospitalization measurement.
To be clear, this new, stricter stay-at-home order is not in effect now.
The measurement that determines when we fall under the new order is the percentage of available intensive-care unit beds for a newly defined Southern California region.
Starting Saturday, the stay-at-home order would be triggered when a region falls below 15 percent availability of beds in ICUs.
Our region spans from San Diego and Imperial counties to the south to San Luis Obispo County in the northwest and as far as Mono County in the northeast part of our state.
It's a lot larger than what we usually think of as Southern California.
The region's ICU bed availability is 20.6 percent as of Thursday and will be updated daily, with Friday's number due late afternoon.
We will be sharing any updates as they happen at Anaheim.net/coronavirus and on the city's Facebook and Twitter pages.
While only one part of our region, Orange County's availability is 20 percent as of Friday. Los Angeles County, which, given its size, will have a large impact on our region, is at 24 percent as of Friday.
It brings us no joy to share that our region is expected to reach the ICU threshold with the current surge we are seeing.
Because the region we're included in is so big, it is hard to say when. It could be in a day, coming days or beyond.
The earliest we could see changes would be on Sunday, if the Southern California region dipped below 15 percent on Saturday.
Here is a summary of pending restrictions under the new stay-at-home order. Please note some closures already are in place in Anaheim and Orange County under the state's purple Tier 1 restrictions for counties with widespread cases.
No gatherings with those outside your household
Stay at home except for essential outings and work
No nonessential travel
Closure of bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries
Closure of nail, hair salons, barbers, other personal care services
Closure of indoor, outdoor playgrounds
Closure of indoor recreation facilities
Closure of movie theaters
Closure of museums, zoos, aquariums
Closure of family entertainment centers
Closure of limited services, including car washes and pet groomers
Closure of theme parks
Allowed to stay open:
Non-urgent healthcare, including dentists, optometrists
Schools that are already open
Restaurants: takeout only, no more outdoor dining
Stores, shopping centers: 20 percent capacity with entry metering
Hotels and lodging: essential travel and lodging only
Offices: remote except for critical operations where remote is not possible
Churches, temples, mosques: outdoor only
Critical infrastructure and services (water, power, government)
Parks, trails, beaches, other outdoor recreation
Read more updates at Anaheim.net/reopening.
At-home COVID-19 test kits
Anaheim residents can now order an at-home COVID-19 test kit that will be sent directly to their homes at no cost.
The kits are also available for pick-up at several clinics throughout the city.
The saliva-based test is easy to do and once you're finished, you package it in the box provided and drop it off at a FedEx box, no postage needed. You'll get your results via email in 24-48 hours.
When done properly, the test is reported to be 100% accurate.
Click here to order a kit.
If you're feeling sick, think you've been exposed, are an essential worker or live with family members that are at high risk, you may want to consider getting tested.
Free COVID-19 testing is also available at sites throughout Anaheim to those with and without symptoms and with and without health insurance.
Drive-thru testing is open at the Anaheim Convention Center Tuesday through Friday from noon to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Walk-up testing is available at Anaheim City Hall on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Make an appointment for both sites here.
Neighborhood testing is available, both for drive-thru and walk-up, on Mondays at
Magnolia High School and Fridays at Anaheim High School from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Make an appointment here.
Testing is also available this coming Wednesday, Dec. 9, at Marshall Elementary School from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with no appointment needed.
You can find more information on testing at Anaheim.net/testing.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line629
|
__label__wiki
| 0.710306
| 0.710306
|
Fines for Faithless Electors Upheld by Washington State Court
By Paul Shukovsky
Electors voted for Colin Powell rather than Hillary Clinton
Supreme Court ruled electors’ power comes from state
Three presidential electors who wrote in Colin Powell’s name rather than voting for Hilary Clinton in 2016 can be fined $1,000 by Washington state for failing to abide by the popular vote, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The votes by the three so-called “faithless” electors violated a state law which required them to vote for a person nominated by the party of which they are an elector. Clinton bested Donald Trump in Washington state.
The electors had argued that states can’t infringe on a federal responsibility outlined in the U.S. Constitution. They also said said that Electoral College members...
Paul Shukovsky
Staff Correspondent
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line630
|
__label__cc
| 0.713611
| 0.286389
|
Govt Is Ready To Support Businesses In Nigeria – Osinbajo
The Federal Government is actively supporting private investors in the power sector, and continuously working to ensure the business environment is conducive for businesses to thrive in the country, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
He said this at a media chat with journalists, after a tour of the Azura Power Plant near Benin City, on day two of his working visit to Edo State. Azura-Edo Independent Power Plant is a 450MW open cycle gas turbine power station.
Prof Osinbajo stated that the additional 460MW to the National Grid has greatly improved the power situation in the country, while applauding the quality of the power plant. He commended the commitment of the operators in driving the project to conclusion ahead of schedule.
While briefing journalists, he added that “as you can see for yourselves, it is an excellent and wonderful project, which demonstrates the capacity of Nigerian engineering and enterprise.”
He mentioned government’s readiness to “provide support that we can, ensuring the environment is right for those who want to invest in the power sector”. He further added that government would expect “Azura itself, to increase its capacity as time goes on, and then of course, we would see others who would come as well.”
He commended Governor Godwin Obaseki, for the other various projects his administration has undertaken, including the commissioning of the 1,600 units of housing, the governor’s collaboration with Federal Government in ensuring the launch of the South-south Innovation Hub, amongst others.
Similarly, the Vice President added that his visit involved seeing the beneficiaries of the different Social Investment Programmes of the Federal Government.
In rounding off his visit, Vice President Osinbajo paid a courtesy call on the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo. The Oba in his response praised the VP saying “he is doing extremely very well.”
The Oba also asked Osinbajo to extend appreciation to President Buhari, for declaring June 12 as Democracy Day and for honouring the winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O Abiola.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line632
|
__label__wiki
| 0.591009
| 0.591009
|
Niger Delta Ex-Agitators Applaud Dokubo
A coalition of ex-agitators and stakeholders in the Niger Delta have applauded the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Prof. Charles Dokubo, for his commitment to peace building in the region.
The ex-agitators, under the aegis of Niger Delta Peace Awareness Movement, said the meeting was called to assess the level of peace in the region since the coming on board of Dokubo.
They expressed satisfaction that the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme had lived up to the expectations of the stakeholders in the Niger Delta.
Addressing journalists after their meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the leader of the group, Alhaji Awo Harmony, said the meeting was imperative to continuously assess the situation of things in the region.
He said the meeting was also necessary to identify obstacles that constitute threats to peace, stressing that before now, most of the ex-agitators were disgruntled because of the non-payment of their monthly stipends.
“We are happy that today we have an amnesty coordinator whose commitment to resolving the Niger Delta crisis is second to none. Within the short period that he has been in office, he has settled all outstanding allowances owed to ex-agitators,” Harmony said.
Also speaking, the spokesman for the Supreme Egbesu, Kingsley Opukuri, also commended Dokubo for yielding to their call for multi-lateral peace building approach.
He noted that Dokubo had within the past months consulted with different stakeholders in the region, bringing everybody on board the table of peace.
Opukuri said, “Prof. Dokubo is a peace builder. Before his coming on board, the region was charged up and many youths had thought of returning to the creeks because of corruption and lack of transparency that bedevilled the amnesty scheme.
“His leadership has afforded many aggrieved youths the opportunity to express their grievances and proffer solutions to the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta.”
Also, Mr. Solomon Aloba, of the Front for Ijaw Survival and Hope, and ‘General’ Reuben Nanie, of Agba Freedom Fighters, commended Dokubo for using his wealth of experience to contain the problems of pipeline vandalism and oil bunkering in the region.
They urged him to sustain the tempo while calling on the Federal Government to complete the East-West Road to open the region for more investment opportunities.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line633
|
__label__wiki
| 0.682542
| 0.682542
|
Experimental Theater Pushes Boundaries to Preserve Itself
Oscar Perry Abello December 6, 2018
The block of East 4th Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery that houses La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. (Photo by Oscar Perry Abello)
In Manhattan’s East Village, there is a block of East 4th Street that contains just about everything New Yorkers are afraid their city is losing.
Demystifying the Financial Sector for Atlanta Social Justice Leaders
Foraging, and Forging, Connections in Cities
With Paper Monuments, New Orleanians Draft the City’s History Themselves
A Traveling, Pop-Up Library Holds Exclusively Books Written by Black Women
The affordable apartments in the five- and six-story pre-war buildings along the block are home to many artists and their families. Some have lived on the block for decades; some have moved in more recently. At street level, mom-and-pop shops sell guitars, prints, and therapeutic fragrances; there’s the Fourth Street Food Co-Op; and arts organizations that for decades have served the artists on the block and from all around the world, providing affordable spaces for studios, exhibitions and performances.
Founded in 1961, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is the geographic, economic, and cultural heart of the block, putting on 50 to 60 productions annually, providing opportunities for some 1,500 directors, writers, performers, costume and set designers, and other professional artists a year, not to mention its youth and community programming. In its 2011 obituary of founder Ellen Stewart, the New York Times called La MaMa the capital of “Off Off Broadway.” The theater’s experimental productions, while earning it the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, have never made much money for the theater itself. But that was never the point.
“It’s not just about fame and fortune, it’s also about how one artist impacts another artist, impacts another artist, this whole creative ecology that exists in a place like La MaMa,” says Mary Fulham, the current executive director.
The East Village, meanwhile, has become a posh location for many seeking to associate themselves with the neighborhood’s artsy reputation — but the influx of big spenders has come at a cost. The average East Village studio apartment currently rents for nearly $3,000 a month, according to RENTCafé. Cultural institutions have struggled to survive amid the changes.
The legendary folk and punk rock club CBGB — an East Village landmark — held its final show back in 2006, after a bitter rent-hike dispute. Grassroots Tavern, a landmark dive bar and gathering place for community organizers, was one of a smattering of long-running establishments that said goodbye in 2017. The Village Voice, around the corner from this block of East Fourth Street, stopped printing in 2017 and published its last online story earlier this year.
But this particular block of East Fourth Street has found ways to defend itself against the dark arts of real estate investors. Across the street from La MaMa, a stretch of buildings form the core holdings of the Cooper Square Community Land Trust, a nonprofit entity created specifically to own the land and keep the buildings on it permanently affordable for residents and commercial tenants. Meanwhile, La MaMa itself owns the two properties it occupies on the block, and this fall it launched its first-ever capital campaign to renovate and maintain its facilities for the next generation of artists.
“There’s been a real influx of high-powered real estate in this neighborhood, and it continues, which is why securing these buildings now is so crucial, because how do you withstand that kind of pressure?” says Fulham.
Like the performances that take to its stages, La MaMa’s capital campaign also pushes boundaries.
Renovations under way on the premises of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. (Photo by Oscar Perry Abello)
Phase one of the capital campaign involves a $17-million renovation of La MaMa’s building at 74 E. 4th Street, its first permanent home, which Ellen Stewart acquired in 1967. Most of the current 10,500 square-foot structure dates to 1873 and some parts of the building are much older than that. The cost covers a restoration of the façade to its original appearance, a completely new first-floor lobby, a revamped club-style second floor theater, and a conversion of the third and fourth floors (which once housed the theater company’s offices as well as Stewart’s personal residence) into indoor and outdoor spaces for youth and community programming. A new elevator and other tweaks will make the building 100-percent compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Beyer Blinder Belle is serving as the architect on the 74 E. 4th Street project, working with theater consultants Studio JG Lecat and Charcoalblue, and Yorke Construction Corporation.
To cover the cost, La MaMa has raised $4.5 million in capital campaign pledges so far, as well as $12 million in city funding. And yet, though Fulham is grateful for the city funding, and she lavishes praise on the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the fact is the city doesn’t provide any of that cash up front — instead, it gradually reimburses projects as they turn in the receipts showing they’ve have reached certain milestones. The process is intended to prevent corruption and loss of taxpayer dollars.
To get the renovation going while waiting for pledges and city dollars, La MaMa needed some capital up front. Banks weren’t interested in lending — even with an international reputation in the arts world, a fifty-year-old community arts organization doesn’t quite fit any of their profiles. Also, under the terms of funding from the City of New York, if La MaMa sells the property because it’s gone belly-up or for some other reason, any city dollars used to renovate that property have to be repaid to the city before paying off any other debts. There wasn’t a bank La MaMa could find that was okay with being put in that position.
Meanwhile, Fulham explains, La MaMa’s established donor base is mostly tapped out supporting the organization’s annual operating expenses. It’s hard to go back to them to ask for even more cash.
To fill the gap, the theater company has found yet another way to push boundaries.
La MaMa’s 74 E. 4th Street project is benefiting from the growing practice of wealthy investors, smaller foundations, and donor-advised fund managers finding ways to invest capital for measurable social goals in addition to earning a financial return — what’s also known as “impact investing.” While there’s a case to be made that maybe cities should provide at least some of their promised cash up front for projects such as these, there’s an opportunity in 74 E. 4th Street to invest dollars that would otherwise be invested in conventional stocks and bonds.
Consider donor-advised funds, which are dollars given away for tax benefit now, but held in safekeeping to be distributed later as grants to nonprofit organizations. In 2016, there were around $85 billion held in nearly 285,000 donor-advised funds across the United States, most of it invested in conventional stocks and bonds. And that pot is growing — in that same year, donor-advised funds distributed nearly $16 billion in grants, while taking in an additional $23 billion.
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) pooled investments from two donor-advised funds along with direct investments from wealthy individuals — the minimum investment amount is $100,000 — and from foundations and other sources to create the NYC Inclusive Creative Economy Fund. LISC, in turn, is using that fund to extend La MaMa a $3.2 million revolving line of credit to support the renovation of 74 E. 4th Street, giving the theater the cash it needs to get the project going.
Other projects in the new fund’s pipeline include loans to nonprofits building and maintaining floor space for small-scale or light manufacturers from Brooklyn to Queens to the South Bronx.
“We’re targeting those businesses or cultural venues that are otherwise in danger of being displaced in New York City’s really hot real estate market,” says Sam Marks, who runs LISC’s New York City office.
As Marks explains, managing this kind of fund still depends on philanthropy subsidizing the model. “Because our model is subsidized with philanthropy, we can afford to take on the deals that may not have the financial upside, be too small or too complex, take a long time to underwrite, or working with an organization that’s never borrowed money before,” he says.
Until this $3.2 million line of credit from LISC, Fulham says La MaMa had only taken out a few relatively tiny short-term loans to finance much smaller projects, all of them paid off at this point.
By one count, there are now around 100 similar impact investment funds around the world that are focused on the creative economy. Only 20 percent of those have a specific strategy for inclusive economic benefit.
“Low- and moderate-income communities are always core to what we do, so we do get a lot questions about how we’re keeping true to our mission of serving those communities as we are rolling this out,” says Marks. “So we want to say up front, this is about job opportunities for low-income, low-skill New Yorkers.
LISC worked with Upstart Co-Lab, a national organization that connects artists, entrepreneurs and investors, to develop the concept and marketing strategy to raise investor capital for the NYC Inclusive Creative Economy Fund.
But one of the most important marketing assets is LISC itself, which has invested more than $18 billion to build or rehab 376,000 affordable homes and apartments and develop 63 million square feet of retail, community, and educational space around the country since 1979. Over that period, LISC itself has borrowed and repaid $1.6 billion in full and on time. All of the above has helped to earn LISC an “AA” rating from Standard & Poors — one of six community development lenders to earn a rating so far from one of the “big three” ratings agencies that are relied upon by mainstream wealth management firms to assess investment risk.
LISC’s “AA” rating helps break the ice with new investors, as well as the various gatekeepers and financial advisors who help to manage all that money, Marks says. That’s also a new asset to cultural and creative economy institutions such as La MaMa.
“LISC’s involvement is crucial, it’s the lynchpin in terms of the project financing,” Fulham says.
This article is part of “For Whom, By Whom,” a series of articles about how creative placemaking can expand opportunities for low-income people living in disinvested communities. This series is generously underwritten by the Kresge Foundation.
Journalists Should Center Equity in Reporting
Surveys consistently show that 74% of our readers use Next City’s journalism in their jobs. What is that job? More than 80% of readers say they or their organizations work to achieve greater racial equity. Will you support us in finding the news and information they need?
Yes! I want to donate.
Oscar is Next City's senior economics correspondent. He previously served as Next City’s editor from 2018-2019, and was a Next City Equitable Cities Fellow from 2015-2016. Since 2011, Oscar has covered community development finance, community banking, impact investing, economic development, housing and more for media outlets such as Shelterforce, B Magazine, Impact Alpha, and Fast Company.
Follow Oscar .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Tags: new york city, culture, cdfi fund, for whom by whom, impact investing
Keep up with the best reporting on cities. Sign up for our newsletter.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line634
|
__label__wiki
| 0.960325
| 0.960325
|
Trump bears some responsibility for encouraging mob, Oklahoma lawmakers say
by Chris Casteel
Oklahoma’s senators and Rep. Tom Cole say President Donald Trump played at least some part in encouraging the mobs who started a riot at the Capitol on Wednesday, leading to five deaths and numerous injuries.
“He certainly bears some (responsibility),” said Cole, R-Moore. “The rhetoric was over the top and way too hot. I don’t think he deliberately set out to have what happened happen. Presidents need to be calming forces, and he certainly wasn’t in this case.”
House Democrats are circulating a draft of an article of impeachment that accuses Trump of inciting an insurrection, CNN reported Friday. The draft impeachment article says Trump made comments at a speech on Wednesday that “encouraged — and forseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol.”
Trump spoke to thousands of supporters at a “Save America Rally” in a park near the White House, telling them that the media and “radical left Democrats” had stolen the election.
“We will never give up,” Trump said. “We will never concede, it doesn’t happen.”
He also said, “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with: We will stop the steal.”
As he spoke, Congress was preparing to count the electoral votes cast in each state and the District of Columbia.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” Trump said.
Article: Oklahoma members head to safety as Capitol is mobbed
Article: Manufacturers group calls for Pence to invoke 25th Amendment removing Trump from power
Article: Pro-Trump rally in OKC has much different feel than Washington, D.C.
Article: Opinion: A sad spectacle at the U.S. Capitol
Article: 'Violence never wins': Congress reconvenes to continue Electoral College count after pro-Trump riot at Capitol
Article: Inhofe describes chaos as Trump rioters mobbed Capitol
Article: Sen. Jim Inhofe says Mike Pence told him he was hurt that Trump turned on him
Article: After riot, most Oklahoma lawmakers still vote to reject two states' electoral votes
Article: US Capitol quiet after night of unprecedented assault: 4 dead, 52 arrested, FBI seeking information
Article: Amid recriminations, Lankford, Bice say they weren't trying to overturn Biden's election
Article: President Trump won't attend Joe Biden's inauguration
Article: Rep. Tom Cole: Impeachment of Trump would mean more national trauma
Article: How Oklahoma teachers talked about the Capitol riot with students
Article: OKC council candidate posts pro-Trump rhetoric; has never voted in a city election
Article: Republican blocks House from bringing up 25th Amendment bill, forcing vote
Article: House passes measure calling on Pence to invoke 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office
Article: Cole speaks against resolution urging Pence to invoke 25th Amendment
Article: Pence refuses to invoke 25th Amendment
Article: Rep. Tom Cole opposes impeachment of Trump, calls for healing
Article: Inhofe withholds comment on House impeachment case, cites upcoming trial
Article: Oklahoma legislators advised to avoid the Capitol this weekend due to possible protests
Article: Donald Trump impeached for 'incitement' of mob attack on US Capitol
Video: Pro-Trump rally in OKC had much different feel than Washington, D.C.
At the end of his hourlong speech, which detailed his allegations of voter fraud and included grievances about several matters, the president said, “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue … But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican, said, “This was a fiery speech that the president made to a couple thousand people … and it was one repeating the election was stolen.
“I think that a lot of people believed it and responded in a violent way.
“These people, they were all Trump people with all the attire on and all that, but I think these were some that were just fired up. They actually believed in their hearts that the election was stolen and they were expressing their wrath.”
Sen. James Lankford, a Republican, said in an interview, “Obviously, everybody’s responsible for their own actions. The president, in some of the statements that he made when he was speaking at noon — and he challenged people to be able to go to the Capitol in this time period — obviously created greater energy.
“But the president wasn’t saying to people: ‘Smash windows, break into the Capitol, get into fights with police.' He wasn’t saying that. People came here intentionally to be able to do this.
“This was not just an accidental mob that got whipped into a frenzy. People came here to do this. For whatever reason, whatever background, whatever their political persuasion — they came here to sow chaos. And they were well prepared for it.”
Asked whether the president did enough to try to stop the violence, Lankford said, “Obviously he put out a tweet and put out a video statement on that. It would have been better if that had been much stronger, to say the least.”
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, who was on the House floor during part of the siege and can be seen in photos just behind armed officers guarding a door, told the Tulsa World this week, “Some people are saying the president is responsible. Absolutely not. At the same time, we’re all responsible for our actions.”
CNBC and other media outlets reported Friday that a U.S. Justice Department official said Trump is not expected to be criminally charged with inciting the riot at the Capitol.
Preparations take place for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building. [Patrick Semansky/AP Photo]
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
People arrive at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, before the start of a protest rally against the counting of electoral votes in Washington, DC, affirming President-elect Joe Biden's victory. People supporting President Donald Trump and other supporters began arriving at the Capitol mid-morning for a protest rally Wednesday that was expected to begin at noon. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
A man carries a U.S. flag attached to a baseball bat as he waits at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, before the start of a protest rally against the counting of electoral votes in Washington, DC, affirming President-elect Joe Biden's victory. People supporting President Donald Trump and other supporters began arriving at the Capitol mid-morning for a protest rally Wednesday that was expected to begin at noon. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks to colleagues as a joint session of the House and Senate convenes to confirm the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
Trump supporters rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Protesters walk as U.S. Capitol Police officers watch in a hallway near the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, near the Ohio Clock. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Police hold off Trump supporters who tried to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Vice President Mike Pence preside as a joint session of the House and Senate convenes to count the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Police keep a watch on demonstrators who tried to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
House of Representatives members leave the floor of the House chamber as protesters try to break into the chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A counter demonstrator, center, yells after getting maced in the face by far-right demonstrators outside of City Hall Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles. Demonstrators supporting President Donald Trump are gathering in various parts of Southern California as Congress debates to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
People attend a rally in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in support of President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Police shove two counter demonstrators during a pro-Trump rally outside of police headquarters Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles. Demonstrators, supporting President Donald Trump, are gathering in various parts of Southern California as Congress debates to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's electoral victory. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Supporters of President Donald Trump attend a rally outside the Kansas Statehouse, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Topeka, Kan. (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP)
U.S. Capitol Police hold protesters at gun-point near the House Chamber inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., stands on a chair as lawmakers prepare to evacuate the floor as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Supporters of President Donald Trump gather inside the Kansas Statehouse, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Topeka, Kan., after rain moved the rally inside. (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calls the House in order prior to a joint session of the House and Senate convenes to confirm the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the West wall of the the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Chris Casteel
Chris Casteel began working for The Oklahoman's Norman bureau in 1982 while a student at the University of Oklahoma. Casteel covered the police beat, federal courts and the state Legislature in Oklahoma City. From 1990 through 2016, he was the... Read more ›
CommentsTrump bears some responsibility for encouraging mob, Oklahoma lawmakers say
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line650
|
__label__wiki
| 0.95387
| 0.95387
|
Home Kenya A Kenyan Has Been Picked To Head The Phonographic Industry in Sub-Saharan...
Ms Angela Ndambuki. PHOTO | COURTESY
A Kenyan Has Been Picked To Head The Phonographic Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa
Angela Ndambuki, A Kenan has been picked to join the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) as the director for the Sub-Saharan region effective July 1 for a term of two years.
Ms. Ndambuki, a lawyer and a former member of girl-band Tatuu is the younger sibling to comedian Churchill Ndambuki.
IFPI represents record companies globally through promoting value of recorded music, campaigning for the rights of record producers, and expanding the commercial uses of recorded music.
In her new role, Ms. Ndambuki is expected to work across the region’s 46 IFPI member countries.
The organisation announced her appointment via Twitter saying:
IFPI opens first regional office in Sub-Saharan Africa 🌍 based in Nairobi 🇰🇪 and headed by the newly appointed Regional Director @AngelaNdambuki https://t.co/4FnKrvhg04 pic.twitter.com/SvYubCXVSn
— IFPI (@IFPI_org) June 18, 2020
The Gov’t Has 228 Low-Cost Houses To Give Out In Ngara, The Problem Is 300,000 Kenyans Want Them
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line652
|
__label__wiki
| 0.710593
| 0.710593
|
Legendary Pictures Taps Denis Villeneuve to Helm ‘Dune’ Film Series
by Eliot Nelson
Legendary Pictures has announced that Sicario and Arrival director, Denis Villeneuve, will helm the new adaptation of Dune, Frank Herbert’s legendary space opera. Brian Herbert, Frank’s son, announced on Twitter that Villeneuve would head a new series of films.
This confirms that Legendary will indeed be pursuing a multi-film universe, attempting to replicate the successes of other film universes like Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars franchise. Many had hoped to see a high budget television series in the same mode as Game of Thrones, believing a single film would condense the material too much. It is possible Legendary Pictures will look to adapt the first book into multiple films.
Denis Villeneuve first broke onto the scene in 2013 with the film Prisoners, winning him much praise. He followed with Sicario in 2015 and Arrival in 2016, both highly acclaimed, the latter nominated for Best Picture and called one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made. Villeneuve is currently working on the sequel to Blade Runner.
I think this is one of the best decisions by a studio in several years. Villeneuve has always been my top pick to helm this project, having proven himself several times over, particularly in sci-fi. Along with the resurrected Star Wars franchise, this adaptation could bring a renewed era for space operas, possibly leading the way to adaptations of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and Ursula K. LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle among others.
This will be the first attempt to adapt the book since the Sci-fi Channel’s miniseries in 2000. It will be the first film attempt since David Lynch’s infamous 1984 production.
Tags:denis villeneuvedirectorduneFilmfrank herbertlegendarynews
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line653
|
__label__wiki
| 0.672545
| 0.672545
|
Education and Society (1)
Education, Change, and Development (1)
Education, Gender, and Sexualities (2)
Education, Health, and Social Services (1)
Educational Administration and Leadership (2)
Educational Politics and Policy (3)
Keywords: school safety x
School Crisis Prevention and Intervention
Mary Margaret Kerr
A school crisis unexpectedly disrupts the school, causes emotional and physical distress, and requires extraordinary decisions and resources to restore stability. During a crisis, teachers and administrators are the first decision-makers. Yet, their training may not prepare them for this responsibility. The first school crisis framework published in educational psychology appeared in 1994, following a U.S. symposium of school psychologists to discuss a recent school massacre. In addition, cross-country communications forums and seminars recognized cultural considerations while fostering the exchange of school crisis research findings and their implications for practice. These efforts have led educational psychologists worldwide to adopt a temporal framework of recommended practices to guide educators’ decisions before, during, and after crises. Pre-crisis work includes assessment, prevention, planning, and training. Pre-crisis planning calls on expertise in multidisciplinary collaboration with other emergency responders and risk assessments that require one to choose measures and interpret data. Once a school staff identifies impending risks, educational psychologists collaborate with responder agencies to communicate some of this information. Planning for a crisis includes procedures for young children, as well as those with special needs, which calls on the psychologist to consider how best to assess their needs and accommodate these groups. Practices and drills call for behavioral observation skills and an understanding of stress reactions that impede compliance with directives. Here, the educational psychologist contributes technical expertise in behavioral observations and performance assessment. The crisis response phase thrusts educators into rapid collaborations with emergency responders to prevent casualties and reduce exposure to trauma. During a crisis, psychologists work alongside others to safeguard, reassure, and empower those affected, taking into account the assistance that older students may offer. Post-crisis efforts seek to restore psychological safety through the restoration of social supports, then address acute mental health needs. Educational psychologists impart clinical expertise to restore social supports, arrange for psychological first aid, minimize continued exposure, and triage mental health needs. Academic recovery requires decisions about how and when to resume instruction. A return to schooling, ongoing supports for victims and responders, and evaluations to improve school crisis responses comprise the final goals. Some view this post-crisis mental health work as the psychologist’s primary contribution; however, the aforementioned examples reveal a greater agenda of opportunities during all school crisis phases.
School Climate and Its Impact on School Development in Nigeria
Habibat Abubakar Yusuf and Ismail Hussein Amzat
Climate is a multifaceted concept in an organization, with few distinctions in the context of school settings. Although research on school climate stems from the study of organizational climate, and became a central variable in the educational research with a comprehensive review of the literature, there are significant differences in the approaches to the study of school climate. Scholars have studied climate at various levels of education, for example, elementary schools, secondary schools, and higher level schools as well as among teachers and school leaders. There is some divergence and variations in school climate across those contexts; there are also substantial similarities as shown in many past studies. School climate as a key player in school development can be driven by internal factors like interactive behavior and external factors such as school location, school size, student population, educational policies and socio-economic changes. Studies of climate in the educational context is multidimensional and can be viewed in a variety of ways due to diverse social effects. Climate has been investigated in relation to the general working environment of school, quality of school experience, school values and norms, interpersonal relationships of individual school members, teaching and learning practices, structure of the school, and feelings toward school life. In this regard, school climate is explored in relation to school development in Nigeria and focuses on those factors that have a greater potential to support teaching and learning practices, including school plants, school leadership, school culture, collegiality, school safety, and academic achievement. Relating these constructs to school development in Nigeria will give more precise and sizeable understanding on the importance of school climate towards attainment of sustainable school success.
Gender and Bullying
Elizabeth J. Meyer
The field of bullying research initially paid minimal attention to the influences of gender role expectations (masculinity, femininity, and gender role conformity), as well as heteronormativity, cisnormativity, homophobia, and transphobia in understanding the phenomenon. This has shifted since the late 2000s, when more research emerged that analyzes gender as an influential factor for understanding bullying dynamics in schools. More recent studies have focused on LGBTQ youth, issues of disability, and racialized identities, as well as the impacts of online interactions. When examining gender and bullying, it is important to also examine related forms of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, dating violence, and other forms of sexual and violent assault such as transphobic violence and murder. In order to more effectively support schools and professionals working to reduce bullying, there must be a deeper understanding of what is currently known about gender and bullying, what works to reduce it in schools, and what still needs more attention in the research literature.
Assessing the Impact of Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Policies
Russell B. Toomey and Zhenqiang Zhao
U.S. federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education. U.S. case law also applies the prohibition of sex discrimination to incidents motivated by a person’s sex or gender, including gender identity and expression. Enumerated nondiscrimination, school-based policies that include gender identity and expression are among the foundational policies advocated for by researchers and practitioners who aim to make schools safer for transgender and gender nonconforming students. These policies serve as a foundation for all other interventions or policies that may be implemented in schools to increase safety for transgender and gender nonconforming students. Further, enumerated nondiscrimination policies provide students with a clear understanding of their rights at school, and they provide school personnel with grounding to prevent and intervene in gender-based discrimination. Research finds that transgender and gender nonconforming students experience high levels of stigma in schools (manifested as discrimination, stigma-based bullying), and that these school-based experiences are associated with compromised educational outcomes in addition to disparities in behavioral, physical, and psychological health. Students in schools that have enumerated nondiscrimination policies report less bias stigma-based bullying attributed to gender identity and expression compared to students in schools with nonenumerated policies. Further, students are more likely to report that teachers intervene in stigma-based bullying attributed to gender identity and expression in schools that have enumerated nondiscrimination policies compared to those that do not. Finally, studies find that nondiscrimination policies that include gender identity and expression attenuate the negative consequences of stigma for students.
Sustaining and Sustainable Superintendent Leadership
Michael Wright and Rosemary Papa
The educational environment of the 21st century is complex and dynamic, placing demands on school leaderships that are both considerable and constant. Societal challenges such as school shootings, drugs, alcohol, and other problems are more frequently finding their way into U.S. classroom settings, which only further complicates the role of the superintendent. At times, superintendents may believe U.S. public schools are under attack, especially given prevailing political forces driving the marketization and privatization of schools. The elements connected to the sustainment and sustainability of superintendents, especially superintendent turnover, as a result of the following pressures are defined: school safety and security, social media, less parental involvement, and increased federal influence; continued divestment in public education and declining student enrollment; and pressure to perform by public school administrators. Superintendent departure research further considers: factors contributing to longevity and the cost of turnover; differences between superintendents and board members; reasons superintendents leave; stakeholder expectations and political pressures; increased accountability; and differences in expectations between the board and superintendent. Sustainable leadership is required between the superintendent and the board. Teamwork leads to greater effectiveness. Overall, the result of increased competition and dwindling levels of federal and state school funding very often means superintendents face complicated choices and difficult dilemmas—particularly relating to the allocation of scarce financial resources. For instance, school leaders nationwide are frequently forced to balance the tension existing between academic and non-academic programs, in a time when funding is woefully insufficient. Superintendents must often forgo hiring additional teachers, or purchasing required classroom support materials, and forgo school facility repairs, in order to enhance school safety and security. The increased accountability for school performance also weighs heavily on administrators, faculty, and staff, and especially the superintendent. Such pressures increase the level of superintendent turnover.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line654
|
__label__wiki
| 0.953369
| 0.953369
|
'Timber Wars': OPB looks back at environmentalists vs. timber industry
Jason Vondersmith
It all started with the northern spotted owl's threatened designation, which changed Oregon forever.
Thirty years ago, the course of our state's economic and conservation future changed forever when the northern spotted owl was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Environmentalists used the listing as a linchpin to try to prohibit national forest land from being logged in the ensuing years — and it worked.
Timber industry folks watched their way of life slowly disappear, even with the Northwest Forest Plan, implemented under then-President Bill Clinton, supposedly introduced to help secure their livelihoods.
Now, 30 years later, memories of the struggle still exist and the story has been documented in Oregon Public Broadcasting's seven-part podcast "Timber Wars."
It was a yearlong endeavor for producer Aaron Scott to put together "Timber Wars," including scores of interviews and research, and it couldn't have been released at a more (unfortunate) time, with wildfires raging in southern Oregon and the Willamette Valley putting the spotlight again on forest management — and an ambitious argument about an issue distinctively 21st century, climate change.
Six parts of the podcast were launched last week, the seventh was set to be finalized this week, and it's available at www.opb.org, and on NPR One, Spotify and Apple platforms.
Scott reflects on what he has learned about both sides of "Timber Wars" — environmentalists vs. loggers — and said he has "respect" for both of them.
"I definitely have a deeper understanding of both sides," said Scott, a Steamboat Springs, Colorado, native who moved to Oregon in 1989, which serves as the start date for the podcast.
"I have incredible respect for early environmentalists. They were a lot of people — college kids and hippies, scrappy folks who loved the forests who put lives and jobs on the line to protect things they love that we now take for granted.
"Yet, at the same point, I have definitely newfound respect and empathy for those who spent their lives working on land and from small towns, and in some ways they paid a big price. Could there have been a better way to transition economics and retrain people? But, they had a way of life and didn't want to change."
The podcast features original composed music by Laura Gibson, a singer-songwriter who grew up in the Oregon logging town of Coquille.
Scott began the "Timber Wars" project having already accumulated knowledge about the Oregon timber industry and environmental movement through his work as OPB science and environment producer and on OPB's "Oregon Field Guide" program.
And, he admitted that his background in Colorado included spending time in forests where people went to camp, hike and play — "not a huge timber industry where I lived in Northwest Colorado."
Scott moved to Oregon and "seeing my first clear-cuts … 'Oh this is very different.'" He saw that old-growth forest was seen as decaying and rotting and the Northwest "turned into tree plantations. It blew my mind."
So, he wanted to look at how Oregon's economy and conservation practices changed; really, it's the story of such movements from Alaska, through British Columbia to California. In Oregon it started with the inclusion of the northern spotted owl as threatened on the Endangered Species List in 1990. (Although its habitat became more protected, it's still listed as threatened partly because of an invasion of the stronger and more aggressive barred owl).
Suffice to say, "it was never about the spotted owl, it was a linchpin to protect the old growth," Scott said.
The movement began to protect it. President Clinton, then-Vice President Al Gore and many members of Clinton's Cabinet visited Oregon for a forest conference in Portland.
"That blows me away," Scott said. "The idea that the president would fly half his Cabinet to a corner of the country seemed so functional, it's how government should work."
And, the Northwest Forest Plan came to fruition, although it originally was meant to balance environmental and industry wants and needs. It protected millions of acres of forest, but it also derailed people's livelihoods.
"The question is, 'Did it work?'" Scott said. "It's never delivered the amount of timber it was supposed to. (Clinton) very much wanted this to work for timber communities."
Scott said because of Oregon's rate of tree cutting in the early days of the industry, it left modern-day loggers with fewer options.
The podcast examines "just how intensely our understanding of the forest flipped from crop to ecosystem. It changed the landscape and slowed down logging, and it turned us into the green Northwest paradise that we're now known for," Scott said.
Scott said the bitterness and divide still exists, even if unnoticed by people in cities.
"If you didn't live through it, you might recognize the spotted owl and know there were tree-sitters," he said. "The fact that it was something on the nightly news, and it was tearing apart the region, that's largely forgotten.
"But, people in rural communities, who live with the Northwest Forest Plan and the spotted owl, it's very much alive. Like Mill City and elsewhere (in Santiam Canyon, southern Oregon, etc.), they look at forests and say they are overgrown and dangerous (for fires). 'There's a lot of wood out there.' They were stewards of the forests, keeping it clean and healthy in their mind. It's evolved into the fight over wildfire forest management and climate change."
Mill City was one of the small Oregon communities devastated by recent wildfires. Several subjects interviewed for "Timber Wars" were affected, and some lost their homes, Scott said. "It's been devastating to watch," he added. "The forest we start the series in, around Breitenbush, has been deeply impacted."
The divide manifested itself last year when protesters descended on the state Capitol in Salem to protest cap and trade legislation, which they saw as further damaging their livelihoods because of carbon restrictions and taxes. Republican legislators protested by walking out rather than be subjected to voting on the issue.
Scott acknowledged that the debate about forest management rages. Thin more forest land and reduce the threat of wildfires, timber industry folks say. Leave the national forest land alone, it's a science and climate change problem, environmentalists say.
"Both sides believe we need more management," Scott said.
The battle has raged over federal land, but it also includes timber sales from private land, state forest and Bureau of Land Management property. Scott said it's not the timber industry that has been leading the charge, but more incorporated real estate investment trusts that have found loopholes to continue extracting the natural resource.
It's still a timely topic.
The fear is "fires will cause both sides to retreat to 'Do not log anything' or 'The way to prevent fires is more logging,'" Scott said.
"This reminds us that retreating to trenches didn't work last time. This is the landscape we live in, we need to protect it, and we have to learn together and talk to each other, have grace and humility."
The "Timber Wars" podcasts and OPB's descriptions:
• Episode 1: "The Last Stand"
When loggers headed into the forest on Easter Sunday in 1989, they found a line of protesters blocking the road. The battle that ensued would change lives on both sides, help catapult old-growth forests into a national issue, and become known as the "Easter Sunday Massacre."
• Episode 2: "The Forest"
For most of America's history, trees were seen as crops, and the plan was to log the country's last virgin forests and replant them with tree farms. We see forests very differently today. How did things change so quickly? It started with a bunch of contrarian scientists in an Oregon forest.
• Episode 3: "The Owl"
Depending on who you are, the northern spotted owl is either the hero of this story, or the villain. And the Endangered Species Act is either an incredible conservation shield, or the hammer used to smash rural economies. But those beliefs miss the fact that it was a single sentence in an entirely different law that locked up the forests. The podcast tells the unlikely story of how a reclusive bird halted the march of chainsaws.
• Episode 4: "The Town"
Mill City was one of dozens of flourishing timber towns, where a job in the woods could support a good life. But the protesters and the court cases upended that, leaving locals to ask: Which is the true threatened species here?
• Episode 5: "The Plan"
The timber wars grew so hot that one of President Clinton's first acts in office was to fly half his Cabinet to Portland to resolve the conflict. From a Capitol Hill bathroom-turned-office to a presidential lunch buffet, the podcast tells the behind-the-scenes story of the most sweeping conservation plan in U.S. history: the Northwest Forest Plan.
• Episode 6: "The Backlash"
Before the Northwest Forest Plan had a chance to succeed, Congress threw it out the window. With old growth back on the cutting block, the fight to defend it grew both more mainstream and more violent, seeding the ground for many conflicts to come.
• Episode 7: "The Collaboration"
Is the Northwest fatally divided, or can differences be overcome and sides work together? This is the story of loggers and environmentalists who have found some semblance of common ground. But it didn't come easy. And no one knows how long it'll last.
This article brought to you courtesy of the Forest Grove Beehive, News-Times Insider Senior Living Expert.
Merry Christmas from The Gym
This article brought to you courtesy of Nate Boyd, owner of The Gym, News-Times Insider Physical Fitness Expert.
Happy Holidays from Scotties!
This article brought to you courtesy of Scotties Auto Body, News-Times Insider Automotive Expert.
Are We Headed for A Housing Bubble?
This article brought to you courtesy of Veta Holscher, News-Times insider Real Estate Expert.
Tight Inventory: What It Means For You
This article brought to you courtesy of Darcey Edwards of Edwards Realty Trust, News-Times Insider Real Estate Expert.
Choose a Concierge Realty Experience
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line655
|
__label__cc
| 0.652199
| 0.347801
|
The Cathedral of Learning
June 14, 2019 · by Peter Lam · in North America, Travel, United States. ·
Unmistakable on the city’s skyline, University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning is the centerpiece of the Oakland main campus and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Commissioned in 1921, the Gothic Revival style 42-story building stands at 535 feet as the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere. It functions as a primary classroom and administrative building of the university, and is lovingly referred to as “Cathy” by its students.
University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.
The lobby consists of a massive vaulted three-storey “Commons Room” that serves as a general study area and event space. It is ringed by three floors of classrooms, including 31 special “Nationality Rooms” on the first and third floors that were built with donations from members of Pittsburgh’s ethnic communities (and sometimes foreign governments). Designed in the style of different countries and ethnic groups, 28 of these rooms serve as conventional classrooms, and are open to the public when not used for lectures. Each nationality room serves to recognize and celebrate a different culture that had particular influence on Pittsburgh’s growth during the period of the university’s founding in 1787.
Visiting on a weekend ensures that the rooms are available for viewing, though some are only accessible during special events. The rooms on the third floor are generally open while the ones on the main floor require booking of a self-guided audio tour, available from the visitor center in the lobby.
Building entrance.
Neo-Gothic style hallways.
Vaulted Commons Room in the main hall.
The Austrian Classroom.
The Japanese Classroom.
The Armenian Classroom.
The Swiss Nationality Room.
A more traditional lecture hall, the Frick Auditorium.
The Indian Classroom.
The African Heritage Classroom.
The Commons Room study and event hall.
The Israel Heritage Classroom.
The Turkish Nationality Room.
The Ukranian Classroom.
The Welsh Nationality Room.
The Korean Nationality Room.
The Lithuanian Classroom.
The Romanian Classroom.
The Chinese Classroom.
The Greek Nationality Room.
The Scottish Classroom.
The Yugoslav Classroom.
The French Classroom.
The English Classroom.
The Heinz Memorial Chapel located adjacent to the Cathedral of Learning.
Taking a break in the park.
Facade of the Cathedral of Learning.
4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
Tags: Cathedral of Learning, heritage, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, roadtrip, tourism, University of Pittsburgh
← Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
The Fallingwater Residence →
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line657
|
__label__wiki
| 0.930651
| 0.930651
|
Conflicting Guidelines On When, How Often Women Should Be Screened For Breast Cancer
By Stephanie Stahl April 8, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Filed Under:breast cancer, Health, Local TV, Stephanie Stahl
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The American College of Physicians issued its new guidelines Monday on when and how often women should be screened for breast cancer. The American College of Physicians now says women who don’t have any risks should get mammograms every other year, starting at age 50. But there’s plenty of disagreements about that, and more conflicting advice for women to sort through.
Forty-nine-year-old Norma Vaquerano is diligent about getting a mammogram every year. For her, it’s personal.
“One of my aunt’s was diagnosed with breast cancer about seven years ago,” Vaquerano said. “She passed away last year, so this is a subject close to my heart.”
At what age and how often women should get screened for breast cancer has been a topic of debate in recent years.
Philadelphia Doctors, Scientists Create Revolutionary New Treatment To Combat Glioblastoma
Now, the ACP says the majority of average-risk women ages 50 to 74 would benefit from mammograms every other year, and that there would be no significant difference in breast cancer deaths.
“The benefit is less than we had hoped,” Dr. Joann Elmore, of the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center, said.
Elmore says annual mammograms can sometimes do more harm than good, from false positive results to unnecessary biopsies and surgeries.
“It leads to a lot of anxiety that can be a really scary situation for women,” Elmore said.
The American College of Radiology disagrees with the new guidance, saying it could result in thousands of unnecessary breast cancer deaths. Many groups still say mammograms should start at age 40.
Over 1 Million Teens Visited Emergency Rooms For Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts
Women are advised to discuss pros and cons with their own doctors.
“In the end, this should be the woman’s decision and we should be trying to help women understand all the data and let women make the decision,” Elmore said.
Because of her family history, Vaquerano says she’ll continue to screen annually.
“My doctor was very aware and she was the one that initiated ‘you need to do this,'” Vaquerano said.
Vaquerano believes it could one day help save her life.
The American Cancer Society says it’s not uncommon for recommendations to differ. Its guidelines have also changed in recent years, pushing the start of screenings back.
Stephanie Stahl
More from Stephanie Stahl
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line658
|
__label__wiki
| 0.554284
| 0.554284
|
Posted September 1, 2016 by Nazamel Tabares1 Comment on “Don’t Breathe” Tops U.S. Box-Office with $26.1-M 2016
“Don’t Breathe” Tops U.S. Box-Office with $26.1-M
Augus 29, 2016 – Columbia Pictures’ gripping suspense thriller “Don’t Breathe” – which Variety hails as “a muscular exercise in brutal, relentless peril” – spooked the U.S. box-office with a chilling $26.1-million, easily opening at No.1 for the Aug. 26-28 weekend.
It joins a long list of recent horror films such as “The Purge: Election Year,” “The Conjuring 2,” “Lights Out” and “The Shallows” that have all found success with audiences.
“Don’t Breathe” cost less than $10 million to produce, but it more than doubled its production budget in a single weekend, after rolling out across 3,051 locations. The film follows a trio of friends breaks into the house of a blind recluse confident of an easy score only to find themselves in a terrifying life-or-death struggle.
“This film is going to be a big moneymaker for us,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution chief. “We knew we had something special here. This is a film that’s all about keeping people jumping out of their seats and holding onto the person next to them.”
The No.1 launch of “Don’t Breathe” in the U.S. bodes well for the thriller’s box-office prospects in the Philippines as the film rolls out in local cinemas starting Wednesday, Aug. 31.
The Filipino audience are great horror fans, and the film’s favorable R-13 rating from the MTRCB will likely boost the attraction core genre moviegoers.
Daniel Zovatto and Stephen Lang star in Screen Gems’ horror-thriller DON’T BREATHE.
“Don’t Breathe” created a thunderstorm of excitement and wild buzz when it premiered at the recent South By South West (SXSW) film festival, with some critics describing it as “the best suspense thriller in the last decade.” Now, Philippine audiences will discover why the film has driven reviewers at the edge of their seats.
John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “the lean and mean pic offers scares aplenty and at least a couple of game-changing twists.”
Meanwhile, Edward Douglas, of the New York Daily News underscores that the film “takes you into far darker territory than anticipated.”
“Don’t Breathe” stars Jane Levy (“Evil Dead”), Dylan Minnette (“Goosebumps”), Daniel Zovatto (“It Follows”) and Stephen Lang (“Avatar”). Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”) directs from a script co-written with Rodo Sayagues (Evil Dead). Producers are Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Fede Alvarez.
In his sophomore feature, Alvarez goes for the jugular with an unapologetically brutal and twisted horror-thriller that pits a trio of thieves against an unexpectedly dangerous adversary. Shocking and enthralling, Alvarez’s masterful, visually stunning thriller maintains a frenzied pace to the last chilling minute.
“Don’t Breathe” is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.
2016, Box-Office, Movies, Suspense, Thriller
2016, Box-Office, Don't Breathe, Horror, Movies, Suspense, Thrilller
Nazamel Tabares View All
Film Enthusiast.
Previous Previous post: ‘Ber Months’ List of Movies in the Philippines
Next Next post: Kate Mara’s Latest Mission in Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Morgan’
One thought on ““Don’t Breathe” Tops U.S. Box-Office with $26.1-M” Leave a comment ›
Pingback: @thewritealice – “Don’t Breathe” Tops U.S. #BoxOffice with $26.1-M — Movies Philippines – thewritealice MLS – Let Us Write You The World In Our Eyes.
Pelikula Mania “Don’t Breathe” Tops U.S. Box-Office with $26.1-M
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line660
|
__label__wiki
| 0.91869
| 0.91869
|
Adolf Ritter von Tutschek
peoplepill id: adolf-ritter-von-tutschek
ARVT
German flying ace
Intro German flying ace
A.K.A. Adolf Ritter von Tutschek
Was Pilot Aviator Fighter pilot
Type Military
Birth 16 May 1891, Ingolstadt, Germany
Death 15 March 1918 (aged 26 years)
Peoplepill ID adolf-ritter-von-tutschek
Adolf, Ritter von Tutschek (16 May 1891 – 15 March 1918) Pour le Mérite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, Military Order of Max Joseph, was a professional soldier turned aviator who became a leading fighter ace with 27 victories. As German air strategy turned towards concentrated air power, he was entrusted with one of the world's first fighter wings.
Adolf von Tutschek was born in Ingolstadt. He was the son of Karl Tutschek, Chief Medical Officer to the Royal Bavarian Military Academy.
He attended Saint Anna High School in Augsburg until 1910, then joining the Royal Bavarian Cadet School. After graduation in October 1912, he joined in the "Prince Carl of Bavaria" 3rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment as a Fahnenjunker (officer aspirant). He was later commissioned as Leutnant. He started his field service in World War I with prussian Fusilier Regiment No. 40 in Vosges, but soon was transferred back to Bavarian 3rd Infantry Regiment (from March 1915 on part of Bavarian 11th Division), first as 2nd battalion's adjutant, then as company leader in France, Galicia, Poland and Serbia. In May 1915 in Gorlice, Poland, he was wounded in the foot by a hand grenade splinter.
On 25 February 1916, he was awarded the Military Order of Max Joseph for storming a Russian stronghold near Petrylów in Poland (south of Brest-Litowsk) with two companies of 3rd Bavarian Infantry and holding it against repeated counterattacks (10 August 1915).
In early 1916, he was promoted to Oberleutnant. In March 1916, he was seriously wounded by poison gas during the Battle of Verdun. Upon his recovery, he requested pilot training.
Aerial service
In July 1916 he attended flight school at Schleissheim with FEA 1. In October 1916 he returned to the front flying initially with FA 6b, an artillery spotting unit.
He was then posted to fly single-seaters with Jagdstaffel 2 in January 1917. Over the next three months, he flew 140 combat sorties, made seven victory claims and had three confirmed. His first triumph, on 6 March 1917, was over the DH-2 of 6-kill ace Lt. Maximillian Mare-Montembault M.C. of No. 32 Squadron, who was forced down and captured.
On 28 April, he assumed command of Prussian Jasta 12 based at Epinoy upon the death of its commander. One of the pilots there was future Jasta 52 commanding officer and ace Paul Billik. His appointment was unusual in that although a Prussian raised Jasta, von Tutschek was a Bavarian. On 30 April Von Tutschek allayed any Prussian suspicion of Bavarians by sprinting to his airplane through falling bombs during a raid on their home airfield; he led a flight into the air into a night pursuit of the bombers. He shot down one of the raiders, a FE-2b of 57 Squadron, thus scoring a victory on his first flight with his new command.
His personal aircraft color scheme was ink black overall with a white propeller spinner and a square white background for the Maltese cross tail markings.
In May he claimed a trio of Sopwith Pups of 3 Naval Squadron RNAS shot down. On 1 May Flt. Sub-Lt. AS Mather, on 4 May Flt. Sub-Lt HS Murton, while on 11 May he claimed Flt. Sub-Lt. Hubert Broad, his Sopwith Pup spinning uncontrollably and Broad shot through the mouth. Broad, however, recovered control of his Pup, landing at base and being hospitalised.
Von Tutschek scored his tenth victory on the 20th, a long duel with a SPAD of No. 23 Squadron that crashed in flames.
On 26 May Von Tutschek left for leave, and returning on 26 June attacked two Sopwith 1⁄2 Strutters, though the return fire damaged Von Tutschek's Albatros and forced him to land. In combat with 60 Squadron Nieuports on 29 June his engine was again damaged, and he force-landed near Cantin.
He scored 11 victories in July. On the 15th, he downed one of Captain Billy Bishop's 60 Squadron's comrades, Lt. GAH Parkes, for victory number 16. On the 28th, he shot down English 7-kill ace Flt. Sub-Lt. E.D.Crundall of Naval 8 Squadron RNAS (who survived), on a morning sortie. In the afternoon, he claimed another ace, 40 Squadron's Captain John Henry Tudhope (10 victories), who returned to base, damaged.
On 11 July, he was awarded the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. On 3 August 1917, after 21 victories, he was awarded Germany's premier decoration for valor, the Pour le Mérite.
On 11 August 1917, after victory 23, Tutschek was severely wounded in the shoulder by Flt Lt Charles Dawson Booker of Naval 8 Squadron. If Viktor Schobinger had not intervened and shot Booker down, Tutschek would probably have been killed.
With his lower right shoulder blade shattered, Tutschek took six months to recover and spent the time writing a memoir of his flying experiences, Stürme und Luftsiege (Attacks and Air Victories). His edited letters would also appear in print at a later date.
Higher command and downfall
Returning to active service in February 1918, Hauptmann von Tutschek was given command of the new Jagdgeschwader 2, consisting of Jastas 12, 13, 15, and 19. He was pitched into the challenge of gearing up and staffing a new organization; he expressed his dissatisfaction with progress in his diary. The new unit was short of aircraft, parts, and fuel and faced a numerically superior Royal Flying Corps.
One of his prerequisites was a new airplane to fly. He was delighted with his brand-new Fokker Dr.I triplane. He first test flew it on 17 February 1918, and raved about it in his diary "..a tremendous machine climbs terrifically." He flew it to the last four victories of his career, on 26 February, and 1st (a balloon) 6th and 10 March.
On the last day of February, he narrowly survived a mid-air collision with Lt. Paul Blumenbach flying another triplane. Both pilots managed to coax their damaged machines to safe landings.
On 15 March 1918, South African 10-kill ace Lieutenant H. B. Redler of the Royal Flying Corps's No. 24 Squadron shot down von Tutschek. The German spun down in his green triplane (SNo.404/17) out of control. There are two versions of what followed.
One version of his death states when found he still had his wiping cloth tucked through his buttonhole and under his safety harness; as it was his habit to wipe his goggles clean going into battle, it was deduced he had been caught unaware.
A second version, less likely, claimed that one of Redler's bullets creased Tutschek's head and that the wound caused him to land. He supposedly waved to his wingmen as they circled, but was later found dead next to his plane.
His tally of 27 victories (24 with Jasta 12 or JG 2) would amount to a quarter of his parent Jasta 12's 104 victories.
Military Order of Max Joseph (25 February 1916)
Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class
Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (11 July 1917)
Pour le Mérite (3 August 1917)
Military Merit Order, 3rd class with Crown and Swords (Bavaria)
Inline citations
View Adolf Ritter von Tutschek 's image gallery
https://web.archive.org/web/20081204093028/http://home.att.net/~ordersandmedals/MMJO/MMJO1-2.htm
http://home.att.net/~ordersandmedals/MMJO/MMJO1-2.htm
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/tutschek.php
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojlh8viUpzoC
https://web.archive.org/web/20071010123540/http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done
https://books.google.com/books?id=c89pdbVT6WEC
http://www.theaerodrome.com/services/germany/jasta/jasta12.php
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/osterroht.php
https://books.google.com/books?id=ISVQtH5nkvkC
http://www.cbrnp.com/profiles/quarter1/albatros.htm
https://books.google.com/books?id=JVQpuziX97IC
Judith Adlhoch
German television presenter and screenwriter
Leo Götz
Emil Fischer
German opera singer
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line662
|
__label__wiki
| 0.766491
| 0.766491
|
Alfred Rethel
peoplepill id: alfred-rethel
Intro German artist
A.K.A. Rethel
Was Painter Drawer
Type Arts
Birth 15 May 1816, Aachen, Germany
Death 1 December 1859, Düsseldorf, Germany (aged 43 years)
History painting
Peoplepill ID alfred-rethel
Self portrait, 1832
Alfred Rethel (May 15, 1816 – December 1, 1859) was a German history painter.
Rethel was born in Aachen in 1816. He showed an interest in art in his early life, and at the age of thirteen he executed a drawing which procured his admission to the academy of Düsseldorf. Here he studied for several years, and produced, among other works, a figure of St Boniface, which attracted much attention.
Nemesis, 1837
Dance of Death, 1848
At the age of twenty, Rethel moved to Frankfurt, and was selected to decorate the walls of the imperial hall in the Römer with Fresco paintings of figures of famous men. At the same period he produced a series of designs illustrative of Old Testament history. Four years later, Rethel was the successful competitor for the work of ornamenting the restored council house of his native city with frescoes depicting prominent events in the career of Charlemagne, but the execution of this work was delayed for some six years. Meanwhile, Rethel occupied himself with the production of easel pictures and of drawings. In 1842, he began a striking series of designs dealing with the Crossing of the Alps by Hannibal, in which the weird power which animates his later art becomes first apparent.
In 1844 Rethel visited Rome, executing, along with other subjects, an altar-piece for one of the churches of his native land. In 1846, he returned to Aachen, and commenced his Charlemagne frescoes. But mental derangement, attributed, it is believed, to an accident that he suffered in childhood, began to manifest itself. While he hovered between madness and sanity, Rethel produced some of the most striking, individual, and impressive of his works. Strange legends are told of the effect produced by some of his weird subjects. He painted Nemesis pursuing a murderer across a flat stretch of landscape. A slaughtered body lies on the ground, while in front is the assassin speeding away into the darkness, and above an angel of vengeance. The picture, so the story goes, was won in a lottery at Frankfurt by a personage of high rank, who had been guilty of an undiscovered crime, and the contemplation of his prize drove him mad.
Another design which Rethel executed was "Death the Avenger," a skeleton appearing at a masked ball, scraping daintily, like a violinist, upon two human bones. The drawing haunted the memory of his artist friends and disturbed their dreams; and, in expiation, he produced his pathetic design of "Death the Friend." Rethel also executed a powerful series of drawings "The Dance of Death" suggested by the Belgian insurrections of 1848. It is by such designs as these, executed in a technique founded upon that of Albrecht Dürer, and animated by an imagination akin to that of the elder master, that Rethel is most widely known.
Alfred Rethel died on December 1, 1859, at age 43 in Düsseldorf from the effects of a brain disease. In his last years, his brother Otto Rethel (1822–1892) took care of him, as well as his young wife Maria, daughter of August Grahl, and their daughter Else (1853–1933).
Auch ein Todtentanz. Elischer, Leipzig 1891. Digitalisierte Ausgabe - DFG-Viewer, University Library Düsseldorf
View Alfred Rethel 's image gallery
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039330660;view=1up;seq=483
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-34385
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/rethel_alfred.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/499933/Alfred-Rethel
http://catalogo.bne.es/uhtbin/authoritybrowse.cgi?action=display&authority_id=XX4813964
https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb128663172
https://data.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb128663172
https://d-nb.info/gnd/118744615
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n91056057
https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/3292/
Markus Beyer
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line663
|
__label__wiki
| 0.847365
| 0.847365
|
Amol Saghar
THE year gone by would be remembered in human history for the havoc that COVID-19 created in the lives of one and all. The epidemic that began sometime in late December soon turned into a pandemic making its presence felt in all the continents, including Antarctica. While countries like Cuba, China and Vietnam were able to successfully control the spread of the disease with timely intervention, majority of the European and Latin American countries including Brazil and above all United States of America— the so-called superpower— became its worst victims. The virus indeed exposed the harsh realities of the health care systems in place in these ‘developed’ nations.
Like other parts of the world, India too was not able to escape this menace. Tragically people here, especially the poor and the downtrodden, due to the delayed and reckless response by the incumbent government, had to pay a heavy price. And while states like Kerala did make sincere attempts in reducing the pain of these people majority of the state governments failed them miserably.
The pandemic has brought about far-reaching changes in our lives. It has forced people to go beyond their comfort zone and explore avenues which have hitherto remained under-explored. One such avenue is that of the virtual world. In the last one year virtual platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Youtube, Facebook et al., have become an important part of human lives and have changed the manner in which day to day human interactions take place. While some have found it difficult to adjust to this change others have found such platforms quite convenient. Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) too on January 1, showed, experimented quite creatively and with gusto with the virtual platforms.
Traditionally the cultural evening organised by SAHMAT is marked by riveting performances and camaraderie and bonhomie among long associates and friends. However, since the proceedings of the 32nd Safdar Hashmi Memorial took place virtually, it, unfortunately, meant the absence of the latter element.
The theme of this year’s event depicted aesthetically on the SAHMAT brochure titled: ‘Dukh Likha Jana Chahiye’ (‘Sadness should be Documented’); the plight of the downtrodden, particularly the migrant labourers— people who were let down by the Indian state.
The proceedings of the evening began with moving tributes to Astad Deboo, Arjun Dev, Kumi Chandra, Manglesh Dabral and Anjum Singh all of whom were closely associated with SAHMAT and its workings and whom the organisation lost in the year gone by M K Raina talked about Astad Deboo’s long association with SAHMAT and his life-long commitment to the ideals of the organisation. Raina while remembering Deboo’s contribution in the field of dance threw light on the fact that even though he was a trained classical dancer he had over a period of time created his own dance form influenced by several ideas from around the globe.
Rajesh Joshi in his tribute to Manglesh Dabral talked about his immense contribution in the field of literature. The mark that he has left in Hindi journalism was underlined by Joshi. That Manglesh Dabral was a master of protest poetry was also pointed out by Rajesh Joshi. His poetries reflected the problems encountered every day by the urban dwellers. He also spoke about Dabral’s close association with SAHMAT. His untimely death has left a vacuum in the literary world which will be hard to fill. In Manglesh Dabral’s memory extracts from one of his works Ghar Ka Raasta (co-authored with Mannu Bhandari) was also narrated.
Tributes to Kumi Chandra were paid by Madhu Prasad. She in her tributes narrated not just her personal relationship with Chandra but also her contributions to the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust. Prasad talked about the enthusiasm that Kumi Chandra and her husband Anil Chandra showed in bringing out a weekly newspaper, Mongolpuri Samachar in 1990 during the days when the first Janotsav was organised in Mongolpuri, Delhi. An interesting thing about this weekly newspaper was that all the work associated with its publication was done by the local population of Mongolpuri itself. She also spoke about the proactive role that Kumi Chandra played in organising the musical concert Muktnaad in Ayodhya in 1993 in the months following the demolition of the Babri Masjid. That her loss to SAHMAT is immense was underlined.
The year 2020 also saw the passing away of eminent historian Professor Arjun Dev. Tributes to him were paid by two of his closest colleagues Professor Harbans Mukhia and P K Shukla. While Mukhia in his tributes remembered the immense contributions of Arjun Dev in the project which was undertaken in the 1950s and 60s of re-writing school textbooks by NCERT. As a member of NCERT and part of this project, Dev ensured that the school textbooks being written did not carry the colonial perspective. Even though the project faced a lot of opposition by the right-wing organisations Arjun Dev’s efforts made sure that the textbooks survived the onslaught. And his demise, Mukhia underlined, is more than just a personal loss. It is a loss to the entire education fraternity which is today under a grave threat.
P K Shukla spoke about the close bond that Arjun Dev shared with SAHMAT. The values and ideals that Dev and SAHMAT stood for complimented each other. Shukla too recounted the firmness that Arjun Dev showed in dealing with the right-wing groups’ opposition to the NCERT textbooks written by him and other historians. Shukla narrated how SAHMAT provided a platform in those decades to historians like Arjun Dev and others to voice their anger against such ‘intellectual’ attacks. That Arjun Dev from the platform of SAHMAT voiced his protest against politics guided by communal and fascist agendas was also highlighted in P K Shukla’s tribute. The important part that Arjun Dev played in opposing, along with SAHMAT, the irrational approach in history writing cannot be ignored. His staunch support to SAHMAT in its fight against ‘saffronisation’ of various educational institutions as well as right-wing organisations’ repeated attacks on the essence of the Indian Constitution was also spoken about by Shukla.
Tributes were also paid to Anjum Singh. Her long and close association with SAHMAT was fondly recalled by Parthiv Shah.
Following this Danish Hussain, well-known film artist and dastango presented a poem penned by Faiz Ahmed Faiz titled ‘Intisaab’. The poem incidentally was dedicated by Faiz to the farmers of the country. Though written quite a long time ago it remains relevant even today. And, moreover, given the current scenario in which farmers are fighting for their rights the addition of this poem in the evening’s proceedings was quite apt. Another poem by Gauhar Raza about the ongoing farmers protest and titled ‘kisan’ was also recited by Danish Hussain.
The recitation of the poem was followed by a reading of a message by Professor Irfan Habib. In his message, Habib remembered the martyrdom of Safdar Hashmi and paid tribute to him. He underlined Hashmi’s dedication and steadfast approach in supporting the cause of poor and the oppressed. The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, he highlighted, has, since its inception, stood for the protection of secular traditions of India and has fought vehemently against groups that have made attempts to divide India on lines of caste and religion. SAHMAT has also through various mediums including publications, plays, discussions et al., has made successful attempts over the years to pursue the cause of the people apart from making them aware of the Indian culture. SAHMAT in its three decades of existence has played a pivotal role in fighting communal forces. It has never bowed to the communal agendas. He also recounted the active role that SAHMAT played in spreading messages of peace in places like Ayodhya in the months following the destruction of Babri Masjid through various means. SAHMAT has, through lectures and publications, made sincere attempts to present an accurate account of the Indian national movement and has thus tried to protect the heritage of the Indian national movement. He concluded by saying that at a time when the Indian Constitution’s ideals are under attack from the dark forces of the right-wing groups an organisation like SAHMAT which is at the vanguard should get support from one and all.
The message was followed by a melodious performance by Avahan— a musical group comprising of young students from University of Delhi, Delhi. The group presented some moving Sufi compositions centring on the teachings of Sufi saints.
M K Raina and Sohail Hashmi ably assisted by Anjali Raina and Saif Mehmood shared their memories of SAHMAT. Talking about their experiences they reflected upon the colourful history of the last thirty-two years of the organisation. They also stressed upon the fact that SAHMAT’s foundation is based on ideals of secularism, peace plurality of cultures. In this context, they spoke about the important role that it played in strengthening communal harmony which was under grave threat in the decades following the wilful destruction of the Babri Masjid. Raina and Hashmi also underlined the commitment shown by the younger generation in recent years towards the ideals of SAHMAT and the active role they played in taking forward its legacy.
A book on the 70 of Indian Constitution was also released on this occasion. The book which is a result of an exhibition curated by Aban Raza which was put up on the occasion of the SAHMAT celebrations by seventy artistes was released by well-known artist Ghulam Sheikh. While releasing the book Sheikh briefly discussed his long association with SAHMAT.
Professor Romila Thapar in her short but crisp message recalled some of her past memories from the days when she was a school student in 1940s. It was a period when the national movement was at its peak. She recalled the struggles and sacrifices which were made to achieve some of the fundamental rights. And since today many of such rights are facing the threat of being obliterated it is, she was of the opinion, time for another national movement akin to the one in the past. Such a movement is needed to secure the equal rights of all Indians and establish an unshakeable secular democracy.
Professor Prabhat Patnaik in his message highlighted the fact that virtually from the time of its formation, SAHMAT has constantly campaigned against the rising tide of communalism. He reiterated the fact that SAHMAT has played a pivotal role in fighting communal and fascist forces. Its unique style of fighting communal agendas by bringing together people from all walks of life on a common platform was also highlighted by Patnaik. The all-India character of SAHMAT was also underlined by him. That unlike many other NGOs, SAHMAT is political in nature and that it straddles the two worlds of politics and culture is also something which needs to be borne in mind. In this sense, it is a unique organisation and one of its kinds in India. He concluded by saying that SAHMAT needs to reach out more to the people outside of Delhi and that the pan- India character that it already has should be strengthened further.
This was followed by a book release of a collection of poems written in Hindi and Urdu titled Dukh Likha Jana Chahiye. The title of the book has been adapted from one of the poems of Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’. The collection was released by Ashok Vajpeyi. He also read extracts from some of the poems.
A couple of members of ‘BIGUL’, a young theatre group, recited poems like ‘Rail Gaadi’ and ‘Shikari Kaun Hai’. On the occasion, Hussain Haidry, film maker, presented some self-composed poems which touched upon a range of themes.
The evening also witnessed an array of musical performances by Ananya Gaur, Priya Kanungo, Parvathy Baul, Vidya Shah and Madangopal Singh. While Aanya Gaur put on a musical performance of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poems, Priya Kanungo sang some compositions of the Bhakti saint Meera. Vidya Shah sang some traditional folk songs centring on the city of Benaras and Ganga. Parvathy Baul, known throughout the country as well as outside as one of the most outstanding baul singers, presented some pieces from this great singing tradition. Madangopal Singh, the famed Sufi singer took the audience on a memorable musical journey. He sang about the Jallianwala Bagh and also a song that he had composed at a Jan Natya Manch performance in 1985.
When the People are Not ‘We the People’, a book comprising of articles by various journalists documenting experiences of their own as well as of migrants during the misconceived countrywide lockdown was also released on the occasion. The book was released by Sashi Kumar, a senior journalist.
A poem recitation by Navin Chaura and a dance performance by Aditi Mangaldas were also part of the 32nd Safdar Memorial.
The evening’s proceedings came to an end with an enthralling musical performance by Shubha Mudgal. Mudgal a close associate of SAHMAT put on a riveting performance of Dushyant Kumar’s powerful poem titled ‘Ho Gayi Hai Peer Parvat Si Pigalni Chahiye’ which focuses on bringing about a radical change in the social justice system.
With this, the 32nd Memorial Day of Safdar Hashmi culminated. Though the whole experience of attending the virtual session of SAHMAT was quite exhilarating it is sincerely hoped that it was the first and last of its kind.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line664
|
__label__wiki
| 0.885558
| 0.885558
|
Posts Tagged ‘Fiona Stanley Hospital’
Troy Buswell delivers $647m surplus to WA
Posted in Political News, tagged $100 million, $513 million, $647 million, 2011/12, 2012., achieve, across, audit, Australia's, billion, booming, boost, broader, budget, Budget since the, centres., committee, commodities, Commonwealth, deficit., delivered, delivering, down, downward, Economic, efficiency., election, Eric Rippe, Fiona Stanley Hospital, first, forward estimates, fully, funding police, global economy has been in decline, government, Government's, grants, GST, handed, hit, improved, large, last year, Liberal, Liberal Government, mining, money prisons, Mr Buswell said., new hospitals, offset, payroll, performance, Political News, power, prison, prison beds, projected, promised, promises, pump, r delivered, reform, regional, revenue, revisions, royalties, second, sector, stage, State, strategies, surplus, tax, tax rebate, Taxation, the state, today, Treasurer, Troy Buswell, tune, warning, western on May 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »
WESTERN Australia’s Liberal Government has handed down its first Budget, delivering a $647 million surplus but warning the state will be in deficit by 2012.
Treasurer Troy Buswell today delivered his first Budget since the Liberal Government came to power last year.
He said the 2008/09 surplus of $647 million would shrink to $409 million in 2009/10, and just $23 million the following year.
By 2011/12 the state will be in deficit to the tune of $513 million.
“Over the past months, as the global economy has been in decline, the state has been hit by large downward revisions to projected taxation revenue, GST grants from the Commonwealth and mining royalties,” Mr Buswell told parliament.
“Since the mid-year review, the Budget has lost a massive $4 billion in forecast revenue from these sources.”
Last year, then treasurer Eric Ripper delivered a surplus of more than $2 billion on the back of a booming commodities sector.
Economic growth remained high at 8 per cent for the 2008/09 financial year.
But forecasts predicted growth would fall into negative territory in 2009/10, with unemployment expected to peak, and business investment to fall by 17.5 per cent.
Mr Buswell said the Government would provide a one-year payroll tax rebate to small businesses with payrolls of up to $3.2 million to help protect jobs.
“Some 6,700 small businesses will be eligible for this payroll tax rebate, which will fully offset payroll tax for around 68,000 employees,” he said.
“The cost of this rebate is estimated at $100 million.”
A $47 million jobs training and skills package, and a $8.3 billion spend on infrastructure in the next financial year are key components of the Budget.
Mr Buswell said law and order were also strong focuses, in line with the Government’s election promises to boost funding for police and pump more money into prisons
Mr Buswell said the Government’s election promise to toughen up sentencing laws and introduce mandatory sentencing for people who assault police was underpinned in the Budget by a significant investment in prison capacity.
A total of $655 million will be invested in 2012/13 to create an extra 1657 prison beds across the state.
A record $5.1 billion spend on health services in the next year – rising 5.9 per cent, or $282 million from last year – will include the fast tracking of forward works for a new children’s hospital, the construction stage of the Fiona Stanley Hospital, and new hospitals in two regional centres.
Mr Buswell said the Government would push ahead with public sector reforms in a bid to achieve improved performance and efficiency.
The first stage of the economic audit committee promised by the Government during the last election was complete and a range of hard decisions had delivered $7.6 billion over the forward estimates, Mr Buswell said.
“I am looking forward to the second stage of the economic audit to identify strategies for broader reform over the longer term, so we can ensure the budget stays in surplus,” he said.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line666
|
__label__cc
| 0.63939
| 0.36061
|
Book reviews, Family drama, Womens fiction
The Hopes And Triumphs Of The Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain – Book Review
23rd Jan 2020 22nd Jan 2020 lel2403
Mae has watched as her three older sisters have gone through the process of finding their place in the world and faced the challenges of parenthood head on. Now ready to spread her wings beyond her close-knit family, Mae is ready to take the world by storm.
But a series of events will shake the strong self-belief Mae has always had in herself and will leave her questioning where it is she really fits in.
The Amir sisters will need to draw on all the love they have for each other, if they are going to navigate the challenges life has to throw at them and help Mae along the path to self-discovery.
This is not the usual genre I read, but every now and then I do like something other than a thriller. I have to say this is such a charming tale of family and love.
Mae is 19 and in her first year at uni, she’s lonely and feeling a bit lost. She has a really bad day and heads for a bar….now this girl doesn’t touch alcohol normally, but ends up just a bit worse for wear and a guy tries to take advantage of her. She is rescued and taken home by Ji Su…..
Mae and Ji Su become close friends, but one night a shared kiss changes things. They stop speaking and then Mae fails her first year and heads home.
Here, family chaos with babies and sisters, she feels invisible.
She gets a summer job and meets a lovely, kind man, Abdul-Raheem….a possible relationship her family would just not understand or accept.
Will Mae make the right decision for herself?
A beautifully written tale of family, sexuality, faith, acceptance and growing up.. A funny, warm hug of a read. I loved every minute.
Thank you to Jess at HQ for the opportunity to read this lovely book for free. This is my honest and unbiased review.
You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/36j8qZv
Nadiya Hussain is a British baker, columnist, author and television presenter. The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters was her debut novel.
Hussain was born to a British Bangladeshi family in Luton, where she grew up. She developed her interest in cooking while at school and largely self-educated herself in cooking by reading recipe books and watching instructional videos on YouTube. She married and moved to Leeds, where she began studying for an Open University degree. In 2015 she appeared on the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off and won the contest. She was subsequently invited to produce a cake for the 90th birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and to present her own BBC documentary, The Chronicles of Nadiya.
Hussain is a columnist for The Times Magazine and Essentials magazine, has signed publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Hodder Children’s Books, and Harlequin. She is also a regular reporter for The One Show and a guest panellist on Loose Women. Hussain was named by Debrett’s as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK in 2016. Hussain was on BBC News’ 100 Women list in 2016(courtesy of Goodreads)
Tagged Nadiya Hussain, The Hopes And Triumphs Of The Amir Sisters
Previous PostThe Beach House by PR Black – Book Review
Next PostA User’s Guide To Make-Believe by Jane Alexander – Book Review
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line667
|
__label__cc
| 0.504228
| 0.495772
|
Unveiling of a statue of Major General Artemas Ward, first Commander-in-chief of the American forces in the War of Independence : presented to the people of the United States by the President and Fellows of Harvard College at Washington, D.C., November 3, 1938.
Title: Unveiling of a statue of Major General Artemas Ward, first Commander-in-chief of the American forces in the War of Independence : presented to the people of the United States by the President and Fellows of Harvard College at Washington, D.C., November 3, 1938.
Author: Warren, Charles, 1868-1954
Note: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University, [1938]
Subject: Ward, Artemas, 1727-1800
Subject: Washington D.C. Ward monument
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line671
|
__label__cc
| 0.713249
| 0.286751
|
Posts Tagged ‘Undue hardship’
Posted: July 20, 2013 in Family Status
Tags: Family Status, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, Ontario Human Rights Code, Parent Child Relationship, Pregnancy, Undue hardship
The Ontario Human Rights Code protects employees on the ground of family status – that is, being in a parent-child relationship.
McDonald v. Mid-Huron Roofing
In McDonald v. Mid-Huron Roofing[i], a 2009 decision of the Tribunal, the Applicant worked for a small company with a handful of employees. The Applicant’s wife was pregnant and the applicant ended up taking several days off of work to attend his wife’s medical appointments relating to her pregnancy.
The Applicant’s wife suffered from complications from her pregnancy and was admitted to the hospital. The Applicant informed his supervisor that he needed to take some time off work to be with his wife. The birth was premature and shortly thereafter the Applicant’s wife again suffered complications, losing consciousness and being transported to the emergency by ambulance. The discovered his wife was taken to the hospital while at work and he informed his employer he would return in twenty minutes and left.
The Applicant attempted to find a babysitter to attend to his new baby so that he could return to work, but ultimately was unable to. When he did not return to work after the promised twenty minutes, his employment was terminated.
Even though the employer did not disapprove of employees with families, the Tribunal held that discrimination occurs even in situations where all employees are treated the same; however that treatment impacts one employee differently because he or she has special circumstances. The Applicant had provided his employer with the necessary information, that he had to care for his newborn son (family status), and from that point forward the employer had a duty to accommodate the Applicant short of undue hardship.
The employer argued that it would have suffered undue hardship, suggesting that the Applicant’s absences were impacting other employees’ morale and efficiency declined as the employer was already short-staffed. The Tribunal noted that the absences were inconvenient to the employer but were not sufficient to prove undue hardship. The Tribunal made it clear that morale is not an appropriate consideration in assessing undue hardship. The Tribunal awarded lost wages to the Applicant and $20,000.00 in general damages for pain, suffering and harm to the Applicant’s dignity.
Employees are entitled to accommodation when emergency situations arise in relation to their children. The parent-child relationship is also triggered when an employee cares for an elderly parent. Employees are not entitled to claim family status every time a family situation arises however. Tribunal jurisprudence makes it clear that employees must try to deal with family issues in a manner that does not impact their workplace obligations prior to requesting accommodation. Not every family issue will fall under the ground of family status.
[i] 2009 HRTO 1306
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line672
|
__label__wiki
| 0.928844
| 0.928844
|
Works by Pourjavady, Reza  as editorial director | 2
Keys to the Sciences (Maqālīd al-ʿulūm)
Maqālīd al-ʿulūm (Keys to the Sciences) is a significant source on definitions of Arabic scientific terms in the post-classical period. Composed by an anonymous author, it contains over eighteen hundred definitions in the realm of twenty-one religious, literary, and rational sciences. The work was dedicated to the Muzaffarid Shāh Shujāʿ, who ruled over Shiraz and its neighbouring regions from 759/... more
Maqālīd al-ʿulūm (Keys to the Sciences) is a significant source on definitions of Arabic scientific terms in the post-classical period. Composed by an anonymous author, it contains over eighteen hundred definitions in the realm of twenty-one religious, literary, and rational sciences. The work was dedicated to the Muzaffarid Shāh Shujāʿ, who ruled over Shiraz and its neighbouring regions from 759/1358 to 786/1384. The present volume contains a critical edition of Maqālīd al-ʿulūm based on its three extant manuscripts. In the introduction, the editors review previous scholarship on the text, present an overview of patronage at the court of Shāh Shujāʿ and identify some of the sources used by the author of the work. They suggest that the work in its structure mirrors Abū ʿAbdullāh Khwārazmī’s Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm, completed in 366/976.
Philosophy in Qajar Iran
During its Qajar period (1210–1344/1795–1925), Iran witnessed some lively and significant philosophical discourse. Yet apart from studies devoted to individual figures such as Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī and Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī, modern scholarship has paid little attention to the animated discussions and vibrant traditions of philosophy that continued in Iran during this period. The articles assembled in... more
During its Qajar period (1210–1344/1795–1925), Iran witnessed some lively and significant philosophical discourse. Yet apart from studies devoted to individual figures such as Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī and Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī, modern scholarship has paid little attention to the animated discussions and vibrant traditions of philosophy that continued in Iran during this period. The articles assembled in this book present an account of the life, works and philosophical challenges taken up by seven major philosophers of the Qajar period. As a collection, the articles convey the range and diversity of Qajar philosophical thinking. Besides indigenous thoughts, the book also deals with the reception of European philosophy in Iran at the time.
2018 Aggregating work ➥ Monograph : Editions | 1
Adult, serious | 1
Dadkhah, Gholamreza | 1
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line673
|
__label__cc
| 0.50116
| 0.49884
|
Tweets by @OpenStrokes
Oak Hills Golf Club 0
Address: 10059 Northcliffe Blvd, Spring Hill, FL 34608
Are there errors or missing information?
By signing up you can help make this facility complete.
Course 4 teeboxes Par 72 18 holes
Hole (Slope / Rating)
Blue (117 / 71.2) 410 510 406 163 410 520 428 200 362 3409
White (118 / 69.3) 391 485 386 153 372 485 381 185 337 3175
Gold (111 / 65.8) 377 415 376 143 291 420 350 150 317 2839
HDCP (Men) 3 11 5 15 7 17 1 9 13
Par 4 5 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 36
HDCP (Women) 3 5 1 17 13 15 9 7 11
Red (107 / 64.1) 357 409 365 133 283 373 290 150 279 2639
6 16 12 14 2 18 8 10 4
4 16 8 14 2 18 6 10 12
Register for account
How to help out the community What's planned for the site?
Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Contact
Copyright © 2017 by OpenStrokes. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line674
|
__label__wiki
| 0.752478
| 0.752478
|
Even though our slowly-shrinking jack-o-lanterns are still sitting on our stoops and our various Halloween costumes are slung over the backs of chairs, the changing of the calendar from October to November means only one thing for those particularly festive people like us… it’s the unofficial start of the holiday season!
Thanks to Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, our inner inflatable, oversized, holiday-themed lawn decoration is being filled with seasonal wonder from now through December as a magical series of Christmas movies pump our holiday spirit to maximum capacity. Premiering this Saturday on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is “The Perfect Christmas Present” starring Tara Holt and Sam Page.
We recently sat down with Holt to discuss going blue, why people love Holiday movies, and what her version of the perfect Christmas present would be.
TrunkSpace: You went from “Z Nation” to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ “The Perfect Christmas Present.” That’s a pretty diverse year, which as an actress, must be part of the fun of the job, right?
Holt: Yeah, you know, it’s been interesting, for sure. It’s definitely all sides of the spectrum. The role on “Z Nation” was something that when I was going out for it, I actually didn’t know that my character was blue until I’d gotten the part.
TrunkSpace: Surprise! (Laughter)
Holt: (Laughter) “Surprise, you’re blue.”
So that was really interesting, spending the entire summer as a blue half-human/half-zombie. It’s something I’d never done before, and I’m not so sure I’ll ever do again, necessarily. So I mean, I take it as it is, you know? It was a cool, different experience, and totally on the other side of the spectrum from “The Perfect Christmas Present,” which was just so fun. It was just totally different from any sort of dramatic role that I’ve done. It was lighthearted and easy to shoot, and it was a pleasure to be on that set. I didn’t have to go to any deep, dark crazy places emotionally, so that was nice. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: On a project like “The Perfect Christmas Present,” it’s really about the human connection side of the performance, right?
Holt: Absolutely. It’s so fun because they were so easy to connect with. It made my job so easy, and it was just really a breeze. Sometimes you get off of shooting an overly dramatic thing, any sort of horror, or any sort of extremely emotional thing, and to hop on a comedy or something like “The Perfect Christmas Present,” it’s such a relaxing situation because you just get to connect with the other person.
TrunkSpace: The makeup is barely dry on our Halloween costumes. What advice do you give us to transition our brains from spooky spirits to finding our holiday spirits?
Holt: It’s gonna happen very fast. You get four days to figure it out! (Laughter)
What’s nice about it is, I think Christmas is a great representation of all the holidays as a whole, so as soon as the holidays are approaching, Christmas is kind of a staple to that. Halloween and Thanksgiving are the buildup, but I think Christmas is the overall umbrella for it all. I don’t think there’s any time to start… you can’t start Christmas too early. In fact, I have friends who have their Christmas lights up all year round. I’m a huge Christmas person. I don’t think there’s any harm in starting it November 4, or earlier.
The other thing is, it’s nice because I’ve been going into some stores, and they’re already in the Christmas spirit. I was like, “Whoa, okay… we’re there.” In our society, as soon as Halloween is over, you better believe that it’s switching to Christmas.
TrunkSpace: The movie is actually kicking off the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas programming event. That has to be pretty exciting that they chose your film to launch such a big event for the network?
Holt: Yeah, we knew we had something special going on as we were filming. After each day we just knew we were surpassing what was expected, and doing it more justice than I think any of us knew we were initially going to do, so I’m actually very pleasantly surprised that they chose it for this position.
Holt and Sam Page in The Perfect Christmas Present
TrunkSpace: Why do you think this type of seasonal content continues to resonate with so many people?
Holt: I think there’s something very heartwarming about this kind of thing, because you get your family together, everyone sits down, you’re all together on the couch, you’re probably having some snacks while you’re watching it, having some laughs, having some feel-good moments and you’re with the people you love. It’s a moment to get lost in another world, and obviously there are some fantasy elements to all of the Christmas movies, and it’s a really fun world to escape into, especially before everyone’s really geared up and ready for Christmas. It’s such a great moment for everyone to start and sort of slip into that element early on. So that’s why I’m excited – to be the first one to start off the holiday season.
TrunkSpace: From a performance standpoint, was it easy for you to discover who Jenny was? Did you have time to absorb the material and discover her as a character?
Holt: Yeah, I thankfully got a few weeks beforehand where I was really able to dive into my own character and kind of answer all those questions for me and make sure that I knew her inside and out before I stepped onto the set. I didn’t, however, get a chance to meet Sam Page, who plays opposite me, and Blair Hayes, who’s the director, until the day before filming. Thankfully, they’re lovely and such a great crowd to work with. It was really, really easy to fit in with them. When Sam and I started off, our first scene was kind of an argument and it was interesting because we had to break a connection there that hadn’t really quite been built yet. But thankfully, he’s so amazing to work with and such a great actor that it was really easy for us to have had that relationship built, for us to be in that place, to break it, even just in a day.
And overall, in comparison to some of the other roles I’ve done, this one didn’t require some crazy, dark niche and extreme studying to do beforehand. She’s such a sweet, loving person, and works for the charities, and does have some pain in her life that involves her family members and her upbringing, but overall, I didn’t have to get into the mind of, like the “Z Nation” show, where I’m like a half-human/half-zombie and I’m actually mentally five-years-old in a 28-year-old’s body. That was complicated. This one wasn’t so complicated. That was what was so great, the simplicity of her.
TrunkSpace: And in this one, you didn’t have to have blue skin!
Holt: I do not have blue skin, thankfully, in this one. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: It’s an obvious question for the star of “The Perfect Christmas Present” but we have to ask it… what would the perfect Christmas present be for you this year?
Holt: Wow, you know, surprisingly I haven’t gotten to that yet, so I haven’t really thought about it. I am very fortunate right now in my life to say that I have mostly everything that I’ve ever wanted, but there is something I’m working toward as an adult. “As an adult now…” (Laughter) I’m working towards purchasing my first home, so that is something that I would like to give to myself.
But as far as the perfect Christmas gift that somebody else could give me… I’m way bigger on life experiences over an actual tangible item, so I would have to say the perfect Christmas gift for me would be a trip somewhere – somewhere that I’ve never been. Hands-down, life experiences over anything for me.
“The Perfect Christmas Present” airs Saturday on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
Photo: Brooke Burns, Dylan Neal Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Kailey Schwerman
Sly sleuths have been entertaining us with their crime-solving skills for as long as television has been beamed into our homes. Hallmark Movies & Mysteries took that delectable dish of a genre and altered the recipe slightly, adding the one ingredient that everybody can relate to – food.
Based on the series of books by author Peter King, “Gourmet Detective” follows homicide detective Maggie Price (Brooke Burns) and former, world-class chef Henry Ross (Dylan Neal) as they crack the twists and turns of cases as entertaining as they are perplexing. The latest installment, “Eat, Drink and Be Buried” premieres Sunday, October 8 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
We recently sat down with Burns to discuss what drew her to Maggie, what it’s like performing opposite the writer, and why unplugging from the real world means plugging into “Gourmet Detective.”
TrunkSpace: This is the fourth time you’re tackling Maggie Price. Does it start to feel a bit like you’re shooting a television series as opposed to a standalone film just because of the episodic nature of it?
Burns: Definitely. We’ve talked about that a bunch over the course of it. Honestly, we have so much fun on set and we love each other – we just all get along so well. We’re like, “Just make it a series already!” (Laughter) It feels like we’re already doing that, you know, with the different story lines, but right now, we’re still following the Peter King books.
TrunkSpace: Doing them as films must allow for a bit more of an individual character journey though. As a series, the arcs tighten up or they end up being spread out over multiple episodes.
Burns: That’s true. Definitely, we’ve been able to explore a little more individually, which is nice to be given that opportunity, for sure.
TrunkSpace: What was it about this particular installment, “Eat, Drink and Be Buried” that excited you from a performance standpoint?
Burns: I think starting out, Maggie was very protected, being a single mom and the boss of her own world. As I like to say, she built a moat around her castle and she rarely lets the drawbridge down. And I think that with Henry, as they’ve slowly come closer and closer together, she’s really learning to trust someone. And it’s both scary and also refreshing at the same time.
So I think we see a softer side of her, or at least the struggle between being vulnerable with someone and still kind of being her own boss.
TrunkSpace: Is that because there is more of a personal relationship between Maggie and Henry as opposed to just a professional one?
Burns: Exactly, so that turn has been interesting because it’s like, “Wait, what does this still look like on the job?” And just because we’re now dating, it doesn’t really mean that these aspects of the job change, but in a way they do. And once you care about someone, then things start to evolve. But I think intimacy probably scares her a little bit, and at the same time, she wants it.
So those are kind of fun things to play with – all the different layers of comedy and tragedy.
TrunkSpace: Your costar Dylan Neal is also the writer. As you’re shooting, are you continuously massaging dialogue while in scenes and seeing if different things work that weren’t originally on the page?
Burns: Oh yeah. I think for us, as actors, it’s so wonderful to constantly have the writer on set. If you have any questions, you’re like, “Hey, do you mind if I tweak this?” or, “I feel like this is more natural for my character.” But Dylan and Becky (Southwell) have a really good handle, I think, now especially going into the fourth, of our voices, so they’re usually pretty spot on.
But I do, just for fun, always go, “Who wrote this? It’s terrible. Wait, I have to say what?” (Laughter) And he’s like, “Oh, stop it.” (Laughter) We pretend like we’re talking amongst the actors and then we’re like, “Oh wait, wait… you’re the writer too.” We give him a hard time.
Photo: Brooke Burns Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Kailey Schwerman
TrunkSpace: A good moment to rib him is every time he has a really great line. “Hey, why do you get the good line!?!?”
Burns: (Laughter) Any time I have a good line, I’m like, “Oh, Becky must have written that.”
TrunkSpace: While you guys are still working and massaging the script throughout production, you’re also working within a pretty breakneck schedule, which one would imagine means you’re constantly full steam ahead.
Burns: 100 percent. I feel like they get shorter and faster every time. It’s a bit of a circus trying to make it through to the end. (Laughter) This one was even more challenging for me because I was breastfeeding a six-month-old-baby. “Wait. Put the costume on. Take the costume off. Okay, is the baby good? Okay, wait.”
I had a big monologue to do and I started in. I’m like, “So the captain says… the captain says… yeah, I have no idea what the captain says!” (Laughter) I just had a total white out. And I’m like, “Oh my gosh. I have some serious baby brain right now, give me a second. It’ll come back. Don’t get scared.” (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: Doing anything with a six-month-old at a breakneck speed is a feat in and of itself, never mind shooting a movie.
Burns: Yeah, it was definitely a challenge this time. I felt like I had two full time jobs.
TrunkSpace: Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, as well other Hallmark original programming, have a really large, loyal fandom, which I think takes a lot of people by surprise. The groups online that follow these individual shows and franchises rival those that follow science fiction franchises known for their rabid fan bases.
Burns: Yeah, that says it perfectly. I took my eight-month-old to the zoo a couple days ago, and a woman passed me by and then she came running back and she goes, “Wait! You’re the Hallmark girl!” (Laughter) “Is that my title now? Oh, okay, good. Thanks for telling me.” (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: It seems that, given the seriousness of the news every time you turn on the television, that this type of feel-good entertainment is the perfect form of escapism.
Burns: Definitely. I think that’s true. I mean, I know that for me, with all this scariness happening, every day I wake up I just go, “Do I really want to turn on the news?” I’m actually scared to go, “What happened now in the 12 hours that I’ve been unaware of the world?”
I’m sure if you have children or you just are trying to unwind, the news gets really overwhelming these days. Unfortunately it’s so sad and heartbreaking that a little love toward your heart feels good.
Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Kailey Schwerman
TrunkSpace: What was the biggest creative draw for you regarding the overall “Gourmet Detective” concept and character journey when the project was first presented to you?
Burns: You know, it’s interesting… I think that the older I’ve gotten, and definitely being a mom, I feel like your brand starts to evolve over time. And I just love, as you just said, that feel-good, family viewing. I know there’s a lot of stuff that people do as actors and they’re like, “Oh yeah, my kids can never watch anything I do, nor would they want to,” and so I think there was just a part of that where I was like, “It just feels clean and easy to go and be a part of something that is, really, like a family.”
Their brand is really how they run their shows and their sets. Going in having to do it this time with a six-month-old, I just thought that there was no way they were going to be able to accommodate all of the extra bells and whistles that I was going to need to stop every three hours – to be able to breastfeed, to be the kind of mom that I want to be, and get the job done. And they were like, “Okay, okay. Yup. Sure. No problem. Done. We’ll get you the driver with the car seat. We’ll get you the time that you need. We’ll shoot a different direction so that you can be with the baby, get her down for a nap, whatever.” Who does that? People who really understand family values.
And Maggie, in it of itself, was always great just as far as the character and falling in love with her. I loved that she was this sassy cop and at the same time, this loving single mom, and sort of the juxtaposition of those two things and having to balance the two.
TrunkSpace: Looking over your career, is there a character that you wised you got to spend more time with and explore further?
Burns: Definitely. The character of Kathy Dinkle from “Pepper Dennis.” We were only on for a season and it was kind of one of those things where Warner Bros. was caving under and we were up against the writers’ strike and the studio shifted. But definitely, the character of Kathy Dinkle was a really fun character for me that I created out of my five-year-old daughter and my mother mushed together. That was always something that I wished I had a little bit more time to continue to explore just because she was a lot of fun for me to play.
“Gourmet Detective: Eat, Drink and Be Buried” will be served up to mystery-hungry viewers on Sunday, October 8 (9 p.m. ET/PT) on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
Even though digital correspondence is the preferred method of communication these days, we all still love to open the mailbox and find a handwritten letter waiting for us. There’s something nostalgic about peeling back the seal of a freshly delivered envelope and discovering what is waiting for us inside. That’s why the concept of the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ ongoing franchise, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” is so ingenious, because it strikes a chord before you ever get past the opening credits.
“A group of postal detectives work to solve the mysteries behind undeliverable letters and packages from the past, delivering them when they are needed most.”
As far as pitches go, it doesn’t get much better than that, and for the countless fans of the series who have followed along with it since it first began airing in 2014, the individual stories that make up each standalone movie back up the overall premise.
The latest installment, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again,” premieres Sunday, September 24 at 9 pm ET/PT on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. We recently sat down with series guest star and Emmy Award winner Kim Delaney to discuss her contribution to the Golden Age of Television, what drew her to the POstables, and why she took the opportunity to milk a cow during filming.
TrunkSpace: We hear all of the time, especially in talking with producers and writers, about how we’re in the “Golden Age of Television.” Now, many believe that started with your series “NYPD Blue.” Do you ever think about your contribution to what has become this incredible renaissance period for storytelling in television?
Delaney: That’s a great question. I’ve never really thought that one through. I think it is a great time for television and I think being in my show, which I was lucky enough to be on, was just the best time and we just had the best time doing it. It was the best writing, the best crew. I mean, everything was just top notch. So, yeah, I know that was groundbreaking, so maybe that is the beginning, right? They said that was all very groundbreaking television at the time, and Bochco, of course, has always been groundbreaking. And David Milch is right there with him with “Deadwood,” which is tremendous, and all the things he’s done since and before.
TrunkSpace: We were looking at some of the numbers “NYPD Blue” was doing at that time. In 1996, for example, it had 19.79 viewers. Today, those are numbers that execs could only dream about.
Delaney: Yeah. The NFL might get that, I don’t know what the NFL gets, but that’s the only one who sees those numbers, right?
TrunkSpace: It’s amazing to see how much things have changed it such a relatively short period of time.
Delaney: It is wild. And then you hear different directors, directors of photography, and what they put into it, and then you see people watching it on their tablets or their phones and they feel they’re not getting the whole experience. But then you talk to somebody like my son, and they get it. They see the beauty. They see everything. It’s just a different way of viewing. And, it’s interesting because I hear pretty soon we’re going to be able to view things 360 degrees. Wild. Just the thought that you could move your device around and see 360 degrees of what you’re watching… say you’re watching a football game, or whatever… that would be insane.
TrunkSpace: And now you’re set to debut in “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again,” which has a very big, devoted following. In a lot of ways, it feels like we’re coming back around and people are looking to step away from gritty storytelling and just escape for a bit.
Delaney: I think there’s a lot of room for that. Absolutely. I mean, look at these storms we’re getting. We have a gorgeous day and we all appreciate such a beautiful day, right? But between the heat waves and the storms – I think there is something very valid there that everybody wants to come and have an easy thing to watch – a pretty thing to watch.
TrunkSpace: What drew you to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered?”
Delaney: I like Hallmark and the pretext of the story is just very honest. It’s about bringing a family back together again. And it’s a great cast too. I mean, I have to say, I had so much fun working with everybody.
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again” Photo: Kim Delaney, Laura Bertram, Emily Haine, Kyla Matthews Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: David Owen Strongman
TrunkSpace: And for those eager to dive into this latest installment, where does your character fall into things?
Delaney: I’m the matriarch of the story. The story is kind of about these generations of matriarchs – my mother, my grandmother, my great-great grandmother, and all these strong women through these generations. And I myself have three daughters. I’ve lost a husband and the thread is a vase that’s been lost. I was depressed and they sold this vase thinking they were helping out with the farm. So it’s taking care of this farm, thinking we were losing the farm, and how they sold this vase when they were little. Now we’re losing the farm and we really could use that vase, but it’s lost in the mail.
Hence, the POstables find the vase, but it’s really about finding family again – the family coming back together. I’m the rock, the steady rock, that is not so steady right now. She is stuck trying to figure out how to take care of her daughters in the moment and in life, and they bring back hope.
I think it was very personal to Martha (Williamson) and it’s just a pretty story. I had such a good time playing it, being on the farm. I didn’t have to milk a cow, but I did milk a cow because I asked the guy if I could. You know, I’ve never milked a cow before. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: When in Rome, right?
Delaney: Yeah, right. When in Rome! (Laughter) When else am I going to milk a cow?
TrunkSpace: One of the things everyone we have spoken to has said is that they really fall in love with Martha’s dialogue and to be able to connect with their character through it.
Delaney: It is beautiful. And it means something. It’s meaningful and it transcends. It’s very universal. You could be on a dairy farm, you could be in the middle of the city at a grocery store, or whatever. It just comes down to heart. Hopefully, everything in our life comes down to that.
Delaney in NYPD Blue
TrunkSpace: So much has changed in the industry since you started out and first began working as a professional actress. One of the things that seems to come into play now for young actors looking to break in is social media. We have even heard stories about someone not getting a part because someone else had more followers on Twitter. How do you think you would have navigated this new landscape if you were just breaking in today?
Delaney: It’s odd. I was never on Facebook. I was on Twitter when I was doing “Army Wives” because they asked me to tweet with the audience, which I didn’t know how to do. I had to have help doing that when I was doing “Army Wives.” And I still don’t know. I don’t know what you’re supposed to answer, what you’re supposed to like, what you’re supposed to engage in or what’s too much engagement, what’s not enough. It’s hard to judge. How do you know? I just got on Instagram and Facebook literally maybe a year and a half ago. I forget exactly when, but it’s recent, and only because of what you just said. My manager goes, “No, ’cause when you’re doing a show you want the followers.” I was like, “Really?” So, I’ve succumbed.
TrunkSpace: You have worked on so many different projects throughout the years. If someone came to you and said, “Here’s a blank check, bring back any former project that you want,” what would you choose?
Delaney: Without question, “NYPD Blue.” Without question. That’s an easy one because I think about where the journey could have taken her and the writing was just, I mean, gems every day. Gems.
Geoff Gustafson
The latest installment, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again,” premieres Sunday, September 24 at 9 pm ET/PT on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. We recently sat down with series star Geoff Gustafson to discuss the passionate fanbase, why the series has continued to find success, and the experience of having a television icon play his grandmother.
TrunkSpace: We were amazed by how passionate the “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” fanbase is. In many ways, it almost seems like the kind of fandom associated with science fiction shows. Have you been surprised by the level of interest and amount of passion coming from the fanbase?
Gustafson: Oh yeah, absolutely. The POstables, as they are called, are rabid. They are really into it and have created a really solid foundation with some core members that promote the show and promote different viewing nights during the course of the year to watch previously aired episodes and the movies.
TrunkSpace: What do you think the key has been to building that audience? What has pulled the POstables in?
Gustafson: Well, I think it starts with Martha Williamson, the show’s creator. She had a memorable stint with “Touched by an Angel,” so she is familiar with that demographic. And I think people are looking for less violent, more family-oriented shows that they don’t have to worry about. They can relax and watch a family show. I think that’s really what they’re attracted to, that no-fear TV feeling.
TrunkSpace: It does feel like perhaps people are looking for a balance. They can have their dark and gritty programming, but at the same time, they still want to feel good sometimes.
Gustafson: Absolutely. And it is… feel-good show sounds a bit cliché, but I think at its core, it is essentially that, it’s a feel-good show. You don’t worry about betrayal amongst the core four, the POstables themselves. You know they’re going to do their best and come from the most positive place that they can muster. There’s no real fear of them traveling down a dark path, it’s just, how are they going to manage the obstacles that they face?
TrunkSpace: What has been the biggest surprise for you in your “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” journey so far?
Gustafson: You know, the show continuing to tell an ongoing story has been a bit of a surprise. I thought it would be easier to do it week to week with an hour-long episode, but the truth is that I think with the new format, the two hour MOW (movie of the week) format, we’re still telling an ongoing story. In fact, I think that the two hour format gives us a bit more time to expand on every letter mystery. We have a bit more time to flesh that out and find it’s relevance to the POstables and their immediate families in some cases, or just their immediate surroundings.
TrunkSpace: And in terms of a personal character journey, is it enjoyable to see Norman’s arc play out in a single movie as opposed to over the course of a handful of episodes?
Gustafson: Yeah, I think so. I think sometimes in the hour-long episodes, there’s the tendency to rush some development. And I think you are able to expand on the same growth over a two hour period and then oftentimes between the MOWs, a significant period of time has passed, so it can be a couple of months or three weeks, or six months even. The growth feels more organic I think, oftentimes in the trials and tribulations of the POstables. It doesn’t feel as rushed.
TrunkSpace: We talked about surprises, but when it comes to joys, we would imagine learning that Carol Burnett would be playing your grandmother in the series was right up there?
Gustafson: Yeah, it honestly doesn’t get better than that. I wouldn’t say it was on my bucket list, because that would never even occur to me that it could happen, but yeah, growing up, my dad was a huge “Carol Burnett Show” fan. I remember sitting and watching it with him and laughing hysterically at her, Harvey Korman, and the guy who plays Dorf. So when they told me that she was going to play my grandmother, I was over the moon. It was awesome. And sure enough, even just working with her was beyond what I could have hoped for. She was hilarious and gracious, and professional, and sharp as a tack, and just so kind and reassuring. If I could choose a grandmother, I would pick Carol Burnett. (Laughter)
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again Photo: Crystal Lowe, Geoff Gustafson Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: David Owen Strongman
TrunkSpace: You’ve been playing Norman now since 2014. Were there any performance choices that you made in the early days of discovering who Norman was that you feel paid off later in ways that you never intended?
Gustafson: Yeah, I think so. The truth is, Martha Williamson is really open to hashing out our ideas with her, and managing to incorporate them into the story. So the idea of Norman being a foster child that gets adopted, and his struggles to feel like a part of a family – that was all set up from the beginning. Probably where it pays off the most is in my relationship with Rita, Crystal Lowe’s character. Crystal and I have known each other for years. We grew up in the same town, we were on another show together, we lived across the street from each other, so we’re pretty close outside of work.
But it’s been fun watching Rita and Norman grow into this really, really innocent partnership. And that probably is the biggest surprise. Not because I don’t get along with Crystal, I get along with her great, but rather, to somehow manage to have maintained this innocence throughout all of these years to a place where now they’re engaged, and they’re gonna get married, and the idea, I imagine, would be that they would continue and have a family, etc.
I think it’s maybe my choice to develop an aspect of Norman where he loves so freely, and sees the value in loving an infinite number of people, and yet really struggles with what there is to love in himself, and then having Rita play what she loves about him so sincerely and directly. I think that would probably be the biggest surprise, and how that’s managed to help formulate their partnership.
TrunkSpace: What do you think the fanbase is going to love most about the latest installment, “Home Again?”
Gustafson: We get to see more of the personal lives of the POstables in this one, particularly on Rita’s side, which I think is really exciting. In a lot of ways, Rita’s character is a bit of a mystery. We don’t really know that much about who she is and where she’s from. We’ve explored Shane, we’ve explored Norman, we’ve explored Oliver, and I think Rita’s character is the character that benefits the most from the exploration in this. I think it’s hilarious, and it’s so lovely, and it makes so much sense as to why Rita is the way she is, so that will be something that the POstables and the other fans will be excited by.
TrunkSpace: We’re all nutty for the show “Supernatural” here, and you actually appeared in an episode during its infancy. When you worked on the show, did it have the feeling of a series that would be around for 13 years?
Gustafson: Holy smokes. Yeah, I was in an episode in the very first season. You know what, thinking back, at the time I was pretty green, and I remember feeling very comfortable on set. The two lead gentlemen, Jensen and Jared, they were both so welcoming and professional. They’d put together a real A Team for “Supernatural,” so I’m not surprised. I just remember at the time being like, “Whoa, this feels like a real TV show,” as opposed to something that was maybe a bit soft and thrown together.
Kristin Booth
The latest installment, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again,” premieres Sunday, September 24 at 9 pm ET/PT on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. We recently sat down with series star Kristin Booth to discuss how the franchise has affected her life, how she is continuously surprised by the fan reaction, and what those fans will enjoy most about the latest installment.
TrunkSpace: We spoke with Crystal Lowe recently and one of the things that we discussed is how important you have become in her life. In terms of the journey, getting to work on a project that you not only connect with creatively, but to then also forge these types of lasting relationships, we would imagine that has to be the best care scenario?
Booth: You know, it really is. I have to say, despite loving the content and the writing of what we’re doing on “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” it’s the relationships that have really made it a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Crystal and I are basically like sisters now. Martha Williamson and I are very close. It’s just really nice to be able to be a part of something where you actually love the people that you’re doing it with.
TrunkSpace: Does that off-camera chemistry translate to on-screen chemistry?
Booth: I think it definitely does. We really work as a team. We’re very collaborative. Martha’s words are very rarely changed because she’s so brilliant. If there was something that didn’t make sense for one of us or if we had an idea, what’s so great about working on “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” is everyone’s really open to other people’s visions and their ideas. If it’s not what they wanted, we’re all cool and we just say, “Okay, it’s not gonna work.” It’s a nice working environment where you can express yourself artistically and feel safe to do so. That’s a really nice feeling. I think that only comes with the trust and the love that we all share with one another.
TrunkSpace: When the franchise originally transitioned from the episodic format to the film format, was that a concern or was it something you welcomed?
Booth: Well, it definitely concerned me at first because we didn’t know we were picked up as a movie series when we were told that the series wasn’t going to continue. There was a lot of unknowns at the time. Although the idea of the movie series was presented, it wasn’t set in stone. It wasn’t solid yet. That part of it made me very nervous, so I was obviously concerned.
However, the idea of going back to the two hour format excited me because I think the type of topics and the type of themes that Martha tackles in these movies or in the series as well, they deserve that two hour time rather than the one hour episode. I believe we’re able to do so much more and make the stories more rich with the time we have.
TrunkSpace: From a fan interaction standpoint, it seems like doing them as movies also makes them events when they do air.
Booth: 100 percent it does. Often Crystal and I will live tweet and Eric (Mabius) has live tweeted with our fans. The anticipation for each movie – it’s amazing to me. I love communicating back and forth via social media with the fans, the POstables, because I get super excited for them to see it because I know they’ve been waiting for so long. I’ll often get little message here and there saying, “We haven’t heard when the next one’s coming out. When is it coming out because I need my fix of SSD?” It’s just really rewarding for a performer to know that people enjoy it as much as they do.
TrunkSpace: What’s fascinating about the fanbase is that the level of interest and passion in the franchise is the kind you usually see associated with genre shows.
Booth: Right. I think you’re correct completely. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” delivers… pardon the pun… it delivers a message, a feeling of hope and of faith in a time in our lives, in society and the world, where things are very uncertain and a little bit scary. What “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” provides for our audience is a safe place to come for two hours. People that they trust, the characters, they know that they are going to be inspired or they’re going to be touched or moved in some way.
What’s incredible to me is how many people, how many of the fans, have reached out and said just how much the show has affected their lives. They’re able to draw comparisons to either what our four POstables are going through or perhaps the B storyline of each movie. I think that’s what keeps bringing people back and drawing new fans each time we have another movie.
TrunkSpace: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” first aired in 2014. A lot can change in four years, both over the course of a franchise and in the lives of those who inhabit the world. Do you feel like you’ve grown and changed along with your character Shane in that timeframe?
Booth: Oh, tremendously! 100 percent! I think you can’t avoid that if you’re a committed actor and you’re really giving your all to what’s happening in the character’s life. It’s bound to influence you personally. It’s bound to affect you emotionally. Hopefully, you grow as a person as your character grows throughout the series.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again Photo: Kristin Booth, Eric Mabius Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: David Owen Strongman
TrunkSpace: Is there a moment over the course of your time with your character where you felt like you really got to stretch as an actor and said to yourself, “Wow, I never thought I’d get to go here with Shane. I never thought we’d travel this path together.”
Booth: Well actually, there’s been several, to be honest. (Laughter) Martha is genius at always surprising me at what she brings to the table with her scripts. It’s so interesting too, because often upon the first read, I’ll get an impression, but it isn’t until I’m actually on set and I’m in the scene where I will have these amazing epiphany moments. She’ll often write something in it, descriptive-wise, like “Shane cries at this moment,” or whatever. As an actor, I’m like, “Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to cry at that moment. Maybe it’ll come at another point or maybe it won’t come at all.” But with Martha’s writing, I’ve never experienced anything quite like what her writing does for me as an actor because she’s so in tune with the characters and it’s so right, that whenever I get into the scene, I start discovering all of this incredible stuff that I may have not thought about when I was reading it or working on the lines because I’m reacting to what Oliver’s giving me or what Rita or Norman’s giving me, or whoever I’m working with.
I’m always shocked and amazed and thrilled because there just have been so many times where I’ve thought in my head beforehand, “Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make this work or connect to it emotionally.” Then I’m in the scene, I’m saying the words, and tears are just flowing. (Laughter) It’s so interesting. I feel extremely blessed that I get to work with that type of material that is able to do that for me as an actor.
TrunkSpace: What do you think the fans are going to be most drawn to with the latest installment, “Home Again?”
Booth: Well, I think the POstables are going to be really excited. “Home Again” is the first time that we see Norman and Rita as a couple and Shane and Oliver as a couple. It’s been a long journey for both of them. It’s exciting to have those characters in a position now where they’re trying to navigate actually being together as a couple and admitting it to each other. (Laughter) I think the audience is going to love seeing that dynamic. Norman and Rita are at a certain stage in their relationship, but especially Oliver and Shane. This is the first time we actually see them as a couple. They’re still trying to figure it out. They have no idea what they’re doing. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: You guested in a memorable episode of a show that we all love here, “Supernatural.” That series is going into its 13th season, which is an incredible feat. If “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” was to go on a similar journey, would you welcome playing Shane for such an extended period of time?
Booth: Definitely. It comes with a whole set of challenges that you don’t encounter when you’re doing something as a one-off or for a year or something like that. I mean, to be about to sustain the freshness, the lure as an actor of a character you’ve been playing that long, is a challenge in and of itself. It’d be very different if I wasn’t continually blown away and challenged by Martha’s words and scripts and stories and themes. But I am, and so I would welcome that for sure because I’m constantly surprised and wowed by the things that go on and the things that I discover about Shane even still.
Crystal Lowe
© Crown Media United States, LLC
The latest installment, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again,” premieres Sunday, September 24 at 9 pm ET/PT on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. We recently sat down with series star Crystal Lowe to discuss how her character Rita was a welcome departure from previous roles, why she feels the franchise is resonating with audiences, and how she had to restrain herself from fangirling on Mandy Patinkin.
TrunkSpace: Early in your career you appeared in a number of horror films, including “Black Christmas” and “Final Destination 3.” Did you make a conscious effort to step away from that genre and focus on other things so as not to be pigeonholed?
Lowe: I actually did. It’s not that I don’t enjoy doing the horror genre, but no painter wants to paint the same painting over and over again. That’s what appealed to me as well. I think I’ve always said it would be a dream of mine that when somebody sees my demo reel, for them to not recognize me from role to role. I did appreciate the fans and the love that I got from that community because they’re a very tight community, but it was an ongoing joke that I wanted to live in a movie. Just one. “I just need to not die in things, that would be amazing.” (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: What is the key to successfully breaking out of a particular way of being viewed within this industry?
Lowe: I think for me it was that I hunkered down a lot and I studied and I studied and I studied. I was taking classes. I still take classes. I always will. I begged casting directors and people to just give me a shot. “Just give me a shot. Just see me in a different light. Just let me in the room and I’ll do something.” They were kind enough to do that. I did also have really good relationships with a lot of casting directors, so they gave me the opportunity to come in and just try new things.
TrunkSpace: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” must have been a welcome change when it came along in 2014?
Lowe: Huge change for me. When I auditioned for that, they sent me the sides and I called my agent and said, “You sent me the wrong sides.” He said, “No, no, they’re going to see you for this.” I was like, “No, they’re not. What? I’m not going to book this. This is not right for me.” (Laughter) And then they asked me to come back and I started laughing. I remember being in the room looking around at all of these girls, really nervous, and trying to get the part and I was like, “I don’t care. I’m not getting this.”
I had no idea who Martha (Williamson) was. I had no idea what kind of resume she had. I had no idea about any of it, so it was good because I went in there with no… I remember performing the character of Rita for my girlfriend, who was also auditioning for it as well, and she said to me, “Are you going to do it like that?” (Laughter) I was like, “I don’t know, but this is just how I see that character.” She was like, “Oh, okay. That’s not a choice that I would’ve made.” (Laughter) I had the offer that night.
TrunkSpace: We recently read how Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is one of the few networks that is actually growing its audience, which is really fascinating. As television continues to go down a gritty, dark path, the growth is evidence that many people want to feel good when the credits roll.
Lowe: Yes. I’m a strong believer in that light always overcomes the dark, but you need the dark in order to have light, right? Sometimes the pendulum swings and then we need a wake-up call and a reminder that in order to keep that light going we got to keep fighting for it. You can’t just be complacent and you can’t just hope somebody else is going to take care of it. I think our show offers that to people. I’ve never been on a show like this where the fans are genuinely thanking me for getting them through chemo treatments or losses of family members. There’s not a lot I can do, but if I can inspire, then that makes me so happy.
I always used to joke when we first started the show, because I was a huge “Dexter” fan. “You watch an episode of ‘Dexter’ and then you watch our show before you go to bed.” You’re like, “Oh my god!” and then you’re like, “Okay, everything’s going to be fine.” (Laughter)
You need to remind yourself that, yes, the world is chaotic at the moment, but there’s so much good. The average person, your next door neighbor and the people around you, the majority are good and want the best for people, so I like that our show is a reminder of that.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again Photo: Kristin Booth, Eric Mabius, Crystal Lowe, Geoff Gustafson Credit: Copyright 2017 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: David Owen Strongman
TrunkSpace: From a performance standpoint, what has the journey been like for you in terms of exploring the character, because the project started as a series and then transitioned into an ongoing film franchise? Does the journey change at all in that regard, seeing your character’s arc from the perspective of a series to a two hour film?
Lowe: Yeah, it does because when you’re doing a show like ours, because there’s an A storyline, which of course is the POstables, and there’s a B storyline, which is the letter, you don’t have a lot of time to tell an entire letter story and propel the POstables. You can push them forward, but you don’t have a lot of time to push them forward. At first I was like, “What? The two hour format? No, I love the series!” And then we did the two hour format and I was like, “Oh, actually Rita and Norman get to really grow. We actually get journeys through this.” That would’ve maybe taken five episodes, which I now get to do in one movie. As an actor I get to make bigger leaps and bounds, which is awesome for me. I love that.
TrunkSpace: Even though it’s a film, does the process still feel like you’re shooting individual episodes just because of the episodic nature of it?
Lowe: Yeah, it does – like a two hour episode. They’re movies and they’re standalone and you can tune in and pretty much understand what’s going on, but to me it’s almost like the British version of television. It’s like a miniseries. You just get more time with it, which I think works for our show and Martha’s writing because her writing is so full. It’s so nuanced. It’s hard for me now when I get auditions or scripts because I’ve been working with good writing for a really long time, so if it’s not good writing, I know. (Laughter) There are lots of layers in there all of the time and the two hour format gives her the opportunity to really put those layers in and allow people to watch them over and over again and find them, like reading a book.
TrunkSpace: You’re shooting these as movies, but you’re still working in television. Does that mean you’re still working with the breakneck television scheduling?
Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes eight to 10 pages a day.
TrunkSpace: Wow!
Lowe: It’s insane, but we do it. It’s dialogue heavy and we do it. Our crews are amazing, especially on these last two. Our crews were just an awesome bunch of people that are young and hungry in the industry and I love watching that too because people really love their jobs and care about them. We pound pavement. We make it happen. During it you’re always like, “This is never going to work,” and then after you’re like, “Of course it worked. Why wouldn’t it work?” (Laughter)
I worked on a movie this year called “Wonder,” which I’m really excited about. It’s coming out in November and it’s based on a book. It was so weird because when I shot that, the director was like, “What do you want to do? What do you want to try?” I was like, “I’m sorry, what? We have time to just try stuff?” (Laughter) In TV world, you’re like, “We got to go. We’re done.”
TrunkSpace: “Wonder” looks like very powerful storytelling, and again, is that feel-good story that it seems like we need as a society right now.
Lowe: That film is…
I got to work with Mandy Patinkin. For me that was a bucket list thing. It took every bone in my body not to be like, “Mandy, I love you! I’ve watched ‘The Princess Bride’ a thousand times and I love it!” I didn’t though because I was like, “Do not fangirl on him, he’s going to think you’re a weirdo!”
But the story was just so good. The writing was so good and it’s really, really necessary all over the world. I just recently moved to the United States and I think it’s really important in the United States, for many people, even in the highest positions, to learn about bullying. This is a good film and it’s necessary.
TrunkSpace: In our pre-interview quest for research we learned via your Instagram page that you were a big “Perfect Strangers” fan growing up, which got us to thinking… what makes Crystal want to do the dance of joy?
Lowe: (Laughter) This sounds ridiculous, but to those who know me, they’d be like, “Uh-huh!” Brandi Harkonen, who’s one of the producers for my show, she laughed and gave me a song, which is “The Lego Movie” song. She’s like, “That’s you! That song, ‘Everything Is Awesome’ encompasses you as a person!”
The happy dance comes really easily for me. I happy dance over the smallest of things and I happy dance over big things. I think what I would have to say is, seeing the people that I love smile makes me so happy. If I can do something that makes them laugh or if I can get them something that I know they really wanted or if I can take pressure off of them, it just makes me happy dance everywhere.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line675
|
__label__wiki
| 0.767673
| 0.767673
|
Robert Prescott
We look back fondly on a great number of movies from the 1980s. As latchkey kids who were partly raised by cable television following its revolutionary introduction, we would watch movies over and over and over again until we knew every nook and cranny of the HBO rotation. “Real Genius” was one of those after school mainstays, a comedy that we were probably too young to fully understand, but we embraced it with open arms anyway.
In the film, Robert Prescott plays Kent, an insecure graduate assistant who becomes the most unlikely of cinematic bullies, and apparently, one of the “biggest dicks of Hollywood.” And while he has amassed plenty of credits over the years, including “Bachelor Party” and “Spaceballs,” he remains a part of our pop culture past due to his genius “Real Genius” performance, a role that we continue to quote to this day.
We recently sat down with Prescott to discuss why the film stands out from other 80s teen comedies, a pattern of being cast as preppy conformists, and how volunteering at Ground Zero following the attacks of September 11, 2001 impacted his career forever.
TrunkSpace: As viewers, we take a movie like “Real Genius,” or a movie like “Bachelor Party,” and we attach this nostalgic label to it in our minds. Our relationship with those projects is ultimately different than yours in that we remember the finished product while you probably remember the overall experience. So with that said, what is your relationship to those films?
Prescott: Well, “Bachelor Party” came before “Real Genius,” by about a year, and “Bachelor Party” was actually my second job out of the gate. I was in New York, studying acting, and I got cast for a movie that was shot in Los Angeles, and it was called… well, actually, it was first called “National Lampoon’s Joy of Sex,” but, when National Lampoon saw it, they bought their name back, it was so bad.
TrunkSpace: Interesting. We had no idea that was originally connected to the National Lampoon brand.
Prescott: Yeah. That’s what took me to Los Angeles, and, while I was there, I auditioned for “Bachelor Party,” and I got that, and then I just realized that, “Wow, I might have a career out here.” It sort of happened quickly for me and it was an exciting time. So, I did “Bachelor Party,” and I think with those first jobs, the learning curve is so steep. It’s just incredible. I guess coming out as I did from New York, having no real concept of how careers work, or the business, or any of that, I did not consider that I was going to be like the angry preppy – the angry yuppie guy. It caught me off guard, but, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense, because there was this whole, huge wave of movies right after “Animal House” that were like the anti-heroes, and the preppies and the conformists were the antagonists. It did catch me a little bit off guard, but still, work is work. And when I got cast in “Real Genius,” I thought, “Uh oh, is this a pattern?”
But “Real Genius,” I thought, really had a heart to it, and even the character of Kent had a heart. It was different. It wasn’t quite as exploitative, or a by-the-numbers-teen-comedy, like a rip-off of “Animal House.”
TrunkSpace: And the thing about Kent was, he wasn’t your stereotypical 80s teen villain. He was, in a way, stuck in a tough place himself. He wasn’t the stud or the jock or the one guaranteed success.
Prescott: Right, right. And it was fun. It was a fun character. The first job I did was “Joy of Sex,” directed by Martha Coolidge. She’d just directed a movie called “Valley Girl,” which got her a lot of attention – a low budget movie that made a lot of money, and it had a nice heart to it too. And so, when she got a bigger job with “Real Genius,” she asked me to audition, and I came in and read for a few parts, and wound up with Kent. I hold her, in large part, responsible for that movie having mostly sympathetic characters that you could identify with, instead of just making them run of mill.
TrunkSpace: It was a time when teen characters, or characters in comedies in general, became caricatures in a lot of ways, but that wasn’t the case with “Real Genius.”
Prescott: Not as much, no. No, it really didn’t, and, like I said, I credit her and I credit the last writer who was on set, his name was Pj Torokvei. He’s a Canadian guy, and he was funny, and he was really good for that script. I think he really humanized it.
TrunkSpace: For people of a certain age, that film kind of existed and lived on through HBO. In your opinion, did cable help make that movie more iconic than it would have been?
Prescott: Oh, my God, yeah. It really did, and I remember those days too – you’d turn on cable and see the same movie come up over and over again. I was in my mid 20s then, so I wasn’t coming home from school, hanging out with my buddies, and just flipping on the TV, watching movies over and over again like I would have done in junior high and high school. But, to this day, every now and then, somebody will come up to me, and I’ll realize that they saw that movie like 30 or 40 times, and it means so much to them. And I get that, I totally get that, and it’s amusing and flattering too. I feel good about it, because, like I said, the movie had a real core, a heart to it.
TrunkSpace: With that said, do you feel like you have left your mark on pop culture?
Prescott: Well, I’d like to in a small way, but it’s a small way. It’s funny, a friend of mine, this wasn’t that long ago, he was in a waiting room at his dentist’s office. He calls me up and he says, “Hey, Prescott, you’re in the Top 10 Biggest Dicks of Hollywood.” (Laughter) I was like, “What are you talking about?” “Yeah, you’re one of the biggest dicks in Hollywood.” And I thought, “Wait a minute…”
What’s funny is they did a list of those 80s antagonists, whatever the deal is, and there was the guy who broke Ralph Macchio’s knee in “Karate Kid,” and there were a few others, and I remember I went and found the article, and I thought, “How did this guy get in front of me?” I went from being a little bit insulted that I was one of the biggest dicks of Hollywood, to, in typical actor fashion thinking, “Hey, maybe I should be at the top of this list!” (Laughter)
But to answer your question, no, I recognize that there is a segment of people, who are your age now, who do see certain roles… they saw Kent so often, or the character in “Bachelor Party,” Cole, so often that within a very small segment, there is a, kind of like, iconic aspect to it. I don’t take it… I mean, it’s a small segment, but it’s very amusing to me, and flattering too.
TrunkSpace: “This is God, stop touching yourself,” has been quoted probably far more times than one would think.
Prescott: Exactly. I mean, we didn’t give it any second thought, but when you’re making a movie, it’s almost impossible not to think that you’re doing something really good and special that’s going to stand out, and we did, making that movie, and it was a good group of actors in the set and the crew. Martha Coolidge always made the set… it had a really good spirit, so it’s hard not to feel like you’re doing something that’s going to last a little bit or stand out. As far as those individual scenes and stuff, yeah, some of them were kind of special, like the ice in the hallway, and the popcorn thing was pretty big. It was a fun movie.
Prescott at Ground Zero
TrunkSpace: You started out in theater and then moved into film and television. Is it difficult to start out on the stage and then move to film and TV where it’s less of an actor’s medium and more of a director’s and editor’s medium?
Prescott: I don’t think it’s that difficult. I mean, acting is acting and in stage and television, it is fragmented, and you give it away at the end of the day and leave it up to the director and editor and everyone else. They can mull over your performance, but it’s all the same. It is acting, and you have to have some insight into charting a performance if you’re doing a movie that’s shot out of sequence, and that takes a certain type of insight and awareness, but it’s not that complicated, you just have to have a little bit of common sense. You approach the work, pretty much, the same way. On a movie, between action and cut, it can be very short, but so can a scene in a play. You might run on and run off, so, in a way, it’s the same thing. You prepare, and then do what you set out to do.
TrunkSpace: Do you feel like as you’ve gotten older, as you’ve lived more life, it has become easier to find characters because you’ve experienced more?
Prescott: I don’t know. That’s a good question. On the one hand, yes, but I think as I’ve gotten older, you settle into your own skin, and so, sometimes, doing a character who is dramatically different in temperament and personality than myself, can be even more of a challenge, because, when you’re younger, you have a more “I can do anything,” attitude.
TrunkSpace: You stepped away from acting for some time. Can you tell us about that?
Prescott: I did step away from it in 1993, and then, in 2001, I went down to work at Ground Zero as a construction worker, and since then, within a few years or so, I started having health issues. It’s been, for a while now, I’ve been struggling with those, and doing some acting, and recently, I’ve been addressing those issues by doing some radical changes in my diet and living. I feel that, perhaps, that I can get on top of these conditions. I’ve been going to Mount Sinai hospital for 15 years now, as a result of the WTC Health Program, and all these things have affected my life. I still do a little bit of work. I just had a scene in a Denzel Washington movie that’s coming out next month. I still have my foot in it, but not to the same degree. I’ve learned to, and accepted that, my career, such as it is, has been affected by this.
Trevor Lissauer
It’s that time again. Let’s sit back, relax and take a trip down memory lane with those individuals who inadvertently played a role in our pop culture past.
This time out we’re chatting with Trevor Lissauer, an actor best known to pop culture aficionados as Miles Goodman from the television series “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and Zack from “The Skateboard Kid.” When not acting, Lissauer is letting his freak zebra fly as one half of the synth-pop duo Animal Cloud, whose debut full-length album “Beautiful Sky” is available now.
We sat down with Lissauer to discuss his time on “Sabrina,” how Animal Cloud pulls of their live show, and the possibility of winning 20 Oscars in the span of two years.
TrunkSpace: You starred on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” in the early 2000s. Although in the grand scheme of things that wasn’t that long ago, the industry itself has changed leaps and bounds since. From an acting perspective, where have you seen the biggest change?
Lissauer: After “Sabrina” there was a writer’s strike a few years later and the only thing I noticed was… there seemed to be a lot more opportunities for actors who weren’t necessarily really well known to be in television. And then because the movie productions stopped, because of the writer’s strike… and I’m not blaming anything, I’m just saying that this is what I noticed is that, the film actors decided to start working in television when it wasn’t the norm at the time. So instead of holding an audition to find, like, “Hey, the actor for the new pilot no one has heard of, we’re just going to give it to somebody famous.” So then they started flooding all of the pilots with all of these known actors, so then there were less auditions for actors who weren’t as known as them. And now it has just become the norm, but from what I remember, and I could be totally wrong, but I feel like it’s where it all started.
TrunkSpace: It certainly gives the studios and networks a chance to better hedge their financial bets by having known commodities in their projects.
Lissauer: Exactly. It’s a smart move. I would have done that too. It’s the smart move. I don’t have a problem with any of it. In the 90s, I remember in one pilot season auditioning nonstop… so many freaking pilot auditions. And then after the writer’s strike, it was less and less. It’s just such a random occurrence, auditions. You never know.
TrunkSpace: “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” used the classic sitcom formula, which is one that isn’t as common these days.
Lissauer: They still have that type of sitcomy thing on Nickelodeon and Disney. I did a “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn” last year. I played some aggravated hockey player guy. But, that was total “Sabrina” because there was no audience, but I think they have a laugh track. You rehearse the first two days and then you start filming Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That’s what we did on “Sabrina.” No audience. You have a table read on Monday, then we start rehearsing and you hang out in your trailer when you’re not rehearsing or doing whatever else you want. Tuesday you do it one more time and then you have a run-through for the network execs at the end of the day on Tuesday. And then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday… you just show up on the days that you film. It’s a great job. Couldn’t ask for a better job in terms of a weekly paycheck. It was fun.
TrunkSpace: And when you were on the show, it was airing on The WB. The network itself was still sort of in the infancy stages at that time and finding an audience… certainly not where it is today.
Lissauer: Yeah. I didn’t think a whole lot about that kind of stuff at the time. I was just like, “Oh, I’m on a show. Hey look… I’m on TV! It’s Friday night and there I am.” I didn’t even watch every episode because I would go out and do things on Friday night, but when I was home, before I would go out I’d go, “Oh, there it is.” It’s kind of cool to see that.
TrunkSpace: Your character Miles never really had any arc resolution. He was sort of just written out, correct?
Lissauer: I think he went of to Rabbinical school at the end.
No, I’m kidding. Miles was Jewish and I was raised Jewish, so it wasn’t that far off. I’m not a religious person, but that’s just the home I was raised in. But yeah, he was just gone. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: What do you think happened to his character?
Lissauer: Hopefully he did not grow up to be an accountant like his dad because he hated that job in one episode… the idea of that. I don’t know where Miles would be. He had a lot of phobias, that’s for sure. I think he would be good if he went off to work for some paranormal investigation group. I think that would have made him extremely happy.
TrunkSpace: Maybe he went on to do his own “Ghost Hunters” TV show?
Lissauer: Ghost hunters who also investigate the JFK cover-up. I think he would be in heaven. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: A lot of times actors will say that appearing on an established show, particularly sitcoms, can be both a blessing and a curse. Was “Sabrina” that kind of experience for you?
Lissauer: Oh, it was a curse like no other. (Laughter) No. Not at all! It was a job. I don’t think about that stuff. I think people might limit me or put me in a box… I don’t know about it if that’s the case and I don’t care if they do because I usually end up getting all the jobs that I’m meant to get. Maybe it’s an airy-fairy way of looking at it, but I don’t have much control over it, so I just take what comes my way. I guess I audition for characters sometimes that are similar. Maybe they’ve seen me and they’re like, “He plays a neurotic intense guy,” but I’ve played a lot of different types of characters. Like the character on “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn,” which I think I’m going to be nominated for a Golden Globe for. I’m kidding. That was a really mean jerk hockey player. I mean, I don’t know… why did I get that part? I don’t know. It’s nothing like I am in real life.
Lissauer with the cast of “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”
TrunkSpace: Your band Animal Cloud recently released a new album. Is the band your main focus or do you try to keep an even balance between music and acting?
Lissauer: Well, it’s kind of whatever is in front of me. If I have an audition, I’m like, “Hey, I’ve got to work on my audition.” The way we make music… it’s not like this thing that takes up so much of our time. That album, we put it out on Valentine’s Day this year, and we’ve been working on it for two years because we were originally only going to do seven songs and then it turned into 12. The way we write, he’ll (Keith Tenenbaum) send me some music and I’ll put vocals to it and send it back to him. Or I’ll send him some vocals or a very simple melody, like just on a piano, and then he sends me back that melody completely orchestrated and then I redo all my vocals. So, we don’t always have to be together and drive back and forth and do stuff. It’s all digital now. For recording, we just record.
My main focus would be acting because that’s what I’ve been doing for so long. Music is a little more difficult. We’ve had songs on “Nip/Tuck,” “Party of Five,” “Felicity,” and a lot of independent films. That’s just like a little bit of money here and there, but we basically do the music for fun. But, if it turned into something, then yeah, that would be great.
TrunkSpace: You guys take your music to the stage and play out live, which must not be easy to pull off?
Lissauer: We definitely play live and that’s where the whole thing with the animal masks and the little jumpsuits… or not our “little” jumpsuits… our JUMPSUITS came from. The first time we ever played it was just jeans and T-shirts and a little party for fun. And then we went, “If we’re going to play out, how are we going to do this?” So, when we play live, we also have backing tracks. So Keith will have his drum kit and then his keyboard to the left of him and his laptop and everything is run into the house speakers. He’s got backing tracks, he has to wear headphones to hear his metronome playing so that he plays to the time and we all keep in time together, and then he plays keys and drums at the same time while the backing tracks are going. And then I’m playing keys or guitar or just singing and then I have a computer voice that speaks to the audience between each song. It says something funny and it always ends with, “We like you.” Like one of the ridiculous things that I might say is, “Did you know it would take 30 servings of foods high in fiber to match the fiber content of just one Animal Cloud band. We like you.” So, as we’re getting ready for the next song, we’re making them laugh.
TrunkSpace: What were your goals with the album itself?
Lissauer: We just made the album just to do it. We have two EPs that came out earlier on iTunes. We got to work with this guy Brad Smith. He was the bass player and main songwriter of the band Blind Melon and he wrote their big hit “No Rain,” so that was pretty cool. He’s a friend of ours now through almost two years of recordings, so that was fun.
Animal Cloud
TrunkSpace: What a great songwriting springboard to have someone in the room who wrote a song that has had such a lasting impact on pop culture.
Lissauer: It’s always an interesting feeling to even think about it even today right now. It’s that same thing for acting. When I moved out here when I was 18, my very first acting job was a HIGHLY-PRAISED film called “The Skateboard Kid.” That’s a joke, by the way. You should go to YouTube and you should watch the trailer because it’s hysterical. The skateboard is the voice of Dom DeLuise. Tim Busfield played my father and I grew up knowing Tim because he played Poindexter in “Revenge of the Nerds” and I was like, “This guy’s playing my dad now!” I used to watch him on “Trapper John M.D.” But that’s been my whole career… working with people that I grew up watching. It’s always interesting. When I moved out here, my life became very interesting… the nondescript word for, I don’t know what.
TrunkSpace: So what’s the ultimate goal as you look towards the future? What would you like to be talking about if we sat down again in two years?
Lissauer: I won 20 Oscars. 20 Oscars and no less. I’ll be a failure if it’s 19! (Laughter) The goal is to always be happy with whatever I’m doing and feel fulfilled with however big or small the job is or the experience I’m having. That’s my daily goal. I try not to think so much, but, if I had my druthers two years from now, I’ll have a steady gig on a TV show that I myself would enjoy watching and working with some good people. And if I was able to do some films of the same caliber, that would be fantastic.
What are we in right now? April 2017? So by April 2019… I’m on a show, got some movies going on, some cool stuff has happened with the product that Animal Cloud put out, and I got a nice gal at my side. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: And don’t forget the 20 Oscars.
Lissauer: And 20 Oscars! All for Production Design. (Laughter)
Purchase Animal Cloud’s “Beautiful Sky” here.
Learn more about Lissauer and Animal Cloud here.
The latest music video from Animal Cloud.
And because Lissauer dared us to watch it, here’s The Skateboard Kid trailer!
This time out we’re chatting with Gunnar Nelson, who, along with his brother Matthew, achieved massive success in 1990 with the single “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection.” But, the twin brothers’ musical roots go far beyond their own mainstream accomplishments. Gunnar and Matthew come from a long line of successful entertainers, a lineage that served as a classroom of osmosis to prepare them for the ups and downs of a career in music.
Currently on the road honoring their father’s musical legacy with the Ricky Nelson Remembered tour, we sat down with Gunnar Nelson to discuss the genre shift that brought about grunge, having the ability to rely on his brother regardless of the circumstances and staying on the good side of skinny tie bands.
TrunkSpace: Given your family tree, was there ever any doubt that music would become your path?
Nelson: Well, people ask me that question all of the time… if being related to who we were related to was a help or a hindrance. For me, what was great about it, I never got any pressure at all from my dad for following in his footsteps. Actually, having my father with an acoustic guitar in his hand, writing songs and putting the Stone Canyon Band together in the house when we were growing up was just really great social proof that making music for a living and doing it at the highest levels was possible. It was no more or less unlikely than say, if I came from a long line of plumbers and I wanted to go into the family business. It’s pretty nice to be able to learn from example when you’ve got a master in front of you and you’re able to observe and learn how everything works. And we were able to do that from a very early age.
TrunkSpace: And when people are being creative, most of the times they’re enjoying themselves, so seeing that process with your father may have been different than if your father was a plumber and came home talking about the various “tough” days he had in the business. And by this we mean, you probably saw your father in his element more so than other kids may see their fathers.
Nelson: Yeah. I mean, my grandma Harriet had a great expression. She said, “Some days you work. Some days you play.” I saw both. My dad would come home from a good day or a bad day. It’s like anything you do, you’re going to have that. You’re right. But I think that what actually helps it along is, that being a musician and choosing that, it’s not something that you do. It’s really who you are. It’s really a calling. It’s a plan for life that you actually undertake. In our dad’s case, we got to observe that… there was a point in his life when he actually could have gone down a path of being a fine film actor. He made “Rio Bravo” with John Wayne and of course he had been an actor his whole life being on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” and doing all of that. He could have gone down that road, which is arguably easier. That’s the road of higher pay and personal assistants and deli trays and set schedules and all of that. And instead, he definitely consciously chose to go down the path of being a rock ‘n’ roller. So, I think from that point on, you’d have to say that he was a guy that, just by his actions, determined that he was a musician who happened to be a good actor and not an actor who happened to be a good musician. Ultimately he wound up living and dying for rock ‘n’ roll.
In Matthew and my case, we started playing when we were six years old. We got our first instruments then. We got our first recording session on our 12th birthday. We started playing the LA clubs professionally that same year. Up until we got our record deal with Geffen, when we were 19, it’s basically all Matthew and I have ever known and all we’ve ever done.
TrunkSpace: Do you recall a moment in your life where music wasn’t a focus for an extended period of time?
Nelson: Well, not intentionally. (Laughter) Our first record came out in 1990 and it was really kind of the end of an era. I mean, shoot, we were the last confidence rock band to happen right before Nirvana was discovered and signed to our label that we were on. We were on Geffen and Geffen actually found Nirvana and started the whole grunge thing. That was a massive paradigm shift in the music industry and there were so many people from my genre of music that found themselves, through no fault of their own, really out of work. MTV wasn’t playing them, overnight. Radio stations weren’t supporting them, overnight. Unless you wore flannel, were into heroin and were from Seattle, they weren’t playing you for like 10 years.
TrunkSpace: And you sort of mentioned it, but it did seem to happen so quickly in terms of that shift.
Nelson: Well, and this is not sour grapes that I’m coming from, this is just years of research and conversation with people in the know. The fact is, that wasn’t organic. At all. That shift wasn’t organic. It was actually engineered. What people don’t know is that there are about, at any given time, six to eight people that run the music business. These are the big, heavy hitter guys. They all know each other very well. They all do each other favors. They’re all billionaires. And the whole illusion of, “Hey, I’m gonna get my musical trip together, I’m gonna write a hit song, I’m gonna get a following from playing shows and I’m gonna get my record deal and have a big video and be a star…” that really, honestly, is nothing but an illusion. A lot of it is really engineered. You’ve got to look back at the death of disco, as an example. That was a time when the biggest acts were demanding lots of money to record. Back in those days, Donna Summer was demanding a million dollars to make a record and in 1970s dollars, man, that’s a lot. So, all of those power guys got together over dinner and they said, “You know what, this has just become completely excessive. The costs are ridiculous. What are we going to do about it?” Some guy came up with the bright idea in that meeting of a new little movement that was happening out of London called punk. They said, “Look, this is great. There’s a little mini scene that’s happening there and we can go there and we can get those guys to record for us and they’ll do it for a dime bag and a Happy Meal.” So if you notice, with the whole death of disco thing, which… look, disco was a BIG thing, and all of a sudden people are breaking records and burning records and “Disco Sucks” and all that stuff. And that one was engineered as well. The same thing happened with the whole grunge thing.
Look, there were a lot of bands that were pretty bad. Like in any movement, every label wants to have their Bon Jovi or something, so they go out and they sign that and there’s a lot of that stuff that’s really not very good. And aside from that creative statement, the finances involved… people were making quarter of a million dollar music videos and spending $750,000 making an album. And there were thousands of bands that were doing that and the industry finally shrugged and said, like the time with the death of disco, “We need a do over.” That is why, to a fan, it seemed like it was so fast. I mean, shoot, on a Monday they were playing “Livin’ on a Prayer.” The next day, they were playing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and the Gap had Seattle fashion overnight.
TrunkSpace: And you could even see it in the VJs themselves. The look and aesthetic of MTV changed.
Nelson: It was absolutely instant. They basically got together, they talked to MTV, and they said, “Hey, guess what, this Tuesday, all that stuff you used to play you’re not playing anymore and this is the stuff that you’re playing.” And it became a movement and it generated tons of dollars. To a guy like me, it was really confusing because, shoot, I go out on tour for 13 months and I come back and all of my record company guys that I built relationships with over a period of years are all gone, replaced by 19 and 20-year-olds wearing flannel who come from Seattle and all of a sudden they’re record executives and what I do is not what they do. And as a matter of fact, I mean, I’ve become the punchline in jokes through no fault of my own, but it was no different I realized than what my father went through. He had his early career where he was doing the rockabilly thing with all of the other pioneers and then all of a sudden the singer/songwriter thing happened, the Beatles invaded America and everything changed. And the problem for my father was that, everything that represented that whole Eisenhower-era, Sun Records thing… those guys couldn’t get arrested. They couldn’t get any radio airplay. They couldn’t get any work if you didn’t write your own songs. And if you weren’t cool with the kids, you just didn’t get any support. It was no different for what happened to us when everything shifted. So, back to your question… a very long answer to a very short question… did I ever take any time off? My answer would be, not by choice. We were still making records and still fighting the fight and writing the songs and playing out, but it just wasn’t to the success and to the reception that we had when we first came out.
TrunkSpace: So before that turnover happened and “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection” hit #1, was that creative success a double-edged sword, and by that we mean, did success bring a tidal wave of people and opinions trying to influence who you guys were and what your music should be?
Nelson: Well, success has many parents and failure is an orphan. When you aren’t anything yet, no one cares. When you actually hit and you hit at the level that we did when we did, oh my gosh, it’s amazing. Everybody wants to be involved in your trip and everybody wants their opinion. There’s an art to making those people with the biggest egos in the world feel like it’s their idea when in fact it’s really not. Remember, we were on Geffen Records and we were working with the people that we were working with. The record staff that we were working with were in the habit of sending Aerosmith back into the studio to rerecord entire albums just because they felt like it. So, it was difficult. It really was. Nothing could have prepared us for that kind of success that quickly. I mean, it was ridiculous. It was like New Kids on the Block at its peak, kind of girls in the audience of 20,000 shrieking like a jet engine kind of success. When we’ve spent our young lives playing five nights a week at the LA clubs with the skinny tie bands and stuff and then you take a couple of years off to learn how to write better songs and you come up with your trip and you make it happen, shoot, man, all I know is… I went to the Sherman Oaks Galleria to buy some socks because I had a trip to New York to fill in for Daisy Fuentes on “Dial MTV” and I came back a week later. The only thing that had changed was that Matthew and I had been on MTV as VJs for four days and we closed down that same mall because so many chicks showed up. So the only thing that was different was TV exposure. That was it. We were still the same guys.
TrunkSpace: And that’s the thing, you may change in the perception of others, but you’re still wearing the same socks you bought the week before. You don’t change.
Nelson: Yeah. And I still have the socks! (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: So, when that happens… when the craziness takes control and swallows you up… how do you maintain yourself in all of that?
Nelson: Well, what keeps you grounded in our situation is that it is something that our family has always done. I mean, this wasn’t new to anybody in the family. Certainly, I wasn’t really truly prepared for it, but the thing that kept my feet on the ground was the fact that I’m just following in my family’s footsteps. It’s what my dad did and it’s what my grandparents did and all of that. As far as the big head side of things is concerned, I never really got a swelled head from the success because I knew it was about as real as the non success and the moments when you’re in-between hits. It’s all about fighting the good fight and doing your best work and some things will hit and some things won’t. It takes a lot of alignment to happen in order for any hit to really pop. No matter what you’re doing in life… no matter what you’re pursuit is… I love the expression that the definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity. You can actually increase either one if you’re really determined. I mean, you can actually be far more prepared, you can get your chops up as a player and as a writer by playing shows and all that stuff, and then in just in networking and putting yourself out there you can get the possibilities that you’ll actually have an opportunity that’s meaningful. You can actually make yourself luckier is my point. And Matt and I spent, pretty much our entire lives, trying to make ourselves lucky so when that first thing happened, it was a big thing. We had no idea that it was going to be as big as it was quickly, and at the same time, we had no idea that we weren’t going to have more than that first record before Nirvana came in and changed the game.
TrunkSpace: Having each other through all of those ups and downs must have been helpful?
Nelson: The expression around my house was always, “Well, don’t worry about the boys… they’ve got each other.” It was really true. I mean, when we were kids we thought that was kind of a cop out, but now in hindsight looking back, we realize that God brought us in as twins because with the path we’ve chosen… man, I don’t know any individual by themselves who could have actually handled the highs and lows that we have had to deal with in our lives. I can’t overstate at all how important it has been to have my twin at my side through this entire journey. It’s really an amazing thing. And the way we work together, that whole twin speak thing and the unspoken knowing when the other one is needed by the first twin thing, there’s really something to it. It really has helped keep us sane. I suppose it’s the reason why we didn’t wind up as a statistic or a Hollywood casualty like so many other people that came from famous families before us. We never went down the drug path. We never went down the alcohol path. We never did any of that stuff. Our passion has really kind of been music, but, I really credit being an identical twin and having my partner with me all the time through the highs and lows of getting record deals, losing record deals, going on tour, losing tours… all that stuff… I wouldn’t have been able to handle it without my twin.
TrunkSpace: It sounds like having each other became the rock of stability in both of your lives.
Nelson: It really is. I wouldn’t want to think about what it would be like without him. When I’m on stage, it’s really comforting to me after all these years… 30 years into it… to be able to look to my left and my twin is there and he’s playing bass and doing his thing and singing and I know he’s got my back no matter what. Another expression is that, if you’re in a band, that band WILL eventually break up. It’s not that way with what Matthew and I do because we came into this world together. Literally, we split from the same cell. We’ll always be brothers. And fortunately in our case, it’s not like the Everlys where it just got the point where those guys wanted separate buses and wouldn’t speak to each other for decades. I mean, I think Matt’s cool and I hallucinate that he thinks I’m cool too and get along great. It might be boring, but it really does work for us.
TrunkSpace: With kids, often the younger ones look up to the older ones. How does it work with twins? Who looks up to who?
Nelson: Well, it depends on what we’re working on. We both have really cool complimentary strengths. Matthew is definitely far more attracted to the live element and going out and doing shows. Matt, to a very large degree, the tedium involved in being in the recording studio would be like going to the dentist for him. He likes to come in and play his parts or sing his vocal and get the hell out as quickly as he can. On the other hand, I absolutely love the recording studio. I am as OCD as Matthew is ADD and it really does work. So, I’m going to be the guy who’s gonna be in the studio for weeks at at time up until 4 or 5 in the morning working on a kick drum sound. I mean, I love that part of it. So, fortunately, since we’re both working on music together, it actually really does compliment the relationship and it makes some really good art, I think.
TrunkSpace: So what was it for you guys that first brought you into music? Was it the instruments? Was the writing the draw? Was it the atmosphere? What was it that peaked your interest?
Nelson: That’s a great question. My first conscious memory was actually sitting on an apple crate at the side of the stage at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California and watching my father perform. I made this connection that… this is awesome, it’s loud, and it’s energetic and I was totally enamored by the drummer’s giant drum set. It was the 70s after all. Talk about overkill, man… it was a double bass drum kit for a country rock band, but it was totally cool. And I remember making this distinction that, man, he is out there on stage and he’s enjoying himself and the audience is going nuts and, “I WANT TO DO THAT!” And I talked to my mom about that moment and she goes, “Oh my god. I remembered that and you were TWO. You were two years old.” So, my first memory that I can really recall is that and it was ALL of it. It was all of that. I just knew that that was what I wanted to do.
Now, when we started out, like everybody else who starts out… even though we were six… we were playing along to records. I got a drum set and Matt got a bass and our parents put us in the hay loft above the barn, far away from the house so we could make as much racket as we wanted to. We played along to our KISS records and did what other people do when they’re starting out, usually a little later in life than we were. Our dad would go on the road and he’d come back and sure enough we hadn’t quit. We were still doing it and we kept on doing that and kept on doing that and finally we actually got to be pretty competent at doing what we were doing and by the time we were 11 or 12, we were playing in all of the school productions at our sister’s high school. She was many years older and we were playing in the senior productions and stuff by the time we were 11, which was awkward, but kind of cool. And then we started playing the LA clubs right around the time the scene was really cool. People talk about the whole Sunset Strip thing and the hair band thing, but Matt and I, believe it or not, even though we were the world champion hair farmers of all time, we actually were never a part of that whole Sunset Strip, Gazzarri’s kind of scene. We actually, believe it or not, started out 10 years before then when the scene was a little further south. It was pretty much Wilshire Boulevard and it was at like the Troubadour, Madame Wong’s West and the China Club. There was a different scene when the skinny tie bands were ruling the world. From the time we were 12, we were sharing a stage with bands like The Knack and The Go-Go’s and The Plimsouls and The Cramps and everything with a “The” in front of it, but it was really cool because, from a distance, you would think, “Oh, those are really cute pop bands and isn’t that nice.” But the thing is, it was far more dangerous, believe it or not, to play in that circuit than it ever was doing that whole hair band thing because, from what I heard from my friends years later, the worst that was going to happen if you were in a rival band on the Sunset Strip was that someone would steal your girlfriend. But when we were doing it, with all the skinny tie bands singing love songs, what people would leave out is that, man, it was unbelievably competitive and those bands, funny enough, they’d sing these sappy love songs, but all of them were addicted to heroin and all of them would knife you with a switch blade if you went five minutes over on your set. They were sabotaging you all of the time and that was the scene that Matthew and I grew up in.
Click here for tour dates.
McDonald’s Shamrock Shake
It’s that time again. Let’s sit back, relax, and take a trip down memory lane with those individuals who inadvertently played a role in our childhood.
But wait! It’s not only people who have staked claim to our nostalgic hearts. Food is one of the greatest triggers of memories, after all, and with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, TrunkSpace has decided to spotlight something so seasonally nostalgic that it has our retrospective brains salivating: The Shamrock Shake.
The creamy mint-flavored beverage was a yearly pilgrimage for many of us throughout our childhood and adolescence. In fact, one of our very own TrunkSpacers shares a seasonal birthday with the Shamrock Shake and as such, it has been tied to not only his food memories, but to those of family as well. That’s a powerful drink!
We reached out to McDonald’s corporate headquarters to get some additional insight into our favorite St. Patrick’s Day beverage and this is what we learned.
TrunkSpace: How did the Shamrock Shake come to be? Was there a specific person responsible for its creation?
McDonald’s: The Shamrock Shake was introduced in the U.S. in 1970. Hal Rosen, a Connecticut McDonald’s Owner/Operator came up with the idea in 1967 to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day. Since then, the Shake, made with creamy vanilla soft serve blended with Shamrock Shake syrup, has captured the hearts of fans from all over and is now celebrated seasonally across the nation.
TrunkSpace: We had our first Shamrock Shake in the early 80s. Has the recipe changed at all since its initial inception to how it is served today?
McDonald’s: Initially, the individual franchisee determined if the shake was green mint flavored or green vanilla flavored. Today, the famous shake is made with McDonald’s vanilla reduced fat ice cream, Shamrock Shake syrup, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry.
TrunkSpace: Why did McDonald’s choose to focus on a St. Patrick’s Day seasonal item when as a company McDonald’s doesn’t focus on many other holidays when it comes to seasonal items?
McDonald’s: While the Shamrock Shake has an impressive fan following, it also has a heart-warming legacy that has strong ties to St. Patrick’s Day. Beginning in 1974, proceeds from the Shamrock Shake helped raise enough funds to open the first-ever Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia. It started when Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill’s 3-year-old daughter, Kim, was being treated for leukemia. During this time, he and his wife, Fran, noticed that many other families had to travel long distances for their children to receive medical treatment and couldn’t afford hotel rooms. The Hills knew there had to be a solution. Fred rallied the support of his teammates to raise funds. Through Jim Murray, the Eagles’ general manager, the team offered its support to Dr. Audrey Evans, head of the pediatric oncology unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Evans had long dreamed of a place where families with sick children could stay close to each other and the medical care and resources they needed. Murray called Don Tuckerman, a friend from the local McDonald’s advertising agency. “What’s your next promotion?” he asked. “St Patrick’s Day,” Tuckerman said. “Shamrock Shakes.” It was perfect: The milkshakes were green – the Eagles’ color! With the support of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc and regional manager Ed Rensi, Tuckerman launched a week-long promotion around the Shamrock Shake, with all profits to be donated to the cause. Enough funds were raised to help buy an old four-story, seven-bedroom house Evans had found near the hospital. It opened in 1974 as the first Ronald McDonald House. Now, 42 years later, once again, proceeds from the Shamrock Shake will support RMHC, which serves 7 million children and families around the world each year.
TrunkSpace: There were some great Shamrock Shake television commercials in the 80s, but we don’t recall much in the way of advertising for the Shamrock Shake since then. Has the product become so engrained in the customer base that there is no longer a need to advertise for it?
McDonald’s: We know people love the Shamrock Shake; many have grown up with it! It has such a passionate following and has cemented itself in pop culture that fans look forward to and expect its return every year.
TrunkSpace: McDonald’s has introduced many new products throughout the course of its lifetime. Some find their audience while others do not. As a company, at what point is a new product considered a success? Is the popularity of a new product instantly clear or are they allowed to find an audience? For instance, was the Shamrock Shake considered a success right out of the gates?
McDonald’s: The Shamrock Shake has been around for more than 40 years and has become increasingly popular each season. But, as a restaurant company we are always looking to raise the bar. We continue to listen to our customers and re-evaluate our menu to evolve based on their changing preferences. We know our customers love the combination of chocolate and mint flavors. That was the inspiration this year behind introducing chocolate in four seasonal McCafé beverages that build on the fandom of Shamrock season. The new seasonal beverages line-up includes the Chocolate Shamrock Shake, Shamrock Chocolate Chip Frappé, Shamrock Hot Mocha and Shamrock Hot Chocolate.
TrunkSpace: Is the Shamrock Shake served internationally?
McDonald’s: The beloved Shamrock Shake is served in the U.S. and select stores in Canada and Ireland.
TrunkSpace: As adults, for us, the Shamrock Shake is a bit like the adult version of a Happy Meal. It has that same nostalgic feel to it. Can we assume that the Shamrock Shake isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and that one day when our kids are grown up with kids of their own, the Shamrock Shake will still be available to be their Happy Meal?
McDonald’s: There’s a lot of enthusiasm for the Shamrock Shake each year and we will continue to listen to our customers to evolve our offerings based on their preferences.
TrunkSpace: Some beverages pair well with particular food. What does the Shamrock Shake pair best with from the current McDonald’s menu?
McDonald’s: The Shamrock Shake pairs well with a variety of our menu items. You can pair the seasonal beverage with our improved Chicken McNuggets, our beloved French Fries or with our new Mac sandwich sizes.
For more information on the Ronald McDonald House Charities, visit www.rmhc.org.
Ryan Lambert
It’s that time again. Let’s sit back, relax, and take a trip down memory lane with those individuals who inadvertently played a role in our childhood. This time out we’re chatting with Ryan Lambert, who as a teenager, starred in the film “The Monster Squad.” Anyone who was growing up in the 80s and was lucky enough to have had paid cable fell in love with the movie, which pitted a group of small town kids against an army of classic monsters, including Dracula. Lambert played Rudy, the resident badass who every young impressionable viewer wanted to be. Shorty after the film was released, Lambert left acting to pursue his music career. He has since rediscovered his passion for acting and returned to the city that gave him his break via the television series “Kids Incorporated” some 30 years ago.
TrunkSpace: After leaving the business to focus on music, you recently returned to Los Angeles to pursue acting again. The industry has changed so much since you stepped away. There are now so many channels and outlets in need of content, so as you return to the business, have you noticed that there are more jobs now than when you were working during the 1980s?
Lambert: It’s weird. It’s kind of a catch-22. You’re absolutely right, there are a billion shows out there to audition for and there’s more content, obviously, but the problem is, using my “Kids Incorporated”/“Monster Squad” has become moot, basically. It was too long ago and I’m a different person now. I can’t use those credits as much as I thought I was going to be able to. There is a little bit of a window because I have experience and I understand what it is to be on set and what that means and that aspect hasn’t changed as much. You’re still on a set. There’s still a second AD. There’s still the gaffers and the grips… they’re all still there. To know where to stand and be professional, that hasn’t changed. So, in that regard I kind of have the one-up on the guy who gets off the bus from Kansas.
TrunkSpace: “The Monster Squad” is a shining example as to why classic makeup and prosthetic-based SFX work. That creature (the Gillman) still looks badass to this day.
Lambert: Yeah. Those suits were amazing. That was Stan Winston and his crew. I was just talking to Tom Woodruff who was in that suit. Everyone loved The Creature suit. It was perfect. It was exactly what it was supposed to be. It did what it was supposed to do and the person inside did what they were supposed to do and then you film it. That’s the way it should be. That’s the way movies are made. I’m not opposed to CGI at all. I just think it’s been overused and I don’t think you need an entire film that’s created out of that.
TrunkSpace: When done right, the classic makeup and prosthetic-based SFX become part of the actor. Sometimes CGI can look great on the big screen, and then you watch it again on your television and it doesn’t carry over as well.
Lambert: Sure. In that day and age, we’re talking like 1986, you work with what you have. There was no CGI. (Laughter) So, there was no choice, so who are you going to go to make sure that this looks as great as it can possibly be? Well, you’re going to go to Stan Winston. You’re going to go to him or Carlo Rambaldi or something and they’re going to do you right and that’s exactly what Fred (Dekker) and company did. They went and got the best and the best came out.
TrunkSpace: The movie was released at the dawn of cable and as such, there wasn’t a constant flow of content available then like there is today. Do you think that helped put “The Monster Squad” in front of so many people from our generation… the fact that channels like HBO played it in such heavy rotation?
Lambert: I think that’s where it lived. That’s where it found the audience. It didn’t find the audience in the theaters. We can blame a lot of things about what happened to it in the box office. I like to blame the marketing team. I don’t think they marketed it correctly. I don’t think there was enough emphasis on what the actual film was trying to represent or what it was about, at least in this country. And then, it slowly but surely found it’s way into people’s lives… unaware to any of us. Once it was released and it kind of tanked, we were done with it. Like, I forgot about it. We all loved it and were proud of it, but the truth of the matter was, it just didn’t happen.
TrunkSpace: So does that make it especially odd to still be talking about it 30 years later?
Lambert: It doesn’t feel that way now because about, almost 10 years ago now, we found out that they were doing a big screening of it in Austin, TX and they invited us to come watch it and do a Q&A before and after the screening. And we were like, “What?” I hadn’t even seen any of these people in years. I mean, I was off doing my own thing. I was in bands in San Francisco and I didn’t know of any of it… I didn’t know it had a cult following. I had absolutely no clue. And we show up and there’s a line around the corner and everyone’s freaking out. (Laughter) Everyone’s got posters and T-shirts and everyone wants us to sign everything. I was like, “Where did you people come from? What has been going on this whole time!” I had no clue that you guys were watching this all these years. So, since then, almost consistently, it’s been nonstop with conventions and screenings and interviews and things here and there. So I’m used to it now. I get it now. I see it now.
TrunkSpace: So in terms of your personal life, at the time of the theatrical release, it sounds like it didn’t really change anything for you?
Lambert: Pretty much zero. I filmed it, I made good friends, and it came out and it bombed and I moved on and did some other projects after that. And then I decided that I didn’t want to do it anymore because my original plan was, when I was about 8, was that I was going to be a musician and I was going to be in bands and be a singer… hence “Kids Incorporated.” I went out on an audition someone had told me about and it was like a musical. “Go be in a rock band on television!” And I was like, “Okay.” And so I went on an audition and I got it and that was my life. I was like a little kid singing horribly on television and that’s what my path was, but the trick to being on a television show is that you need an agent. So I was already on the show and they were like, “Now you have to go get an agent to represent you.” So I went and got an agent and that agent started sending me out on acting roles. So I was like, “Oh, I’m an actor now.” Well that wasn’t what I originally set out to do, so after awhile, everyone kept telling me that I could do both. And at that time in the 80s, I didn’t feel like that was something you could do. I thought that if I was an actor, no one was going to take me seriously as a musician. I thought that you could do it the other way around… like if you were David Bowie and then wanted to be in a movie, you know? But I didn’t think that if you were an actor, you know, like if Jack Wagner on “General Hospital” wanted to make a record, it wasn’t going to be taken seriously. So I thought the only way to make this real is to stop acting, which is what I did. Everyone was really pissed off. My agent. My manager. My parents. Because I was on the verge of something. I was getting in to see great people and I was about to do bigger films. I was getting them and I turned everything down and I decided that that’s not what I wanted to do, so I went and became a rock star. (Laughter)
TrunkSpace: So why do you think the acting bug came back and bit you?
Lambert: Well, to tell you the truth, I started to get a little discouraged with the music industry and where everything was going and I was a little bit discouraged about the music that I was making. I had been in a bunch of bands, four to be exact, and my last one was… we were having fun but it kind of wasn’t becoming a business. It was just like, “Let’s go down and have fun” but like, “Yeah, but what am I doing with my life?” So, in San Francisco I decided to join a theater company, Shelton Studios, and just see how I felt about something that I was successful in at a period in my life and see if I was even any good at it still. And it turns out, I felt like I was. I was like, “Hmm… this feels good.” I felt great on stage and I felt good with words and I felt good with my body language and I had teachers that backed me up. And I didn’t even tell them about what I did earlier. They had no idea who I was. So, eventually I told them and they were like, “Oh, well that’s it. You’ve done this before. You are seasoned.”
TrunkSpace: Which must have been nice for you in terms of getting the current work recognized as opposed to the past work?
Lambert: I feel a lot of people would do that. Like, “I’m so and so and you’ve got to listen to me because I’ve done this and you haven’t done shit.” I didn’t want to approach it that way. I wanted to go in there like a layman. Teach me! Which is what I really actually wanted. I didn’t want to feel superior to anybody, because I wasn’t. I was nobody. I’m nobody. Even when I came back here (LA) and started talking to agents, they’re like, “I can’t resurrect your career.” I said, “I don’t want you to!” I want to be Cop #3 on Law & Order. The thing is, if you talk to any actor, even the biggest actors in the world, all they want to do is work.
TrunkSpace: So do you think your past acting resume actually hurts your future acting resume?
Lambert: I do. I mean, again, the catch-22 thing… look at what I have done. I have the credits to back me up and the footage, but at the same time everyone’s like, “Yeah, but that’s you as a little kid… give me what you’ve got now.” And besides the few short films that I’ve done here and there in this day and age, it’s hard to get in the door. Everyone’s like, “Oh my god… ‘The Monster Squad.’ I love that movie. But, what are you doing now? What can you give me now?” Well, let me show you.
John Pound
It’s that time again. Let’s sit back, relax, and take a trip down memory lane with those individuals who inadvertently played a role in our childhood. This time out we’re chatting with John Pound, artist of the legendary Garbage Pail Kids sticker line for Topps. With between 500 and 600 of the characters under his artistic belt, his work has been treasured by kids (and adults) for generations.
TrunkSpace: Garbage Pail Kids transcended trading cards to become a part of pop culture. To this day they remain a symbol of the 1980s, recently being seen as part of set dressings in the ABC television series “The Goldbergs.” What does it feel like to have been a part of something that not only found an audience, but helped define a generation?
Pound: I’m glad people liked them. From working on many obscure projects in comics, I had no idea they’d be so popular. They were just fun to make.
TrunkSpace: For those who aren’t familiar with your story, can you tell us how you got involved with the Garbage Pail Kids line and how many characters you did the art for?
Pound: I started my art career by doing underground comics and heavy-metal style fantasy art prints and book covers. Topps art director Art Spiegelman was also an underground cartoonist. He often hired underground artists to do humor art projects for Topps. (I was in California, and he was in New York.)
He called me up one day in 1984 and asked me to paint a few Wacky Packages parody stickers for Topps. I said sure. I did 9 paintings, from idea sketches they sent me. One, called “Garbage Pail Kids,” was not used, but in a few weeks Topps decided to start a new sticker series using that name. They asked some artists to come up with idea sketches and a color rough example of how they could look. Evidently nothing was working, so they also asked me to do some ideas. Somehow, it was easy, and lots of ideas came. I sent in a pile of notes and sketches. I got the job. Then it was just a matter of painting very fast, a painting a day, for the 44 stickers they needed. When GPK stickers hit the market, sales were great, so Topps asked me to paint more GPKs, for a 2nd series, and so on.
They resumed again in 2003, so all together, I did between 500 and 600 GPK paintings. About half were based on my ideas, and the rest were from ideas other Topps artists came up with. (Mark Newgarden, Jay Lynch, and others.)
TrunkSpace: Many parents and school administrators of the 1980s made Garbage Pail Kids a cultural villain, much in the way they did the heavy metal music of the time. Was that something you were consciously aware of while working on the line… the idea that your artwork was being seen as something that could “poison” the minds of kids? And, was there ever any push-back from Topps to, I guess, purify the line in some ways to appease the parental masses?
Pound: Art Spiegelman’s idea was to make GPKs mean, nasty, gross, and disgusting. And ugly. Use plenty of shock value, which would make them attention-getting. My own idea was that these little paintings also had to feel good to look at. Mix in some pleasure with the pain.
TrunkSpace: In many ways, Garbage Pail Kids are the grandparents of toy lines of today such as The Grossery Gang and The Trash Pack. Some of them have caught that same lighting in the bottle, but none of them have achieved the same level of pop culture crossover as Garbage Pail Kids. Why do you think the GPK line connected with so many people? Was it a matter of the right product at the right time?
Pound: One easy answer, I know it sounds superficial, is that the name “Garbage Pail Kids” sounds like “Cabbage Patch Kids”. Not only does it have an attitude, but it sounds so familiar, and so famous. And when something is familiar, it’s easier to sell.
TrunkSpace: Your designs did not only hit on the gross out factor, but at the same time, there was an accessible cuteness to the characters that sort of humanized them. Was that something you consciously thought about during the creative process of designing new characters?
Pound: Yeah, I like cuteness in cartoons. Since I had to look at these little kids while I painted them, I wanted them to feel good to look at. Plus I thought these little kids I painted secretly enjoyed being weird and misfits and rebels and disgusting. At least, some of them.
TrunkSpace: Were there any characters or designs that you worked on back in those early days that were deemed too disgusting or controversial to move forward with?
Pound: A few were, like a baby in a jar of formaldehyde. And an Abe Lincoln GPK, complete with bullet holes.
TrunkSpace: You have been working on some really innovative and captivating artwork that is based on computer code. Can you tell us how that came to be and how it has developed since you first started working in that style? As technology advances, does the art form advance as well?
Pound: I got a computer when I was working on Garbage Pail Kids, something to play around with. I started looking at all kinds of art made with computers, especially art made by writing code. I liked the painter Harold Cohen’s AARON early experiments with code art. They looked like kids’ drawings, but strangely mechanical.
Which made me wonder, since I was a cartoonist, what kind of comics could a computer program make if it randomly wrote and drew everything? At that point I realized I had to learn a bit about writing code, to make it happen. I bought some programming books and a laser printer. I was stumped at first, there was so much to learn. Months later, I realized all I needed to get started was a really minimal, dumb version of a comics-drawing program. A simple little figure, with a horizon line, and a nonsense word balloon overhead, repeated in panel-boxes, in a grid. Soon, I had instant comics!
I kept playing around with the code, adding more features, details, layouts, color, etc. Over the last couple decades, I adapted my comics-drawing code to make randomly generated art prints and sketchbooks. And now I’m learning how to make code-generated animations, videos, and sounds.
TrunkSpace: For those who aren’t technically savvy, is there a sort of layman’s way of explaining how an idea goes from your head to the final product?
Pound: Basically, I write words and numbers in one window (for the computer code), and in another window, the art magically appears. (Unless I make a mistake.) My code draws everything as a combination of simple shapes.
Instead of starting with a blank page, I usually copy my previous day’s code, and then make little changes in it, to add new designs, colors, or layouts into the code. I save it and test it, every few changes. If things go wrong, I just use “Undo” to go back a few steps to a version where it was last working okay.
This process makes my code grow longer over time, as I add more stuff it can do. I like to find new ways to combine parts together.
TrunkSpace: What do your code art pieces say? Are they telling a story or are they a transfer of visuals from your brain to the page?
Pound: The code art started as a “fake comics” project, and grew into a fake-art-making process. As the work gets deeper and more intricate and more entertaining, who can say if it’s “real art” or not?
It’s usually not a one-way process of having an image first and transferring it to the page. It’s more like I see things the code has drawn, and get ideas for ways to take it farther, or combine parts in a new way. Like a fake wallpaper, or a fake landscape design, with random parts and figures in it.
It’s like making up a game, to see what happens visually, with certain rules I make up. Sometimes I think the simple cartoony art style allows more room for imagination and relaxation than a heavily-rendered 3D-style image would. More room to breathe, perhaps.
TrunkSpace: We feel like there is a really interesting lesson for kids in your code art. Often times kids are taught that numbers are numbers and they serve a function… one that can get lost on those who think with a creative brain. Here, you’ve used numbers to create beautiful works of art. There’s an old Harry Chapin song called “Flowers Are Red” where a teacher tells a young boy that he has to color a flower the color nature intended and he responds, “There are so many colors in the rainbow/So many colors in the morning sun/So many colors in the flower and I see every one.” The modern day version of that song could be written with your art in mind. Anything can be anything with an open mind and a unique perspective.
Pound: I like to think that most kids can learn to do code art. I was comfortable with basic math and English, but I started with no background in code. I learned a few bits at a time to make code make some marks on paper or on the screen. I like the idea that with just words and numbers, and an imagination, you can make so many things out of nothing.
TrunkSpace: Finally, before you go, John, what can people be on the lookout for this year in terms of your art and what is the best way for people to follow the latest?
Pound: I’m planning a show with And/Or Gallery (Pasadena, CA), with some code art prints and videos. ( http://www.andorgallery.com ) (Currently scheduled for May 2017.)
My website www.poundart.com has both my illustration work and some code art.
My Tumblr blog http://codecartooning.tumblr.com has hundreds of code artworks, plus some code-generated video experiments.
Scott Nemes
Scott Nemes, Senior Vice President Programming, Cinemax Photo Credit: HBO
It’s that time again. Let’s sit back, relax, and take a trip down memory lane with those individuals who inadvertently played a role in our childhood. This time out we’re chatting with Scott Nemes, who as a child, starred in “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and “The Wonder Years” while also making guest spots on memorable series like “Punky Brewster” and in the film “St. Elmo’s Fire.” Currently, Nemes oversees original programming for Cinemax.
TrunkSpace: You have had an incredible career both in front of and behind the camera. Can you tell us a little about that path and how your early acting days shaped your approach in how you do your job now?
Nemes: In terms of the track, I acted until I went to college and then decided my passion was in jobs behind the camera. I really built a career, starting in the feature side for 15 years and then segued into TV about five years ago. I think where my past experience lends itself is that I have a real familiarity with the sets and how they work and how productions work from a different perspective. And I’m able to communicate, having done different jobs in the businesses, in a different way with creators and actors. It just helped me with gaining perspective.
TrunkSpace: So what was it that drew you to those jobs behind the camera? Was it seeing how it worked while you were acting?
Nemes: It was. When I was acting, I would often befriend the director and when I wasn’t in school, sit next to the camera and observe and watch and sit at video village and digest what was going on around me. So, I always had an interest in it, and then when I got to school I produced a couple of short films and really developed a passion for being involved in a project from its inception through getting made, as opposed to just being, albeit sometimes high profile work, for hire in front of the camera.
TrunkSpace: Because you had already established yourself as an actor and because people may have seen you as that, do you feel like you had even more to prove when you started your career in production?
Nemes: No, I never felt that. Although, even though having been an actor, it gave me a unique perspective as I mentioned earlier, I don’t think it ever gave me a leg up either. I don’t think it helped either way, in terms of my trajectory. In fact, my very first job in the business post-college was working for Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall as a PA (production assistant), and Frank produced the very first film I was in when I was seven-years-old, which was “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” So it was a bit of a unique situation being with Frank again. It was a lot of fun.
TrunkSpace: Cable television gets an incredible amount of attention and respect these days, but that wasn’t always the case. Do you ever look at your series “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” as a pioneer when it comes to cable television?
Nemes: Absolutely. I actually think that show, if you ask anybody involved in it, was way ahead of its time. Even though it had a great deal of success, it was nowhere near the mainstream, zeitgeist-y hit that I think it would have been five or 10 years later. And I do think, when I look back on the show and look at the limited cable landscape and how they had the thing called the ACE Awards, which were cable TVs version of the Emmys, and eventually that all went away and it all got merged into one Emmy platform… that seemed to me to be the signal that it was all mainstream.
TrunkSpace: The theme song to “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” is so iconic and infectious. Has that been one of those things that has sort of followed you throughout your life?
Nemes: Sure. It’s such an iconic song and it absolutely follows me around. I love it. It’s great. Alan Zweibel, one of the co-creators of the show, tells the story of how the song came to be written in an elevator up to a meeting in which he and Garry had to have a theme song ready and they didn’t have anything ready. (Laughter) So, it was as simple as that and it was a genius idea.
TrunkSpace: In the show you portrayed Grant Schumaker. Was that the longest time you spent portraying a single character as an actor?
Nemes: Yeah, that was the longest I was on a show. I did it for four seasons. I was on “The Wonder Years” as a recurring role for two seasons and then did a bunch of guest roles in films, but yeah, that character was the longest running character for me.
TrunkSpace: It must be interesting for you now because you can look back and sort of see yourself growing up on film.
Nemes: What’s interesting is showing it to my kids. I’m able to show them what daddy looked like when he was their age, at least with my oldest son. And it’s been fun watching it through their eyes. And while they may not get some of the more adult humor, it’s fun seeing Dad as a kid.
TrunkSpace: Garry Shandling is a legend in the business and in comedy, but at the time, he was still building his legacy. What did you learn from him, either directly or through osmosis of just being on set with him for those four years?
Nemes: What Garry taught me as a performer was, be ready for anything. He would often times go off script in the middle of a taping in front of a live studio audience and you’d have to follow him. I think that really taught me the skill of being flexible and improvising and really helped me as an overall performer.
TrunkSpace: What was so cool about that show, particularly in that time period where television wasn’t as admired as a medium, was that you’d always see big actors doing cameos.
Nemes: Garry had a lot of friends, and Alan Zweibel, haven written on “Saturday Night Live,” had a lot of deep connections like Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd. Folks like that. So, they were able to somehow convince all of their celebrity friends to come do cameos. It was a really amazing group of cameos, but not only in front of the camera, but also behind the camera. The talent assembled on that show, I would venture to assume hasn’t been seen in TV… in terms of the young writing talent behind the camera. The writers are now a who’s who in television and feature comedy.
TrunkSpace: You mentioned your work on “The Wonder Years” earlier and we can’t help but think that either before or since, no other series has really portrayed adolescence in such a real and genuine way. Do you think that’s one of the things that made that show such a hit?
Nemes: I think that the biggest strength of that show was in the tone and, how you say, real they made it. It was real. It was funny. And it was emotional all at the same time. I think that’s what grabbed a lot of people and that’s a really difficult thing to pull off in a series or a film. I think “The Goldbergs” is the most current example of something that has attempted a version of “The Wonder Years” and to a lot of success. People really like it, though I think that show is less emotional and more comedic-based than “The Wonder Years” ever was.
TrunkSpace: “The Wonder Years” was also taking place at a time in our country that may have forced the hand of that more serious tone.
Nemes: Absolutely. My oldest son watches “The Wonder Years,” now 20-something years later, and he’s able to relate to Kevin and all of the other characters on the show.
TrunkSpace: Do you ever get the itch to go back in front of the camera again?
Nemes: I don’t. I feel like that was an amazing chapter in my life that I look back on fondly, but I’m really entrenched in my career and love what I’m doing now. Even though I have all of the respect in the world for actors, it’s not something I feel like I want to back to.
TrunkSpace: Can you explain to people a little bit about what you do now in your current position?
Nemes: I am a programming executive at HBO, which owns Cinemax. I am a part of the team that programs original drama series for Cinemax. My current job is to identify, develop, and help oversee our original series slate.
TrunkSpace: What is the approach to creating a slate of shows and giving them the best chance at finding an audience in a day and age where the TV landscape seems to be continuously changing?
Nemes: The TV landscape is changing very rapidly with the addition of steaming platforms and all the different linear entrance into original programing. Our CEO Richard Plepler always says, “play our game.” I think in order to be successful, I think we just need to make the best version of the show that we can. And I think, ultimately, best content wins.
Patrick Fugit as Kyle Barnes in Cinemax’s OUTCAST. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise/Cinemax
TrunkSpace: Does the popularity of television and advancements in technology make your job easier?
Nemes: I think one of the turning points for television going into it’s “Golden Age” is that TV is now making versions of films that were very successful and critically-adored 10, 20, 30 years ago. We’re able to make shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones” and “Mad Men” and “The Leftovers”… really thought provoking, interesting, character-driven dramas in a way that are not getting made on the feature landscape. That was one of the things that attracted me to come over to the TV side five years ago… the ability to take the movies that I was always passionate about and be able to make versions of those as series.
TrunkSpace: And for a viewer, particularly on the cable side of things, the shortened seasons help to make these dramatic series feel more like films.
Nemes: The way I envision it is, I don’t look at a series as an episodic structure. I really look at a series, a season for that matter, as one big piece of content and you have to figure out how you dice that piece of content. In the feature world you only have an hour and a half or two hours of a piece of a content and with a cable series it’s about eight to 10 hours per season of content. I think that allows you the depth and the time and the space to really dive deep into characters… into the scenes… and into the distinctive world of the show in a way you can’t accomplish in features.
TrunkSpace: What’s next for Cinemax on the original content side?
Nemes: We will be airing a series from Mike Judge in 2017 called “Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus,” which is a half-hour animated series that looks at iconic country music figures and their dysfunctional lives. That’s one that we’re excited about.
Antony Starr as Lucas Hood in Cinemax’s BANSHEE. Photo Credit: Fred Norris/Cinemax
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line676
|
__label__wiki
| 0.641369
| 0.641369
|
You are here: Home / Community / New Leadership at American Technion Society
New Leadership at American Technion Society
November 9, 2015 by Bonnie Squires Leave a Comment
American Technion Society leadership: (Left to right) Zahava Bar-Nir, Steve Berger and his wife Ilene Berger. Photo: Bonnie Squires
Israeli-born Philadelphia-area resident Zahava Bar-Nir was recently named national president of the American Technion Society (ATS), which provides support for the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. She is the first Israeli woman in the organization’s history to assume the role.
Bar-Nir has held many local, national and international leadership positions at the ATS and the Technion, including President of the Philadelphia Chapter. For her dedication, she has received both a Technion Honorary Fellowship and an Honorary Doctorate.
At the Philadelphia chapter’s recent awards brunch at the Rittenhouse Hotel, Bar-Nir presented a piece of sculpture to outgoing Philadelphia-region president Steve Berger, while welcoming his wife, Ilene Berger, as the new chapter president. Berger has been promoted to the national board and the international board.
Bar-Nir was happy to point out that ATS has recognized and elevated women to important posts in the organization. The keynote speaker was Israeli entrepreneur Yael Vizel, another outstanding woman who is a graduate of Technion who had created a highly successful on-line application which allows shoppers to “try on” fashions before purchasing them. The virtual dressing-room from thousands of stores and fashion manufacturers has earned Vizel the title, “The google fashionista.”
Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Bar-Nir, Berger, Technion, Vizel
About Bonnie Squires
Bonnie Squires is one of the founders of The Philadelphia Jewish Voice and its current president, and continues to edit its society column. She is the president of Squires Consulting, and is a Phi Beta Kappa alumna of the University of Pennsylvania with a Master's degree in English Literature. At Temple University, she was an assistant to the president, assistant secretary of the board of trustees, editor of Temple Magazine, and executive director of the capital campaign. She is active in politics and is a board member of ADL, HIAS, and JAFCO (Jewish Adoption and Foster Care Options). She was inducted into the Best 50 Women in Business in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Public Relations Association Hall of Fame.
Click here for her earlier work for the Philadelphia Jewish Voice.
Contact Bonnie Squires at [email protected]
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line677
|
__label__cc
| 0.501713
| 0.498287
|
Happy Birthday Medicare and Medicaid
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Richard F. Keevey
This week marks the 50th birthday of Medicare and Medicaid — the two principal health care programs in the United States. President Johnson signed both programs into law July 30, 1965. Today, Medicare covers 56 million Americans – 46 million over age 65 and 9 million younger disabled people. Medicaid is a program for the poor, which provides coverage for 67 million people.
Some people will view these two programs as the principal reason why government is so expensive and why our nation’s debt to gross domestic product ratio is high and will increase significantly in the future. Others will observe with a celebratory party as these two programs have changed the lives of many Americans for the better.
Some basics program facts are worth noting about Medicare and Medicaid.
In general, Medicare Part A covers hospital costs; Medicare Part B covers doctor visits and out- patient visits. Part D covers prescription drugs, while Part C (Medicare Advantage) is a private insurance option providing the same services with some additional benefits and in some cases at additional costs. Revenue is provided principally by a payroll tax (2.9 percent on both the employee and employer) but also from beneficiary premiums and co-pays — and federal revenue.
Medicaid is a joint state-federal funded program for low income Americans, including children, pregnant women, adults with dependent children and disabled and elderly. The program is administered by the states with fiscal assistance from the feds. Federal assistance is based on the wealth of the state –ranging from 50 percent reimbursement to 83 percent. If states agree to participate (and all do), they must provide certain services, such as physician care, hospitalization, laboratory services and long-term care. States can also elect to provide optional services, such as dental care and prescription drugs.
Unlike Medicare, depending on where one lives medical services are provided at different levels. For example, in Texas, childless adults are excluded and only parents who earn up to 15 percent of the federal poverty level –less than $4,000 a year for a family of four — are covered. Other states, such as New Jersey, New York and California offer much better coverage.
Medicaid is the largest provider of long-term care services, including nursing homes and services for blind and disabled, and represents the largest single cost center in the Medicaid budget. Consider the following: poor children represent 48 percent of the Medicaid population but only 21 percent of costs while aged and disabled represent 17 percent of the population but 64 percent of spending.
Together, these programs expend $1.3 trillion. In future years, Medicaid costs will increase because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and more long-term care for the elderly. Medicare will also rise, as the eligible population will increase from 56 million to 85 million by 2030. More significantly, both programs will increase because of rising costs of health care – not the least being the current fee-for service cost model of Medicare, prescription drugs and new technology.
A more important fact to considerer, however, is the very significant role these two programs have had on American society despite initial strong opposition.
For almost a generation before 1964, government health programs were viewed as pariahs. As noted by Professor Julian Zelizer in his chapter essay — Origins, Vision and the Challenge of Implementation, “The struggle leading up to the passage of Medicare and Medicaid was nothing short of explosive … as proposing health insurance was viewed as the third rail of politics.” Attempts by President Truman were fought bitterly by the American Medical Association and Republicans in Congress.
Not until President Johnson built on the success of his civil rights legislation and his very significant presidential election in 1964, was he able to overcome gridlock in Congress and orchestrate the passage of this land mark legislation. The rest is history. Evolution and revolutions are never easy.
Medicare has changed the lives for the better of the elderly and disabled. For example, 50 percent of all Medicare recipients live on incomes less than $24,000 per year. Without Medicare, they and millions of others would be without adequate health care.
Medicaid, as well as ACA expansion, has had an even more substantive impact on relieving poverty and improving health care. Struggling and poor families depend on Medicaid for health care for their children and for their nursing home-driven parents. But, unlike Medicare which is now popular because folks consider it an entitlement program (as they have contributed to its cost via payroll taxes) Medicaid has much weaker support because of its dependence on taxpayer funds and therefore harder to sustain.
Americans have supported each program with both a moral and financial compass. As we move through the next 50 years, these programs should be financially strengthened and made more efficient and effective so they do not strangle the country’s finances. This will require better cooperation and coordination among all the health care providers from hospitals, physicians, pharmaceuticals companies, laboratories, research entities, governments and the insurance industry.
Author: Richard F. Keevey is a senior policy fellow at the Bloustein School of Planning and Policy, Rutgers University and a lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He was the budget director and comptroller for two New Jersey Governors, the deputy under secretary of defense and assistant secretary and chief financial officer at HUD. He can be reached at [email protected]
The American Society for Public Administration is the largest and most prominent professional association for public administration. It is dedicated to advancing the art, science, teaching and practice of public and non-profit administration.
More Posts(1737)
What is the nickname for Florida referring to the state's sunny climate? Please capitalize the first letter of each word of the answer. (Required)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line679
|
__label__wiki
| 0.846202
| 0.846202
|
The merger was not approved by the New Zealand Regulator (6/2017).
During the last decade there has been considerable merger and acquisition activity in the telecoms sector across global regions. Where these processes are not possible, for regulatory or commercial reasons, operators have found ways to share resources in a bid to provide improved services for customers. The underlying stimulus is competition, which has led to cut-throat pricing eating into operator revenue. Where pricing cannot be pushed down further the only recourse for operators is to differentiate themselves through the services they offer.
Vodafone has been a leader in this process. Some years ago it toyed with the idea of offloading fixed line assets to concentrate on mobile services alone (as in Germany, where it once considered selling its Arcor unit). Instead, Vodafone has become one of the key telecom players in Europe, with considerable fixed-line assets in Germany, Portugal (where it has a 13% share of fixed-line accesses), Spain (where it acquired the leading broadband cable TV network operator Ono, and where it also has a joint fibre network with Orange covering 50 of the largest cities), and Italy (it now has about 25% of the fixed-line market there). In all, Vodafone has more than 12.33 million fixed broadband customers across its European footprint.
In Australia the operator has rebounded from its disastrous network difficulties of a few years ago. In late 2015 it partnered with TPG Telecom in two new deals worth in excess of A$1 billion. Under the first deal TPG has embarked on a major dark fibre transmission network expansion for Vodafone, connecting around 3,000 Vodafone cell sites across the country (accounting for two-thirds of the Vodafone Australia network) and boosting its current fibre footprint by about 4,000km. Through this measure Vodafone is able to use TPG’s fixed-line infrastructure as backhaul for its mobile data services. Under the second deal TPG is migrating its 320,000 MVNO customer base from Optus to Vodafone.
The recent merger affecting Vodafone New Zealand with Sky is in line with these developments. Under this NZ$3.4 billion agreement Sky will acquire all shares in Vodafone NZ and issue new shares amounting to about half of the purchase price, with some NZ$1.25 billion to be paid in cash. Vodafone Group will retain a 51% stake in the merged company, which will become a consolidated subsidiary.
At the time of the deal (which is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals) Vodafone had about 2.4 million mobile and 412,000 fixed connections (as of March 2016) while Sky, which provides wholesale services to Vodafone, had about 830,000 pay TV subscribers. The merger will create the country’s largest operator in the converged services sector. As a result of the merger, Sky will be able to deliver content to subscribers through Vodafone’s fibre infrastructure while content will also be made available to Vodafone’s mobile subscribers. This presents a fresh opportunity for Sky, which has been under pressure from OTT videostreaming services delivered over upgraded broadband networks: Sky reported in May 2016 that it had lost some 45,000 subscribers since the end of 2015, partly due to the competition from Netflix and Spark’s Lightbox service, as well as to natural attrition after customers moved away from the sports-centered service after the Rugby World cup ended in October 2015.
The deal will create additional pressure on both Spark and 2degrees, which will now be at a further disadvantage in terms of content for their subscribers.
Further afield, it is noteworthy that there is existing co-operation between Vodafone and Sky in their respective UK operations: for some years Vodafone has had a content arrangement with Sky Sports by which it provides three Sky Sports Mobile TV channels (Sky 1 and 2 as well as Sky Sports News) with certain phone bundles.
In an era of converged services where content is becoming king, operators such as Vodafone are following a logical path, wherein they first build out infrastructure (through their own investments in network builds or through acquisitions) to create a distribution platform. This then provides the economic leverage on which to develop favourable content deals. As Vodafone is now developing much of its revenue growth from broadband, a potential next step could be to invest in broadcasters and TV-show production companies, as has been seen by Liberty Global (which has followed a similar path to Vodafone in its own expansion across Europe and the Caribbean). The Sky deal can be considered in this light.
Henry Lancaster
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line680
|
__label__cc
| 0.637672
| 0.362328
|
Class of 2019 leaves with grateful hearts
Confetti filled the air in the Pocahontas County High School gymnasium Sunday as the Class of 2019 celebrated the end of their high school career and took their first steps into their futures. S. Stewart photo
Suzanne Stewart
There was standing room only in the Pocahontas County High School gymnasium Sunday as the community gathered to celebrate the commencement ceremony for 71 graduates.
The Class of 2019 filed into the gym in their maroon gowns – with a few surprises up their sleeves – as they begin the next phase of their life’s journey.
Co-salutatorian Logan Woodruff reminded his fellow classmates that they will always and forever be Warriors, no matter what path they follow in the future. Whether they enter a STEM field, join the workforce, are the first in their family to go to college or join the armed forces to defend our country – they will carry the pride and heart of Warriors with them.
“As we go our separate ways, we take the knowledge, skill and grit instilled in us in the past four years,” Woodruff said. “We are Warriors – prepared for our battlefield. Warriors are pro- blem solvers. Warriors are record holders. Warriors are pioneers. Warriors are the backbone of America. Warriors are champions. And, most of all, Warriors are men and women of war.
“As you can see, Warriors break barriers, defy the odds, venture into the unknown, power through any and all adversities, and today, we shall graduate.
“So, no matter what warfront you’re fighting on – on the highway, in the lab, in the forest, in the clinic, in the kitchen, on the slopes or on foreign soil – press the battle on like a Warrior.”
Valedictorian Taylor Tegtmeyer expressed gratitude for everyone who supported the class and made them the people they are today. The teachers, the service personnel, the community, family, friends and everyone in between who molded them into the young men and women who are now preparing for a new adventure.
“It may be hard to believe, but we weren’t always the darling angels you see before you today, and we all appreciate your guidance and effort in leading us to where we are now, giving us the skills necessary to take on the world,” he said.
Tegtmeyer looked out at his fellow classmates and reflected on how much they have changed in the four short years they spent in high school.
“These four years have been a crucial experience, in every way possible,” he said. “I have grown and matured, and I especially matured enough to know that I know nothing of being grown. I have made true friends, learned invaluable skills and came into my own as my own man. And I know I’m not the only one. You all have changed so drastically. Our freshmen selves might as well be totally different people. We have all been walking the same path, supporting each other and figuring out this life stuff together and gave helping hands every step of the way.”
While writing his speech, Tegtmeyer said he learned several lessons that he imparted to his class. First, his mother suggested using a famous quote, as is done in many graduation speeches.
“I responded, ‘I don’t want to quote someone else’s message, I want someone to be quoting me,’” he said. “And pondering that more, I quite like it. We should all forge our own path and strive to be the greats of tomorrow, just as we spread the words of the greats today.”
He learned another lesson when he shared his speech with math teacher Laurel Dilley and his father – both of whom said he was good, but could be better.
“Just coasting along, just barely doing enough, will never get us anywhere,” Tegtmeyer said. “We must always push to the very edge of our potential. Just settling for ‘good enough’ won’t cut it. I know it’s cliché, but we must always give as much as we can for our projects, our friends and our family. By doing this, they will thank you for your efforts, and you can stand proud at what you have accomplished.”
While they may be returning to being little fish in a much bigger ocean than the pond that was high school, Tegtmeyer said it was time to focus on celebrating the successes of today.
“Fortunately, and I speak with complete belief when I say this, we are the class that will make waves that will ripple through that proverbial ocean, not just in our community, but on a greater level, and I fully expect to see these familiar faces again in the news for the difference they will be creating in the world in these coming years and decades.
“But that’s far from now and in this moment, I say we should celebrate, and not just our latest achievement, but to the bonds we share and the promise of a bright future for us all. I want to give a personal good luck to all of you and wish you the best on any path you choose to take in your lives.”
Co-Salutatorian Mathias Solliday also shared gratitude for those who have shaped the lives of the class and the ones who will continue to make an impact on their lives.
“The people in the community around us made us who we are today,” he said. “Whether it was your family, church family or friends; all of these people played a part in our lives. I know, if it wasn’t for my church family, I would not be who I am today. These people taught us more life lessons than we could think of, and for this, we should forever be grateful for this amazing community we came from.
“Always remember this,” he continued. “We couldn’t have done it without them. If we think about everything all the people around us have done for us, it is truly humbling. All of these people freely gave to us. With that being said, from the Pocahontas County Class of 2019 to all in the crowd, we say ‘thank you.’”
As the students were called to the stage and received their degrees, they had a special surprise in store for principal Joe Riley. Most members of the class gave Riley a handful of marbles, as well as rolls of toilet paper – harkening back to the senior prank where the class TP’d the school.
Once the class returned to their seats, Riley gave his short address and message for the future.
He started by saying the students had two requests when he was writing his speech – make it short and don’t refer to the class as “captains of their own ships, setting out on the sea of possibilities.”
Riley said, “no problem.” He did take time to research and find how many students have graduated in the 49 years since PCHS was founded and – with the help of some students who perused old yearbooks – he had a number.
“This is not true statistical information, but it’s as close as we can get,” he said. “Taylor Tegtmeyer, you are the 4,876 student to walk across this stage to graduate from Pocahontas County High School. Kolton Workman, you are 4,946.
“Now, for the rest of you, you’ve had thirteen years of math, you can figure out where you are,” he jokingly added.
Riley said if they ever wonder where those former graduates are, all they have to do is look around.
“You see them every day,” he said. “You pass them on the road, taking their kids to school. You pass them on the road. They’re driving trucks. They’re making your meals. They’re flying airplanes that go over top of us. They have invented things that you have today in your possession. They are right now inventing things that we don’t even know exist.
“So after today, you’re going to be following in their footsteps,” he continued. “Where are you going to be? Some of you are going to remain in Pocahontas County. Some of you are going to remain in West Virginia. Some of you are going to go as far as California … South America. Some of you will be all over this world.”
Riley said he had five things he wanted to make sure the class remembered – Number one – thank the people in your lives who have molded you: your mom, your dad, grandparents, guard-ians, whoever. Also, make sure to call them because they want to know how your day was and “how you spent your money.”
Number two – invest yourself in people, your home and your community. Be a good friend, neighbor and co-worker.
Number three – invest in yourself. Be happy in all that you do. Find a place that makes you happy. Find a job that makes you happy. Surround yourself with people who make you happy. Also, be sure to take care of your body and mind.
Number four – remember where you came from. Appalachians have a special set of skills that others envy. “You’ve got the grit and the desires that a lot of other kids wish they had, so don’t ever forget where you came from,” he said.
Number five and lastly – don’t forget the high school’s phone number.
“If you’re ever lost, or you ever need anything, I want you to pick up the phone and I need you to dial 304-799-6564 and there will be a person who will answer and say, ‘Good morning, Pocahontas County High School, this is Cindy, how may I help you?’ If you ever get lost, just remember that number,” Riley said.
“Those are my words of advice and wisdom,” he concluded. “Good luck to all of you, and God bless each and every one.”
At the end of the ceremony, the graduates turned their tassels and the air was filled with confetti as “poppers” exploded in their midst.
Suzanne Stewart may be contacted at sastewart@pocahontastimes.com
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line683
|
__label__wiki
| 0.5055
| 0.5055
|
Home Article PRIVATE AIR FORCE.
PRIVATE AIR FORCE.
by Robert Farley
Blackwater is buying fixed-wing counter-insurgency aircraft:
A subsidiary of U.S. military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has purchased a fighter plane from the Brazilian aviation company Embraer, a Brazilian newspaper reported June 1.
The 314-B1 Super Tucano propeller-driven fighter - the same used by the Brazilian military - was bought for $4.5 million and delivered to EP Aviation at the end of February, according to the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
Blackwater already has helicopters, and the Super Tucano isn't exactly an air superiority aircraft, so this represents a change in degree rather than a change in kind. Still, it results in an increase in Blackwater's capabilities, and could open new doors for Blackwater in terms of training; the company does quite a lot of training of foreign military organizations, and the possession of fixed wing aircraft could allow penetration of a wider market. In other words, the Super Tucano may be intended more for Blackwater's training business than for its actual counter-insurgency operations. In any case, we appear to be entering a new golden age for the private military professional...
--Robert Farley
Blog: TAPPED Private Equity
Robert Farley
Robert Farley is an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky. He contributes to the blogs Lawyers, Guns, and Money and TAPPED.
Read more by Robert Farley
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line686
|
__label__wiki
| 0.630274
| 0.630274
|
December 9. Actions in Balkans, Jerusalem and Operation Compass. Roll of Honour
Watchkeeper December 9, 2020 December 9, 2020 DAILY POSTS
On this day in 1915 three men with links to Ballycastle, Cookstown and Fivemiletown, died in action in the Balkans. In 1917 London Irish took part in the liberation of Jerusalem. In 1940 Operation Compass, the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign began. 500 Commonwealth servicemen were killed in the two month campaign – with over 300 being buried at CWGC’s Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery (Photo). Veterans in today’s Roll include Allan Martin from Portstewart who served with Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 10th Btn (the Derrys). Wounded in 1918, he died in 1961, aged 78. RAF veteran, Sir Patrick Moore, became the astronomer at Armagh Observatory. He died on this day in 2012.
remni-december-9Download
Armagh Observatory, Jerusalem, Operation Compass, Sir Patrick Moore
Previous December 8. Battle of the Falkland Islands 1914. Roll of Honour
Next December 10. Force Z, Repulse and Prince of Wales sunk. Roll of Honour
Richard Doherty says:
Western Desert Force was under the command of Lt Gen. Richard O’Connor, whose father had served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers. General Sir Archibald Wavell was CinC Middle East. It was O’Connor with ‘John’ Harding and ‘Sandy’ Galloway who planned Op. COMPASS and O’Connor who executed it, destroying the Italian Tenth Army in the process.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line690
|
__label__wiki
| 0.553082
| 0.553082
|
John Radice
Clark Craddock
Natasha Fernández-Silber
April D. Lambert
Kenneth Pickle
Rishi Raithatha
Daniel Rubenstein
A. Luke Smith
Eva Kane is Of Counsel to the Radice Law Firm and has been working with the firm since 2013. Eva has substantial experience conducting and managing both plaintiffs’ and defendants’ discovery and has served important roles in, inter alia, the Skelaxin, Suboxone, and Foreign Exchange litigations.
Ms. Kane has been involved with patent litigation for a number of years, including pharmaceutical patent litigation, technology patent litigation as well as other intellectual property matters and mergers. Prior to that, Ms. Kane represented both plaintiffs and defendants in her personal practice, in which she prepared cases from inception to jury verdicts.
Ms. Kane earned her J.D. from Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center and graduated as an honor student in the top 25% of her class. In law school Ms. Kane was a member of the Jewish Lawyers’ Guild and the Transnational Journal and interned for Judge Doyle in Supreme Court in NY on matrimonial matters and Judge Conte in Superior Court, Hackensack, NJ. She is admitted to practice law in the States of New York and New Jersey, and in Federal Courts in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey.
IN RE GENERIC PHARMACEUTICALS PRICING ANTITRUST LITIGATION, 20-md-2724 (E.D.Pa.) November 11, 2020
IN RE INCLUSIVE ACCESS COURSE MATERIALS ANTITRUST LITIGATION, 20-MD-2946 (S.D.N.Y.) November 11, 2020
In re Lantus Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:16-cv-12652 (D.Mass.) October 26, 2020
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line705
|
__label__wiki
| 0.784021
| 0.784021
|
Hydrology and Water Supply
Nathan Buras
Water: One of the simplest compounds in Nature: two hydrogen atoms combined with one oxygen atom. This minute, inaudible, odorless and texture free particle of no particular tang determined human destiny. Civilization evolved at the confluence of rivers. In all places, through all time, water has directed man’s livelihood, success, economy and community. As a natural force water is powerful.1
Total Dissolve Solid Land Subsidence Seawater Intrusion Total Dissolve Solid Concentration Aquifer Storage
Arizona Department of Water Resources, 1994. Arizona Water Resources Assessment, Volume II, Hydrologic Summary, Phoenix, Arizona.Google Scholar
Brown, L.R., C. Flavin and H. French, 1998. State of the World 1998, Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Buras, N., 2001. “Water Resources — Unresolved Issues, An Editorial”, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 127(6): 353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buras, N., 1963. “Conjunctive Operation of Dams and Aquifers,” Journal of the Hydraulics Division, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 89(HY6): 111–131.Google Scholar
Central Arizona Project, 2001. Annual Rreport, Phoenix, Arizona.Google Scholar
Cormis, D., 2000. Saving North America’s Greatest Aquifer, www.nps.ars.usda.gov.Google Scholar
Hornberger, G.M., J.P. Raffensperger, P.L. Wiberg & K.N. Eshleman, 1998. Elements of Physical Hydrology, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland.Google Scholar
Dorfman, R., H.D. Jacoby and H.A. Thomas, Jr., editors, 1972. Models for Managing Regional Water Quality, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Ganster, P., Ed., 2002. The U.S.-Mexican Border Environment, SCERP Monograph Series no. 3, San Diego State University Press, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Gleick, P.H., 2000. The World Water 2000–2001, Island Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Gupta, R.S., 2001. Hydrology and Hydraulic Systems, Waveland Press, Inc., Prospect Heights, Illinois.Google Scholar
Shiklomanov, I.A., 1993. “World fresh water resources,” in Water in Crisis, Peter H. Gleick, editor, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.Google Scholar
Tucson Water, 2002. 2001 Annual Report, City of Tucson, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Thomann, R.V. and J.A. Mueller 1987. Principles of Surface Water Quality Modeling and Control, Harper and Row, New York.Google Scholar
Viessman, W., Jr. and M.J. Hammer, 1998. Water Supply and Pollution Control (sixth edition), Addison-Wesley, Menlo Park, California.Google Scholar
Wilson, D.S., Jr., 1999. Central Arizona Project, Annual Report, Phoenix, Arizona.Google Scholar
World Resources Institute, 1998. World Resources: A Guide to the Global Environment, Environment Change and Human Health, Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Buras N. (2003) Hydrology and Water Supply. In: Agthe D.E., Billings R.B., Buras N. (eds) Managing Urban Water Supply. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 46. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0237-9_2
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line707
|
__label__wiki
| 0.971525
| 0.971525
|
Home Entertainment John Legend says his friendship with Kanye West has evolved
John Legend says his friendship with Kanye West has evolved
Will Smith Jun 01, 2020 0 Comments
In an interview with The Sunday TimesLegend said the two previous friends and collaborators are just living their own lives and that the evolution of their relationship is not tied to West’s vocal support for President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think we’re less friends because of Trump,” said Legend. “I just think we are doing it our own thing. He’s in Wyoming. I am here in Los Angeles. We both have growing families and I no longer have a formal business relationship with him as an artist, so I think he is just part of the natural cycle of life. “
In 2016, West tweeted a screenshot of text he received from Legend, a supporter of Hilary Clinton during the campaign.
“Hi, this is JL. I hope you reconsider aligning yourself with Trump,” Legend wrote at the time. “You are too powerful and influential to endorse who he is and what he stands for. As you know, what you say really means something to your fans. They are loyal to you and respect your opinion. So many people who love you feel so betrayed right now because they know the damage that Trump’s policies cause, especially to people of color. Don’t let this be part of his legacy. You are the best artist of our generation. “
West replied, “I love you, John, and I appreciate your thoughts. Bringing out my fans or my legacy is a fear-based tactic used to manipulate my free thinking.”
After the disagreement on social networks, the two were cordial.
Legend, who along with his wife Chrissy Teigen, was invited to the rapper’s wedding to Kim Kardashian in 2014, insisted that politics “was never part” of their conversations.
READ Kim Kardashian dedicates a note to her son St. on her 5th birthday
“Our interaction was almost always about creativity and music,” he said. “He’s also musically in a different place. He’s making gospel music. That’s what he’s focused on right now, designing his clothes, so we’re in different places.”
Spider-Man Homecoming on Netflix: Which actress is hidden behind a computer voice? – cinema News
McCauley-Kalkin backs the petition to remove the Trump cameo saying ‘Mom, I missed the flight again’.
Director Chung says that the theme of global humanity in “Minari” is similar to that of the American audience
The US president is making history with a second charge
In the trash cans of World War II
Did Kamala Harris take a “relaxed” photo on the front page of the walk? Anna Windor defends herself
About the Author: Will Smith
Alfred Lee covers public and private tech markets from New York. He was previously a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University, and prior to that was a reporter at the Los Angeles Business Journal. He has received a Journalist of the Year award from the L.A. Press Club and an investigative reporting award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
Get the Latest News With Presstories.com
Queries?
Do you have any queries? Feel free to contact us via our Contact Form
© 2020 The Press Stories
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line711
|
__label__wiki
| 0.568604
| 0.568604
|
The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
Watch The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972) Online
A documentary-style drama based on true accounts of the Fouke Monster in Arkansas, Boggy Creek focuses on the lives of back country people and their culture while chronicling sightings of the monster.
Genre: Documentary, Drama, Horror, Mystery
Director: Charles B. Pierce
Actors: Chuck Pierce Jr., Glenn Carruth, Jeff Crabtree, Lloyd Bowen, Vern Stierman, William Stumpp, Willie E. Smith
The Imposter (2012)
In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive thousands of miles away…
Genre: Biography, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
The United States of Detroit (2017)
This is a film about the power and necessity of community action in Detroit, and the street level solutions that residents there are finding to make a way in the…
RBG (2018)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg now 84, and still inspired by the lawyers who defended free speech during the Red Scare, Ginsburg refuses to relinquish her passionate duty, steadily fighting for…
Jackass 3D (2010)
Jackass 3D is a 3-D film and the third movie of the Jackass series. It follows the same premise as the first two movies, as well as the TV series….
Genre: Action, Comedy, Documentary
Becoming (2020)
Join former first lady Michelle Obama in an intimate documentary looking at her life, hopes and connection with others as she tours with “Becoming.”
The Great White Silence (1924)
Herbert Ponting travelled to Antarctica as part of Captain Scott’s ill-fated South pole expedition and shot the footage that makes up this extraordinary documentary.
Monkey Kingdom (2015)
A newborn monkey and its mother struggle to survive within the competitive social hierarchy of the Temple Troop, a dynamic group of monkeys who live in ancient ruins found deep…
A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.
JERUSALEM takes audiences on an inspiring and eye-opening tour of one of the worlds oldest and most enigmatic cities. Destroyed and rebuilt countless times over 5000 years, Jerusalem’s enduring appeal…
20 Feet from Stardom (2013)
Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we’ve had no idea who these…
Trailer: The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line712
|
__label__wiki
| 0.723196
| 0.723196
|
These I, Singing in Spring
Walt Whitman (from Leaves of Grass, first published in 1860 edition)
These, I, singing in spring, collect for lovers,
(For who but I should understand lovers, and all their sorrow and joy?
And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
Collecting, I traverse the garden, the world—but soon I pass the gates,
Now along the pond-side—now wading in a little, fearing not the wet,
Now by the post-and-rail fences, where the old stones thrown there, pick’d from the fields, have accumulated,
Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through the stones, and partly cover them—
Beyond these I pass,
Far, far in the forest, before I think where I go,
Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the silence,
Alone I had thought—yet soon a silent troop gathers around me,
Some walk by my side, and some behind, and some embrace my arms or neck,
They, the spirits of friends, dead or alive—thicker they come, a great crowd, and I in the middle,
Collecting, dispensing, singing in spring, there I wander with them,
Plucking something for tokens—tossing toward whoever is near me;
Here! lilac, with a branch of pine,
Here out of my pocket, some moss which I pull’d off a live-oak in Florida, as it hung trailing down,
Here, some pinks and laurel leaves, and a handful of sage,
And here what I now draw from the water, wading in the pond-side,
(O here I last saw him that tenderly loves me—and returns again, never to separate from me,
And this, O this shall henceforth be the token of comrades—this Calamus-root shall,
Interchange it, youths, with each other! Let none render it back!)
And twigs of maple, and a bunch of wild orange, and chestnut,
And stems of currants, and plum-blows, and the aromatic cedar:
These, I, compass’d around by a thick cloud of spirits,
Wandering, point to, or touch as I pass, or throw them loosely from me,
Indicating to each one what he shall have—giving something to each;
But what I drew from the water by the pond-side, that I reserve,
I will give of it—but only to them that love, as I myself am capable of loving.
Doctor Carson's Brouhaha
The newest darling of the GOP, Dr. Benjamin Carson, has attracted controversy this week because of remarks he made while discussing marriage equality on FAUX NOOZ's Sean Hannity show. Here is what Dr. Carson said:
"Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition."
Dr. Carson had been invited to speak at commencement at Johns Hopkins Medical in May; but after the above statement, where he lumps gays in with NAMBLA and BESTIALITY, a group of students is circulating a petition, asking that his invitation be withdrawn.
Some on the right are now saying the left is "going after" Dr. Carson. This is the usual response to hearing criticism when a right winger makes an outrageous remark, and it's hysterical falderol.
Dr. Carson has every right to say what he thinks about gays [that they're in a category with NAMBLA and BESTIALITY]. And those of us who take issue with that insult are perfectly within our right to criticize him for his denigrating remarks. This is exercising our free speech rights. No one's "going after" Dr. Carson. He entered the political arena, therefore, he is now subject to having his statements examined and criticized.
That's how it works.
Dr. Carson is wrong when he says this:
"What I was basically saying is that as far as marriage is concerned that has traditionally been between a man and a woman and nobody should be able to change that."
Marriage, even in the Bible, has also been between a man and several women; and in some cultures around the world, still is. Even fundamentalist Mormons still practice polygamy. So Dr. Carson apparently isn't aware that his understanding of what "traditional" marriage is, is wrong.
Other curiosities about Dr. Carson are his bizarre views on Evolution:
"Ultimately, if you accept the evolutionary theory, you dismiss ethics, you don't have to abide by a set of moral codes, you determine your own conscience based on your own desires."
“You have a theory in which you place your faith, and I have a theory in which I place my faith,” Carson said in a speech. “I say you can believe what you want but I simply don’t have enough faith to believe what you believe. I’m a person of faith so I have to believe in God. You know that always gets them.”
From the Washington Post writing on the above quotes:
"Dr. Carson argues that there is no evidence for evolution, that there are no transitional fossils that provide evidence for the evolution of humans from a common ancestor with other apes, that evolution is a wholly random process, and that life is too complex to have originated by the natural process of evolution. All of these claims are incorrect. The evidence for evolution is overwhelming: ape-human transitional fossils are discovered at an ever increasing rate, and the processes by which organisms evolve new and more complex body plans are now known to be caused by relatively simple alterations of the expression of small numbers of developmental genes. Our understanding of the evolutionary process has advanced our ability to develop animal models for disease, our ability to combat the spread of infectious disease and, in point of fact, the work of Dr. Carson himself is based on scientific advances fostered by an understanding of evolution."
Dr. Carson seems to be the perfect new shiny object for the GOJP: We are told that he's a brilliant pediatric neurosurgeon who doesn't think there's any evidence for evolution, that he believes in traditional marriage between one man and one woman, even if that combination has most definitely NOT been wholly traditional in human experience, and he categorizes gay citizens along with NAMBLA and BEASTIALITY.
A perfect combination for a GOJPers dream candidate. After all, he's passed the test that calls for true acceptance as a true believer in today's GOJP: Religious dogma over facts.
Rational Nation USA has a post up on this subject as well. HERE.
The Grand Old Jurassic Party
Today we take a look at what's happening, or has happened, in GOJP land on economic and social issues:
Walker Wrecks Wisconsin as State Plunges to 44th in Private Sector Job Growth
"Remember when Scott Walker promised 250,000 additional private sector jobs if only the voters would elect him Governor of Wisconsin?
Well, they did, but he hasn’t delivered.
Wisconsin has fallen again, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics report. They are now at 44 out of 50 states for private sector job growth from September 2011 to September 2012."
"...Forbes named Wisconsin one of the worst states for business, somehow claiming that because they weren’t a “right-to-work” state they are flailing, when in reality, Walker’s union busting policies have had plenty of time to attract business, per the Right wing claim. But they haven’t."
In 1995, Texas lawmakers insisted on imposing "abstinence only" as the only standard for sex education in schools across the state:
"The results have been devastating.
In 1992, Texas had the ninth-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country.
By 2008, it had jumped to third-highest. In other categories, the statistics are just as staggering today:
Texas is ahead of the national average in teen births, repeat teen births and high schoolers who have had sex.
The state lags behind the national average in high schoolers who have used a condom or birth control pills for their last sexual encounter. State taxpayers are left with a $1 billion annual bill for teen births. That’s just the beginning.
Babies born to mothers ages 15 to 17 have poorer health, lower cognitive development, do worse in school and have higher incarceration rates. No wonder that, in a poll of bipartisan voters last month, 84 percent of Texans said they favored a comprehensive program that includes teaching abstinence but that also provides scientific-based information.
That approach, abstinence-plus, has been previously endorsed by this newspaper. Rather than embracing the will of the public, state lawmakers, led by Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, are using sex education to push an anti-abortion agenda that would lead to state intervention in local decision-making."
Food Stamp Use is Highest in Red States: The Truth Republicans Do Not Want You to Know
"Economists say that providing food stamps might be the most stimulative action the government can take. Tax cuts for the wealthy ranks around 12th. I'm not against tax cuts for the wealthy out of any disdain for the wealthy.
So, the question is, do Republican approaches work? Who do they work for? Do they work long term?
Charts of food stamp usage show that while a few Democrat-led states have high food stamp usage; food stamp usage is highest consistently across Republican states.
What does that say about the Republican approach...the top down, trickle down theory of economics fails the poor. Under conditions where the poor were helped, one would expect that there would be less reliance on food stamps. People would receive short-term support, a little assistance getting on their feet, maybe some job training, or some assistance paying for community college and would be on their way.
If the poor are uplifted even just slightly then they become tax payers rather than living off food stamps.
Republicans are angry about food stamp usage because they have failed to uplift the poor in their states. The top down, trickle down, economic approach has broken social mobility in Republican led states. Republicans are angry because their failed economic approach leaves them with fewer tax payers and more people on welfare."
Here is an astute analysis:
STEVE ERICKSON FEBRUARY 14, 2013
With its focus on ideological purity, the Republican species is on the brink of extinction.
"The Republican Party is a presidential election away from extinction. If it can’t win the 2016 contest, and unless it has bolstered its congressional presence beyond the benefits of gerrymandered redistricting—which is to say not only retaking the Senate but polling more votes than the opposition nationally—the party will die.
It will die not for reasons of “branding” or marketing or electoral cosmetics but because the party is at odds with the inevitable American trajectory in the direction of liberty, and with its own nature; paradoxically the party of Abraham Lincoln, which once saved the Union and which gives such passionate lip service to constitutionality, has come to embody the values of the Confederacy in its hostility to constitutional federalism and the civil bonds that the founding document codifies.
The Republican Party will vanish not because of what its says but because of what it believes, not because of how it presents itself but because of who it is when it thinks no one is looking."
And lastly, here's another reason why minorities don't like them. (Remember how the GOJP has claimed it must attract Latinos and make them feel welcome in their party?) Now read below how a member of the House of Representatives, without a hint of embarrassment, refers to farm workers. After all, where he comes from, this is probably an acceptable term for Latinos:
"Rep. Don Young (R-AK) used an ethnic slur to describe Mexican farm workers in an interview with a local station KRBD on Thursday. "My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” he said while discussing economic trends of the last few decades. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.” Young's "wetback" remark comes as the GOP is engaged in a large scale effort to win over Latino voters, who have been alienated by party members' anti-immigration rhetoric and policies in recent years."
Note to the GOJP: If you want to be seen as a more inclusive party, it's best that you don't call gay people "filthy."
Geeeez!
Latinos are "wetbacks," gay people are "filthy," women who wish to have their health insurance include contraception coverage are "sluts," and African-Americans stay with the Democratic Party because they're too stupid to know any better?
And this Michigan Republican says gays are responsible for half the murders in cities! Where do they get these idiots? I mean, does the GOJP send out flyers asking for the craziest, dumbest people to join them and become leaders? It certainly seems so.
Whew! And they wonder why minorities don't go near this party.
Dumb is too kind a word.
All Eyes and Ears On SCOTUS This Week
Blockbuster cases to be heard on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week:
California's Proposition 8:
"The Supreme Court will take up a challenge...to California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure which amends the state’s constitution to hold that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
The outcome could range from requiring all states to accept gay marriage or decreeing such bans constitutional. The justices could also dodge the issue."
And DOMA:
"The Court could determine that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection for all under the law. In that scenario, gay couples in states like Massachusetts and Maine would begin to receive federal perks for married couples such as retirement and tax benefits.
The reach of such a decision would be important for future gay marriage battles. “Of course, if they strike it down they could write the opinion narrowly, just about Section 3 of DOMA, or broadly in a way that recognizes a constitutional right to marriage equality,” says Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at UC-Irvine."
Polls in 2013
A March Washington Post poll shows that 58% of Americans support same-sex marriage while 36% oppose. The poll indicates that 52% of GOP-leaning independents under 50 years old now support gay marriage.
A March Quinnipiac University poll found 47% support and 43% opposed among all voters.
A March Fox News poll indicated that 46% of Americans both support and oppose same-sex marriage.
A February 6-10 CBS News Poll shows that 54% of Americans support same-sex marriage while 46% oppose.
As the above polls indicate, a majority of Americas have come to understand that marriage equality is a civil right, not a privilege, and marriage equality certainly should not be denied through religious prohibitions that would be imposed on a secular society such as ours. No religious organization will be forced to perform marriages it is opposed to. So those who object to marriage equality can rest assured that if his or her religion forbids such unions, his or her place of worship is in no danger. Happily there are religions that have embraced marriage equality and welcome couples who wish to marry into their community.
Unfortunately many Americans still do not support this basic civil right: Marriage equality:
"Among G.O.P. Voters, Little Support for Same-Sex Marriage
By NATE SILVER
The decision by the Senator Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, to announce his support for same-sex marriage may come to be seen as a watershed moment for gay rights advocates.
Mr. Portman’s announcement, which he said he made in part because his son is gay, has so far yielded relatively little pushback from Republicans on blogs and social media, or from other Republican office-holders. Instead, gay rights advocates are increasingly finding support from influential Republicans.
But the rank and file of the Republican Party may be different, and the polling suggests that they have largely not changed their views on same-sex marriage."
I remain very hopeful that the SCOTUS will rule favorably later this year on these two issues, since I cannot find any legal or moral reason that it should not. I'm pretty certain all of us know gays and lesbians either through our circle of friends or through family members; and any arguments against extending equal rights to our LGBT family and friends would be a step backward and a betrayal of the fundamental guarantees America was founded on.
Let's hope America does the moral and just thing in this case.
Sunday Poetry
I wrote this poem a while back in free verse form and had it workshopped. The participants in the poetry workshop liked it well enough, but Lucie Brock-Broido, who ran the workshop, suggested I put it in sonnet form.
C(LOVE)
The evening’s air is sweet with new mown grass,
I know what lies ahead. The candle’s lit,
we are alone. I touch with tenderness
your bulbous form, peel back your papery skin,
reveal your glossy flesh, as sleek as pearl.
I gently pull apart each clove, I press
you to my lips and am enflamed--your oil,
your pungent scent, your promise of a sauce,
a broth, or piquant aglio olio dip.
I chop and crush, you satisfy my need,
surrender all your fire, your creamy pulp,
your lusciousness. O little passion bead,
I’ll always keep you near to me, that we
may ever share this allium ecstasy.
--S.K.
HEAD EXPLOSION ALERT!
Wait until the frightwingers hear about this!
Brits name Michelle Obama as their fashion queen :
All hail the foremost representative of fashion royalty! A British magazine created this image of Michelle Obama as a queen to promote its best-dressed list.
"Michelle Obama might still be regarded as a polarizing figure in America, but the Brits are less divided in their feelings about her — especially in their appreciation of her fashion sense.
The famously choosy Sunday Times Style Magazine named the first lady to the top of its best-dressed list and put a tiara-bedecked Obama in profile in the queen's spot on a first-class stamp.
This has been a high-water mark for the first lady and her sartorial influence.
The fashion-savvy Obama, who has championed American designers such as Jason Wu and Tracey Reese, is also on the cover of Vogue's influential March issue."
Michelle Obama might be regarded as a polarizing figure only because those on the extreme right make her so.
She is an intelligent, caring, dignified, and lovely First Lady who is admired around the world and here in her own country.
There will always be malcontents who envy or hate her and wish to bring her down. I've been to conservative blogs where they post racist links to try to diminish her. That sort of creepy hatred doesn't affect her one jot.
Those unhappy creatures who continue to disrespect Mrs. Obama will themselves be eaten up by their own nastiness.
"Hating someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."
HEAD EXPLOSION ALERT!!!
What did I tell ya? Here's the first comment on this post about the FLOTUS, and just after the "Texas conservative" took the time to come here, write it, and hit "publish", I heard a terrible EXPLOSION! And bits of crania fell on my roof! Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.
Poor commenter haz a sad! Because Michelle Obama!
From Texas conservative @1:23 PM
"Did you ever read such crap before in your life as this CRAP about MOOCHELLE Obama the Wicked Witch of the West Wing? And why is this Nazis FORCING my kids to eat the food that she wants them to eat? If the libtards are nuts over her then let them, and tell her to STFU."
Normally I delete trolls, but this comment so perfectly illustrates the bile (and illiteracy) that churns in the minds of these sorts of malcontents. Whomever "Texas conservative" is, I thank him or her for his or her cooperation in proving my point.
OMG! There's this, too?! Both Obamas in one week!
What will we tell the children?
Miss Israel: Obama ‘world-class hunk’
President Obama Receives Highest Civilian Honor from Israel
Obama first sitting president to receive Medal of Distinction in Israel
"President Obama received Israel’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Distinction presented by President Shimon Peres at a state dinner."
Barack Obama visited Israel in the third month of his second term in office.
George W. Bush went during the last year of his presidency and his father, George H. W. Bush never went.
You know who else never went to Israel during his 8 years in office?
If you said Ronald Reagan, you'd be correct.
So, to review, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, all went to Israel during their presidencies, while Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush never went, and George W. Bush went in the LAST year of his presidency.
And how many times have I read on rightwing blogs that President Obama disrespects Israel? Is no friend of Israel?
And those bloggers obviously don't know what they're talking about.
By MARY BRUCE (@marykbruce) and JONATHAN KARL (@jonkarl)
JERUSALEM, March 20, 2013
"Seeking to reassure the United States's primary ally in the Middle East, President Obama today told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his administration remains committed to doing "what is necessary" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "We do not have a policy of containment when it comes to a nuclear Iran. Our policy is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,"
Obama told reporters at a joint press conference after a series of closed-door meetings with Israeli leaders. "The United States will continue to consult closely with Israel on next steps. And I will repeat, all options are on the table," he said. It's no secret that Obama and Netanyahu have had a rocky relationship, although it was hard to tell by the way the two leaders publicly lauded each other and joked around.
During the American presidential campaign, Republicans alleged that President Obama was not committed to protecting Israel, but today Obama and "Bibi," as he called him, appeared at ease in front of the press.
Netanyahu even placed Obama's commitment to Israel's right of self-defense above that of any other U.S. president."
To the misinformed wingers who disparage this president and his relations with Israel?
Do your homework.
Haaretz:
When love was here for a royal visit
The whole point of Obama's trip to Israel is the pep talk for peace that he delivered in Jerusalem. Peace, the president said, is necessary, just and possible.
David Horovitz in the Times of Israel
"It was a deft, brilliantly conceived speech. He told Israelis how moral they are, how admirably creative they are, how smart with those 10 Nobel prizes, how democratic, how prosperous, and how mighty — the most powerful country in the region. He told them that the world’s strongest nation stood unshakably with them. “So long as there is a United States of America, Atem Lo Levad” — you are not alone.
And having built them up, convinced them of their near-invincibility, he showed them a theoretical future that he insisted could be realized if they would only trust in their strength sufficiently to take risks for peace. A future in which the security threats will recede. The prosperity will increase. The moral stain of occupation will disappear. All it takes is that determined, constant push for peace. How could they refuse him?"
Yossi Klein Halevi calls it perhaps ” the most passionate Zionist speech ever given by an American president”:
"Of course, his embrace had an explicit message for Israelis: Don’t give up on the dream of peace and don’t forget that the Palestinians deserve a state just as you do. But as the repeated ovations from the politically and culturally diverse audience revealed, these are messages that Israelis can hear when couched in affection and solidarity. After four years of missed signals, Obama finally realized that Israelis respond far more to love than to pressure."
What The Gobshites* Are Saying on the Intertoobz
I went blog-hopping this morning to see what our conservative/libertarian friends were writing about and came across a couple of posts purporting to be about race, racialists, and racism. The first one I read begins with definitions on what racism and the term "racist" is, then it devolved into the same old biased, ignorant rant against the president, thereby proving, to me at least, that people of a certain political persuasion haven't the ability to discuss these issues with any sense of their own deep-seated bigotry and biases. This particular screed continued with a grossly insulting reference to liberals/progressives and the entire African-American community:
"There is simply no other way to explain the concerted effort among progressive communists to keep American blacks poor, ignorant, and dependent upon government for their sense of self-worth."
First off, who are these "progressive communists" who have the legislative power in Washington or in local governments to "...keep American blacks poor, ignorant, and dependent upon government...?"
The writer shows his crass bigotry toward African-Americans by his gross generalization of an entire group of people. His lazy statement contains the idea that all American blacks are so poor, so stupid, and so helpless that they haven't the ability to see that progressives/liberals are keeping them that way? This demeaning premise is probably one of the most racially loaded statements to be read anywhere by anyone, and it is a great insight into exactly why 98% of our African-American citizens reject the Republican Party.
Hint to GOP: When you keep telling a huge percentage of our population that they're too stupid to know what's good for them, those same people are not likely to want to join your club.
The GOP believes African-Americans are all helpless moochers who haven't the ability to think for themselves, and that African-Americans stay within the Democratic Party because the Democrats give them "stuff." The blogger who posted this piece of gobshite, and others who nod their head in smug agreement, can't accept that almost a majority of our African-American brothers and sisters belong to the Democratic Party through their own free will and choosing and that they make that choice with intelligence and by understanding what a good many GOPers secretly believe of them.
Go read that blogger's statement again and understand how biased and bigoted it is.
The blogger continues this phony examination of racism and racists by launching into the usual Teapublican attack on President Obama, after telling us that African-Americans are too stupid to think for themselves and by quoting some right-wing writer's 2008 biased and inaccurate description of President Obama:
"Dr. Jack Wheeler, who in 2008 wrote: 'Barack Hussein Obama is an eloquently tailored empty suit. He has no resume, no accomplishments, no experience, no original ideas, no understanding of how our economy works, no understanding of how the world works, no balls … nothing, in fact, but abstract, empty rhetoric devoid of substance.
'The man has no identity; he is half white, which he rejects.
The rest of him is mostly Arab, which he hides but is disclosed by his non-African surname and his Arabic first and middle names, proclaiming his Arab parentage to people in Kenya. Only a small part of him is black African from his Luo grandmother, which he pretends he is exclusively.
“What he is not, what he is not even a genetic drop of, is ‘African American.’ He is not the descendent of enslaved Africans brought to the Americas chained in slave ships. He hasn’t a single ancestor who was a slave. Instead, his Arab ancestors were slave owners. They were profitable slave-trading Muslims —until the British ended it.” This is the real Barack Obama, who in their infinite wisdom the American people elected —twice."
"Was Jack Wheeler a racist, or was he simply making an astute observation?
Yes. I call this Wheeler person a racist AND excruciatingly stupid.
But wait, because this Wheeler character's body was found somewhere on a trash heap, the writer connects it immediately, with no evidence whatsoever except his galloping biases, to "Chicago politics," code words for Barack Obama, since that's where he and most of his political allies came from:
"Among a few, then, it was no surprise that Jack Wheeler’s body turned up on a trash heap. Some would describe his murder as his likely comeuppance. Others might call it Chicago politics ... the kind of gangsterism we've come to expect from Eric Holder, who sold guns to Mexican drug gangs in order to make a case against our Second Amendment rights..."
It's impossible to have a discussion with people like the person who quoted this mish-mash of bigotry, innuendo, and lies. They see Mr. Obama as an interloper who has no right to be in the White House.
No other president has ever been subjected to a continuous assault on his birth, his heritage, his relatives, and his ancestors.
There is a reason for this, my friends.
You figure it out.
The person who wrote and quoted that pile of feculence certainly can't.
*Gobshites: h/t Charles Pierce
George and Tony's Excellent Adventure in Iraq.
Coming up to the ten-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, more information on the false premise for going to war--Saddam Hussein's WMDs, has become public. And it confirms what many of us have been saying for the past ten years: There were no WMDs.
The fake-threat of WMDs was sexed up by Bush and Blair to get the USA and the United Kingdom frightened enough to send their blood and treasure to fight their war. Ten years later and hundreds of thousands of dead Americans, Iraqis, and other nationals, and trillions of dollars that plunged us into debt, what have we to show for it?
"Prior to the war, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a threat to their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. In 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441 which called for Iraq to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was not in possession of WMD and cruise missiles.
Prior to the attack, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) found no evidence of WMD, but could not yet verify the accuracy of Iraq's declarations regarding what weapons it possessed. After investigation following the invasion, the U.S.‑led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its nuclear, chemical and biological programs in 1991 and had no active programs at the time of the invasion, but that they intended to resume production if the Iraq sanctions were lifted.
Although some degraded remnants of misplaced or abandoned chemical weapons from before 1991 were found, they were not the weapons which had been one of the main arguments for the invasion. Some U.S. officials also accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, but no evidence of a meaningful connection was ever found." --Wikipedia
By Tom Whitehead, and Duncan Gardham
11:42PM GMT
"The US and UK are accused of relying on questionable information that suggested Saddam Hussein was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), despite warnings over its authenticity. At the same time, other foreign intelligence that suggested no such programme existed was dismissed, according to a BBC Panorama investigation. One Iraqi spy – codenamed "Curveball" – whose claims to have witnessed the manufacture of WMD were seized upon by the Americans told the programme the invasion had been based on his 'lie'.
Lord Butler, who, a year after the invasion, carried out a British review of the intelligence used, admitted that he was unaware that two senior members of Saddam's regime had secretly told the CIA and MI6 that WMD did not exist. The documentary will reignite questions over the legality and justification of the Iraq war. One source told the programme the conflict was borne out of "choice" rather than 'necessity'."
New evidence: CIA and MI6 were told before invasion that Iraq had no active WMD
"BBC’s Panorama reveals fresh evidence that agencies dismissed intelligence from Iraq foreign minister and spy chief Fresh evidence is revealed today about how MI6 and the CIA were told through secret channels by Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister and his head of intelligence that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair told parliament before the war that intelligence showed Iraq’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programme was 'active', 'growing' and 'up and running'."
CIA and MI6 knew Iraq had no WMDs BBC Panorama to claim
All lies; all hubris
The Bush Administration dragged the US and other countries into an illegal war based on lies.
Here are the costs in human life and debt we must live with for years and years to come:
190,000 lives lost, $2.2 trillion cost - Looking back at decade since start of Iraq War
"In the decade since its beginning, the Iraq War has claimed more than 190,000 lives, including 7,888 American military personnel and contractors, according to a new comprehensive study of the war. In recognition of the 10 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 19, Brown University has released The Cost of War project, an analysis of the direct and indirect human, economic and social cost of the war. Here's a by-the-numbers look at some of the major findings:
$2.2 trillion – The cost of the Iraq War, including cost related to caring for veterans.
Initial estimates were $50-60 billion. $500 billion –
The cost of caring for Iraq War veterans through 2053. 134,000 –
The number of Iraqi civilians who died of direct war violence.
That number is about 70 percent of total war deaths.
4,488 – The number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq."
With the tax dollars the US spent for a failed state and the terrible consequences of war, it could have brought health care to every man, woman, and child in the US. Our priorities appear to be those of an empire in decline.
And last but not at all the least, the spittle-combed neocon who helped deceive Americans into supporting his war of choice, Paul Wolfowitz:
10 Years On, Paul Wolfowitz Admits U.S. Bungled in Iraq
"In an interview with The Sunday Times to mark the 10th anniversary of the Iraq invasion, he said there 'should have been Iraqi leadership from the beginning', rather than a 14-month occupation led by an American viceroy and based on 'this idea that we’re going to come in like [General Douglas] MacArthur in Japan and write the constitution for them'.
He accepted that too many Iraqis were excluded by a programme to purge members of the ruling Ba’ath party, that the dissolution of the Iraqi army was botched and that the 'biggest hole' in post-war planning was not to anticipate the possibility of an insurgency. 'The most consequential failure was to understand the tenacity of Saddam’s regime,' he said."
Hubris.
We can thank President George W. Bush for the horror that was, and still is, Iraq, the thousands of lives lost, and the pillaging of the US treasury to pay for his Miserable Failure.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to All My Irish Family and Friends!
And from the incomparable Flann O'Brien/Brian O'Nolan, one of my favorite Irish writers:
Brian O'Nolan/Flann O'Brien, Myles na gCopaleen
Wealth Inequality in America
It's not what you think it is:
The Dystopian Dream for America, brought to us by conservative and libertarian ideology.
The conservative/libertarian ideal is to shrink government so that it will drown in a bathtub.
No Medicare, no Medicaid, kill Obamacare, and other safety nets for the poorest of the poor. Only charities and vouchers for a country of 311 million people.
Oh, and a bazooka and AK-47 in every pot.
BTW, no birth control for you, lady, it's immoral!
Is this their "vision" for America?
Donald Trump Speaks to CPAC's Empty Chairs!
Donald Trump: "Birth certificate...blah, blah, blah...college transcripts...blah, blah, blah...my people are finding amazing things about...blah, blah, blah...Obama...blah, blah, blah.
His own people didn't show up to listen to the braying jackass.
And remember: This clown was invited to CPAC, and Chris Christie, a very popular conservative governor of a very liberal state, wasn't.
Can the GOP be any more self-destructive than that?
PAUL RYAN STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT HE AND MITT LOST THE ELECTION
During the campaign, Ryan claimed that the election would be a choice between two fundamentally different visions for America, and the American people fundamentally REJECTED Ryan's and Romney's visions. In fact, Ryan's own home town and home state rejected him, and every one of Romney's home states, Michigan, Massachusetts, and California, REJECTED him. What don't they understand about this total rejection by the American people?
During the campaign, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the Ryan budget "immoral." Ryan loves to talk about his devotion to his religion, and yet he appears not to know the fundamentals of his savior, Jesus's, message. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called him out on his merciless budget plan that would comfort the already comfortable and afflict the already afflicted.
From Andrew Sullivan's blog "The Daily Dish:"
"...Ryan's budget is as notable for what it cuts as for what it doesn’t cut. Social Security, defense, and Medicare — together making up about half of the federal budget — would scarcely be cut at all. After all, it’s hard to win a Republican election if you abandon old voters and the defense industry.
As for health care and cash support for the poor? That’s where the hammer hits. Jon Cohn adds: The report’s distinct treatment of defense and non-defense spending is actually a great window into Ryan’s fundamental philosophy. The section on defense spending has long passages about the importance of national security and the dangers of intemperate cuts. Rooting out waste is important, the document says, but it must be done carefully.
The section on the social safety net has virtually no similar language. A reader unfamiliar with the reality of American life would have no idea that millions of Americans live in poverty—that they struggle, every day, to pay for bare necessities like gas, rent, and food. Of course, if “The Path to Prosperity” mentioned those things, readers might want to know what Ryan proposed to do about them. But Ryan doesn’t propose meaningful substitutes for the support he’d take away. Instead, he puts his faith in the strength of individuals and communities to help those who struggle.
The absence of defense cuts reveals that this is not about fiscal conservatism; it’s about a society that celebrates soaring inequality while attempting to remain the sole global hegemon. It’s almost a parody of a document of how a democracy perishes – because its social contract ends with two utterly separate nations of “hyper-rich” and “always-struggling”, it delegitimizes capitalism by rewarding and even celebrating its abusers, and because its premature austerity could well increase the long-term debt, rather than lower it. It’s a high school term paper of utopianism.
And it’s all Paul Ryan knows."
Here's Ryan in his own words:
"This to us is something that we're not going to give up on, because we're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people."
There it is people. What could be plainer than that?
America's very own zombie-eyed granny starver, but he loves Jesus!
Ayn Rand would be so proud. Not to mention that she died while living off public assistance and receiving Medicare because she smoked herself to death. And Ryan himself used publicly financed student loans to get through school just in time to cut the same programs for everyone else.
Paul Ryan has not worked a single day in his adult life outside of government. He IS government. The kind that likes to tell people how EEEEvul and liberty-killing it is while taking all of its benefits and working to keep them away from everyone else.
"...Paul Ryan is a charlatan, and not a very subtle one."
Bill Maher points out how everything's become political, even our beer!
(I'm out of town for a few days. No intertoobz while away. See you on Wednesday.)
Massachusetts Sculptor and Musician, Jack Vasapoli
My cousin, Jack Vasapoli, is a sculptor and musician [he plays the alto sax with a local band, The Swamptones].
Over the last 30 years he has carved in wood images of some of our greatest jazz musicians. In the spring of 2012, he had a one-man show at The Brooks School in Andover, Mass.
This February and March, Buckingham, Browne and Nichols is featuring a one-man show of Jack's remarkable sculptures of America's legends of music.
More images of Jack's work HERE.
Bravo, Jack!
Powerful, Rich White Guy, Roger Ailes, Calls POTUS "Lazy." Antonin Scalia Sticks Fingers in Ears, Yells La-La-La, I Can't HEAR You!.
Let's see.
The less than august Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, makes a statement claiming we're no longer a racist nation, we're all over that; therefore, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is not needed in our racially sensitive and racially healthy, non-bigoted country.
Then we read this from Roger Ailes of the MOST WATCHED cable news station in this country:
“Obama’s the one who never worked a day in his life. He never earned a penny that wasn’t public money.
How many fund-raisers does he attend every week?
How often does he play basketball and golf?
I wish I had that kind of time.
He’s lazy, but the media won’t report that.
So Fox News' chief said the President is a lazy black man who lives off public money and loves to play basketball."
For the record, Obama taught law at a private university and worked at a law firm, so Ailes is not only peddling racist garbage, he's peddling lies. Also he's a racist swine.
Now let's talk about someone who spent his ENTIRE life benefiting from government help and working for the government. As an adult, this guy never held a job outside of government. But would Roger Ailes call him LAZY, living off of public money? Hmmmmm.
Perhaps the two photos below can explain why.
See, President Obama did actually work in the private sector, and he has been president of the US for over four years, a not-for-the lazy, stressful, difficult job, made even more so by the obstructionist, sabotaging lie-mongerers in the GOP who, in addition to vowing to never cooperate and never compromise with the president, have happily kept alive the suspicion, held by certain morons in their party, that he isn't even an American. Also, those same cementheads in that unfortunate political party continue to slander and slur his wife, our FLOTUS.
The guy in the second photo below hoped to be the next vice president of the US, and probably will run for the presidency at some point in his all-government, all-the-time career.
Can we guess how many cable news moguls will call the guy in the second photo "LAZY?"
I'm gonna go out on a thin limb and guess "none."
Can you figure out why?
But...but...we don't need special laws to protect certain people's right to vote, because ANTONIN SCALIA and ROGER AILES!
Go read Smartypants on this subject right now!
And then this by Ta-Nahisi Coats in the New York Times.
We Crazy!
Things that don't make sense:
Guns kill more people. So why does terrorism get all the attention?
"The next time you play airport security theater — remove shoes, display laptop, toss water bottle — think of the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Think of the moviegoers in Aurora, Colo., the citizens in Tucson peaceably assembled to meet with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the worshippers at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., and Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year-old Chicago girl killed by gunfire days after coming to Washington with her high school band for President Obama’s second inauguration.
A commemoration of the march is scheduled to begin Sunday in Selma, led by Mr. Lewis and Vice President Joseph Biden Jr., and will end in Montgomery on Friday. Its urgent purpose is to underscore why the Supreme Court must uphold a central provision of the Voting Rights Act, which is now under challenge in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder. That provision — Section 5 — applies in Alabama and other places where voting discrimination remains much worse than elsewhere in the country. It requires that any change in voting rules be preapproved by the Justice Department or a special court in Washington. Without this provision, there would be no way to prevent new efforts to block blacks and Hispanics from voting or to reduce their electoral power.
Americans suffer assaults on their privacy — they are groped in public and wiretapped en masse — and surrender their constitutional protections against unwarranted searches in the name of the war on terror, yet they cannot muster the will to protect children from mass murder with military-style weapons. We have spent more than $1 trillion on homeland security since Sept. 11, 2001, yet have withheld annual funding of less than $3 million for research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on gun violence."
Get rid of the Voting Rights Act because Antonin Scalia is a proud white man?
"March 7, 1965, became known as Bloody Sunday in the annals of the civil rights struggle in America. That day, around 500 people set out to march the 54 miles from Selma, Ala., to the state capital in Montgomery in support of what would become the Voting Rights Act. The voting rights movement was transformed into a national cause when the marchers were stopped on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they left Selma.
A state trooper told them they were “an unlawful assembly” and ordered them to disperse. When they did not, they were attacked by about 150 troopers and others who wielded billy clubs and tear gas. Fifty-eight people were treated for injuries at a local hospital, including Representative John Lewis, then 25 and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, for a skull fracture.
The justices heard oral argument on the Shelby County case last Wednesday. This week’s events in Alabama should remind them of the enormous cost many Americans have paid to win the right to vote, and why that remains under persistent threat and must be defended." --Lincoln Caplan, NYTimes, March 2, 2013
Leonard Pitts on gutting the Voting Rights Act:
"Watching media empires built upon appeals to racial resentment, seeing the injustice system wield mass incarceration as a weapon against black men, bearing witness as the first African-American president produced his long form birth certificate, all helped me understand just how silly we were to believe bigotry was done. So a chill crawled my spine last week as the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could result in gutting the Voting Rights Act.
That landmark 1965 legislation gave the ballot to black voters who had previously been denied it by discriminatory laws, economic threats, violence and by registrars who challenged them with nonsense questions like, “How many bubbles are in a bar of soap.”
Jon Stewart explain "teh crazy."
More things that don't make sense:
Why do people believe ANYTHING they get from The Daily Caller, or the vomitous Breitbart.crap?
The story about Senator Menendez has been racing around wingnuttia and not a few easily duped blogs for months and has finally been shown to be false, false, FALSE.
Is there anything that the pathetic little bow-tied twit, Tucker Carlson can do right? He and his fellow travelers at Breitbart.vomit continue to give a bad name to stupidity.
From Andrew Sullivan's blog:
"This is a pretty definitive exposure of a total fabrication in the Daily Caller. But along with its sister propaganda sheet, Breitbart, what defines this new form of hackery is not that it makes shit up, but that even when it is busted, it keeps up the Baghdad Bob routine. its imperviousness to truth even when it is presented with it. The detachment from reality – the strongest feature of today’s degenerate Republicanism – is embedded in its own fabricated media. That’s partly why they were living in never-never-land even on election day last November. Another piece detailing the DC’s being a party to a con, concludes, after ABC News destroyed the lies: The ABC News story isn’t a game changer; it’s a game ender.
Not if you live in what’s left of Tucker Carlson’s brain."
President Obama Receives Highest Civilian Honor fr...
Happy St. Patrick's Day to All My Irish Family and...
PAUL RYAN STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT HE AND MIT...
Powerful, Rich White Guy, Roger Ailes, Calls POTUS...
The Attack from the Right on the Voting Rights Act
Chief Justice Roberts Gets It WRONG on Massachuset...
Sequestration Facts
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line713
|
__label__wiki
| 0.974048
| 0.974048
|
Home » Business » A 4-Day Workweek for 5 Days’ Pay? Unilever New Zealand Is the Latest to Try
A 4-Day Workweek for 5 Days’ Pay? Unilever New Zealand Is the Latest to Try
Unilever New Zealand said it would begin a one-year experiment to allow all 81 of its employees to earn their full salaries while working one day fewer per week, a move the company said might actually boost productivity and improve employees’ work-life balance.
The company, which imports and distributes Lipton tea, Dove soap, Vaseline and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, is the latest to experiment with the long-discussed four-day workweek. Some business and productivity experts say the concept may finally get a serious look amid a pandemic that has altered how billions live and work around the globe.
Nick Bangs, managing director of Unilever New Zealand, said the four-day-week experiment represented a fundamental shift in how the company views its work force.
“Our goal is to measure performance on output, not time,” Mr. Bangs said in a statement. “We believe the old ways of working are outdated and no longer fit for purpose.”
The goal, he said in an email, is to get the same amount of work done in fewer hours for the same pay. “If we find that we’re all working the same number of hours as before but in four days, then we’ve missed the opportunity this trial presents us with,” he said.
Essentially, Unilever is testing what the British historian and writer C. Northcote Parkinson theorized was the nature of man and time. “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” he wrote in 1955.
The concept has been widely disseminated — it was in the first sentence of Mr. Parkinson’s New York Times obituary — and has filtered its way into popular thinking. Michael Scott, the bumbling manager of a regional midsize paper distributor in NBC’s “The Office,” demonstrated a working knowledge of the idea in a conversation with his supervisor, Jan Levinson, after she caught him watching television with his staff during work hours.
Jan: How would a movie increase productivity, Michael? How on earth would it do that?
Michael: People work faster after.
Jan: Magically?
Michael: No, they have to make up for the time they lost watching the movie.
Mr. Bangs, luckily, is relying on more than just Michael Scott witticism. Experts at the University of Technology Sydney Business School are consulting with the company, as is Andrew Barnes, founder of Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand firm that shifted to a shortened workweek in 2018.
“A contract should be about an agreed level of productivity,” Mr. Barnes said at the time. “If you deliver that in less time, why should I cut your pay?”
The move to a four-day workweek has been kicked around for decades, well before Richard M. Nixon, as vice president in 1956, predicted it would come to pass in the “not too distant future.”
Still, it has remained elusive. Though technology has made employees more productive (thanks, email!), it has not led to employees’ working fewer hours (thanks again, email!).
And, in a work-centric culture, people simply are not wired to unplug from the office, particularly in industries like finance, medicine and consulting, according to Paolo Gaudiano, an adjunct associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
“Here are these fields where it’s expected that you’re going to work insane hours that will burn you out and will make you miserable, and it’s almost like you have to prove that you can do that in order to survive,” Mr. Gaudiano said. “And certainly New York has its fair share of large companies in all of those spaces.” (Even the New York Stock Exchange experimented with a truncated workweek in the 1960s, to give firms a chance to catch up on unprocessed paperwork.)
Societal changes, like the push to work remotely, “might lead to a reformulation of what success actually requires,” Mr. Gaudiano said.
The push to be more productive with less time has created a cottage industry of productivity experts like Chris Bailey, the author of the books “The Productivity Project” and “Hyperfocus.”
Producing 40 hours of work in 32 hours takes more than a firm deadline, he said. The other ingredients are energy and attention.
“If we are burned out, there goes our productivity,” Mr. Bailey said. “It doesn’t matter how well we can manage our time.”
Even with all the right ingredients, it can be hard to actually see productivity, according to Mr. Bailey, who cautioned against using old metrics to gauge what he calls “knowledge work.”
“We tend to look for proof that other people are productive,” he said. For repetitive, easy-to-quantify work (entering sales of paper into a computer, for example), that’s easy. For knowledge work, which is more creative and harder-to-measure work (managing a team of paper sales representatives), it is best to look at impact, not activity, Mr. Bailey said.
“When we do knowledge work for a living, it’s not as though we can measure how many widgets somebody made at the end of the day,” he said.
Still, even avid supporters of the four-day workweek are not always in a position to put it in place.
Andrew Yang, who ran for president in this year’s Democratic primary, is a longtime advocate of shorter workweeks. Before his campaign, as chief executive of an educational company, he frequently let employees go home early on Friday, as the company did not offer classes those evenings.
“So Fridays tended to be quieter days when we tried to do projects and reflect,” Mr. Yang said in an interview on Tuesday. “But sometimes that really meant people were really just chilling.”
He would let people go at 3:30 or 4 p.m., which “made me seem like a generous boss,” Mr. Yang said. “But it does make one reflect: Did they need to be there between 9 and 4 that day, really?”
As a candidate, though, no luck. “When I was running for president, if I had said, ‘Hey guys, like, I’m going to take Friday through Sunday off,’ then the campaign would never had gone anywhere,” Mr. Yang said.
Still, Mr. Yang said early adapters of this concept would attract the best talent.
“This is a way to compete smart,” he said. “If there is an enlightened company that does this, they are going to have their pick of the best people in the industry and those people are going to be extraordinarily loyal.”
As for Mr. Bangs in New Zealand, he is leading by example.
“Yes, I will be working a four-day week,” he said. “I have three young children, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with them, as well as using the extra time to learn new skills.”
Global banks ramp up preparations for U.S. election night chaos, sources say
UOB to expand wealth management services on mobile app
Who Postpones Black Friday? This Year, the French
U.S. labor market unexpectedly improves; recovery years away
ManagementNew ZWorking Hours
Previous Post:Lord Maginnis facing 18-month suspension for bullying and homophobic comments
Next Post:Express Widens Losses By $90 Million; Reveals Job Cuts
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line714
|
__label__wiki
| 0.65032
| 0.65032
|
Property Investment Sydney
Population growth in Victoria — from slow growth to woah growth
Latest, Property Investment, Property Investment Sydney
Cast your mind back to the early 1990s — Australia was in the midst of the recession that we had to have, Paul Keating (who coined the phrase) was the Prime Minister, grunge ruled the music industry and there was no Internet.
Australia’s population was 18.2 million, growing by around 1.1% on average in the first half of the 1990s.
Compare this with the 1.6% recorded in 2016-17, and though it may not seem like a huge difference, there’s little doubt that the population discourse is now centred around the rapid growth in Australia’s largest cities and the challenges this creates.
However, population growth is not spread evenly, and the state of Victoria illustrates this well.
It’s a great example of a place where the population dynamics have completely turned around in the course of little more than two decades — from slow growth to woah growth.
Population growth in Victoria during the 1990s.
The early 1990s recession hit Victoria hard both economically and socially.
Job losses in the manufacturing sector and crises in the banking sector had ramifications through the economy.
The unemployment rate was above 10% from June 1991 to October 1994.
Between 1991-96, thepopulation growth rate averaged 0.5%.
In the 12 months ended June 1994, just 10,200 people were added to the population.
This was driven by a high level of migration out of the State, reaching almost 30,000.
To put this in perspective, that is the equivalent of losing a town around the size of Warrnambool.
The economy slowly recovered in the second half of the decade and population growth increased, averaging 1.0% over the period 1996-2001.
Population growth in Victoria, 2016-17
Twenty or so years later it’s a completely different picture.
In 2016-17, Victoria was by far and away the fastest growing State in Australia, recording growth of 2.3% in 2016-17, or more than 144,300 people.
Growth was driven by both migration from overseas and interstate, as well as natural increase (births minus deaths).
About 60% of growth was attributable to net overseas migration.
That Victoria gained more than 17,000 people from other parts of Australia is a huge turnaround for a state that has traditionally lost population through interstate migration.
In fact, the gain of 17,100 was only just surpassed by Queensland’s gain of 17,430 — Queensland of course a state that has a long tradition of gaining population through interstate migration.
Where is population growth occurring in Victoria?
Population growth in Victoria is spatially concentrated and generally reflects long standing trends.
Greater Melbourne grew by 2.7% during 2016-17, representing more than 125,000 people or 86% of Victoria’s total population growth.
At June 2017 Melbourne’s population was 4,850,740 and at the current rate of growth the 5 million milestone will likely be hit before the decade is over.
The map below shows the population growth rate by LGA in Victoria during 2016-17.
Areas with darker blue shading grew strongly, whereas those shaded red lost population over that time.
The LGA that recorded the highest growth rate in Victoria was the City of Melbourne (8.1%), or almost 12,000 people.
This reflects the construction of a large number of apartment buildings in and around the city, and also the high level of overseas migration.
Many overseas migrants are students and other young people who move to the city and surrounds to access education, employment and lifestyle opportunities.
Other strong growing LGAs (more than 4%) were located on the Melbourne metropolitan fringe and this reflects trends that have been occurring for a number of years.
Wyndham continues its rapid growth, recording a growth rate of 6.1%, or 13,810 persons to reach a population of 241,900.
The urban footprint of Wyndham continues to expand north and west, with several new housing estates under construction in Tarneit and Truganina.
Cardinia and Melton also grew strongly (both 5.0%), followed by Casey (4.4%) and Hume (4.1%).
Casey is Victoria’s largest LGA in terms of population size, and its growth rate of 4.4% represents an increase of 13,860 persons — slightly more than faster growing Wyndham.
The fastest growing LGAs in regional Victoria were generally located around the Melbourne metropolitan perimeter or along the coast.
Surf Coast, located south west of Geelong and incorporating rapidly growing towns such as Torquay, grew by 2.9%.
Much of this growth is located in the northern part of the Shire, adjacent to the Geelong metropolitan area and with good access to that job market.
Baw Baw and Mitchell both grew by 2.8%, both areas containing greenfield development opportunities that attract families seeking relatively affordable housing in a semi-rural environment but with access to the Melbourne employment market.
What areas are losing population?
There were no LGAs in metropolitan Melbourne that lost population in 2016-17.
Frankston, Knox and Nillumbik all grew by less than 1%.
All are established suburban areas with few opportunities for larger greenfield developments, and Nillumbik’s development is also constrained by topographical and environmental issues.
It’s a different story in regional Victoria but the patterns of population change reflect long standing trends across rural areas of Australia.
Most LGAs in western and north western Victoria lost population in 2016-17, particularly those in dryland agricultural areas.
Of the 13 LGAs that recorded population loss, just two were located elsewhere in Victoria (Towong and Benalla).
Some of these LGAs have very small populations and so small shifts in population trends can have a disproportionate impact when expressed as a percentage.
For instance, the -1.3% decline in Buloke Shire represents 79 people.
The main driver of population loss in these areas is internal migration (more people moving out than in) and natural decrease (more deaths than births).
Victoria’s population is growing strongly, but it is not spread equally across the State.
Growth is concentrated in metropolitan Melbourne, particularly in the CBD and surrounds, and on the urban fringe.
It is driven by migration from interstate and overseas, as well as natural increase.
In regional Victoria, LGAs in close proximity to Melbourne are also growing strongly, but those in dryland farming areas continue to lose population, primarily through out migration and natural decrease.
About Simone Alexander
Simone Alexander is a demographic consultant with more than 20 years of experience working in both the public and private sectors. She uses her expertise to blog about demographic trends, housing and planning issues in Australia’s cities and regions.
Visit demogblog.blogspot.com
'Population growth in Victoria — from slow growth to woah growth' have no comments
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line715
|
__label__cc
| 0.643242
| 0.356758
|
The Fordham Foundation
The anniversary of Sept. 11 found the nation and our schools still wrestling uneasily with the aftermath of that horrible day.
It also found the Bush Administration beating the drums of war, trying to rally popular opinion behind a “preemptive” attack on Iraq. And it found members of the administration’s extended family trying to push their nationalistic vision into the schools.
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative research group populated with former officials of the Reagan and Bush Administrations and headed by Reagan’s former assistant education secretary Chester Finn, marked the anniversary by releasing a collection of essays, titled “September 11: What Our Children Need to Know.” The Foundation’s report was a prime source for media stories about how the National Education Association (NEA) and others – including Rethinking Schools – were promoting a “blame America” curriculum response to the Sept. 11 anniversary.
Readers who want to read what Rethinking Schools published in response to Sept. 11 should go to /special_reports/sept11/. They’ll find, among others, an article by Alfie Kohn that Finn singled out in the Fordham report for being critical of U.S. foreign policy and not patriotic enough.
For Fordham, it seems that patriotism and critical thinking are incompatible. They attack Kohn and Rethinking Schools because we urge students to try to understand the global roots of terrorism rather than simply labeling it “evil.” Finn waves the patriotic flag, but really what he wants is for teachers to stop engaging students in critical thinking, in asking deep questions about U.S. conduct in the world. Finn insists that such inquiry promotes the notion that “America … has itself to blame for the other guys’ aggression inflicted upon us.” Apparently he can’t entertain the possibility that there may be a distinction between explaining terrorism and excusing it.
The Fordham approach is profoundly anti-intellectual. For Fordham, the Sept. 11 attacks can be explained by “the presence of evil.” And evil, like the devil, needs no explanation. In this self-serving, unscholarly approach, “we” get to be the good guys, because, of course, evil only attacks good. This is Popeye versus Bluto, not scholarship – and it certainly does not help our students think clearly about today’s world.
The ideological blame game that Finn’s foundation promotes has its own ugly political agenda. It seeks to attack teacher unions, ridicule sensitivity to issues of diversity, discrimination, or civil rights, and to intimidate teachers who dare to ask students to reflect critically on any aspect of American life.
Many of the lessons from Sept. 11 will not be learned in classrooms. Families, communities, parents, and friends each provide their own ways of understanding and responding to Sept. 11 and its aftermath. And while there are many Americans who sincerely believe that the United States has been a universal force for good in global affairs, a defender of freedom and human dignity, and a champion of the democratic rights of the poor, unfortunately, the historical truth is different. Facing that truth squarely is essential to understanding our past and our present, and to any hopes we have as a nation that our post-Sept. 11 future will be filled with democracy, peace, and justice.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line717
|
__label__cc
| 0.694277
| 0.305723
|
Affiliations and Collaborations
Volunteer Faculty
Medical Residency Program
Medical Physics Residency Program
Medical Physics Certificate Program
Radiation Dosimetrist Program
Precision Radiation Oncology Fellowship
Treatment Questions
Brachytherapy Center of Excellence Program
Breast Cancer Program
Central Nervous System (Brain) Cancer Program
Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer Program
Genitourinary (Prostate, Bladder, Testicular) Cancer Program
Gynecology Cancer Program
Head and Neck Cancer Programs
The Laurie Proton Therapy Center at RWJUH
Lymphoma Program
Radiosurgery Program (Gammaknife Program)
Skin Cancer Program
Thoracic (Lung) Cancer Program
Total Skin Electron Irradiation Therapy
4RSymposium
Radiation Therapy for Gynecologic Cancers
Treating Physicians: Dr. Lara Hathout, Dr. Ronald Ennis
Gynecologic cancers include cancer of the uterus, ovaries, cervix, vagina, vulva and Fallopian tubes.
According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 83,000 women per year are diagnosed with some form of gynecologic or GYN cancer.
The most common gynecologic cancer is uterine cancer with more than 40,000 cases diagnosed each year.
Every year, more than 28,000 women die from a type of gynecologic cancer.
Widespread screening with the Pap test has allowed doctors to find pre-cancerous changes in the cervix and vagina. This has helped prevent the development of some invasive cancers.
Risk Factors for Gynecologic Cancers
While all women are at risk for gynecologic cancer, some factors can increase a woman's chances of developing the disease.
Uterine cancer: Never pregnant, beginning menstruation early, late menopause, diabetes, use of estrogen alone (called unopposed estrogen) for hormone replacement therapy, family history of uterine cancer, high blood pressure and complex atypical hyperplasia. Tamoxifen, a drug frequently used to treat breast cancer, increases the risk of uterine cancer slightly. A genetic syndrome called hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) may also increase a woman's risk.
Cervical cancer: Strongly associated with sexually transmitted diseases, especially several strains of human papilloma virus (HPV), sexual activity at an early age, multiple sexual partners, smoking and obesity.
Ovarian cancer: Obesity, never pregnant, unopposed estrogen, personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancer, genetic mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, HNPCC.
Vaginal cancer: History of genital warts or an abnormal Pap test. There is an increased risk of clear cell carcinoma in women whose mothers took the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant. Women previously treated for carcinoma in-situ or invasive cervical cancer also have a higher risk of developing vaginal cancer.
Signs and Symptoms of Gynecologic Cancers
There are often no outward signs of gynecologic cancers. However, some common symptoms include:
Unusual bleeding, such as postmenopausal bleeding, bleeding after intercourse or bleeding between periods.
A sore in the genital area that doesn't heal or chronic itching of the vulva.
Pain or pressure in the pelvis.
Persistent vaginal discharge.
Screening for Gynecologic Cancers
Gynecologic cancers are often detected through a series of screening exams.
Your doctor will first perform a pelvic exam to evaluate your vulva, vagina, cervix, uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries and rectum.
During the pelvic exam, your doctor will gently scrape some cells from the cervix and vagina to examine under a microscope. This is called a Pap test.
If the Pap test is abnormal, your doctor may perform a test called a colposcopy to closely examine the cervix. Scraping cells from the cervical canal (endocervical curettage) may also be necessary.
A small sample of tissue may be taken from any suspicious area. This test is called a biopsy.
Occasionally, doctors need to examine a larger sample of cervical tissue. It is obtained during a procedure called conization or cone biopsy.
In some situations, your doctor may recommend an exam under anesthesia to better evaluate the extent of a cancer. Tests requiring anesthesia include examination of the bladder (cystoscopy) and rectum (sigmoidoscopy).
Abnormal uterine bleeding, a common symptom of uterine cancer, is usually evaluated by performing a dilatation and curettage, also called a D and C.
Your doctor may also ask for MRI, CT, PET or ultrasound scans of the abdomen and pelvis to better evaluate areas that cannot be directly viewed, such as the ovaries.
Treatment Options for Gynecologic Cancers
Treatment for gynecologic cancer depends on several factors, including the type of cancer, its extent (stage), its location and your overall health. It is important to talk with several cancer specialists before deciding on the best treatment for you, your cancer and your lifestyle.
A gynecologic oncologist is a doctor who specializes in surgically removing gynecologic cancers.
A radiation oncologist is a doctor specially trained to treat cancer with radiation therapy.
A medical oncologist is a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with drugs (chemotherapy).
Sometimes, your cancer may be cured by using only one type of treatment. In other cases, your cancer may be best cured using a combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Understanding Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy, sometimes called radiotherapy, is the careful use of radiation to safely and effectively treat cancer.
Radiation oncologists use radiation therapy to try to cure cancer, to control cancer growth or to relieve symptoms, such as pain.
Radiation therapy works within cancer cells by damaging their ability to multiply. When these cells die, the body naturally eliminates them.
Healthy tissues are also affected by radiation, but they are able to repair themselves in a way cancer cells cannot.
External Beam Radiation Therapy
External beam radiation therapy involves a series of daily outpatient treatments to accurately deliver radiation to the breast.
Painless radiation treatments are delivered in a series of daily sessions. Each treatment will last less than 30 minutes, Monday through Friday, for five to seven weeks.
The usual course of radiation treats only the breast, although treatment of the lymph nodes around the collarbone or the underarm area is sometimes needed.
3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) combines multiple radiation treatment fields to deliver very precise doses of radiation to the breast and spare surrounding normal tissue.
Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a form of 3D-CRT that further modifies the radiation by varying the intensity of the radiation beams. It is currently being studied for treating breast cancer.
Side effects might include skin irritation, like a mild to moderate sunburn, mild to moderate breast swelling and fatigue.
Treating Physicians: Dr. Lara Hathout, Dr. Dr. Ronald Ennis, Dr. Omar Mahmoud
Brachytherapy, also called internal radiation or seed implants, is the placement of radioactive sources in or just next to a tumor. The radioactive sources may be left in place permanently or only temporarily, depending upon your cancer. To position the sources accurately, special catheters or applicators are used. Because the radiation sources are placed so close to the tumor, your doctors can deliver a large dose of radiation directly to the cancer cells with minimal exposure to normal tissue.
The radioactive sources used in brachytherapy, such as thin wires, ribbons, capsules or seeds, come in small sealed containers. Some sources are placed permanently and are referred to as implants. These radioactive sources remain in the body after their radiation has been expended and the source is no longer radioactive. Other sources are placed temporarily inside the body, and the radioactive sources are removed after the prescribed dose of radiation has been delivered.
There are two main types of brachytherapy: intracavity treatment and interstitial treatment. With intracavity treatment, the radioactive sources are put into a space near where the tumor is located, such as the cervix, the vagina or the windpipe. With interstitial treatment, the radioactive sources are put directly into the tissues, such as the prostate.
Often these procedures require anesthesia and brief hospitalization. Patients with permanent implants may have a few restrictions at first and then can quickly return to their normal activities. Temporary implants are left inside of your body for several hours or days. While the sources are in place, you will stay in a private room. Doctors, nurses and other medical staff will continue to take care of you, but they will need to take special precautions to limit their exposure to radiation.
Devices called high dose rate (HDR) remote afterloading machines allow radiation oncologists to complete brachytherapy quickly, in about 10 to 20 minutes. Powerful radioactive sources travel through small tubes called catheters to the tumor for the amount of time prescribed by your radiation oncologist. You may be able to go home shortly after the procedure. Depending on the area treated, you may receive several treatments over a number of days or weeks.
Most patients feel little discomfort during brachytherapy. If the radioactive source is held in place with an applicator, you may feel discomfort from the applicator. There are medications that can help this. If you feel weak or queasy from the anesthesia, your radiation oncologist can give you medication to make you feel better.
Potential Side Effects
The side effects you may experience will depend on the area being treated, the type of radiation used and whether or not you also received chemotherapy. Before treatment, your doctor will describe what you can expect.
Some patients experience minor or no side effects and can continue their normal routines.
Some patients may notice fatigue, skin irritation, vaginal irritation, frequent urination, burning with urination and/or diarrhea. These will all resolve after treatment ends.
Some patients will have sexual changes, such as changes in the vagina.
If at any time you develop side effects, tell your doctor or nurse. He or she can give you medicine to help.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line720
|
__label__cc
| 0.727909
| 0.272091
|
FBI Readies For Potential Protest At State CapitolThere is a lot that Special Agent in Charge, Sean Ragan couldn't answer in a 20-minute conversation on potential violence at the Capitol.
Man Reportedly Armed With Knife Barricaded Inside Best Western Plus In Rancho CordovaAn armed standoff is reportedly unfolding at a hotel in Rancho Cordova.
Sacramento Zoo Reopens Again To The PublicThe decision to lift the stay-at-home order is lifting the spirits of zoo lovers.
6:30 PMEntertainment Tonight
Lawmakers Introduce Constitutional Amendment To End California Death Penalty
By Elisabeth Smith December 14, 2020 at 9:03 pm
Filed Under:California Death Penalty, California Legislature
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Lawmakers want to put an end to the death penalty in California.
Assemblymember Marc Levin (D-Marin County) introduced the Assembly Constitutional Amendment Monday that would not only abolish the death penalty but also require the re-sentencing of inmates on death row.
California’s death row is the largest in the U.S. with more than 700 prisoners. Nineteen states have already abolished the death penalty. In March 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on the death penalty and closed the death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
READ: Victims’ Families Urge Governor Newsom To End Death Penalty Moratorium
If approved by a two-thirds vote of the legislature, the amendment would appear on the 2024 ballot.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line722
|
__label__cc
| 0.721595
| 0.278405
|
Tag Archives: Greenland ice sheet
Greenland Whodunit
Posted on June 27, 2013 by amyhuva
“The next 5–10 years will reveal whether or not [the Greenland Ice Sheet melting of] 2012 was a one off/rare event resulting from the natural variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation or part of an emerging pattern of new extreme high melt years.”
WHO: Edward Hanna, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Xavier Fettweis, Laboratory of Climatology, Department of Geography, University of Liège, Belgium
Sebastian H. Mernild, Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modelling Group, Computational Physics and Methods, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, Glaciology and Climate Change Laboratory, Center for Scientific Studies/Centre de Estudios Cientificos (CECs), Valdivia, Chile
John Cappelen, Danish Meteorological Institute, Data and Climate, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mads H. Ribergaard, Centre for Ocean and Ice, Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Christopher A. Shuman, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA, Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA
Konrad Steffen, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, Institute for Atmosphere and Climate, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland, Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, Switzerland
Len Wood, School of Marine Science and Engineering, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
Thomas L. Mote, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
WHAT: Trying to work out the cause of the unprecedented melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet in July 2012
WHEN: 14 June 2013
WHERE: International Journal of Climatology (Int. J. Climatol.) Vol. 33 Iss. 8, June 2013
TITLE: Atmospheric and oceanic climate forcing of the exceptional Greenland ice sheet surface melt in summer 2012 (subs req.)
Science can sometimes be like being a detective (although I would argue it’s cooler) – you’ve got to look at a problem and try and work out how it happened. These researchers set out to do exactly that to try and work out how the hell it was that 98.6% of the ice sheet on Greenland started melting last summer.
Greenland – July 8th on the left only half melting. July 12th on the right, almost all melting (Image: Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI/NASA GSFC, and Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory)
For a bit of context, Greenland is the kind of place where the average July temperature in the middle of summer is 2oC and the average summer temperature at the summit of the ice sheet is -13.5oC. Brrr – practically beach weather! So there’s got to be something weird going on for the ice sheet to start melting like that. Who are the suspects?
Atmospheric air conditions
Suspect number one is the atmospheric air conditions. The summer of 2012 was influenced strongly by ‘dominant anti-cyclonic conditions’ which is where warm southerly air moves north and results in warmer and drier conditions. There was also a highly negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) which created high temperatures at high altitudes around 4km above sea level, which could explain the melting on the summit. The researchers also pointed out that the drier conditions meant less cloud cover and more sunny days, contributing to speedier melting.
There were issues with the polar jet stream that summer, where it got ‘blocked’ and stuck over Greenland for a while. The researchers used the Greenland Blocking Index (GBI), which while not trading on the NYSE, does tell you about wind height anomalies at certain geopotential heights (yeah, lots of meteorological words in this paper!). All of this makes the atmosphere look pretty guilty.
Jet stream getting funky – temperature anomaly patterns at 600 hectopascals pressure, aka 4000m above sea level with a big red blob over Greenland (from paper)
Sea surface temperatures
Suspect number two is sea surface temperatures. If it was warmer in the ocean – that could have created conditions where the ice sheet melted faster right? The researchers ran a simulation of the conditions around Greenland for the summer of 2012 and then played around with different temperature levels for sea surface, as well as levels of salinity. It didn’t make more than 1% difference, so they don’t think it was sea surface. Also, ocean temperatures change more slowly than air temperatures (that’s why the ocean is still so cold even in the middle of summer!) and when they looked at the data for sea surface temperature, it was actually a bit cooler in 2012 than it was in 2011. Not guilty sea surface temperatures.
Sea surface temperatures (top) and salinity (bottom) both decreasing (from paper)
Cloud patterns
Suspect number three is cloud cover patterns, which the researchers said could be a contributor to the ice sheet melting. However, they don’t have a detailed enough data set to work out how much clouds could have contributed to the melt. Not guilty for now clouds – due to lack of evidence.
Which leaves suspect number one – atmospheric air conditions. Guilty! Or, as the paper says ‘our present results strongly suggest that the main forcing of the extreme Greenland Ice Sheet surface melt in July 2012 was atmospheric, linked with changes in the summer NAO, GBI and polar jet stream’.
Now comes the scary part – it’s the atmosphere that we’ve been conducting an accidental experiment on over the last 200 years by burning fossil fuels. As the researchers point out, the North Atlantic Oscillation has a natural variability and patterns, so we could all cross our fingers and hope that the Greenland melting was a once off anomaly. Given the work that Dr Jennifer Francis has been doing at Rutgers into polar ice melt and how that slows the jet stream and causes it to meander; this may not be a good bet. Combine this with the fact that this level of melting is well beyond ‘the most pessimistic future projections’ and it’s getting scarier. This kind of melting was not supposed to occur until 2100, or 2050 in the worst case scenarios.
Interestingly, this could also link through to some of the work Jason Box is doing with his DarkSnow project in Greenland looking at how soot from fires and industry are affecting the melting of Greenland. The paper concludes that the next 5-10 years will show us whether it was a one off or the beginning of a new normal. Unless we stop burning carbon, it will only be the start of a terrifying new normal.
Posted in atmosphere, climate change, greenhouse gases, mass extinction, oceans, sea level | Tagged Arctic, Greenland ice sheet, Greenland melt, jet stream, new normal | 4 Replies
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line726
|
__label__cc
| 0.51844
| 0.48156
|
Acknowledgement to Country
About Regional Arts Australia
Member Organisations & Regional Program Administrators
Regional Arts Fund
About the Regional Arts Fund
About the RAF Recovery Boost
RAF Resources
RAF Interactive Data
Artlands
About Artlands
Artlands Conversations Series
Artlands 2021
Creative Regions National Summit
National Regional Arts Fellowships
Events and Opportunities
Regional Arts and Social Impact Project
Collaborating with Regional Communities
Mapping the Regional Arts Fund
Sector Scan
Vote 1 Regional Arts
Touring Advisory Group (TAG)
Interview | Madeleine Krenek and Frankie Snowdon
Can you give us some insight into your artistic practice?
Our artistic practice sits in the realm of experimental/contemporary dance – our training, investigations and practice into and of the physical moving body underpin all the facets of our dance making, teaching, choreography and general obsession with/love for the form. We like making work that sits a little outside what the layperson might understand to constitute how dance is experienced, often creating site specific, immersive projects that require our audience to be both inquisitive and trusting of what we ask of them. In our work as dance educators, we wholeheartedly believe in the empowerment of young people through their investigations of what dance can be for each of them and champion always imagination, risk and bravery above technical excellence or “perfection”. This sort of thinking/approach is of course not exclusive to young people, but all people we teach, our collaborators and ourselves. We strive to make work and hold space that sees dance act as an instigator for greater conversations and ponderings on the world at large and our experiences as people in it.
Tell us a bit about your backgrounds, how you met and came to be working together.
We met when we started our tertiary dance training at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2006. Maddy was born and grew up in Christchurch NZ and Frankie was born and grew up in Alice Springs/Mparntwe in the NT. Both of us had moved quite a long way away from the places we grew up and were without many other people to support us in Melbourne, and we found an easy understanding and pretty solid friendship from the get go. Undertaking tertiary dance training is a really gruelling and confronting experience, especially when you know you’re preparing for a life in an industry where the likelihood of a long and sustainable career is extremely rare, so your allies and co-conspirators are hugely important – we’ve relied on each other a lot over the past 11 years both professionally and personally and its this super solid foundation that has enabled us to weather all sorts of storms.
In our second year of university, we formed a collective called 2NDTOE with 5 other exceptional dance artists and began making work together and teaching in highschools around Melbourne while we were studying. We debuted our first full length work in 2009 and continued work together as 2NDTOE up until 2015, in which time we Independently created and presented 3 full length works, established dance programs in multiple schools around Victoria and cheered each other on as we all managed to be employed as dancers for major companies including Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin as well as working with seminal and prolific independent dance artists including Jo Lloyd, Antony Hamilton and Lee Serle.
Maddy and I spent a majority of our time bouncing between Europe, The US and Australia from late 2013 – 2015 finding spaces to work on projects for ourselves and also collaborating with other dance artists on major works, small independent projects, residencies and research before deciding to re-focus our time and energy in the Central Australian Desert. 2NDTOE founded a dance education program called Alice Can Dance in 2012, which in its first iteration involved groups of students from 5 schools in Alice Springs, and has grown to include over 250 students from 10 public schools in the Central Australian Region, including Ntaria community to the west of Alice Springs. This program and our ongoing efforts to see more contemporary dance in schools anchored us here at a time when we were both at a bit of a loss, and since then we have made a huge effort to contribute to the recognition of Regional Australia as a fertile and important place for the fostering of dance practices and projects on multiple levels. We premiered our first new professional work The Perception Experiment in 2017, on which we collaborated with 8 artists from the Northern Territory and Victoria and will present our second full-length work The Lost Dance Projectin May this year (2018).
You recently received Regional Arts Fund funding for The Lost Dance Project. Could you tell us a bit about this project?
Recent evidence suggests our diminishing willingness and/or ability to communicate through person-to-person conversation, and a growing tendency to shy away from interaction and emotion. The Lost Dance Project is an investigation and comment on the rise of a digital generation, the effects of social media on interpersonal relationships and ability to communicate, and the need to cultivate physical human interactions and connections despite both of these things. It is also an experiment in engagement with live art, which will include contemporary dance, the Internet, street art and pop-up performance. One of the main aims of the project is to encourage a broad cross-section of the community, to re-discover their connections to their surroundings, to art and to each other.
The project incorporates multiple processes and outcomes including a school holiday program engaging young people in the creation of a dance piece of their own and 4 large scale paste-up images which will be installed around the CBD of Alice Springs. In the lead up to the final season of the full length work - which will be created and performed by 8 professional artists from the NT and wider Australia – a treasure hunt ensues with those who interact with the art works by social media sharing or submitting to the hotline becoming part of a web of people who receive anonymous clues and invitations to different dance happenings up until they are led to the site of the final work at a disused location in the CBD.
What does a typical day involve for you both?
We’re not sure if there is such thing as a typical day in our world! As independent artists we find ourselves wearing multiple hats often and have to juggle a lot of different things in order to stay financially afloat as well as creatively fulfilled and engaged. In every week we will: teach multiple classes to various participants including school kids, adult beginners and professional level dancers, we’ll serve a lot of coffee to the population of Alice Springs from The Goods which is a small business that Frankie and her partner own, we’ll attend various art related events/meetings with our peers, we’ll conspire to create the next “big thing”, we’ll laugh a lot, drink wine and almost always work on one of the multiple grants/budgets/plans for projects which is a never-ending aspect of working as an Independent and trying to sustain a career in the arts. On top of this we’ll maintain our relationships, spend time with our friends and family and try and get enough sleep. There’s not really such thing as a “quiet week” and there are moments when we’re on top of everything and feel invincible, and moments when nothing falls into place and we find ourselves clawing back to a stable position. It’s unfortunately not particularly romantic, BUT it is exceptionally rewarding when months of this sort of stuff culminates in the creation of a new work, a breakthrough in our individual or collective practices, the chance to dance as much as possible, and the solidification of relationships with the many people who collaborate, participate or egg us on along the way.
What is the best part about living and working in Alice Springs/Regional Australia? And what are some of the challenges that you face?
Alice Springs/Mparntwe (the area’s Arrernte name) is a unique, beautiful and significant place. It’s geography, social constructs and diversity make it complex and sometimes challenging, but also a loyal and fierce teacher and ongoing source of inspiration (talking about the place as if it is a person may seem strange but it does feel as though it takes on the nuance and shifting temperament of a living thing, more so than anywhere else we have lived or worked). There are many things to be said and unpacked about Alice, but from an artistic point of view we have found a community here that is at once ready to support, enable and challenge our philosophies and practices with a realness and generosity that can be hard to access in major cities.
The isolation could be seen as a deterrent for some, but we’ve found that we are able to focus in on our practice and make more time for art and fulfilling all of our ambitions with it from here, as well as deeply investing in relationships with people whom we want to work with/learn from/spend time with. Frankie grew up in Alice, and this helps to feel connected and supported here, and also provides a lived history, understanding and respect for the place that would take longer to develop if neither of us had set foot here before. We think there is generally a rapidly growing interest in professional artists choosing to work outside major centres for all sorts of reasons – economic, social, political – and we feel privileged and proud to be counted amongst some of the most hard working, intelligent and inspirational people we’ve ever met.
Of course there are challenges – the competitiveness of successfully securing funding from increasingly diminishing pools is a reality anywhere in Australia, and not one we are immune to here. Unfortunately most of the challenges relate to money, which is a boring but real problem/conversation. When we’re budgeting projects we have to add thousands of dollars in order to bring in collaborators from outside of Alice Springs, which is somewhat unavoidable as the pool of professional contemporary dancers is extremely small. To gain exposure for our work, we try and allocate funding to bring in programmers/producers/potential partner and peers when we premiere work, but again, this adds thousands of dollars onto our budgets, which can make or break a project.
Finally, which artists do you most admire? What is it about their work that makes them stand out to you?
There are a handful of dance artists in Australia who have been particularly significant to both of us throughout our careers and whose work we think epitomises some of what is so extremely special about the Independent Dance Sector in Australia. As young dancers (and some of them have been previously mentioned in this interview) Antony Hamilton, Jo Lloyd, Lee Serle and Luke George mentored, championed and inspired us, and their work today is testament to a life lived with a commitment to rigour, creative risk and excellence against all odds. They have carved spaces for themselves and their individual distinctive practices with a tenacity and belief that we hope we can emulate. Of our generation, we are keenly following our dear friend Lillian Steiner as she continues make her mark as one of the most breathtaking performers and astute dance makers of our generation. I think it’s also important to say that whilst these people are specifically worth mentioning, we possess a profound respect and general awe for most artists of our generation who are brave enough to continue to push for the evolution and recognition of arts practice - in particular dance and other performance based forms – against mounting odds, and particularly those belonging to minority and far-too-long overlooked demographics.
Solidarity with the makers, movers and shakers, no matter where you’re doing it, forever.
Thanks so much Maddy and Frankie!
The Regional Arts Fund is an Australian Government program that supports sustainable cultural development in regional and remote communities in Australia.
Subscribe. We will never spam you.
Stay up-to-date with all Regional Arts Australia news, grants and events.
Regional Arts Australia acknowledges the traditional Custodians of land throughout Australia and we pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
© 2021 Regional Arts Australia ABN 45 000 525 182
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line730
|
__label__wiki
| 0.858468
| 0.858468
|
Interactive: March 7–11 • Film: March 7–15 • Music: March 11–16
Back to sxsw.com
⋆My Schedule
Search this site: 🔎
Film Interactive Music
I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours!
#sxsw #1stGameEvr
A group of pros show off the first games they ever developed, so you can learn from their successes, failures, and hilarious life advice. These brave souls will drop their trousers (not really) and give live demos of the games that got them started. They will tell tales of late nights, show off stupid mistakes, share lessons learned and answer questions about how they earned their place in the industry, each highlighting the one piece of advice they wish they could give to their younger self.
The panel will wrap up with video submissions from gaming legends Jesse Schell, Will Wright, Raph Koster and more surprise interviews exclusive to the SXSW audience! Panelists will be hilarious, informative, and fully clothed. We promise.
This SXSW Gaming Session at the Long Center is FREE and open to the public. However SXSW Interactive, Film, Gold and Platinum badges gain priority seating.
David Bisceglia
CEO/Co-Founder
The Tap Lab
Dave is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Tap Lab, a Cambridge-based startup that develops social games with a real-world twist. His focus is in game design and business development. The Tap Lab is a graduate of TechStars Boston and winner of MassChallenge. Dave has a passion for entertainment and has experience working in marketing and business development at Walden Media, Universal Pictures (UK), and Warner Music Group.
Dave was the producer for the mobile game TapCity, a real-world game in which players compete and collaborate to claim ownership of their favorite local places. More recently, he has been working as the producer for The Tap Lab's newest game, Tiny Tycoons, which will be hitting the market soon.
Ichiro Lambe
Founder/Pres
Dejobaan Games LLC
Ichiro is Founder and President of Dejobaan Games, LLC, an independent Boston-area development studio. He's worked in the industry since 1993, co-founding Worlds Apart Productions (later Sony Online Entertainment Denver) in 1995 and Dejobaan Games in 1999. At Dejobaan, he's led development on the studio's 18 titles, including the award-winning "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity" and the now-in-progress "Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby" and "Drunken Robot Pornography." Read more unfounded rumors about him at www.ichirolambe.com.
Noah Heller
Entrepreneur in Residence
Atlas Venture
Currently entrepreneur in Residence at Altas Venture, Noah previously worked as Product Director for Call of Duty @ Activision and Technical Designer for the original Xbox Live. He successfully launched Call of Duty: Zombies for iOS in 2011 and was on the founding team of Beachhead, creators of Call of Duty Elite.
Co-Founder/CEO
Seth Sivak started in the industry as a gameplay programmer, and has been a product manager, lead designer and executive producer. He joined Cambridge startup Conduit Labs, which was later bought by Zynga, straight out of graduate school from the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center. Prior to his current role as CEO of Proletariat, Seth was the lead designer on Indiana Jones Adventure World at Zynga Boston, where he was also a product manager and executive producer. In 2011, he was named one of Game Developer Magazine's Top 50 Developers and in 2012 was recognized in Develop Magazine's 30 under 30. Prior to joining the game industry Seth worked as an Imagineer for Disney.
⋆ Sunday, March 9
The Kodosky Donor Lounge
701 W Riverside Dr
Free and open to the public. ***Admission subject to venue capacity and age restrictions.
Solo / Dual / Panel
game development comedy
Music sponsor
Interactive sponsors
©2012-2014 SXSW, LLC SXSW®, and South By Southwest® are trademarks owned by SXSW, LLC. Any unauthorized use of these names, or variations of these names, is a violation of state, federal, and international trademark laws.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line731
|
__label__cc
| 0.553442
| 0.446558
|
The Confrontation Clause and the Border Patrol: Applying the “Primary Purpose” Test to Multifunction Agencies
Caleb Mason
Jessica Berch
This Article examines the controversial article 1(1) of the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) giving that tribunal the competence “to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility” for serious international and domestic crimes committed during the latter part of the notoriously brutal Sierra Leonean conflict. The debate that arose during the SCSL trials was whether this bare statement constituted a jurisdictional requirement that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt or merely a type of guideline for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The judges of the court split on the issue. This paper is the first to critically assess the reasons why the tribunal’s judges disagreed in the interpretation of this seemingly simple legal question. It then attempts to discern the common ground in the judicial reasoning, and argues that the ultimate conclusion that “greatest responsibility” implied that leaders as well as the worst killers may be prosecuted is a welcome jurisprudential contribution to our understanding of personal jurisdiction in international criminal law. The paper makes several contributions to the literature. First, it takes up and highlights a widely ignored but important legal question. Second, it demonstrates why the reasoning of the Appeals Chamber was results-oriented and wrong. Finally, it identifies the lessons of Sierra Leone and builds on them to offer preliminary recommendations on how the greatest responsibility conundrum can be avoided when drafting personal jurisdiction clauses for future ad hoc international penal tribunals.
Caleb Mason and Jessica Berch, The Confrontation Clause and the Border Patrol: Applying the “Primary Purpose” Test to Multifunction Agencies, 96 Marq. L. Rev. 793 (2013).
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line732
|
__label__wiki
| 0.747763
| 0.747763
|
Scar stories: Ted Meyer translates illness into art
Author Rosanne SpectorPublished on August 14, 2017 December 19, 2017
Artist Ted Meyer told me he doesn't mind that for decades he lived with a painful, deadly disease. The nationally recognized painter was born with Gaucher disease, an enzyme deficiency that causes problems throughout the body — including anemia, bone pain and fractures, bruising, enlargement of the liver and spleen, and fatigue. For Meyer, now 59, it meant a lot of anguish, both physical and psychological.
So why didn't he mind? Because his pain was his muse. He became an artist, making a name for himself as an interpreter of illness. And when in his 30s a new treatment banished his suffering, he was relieved but also disturbed.
As he explained in an interview for an article for Inside Stanford Medicine:
All of a sudden, everything that had been the motivation for my artwork disappeared. I wasn’t in pain or fatigued. I wasn’t worried about dying young.
Meyer, who'll be lecturing and leading workshops at Stanford this week, soon found a new direction, though: telling visual stories of people who have survived accidents and health crises.
He began his ongoing project "Scarred for Life: Mono-prints of Human Scars," which pairs his photographs of people revealing their scars with prints he made from those scars. The image above, for example, depicts a leg damaged by a suicide bomber. The images have been exhibited internationally in galleries, hospitals and museums.
Meyer has also begun sharing his message with medical students, first as the artist in residence at the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and now at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, where he brings artists with chronic illnesses to exhibit their work and meet with students. His aim is to round out the medical profession’s view of patients’ lives. He's at Stanford this week as this year’s Sterling Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemical & Systems Biology.
"If I wasn’t sick I probably would have been a graphic designer for the last 40 years — which is what I did right out of college. Life would have been a lot more boring," Meyer said. "I wouldn't have met as many interesting people. I wouldn’t be coming to Stanford. I wouldn’t have done anything to help people."
The talks and workshops at Stanford this week are open to the public.
Previously: Sculptor Alyson Shotz explores the relationship between art and science at Stanford, “It renewed my energy”: A look at medical students using art to contribute to medicine and "Deconstructed pain:" Medicine meets fine arts.
Images courtesy of Ted Meyer
art36 pain62 Stanford Medicine2251
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line735
|
__label__cc
| 0.70334
| 0.29666
|
Tag: unesco site
Prague Is Bad To The Bone
March 1, 2015 March 1, 2015 2 Comments
This winter took me traveling around what I always called Eastern Europe, but which is more Central Europe. But that’s all technicalities as far as I’m concerned. You read previously about why I became obsessed with Berlin, and now I’m going to let you in on the next destination on my winter escape, Prague.
For forever and a day, Prague has been boasted about to me by everyone and their mother in waking life and on the interwebs. You’ve probably heard it too. No one can keep their trap shut about how Prague is the most enchanting city on the planet. And while it is enchanting and stunning and reminded me of Beauty and the Beast at every corner we turned, its people are horrendous, which somewhat overshadowed a bit of Prague’s wonderment. A bit like Paris, they’re damn lucky they’ve got such a visually pleasing city.
With that out of the way, I will get onto the good of Prague, and really one of the coolest things I’ve ever bore witness to.
Jen and I entered Prague on the floor of a train, and after that haggard train ride, had a little tricky situation getting into our Airbnb. Twas a bit of a tumultuous morning, but once settled we came to realize our host was excellent. Martina happened to work for Czech Tourism, so she was a whole wealth of knowledge when it came to must-eat foods to add to my ever growing list, and where to eat them. Based off her recommendations, the two of us ate like queens during our time in Prague.
Kielbasa my damn Jewish face off.
Memories of Koko as I greasily ascended up to the castle.
A nightly tradition of parting the Red Sea. Here we have duck, bread dumplings, red cabbage, schinitzel, and mashed potaters. Oh, and Radler. Yummy!
As for the sites, I could sit here and yammer on to you about the must-sees that Lonely Planet or Señor Rick Steves will tell you to see, but I like the out of the ordinary so I will spare telling you to go see things like…
The Astronomical Clock and Name Day Calendar
This face isn’t unenthused over the spectacle, but rather of the Chinese tourist I thought to be in my shot.
Prague Castle and its insanely exquisite gothic architecture.
St. Vitus Cathedral is in the center of Prague Castle. The view from the top of the mountain cannot be accurately depicted. Must be seen with your eyeballs.
The Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the background.
A wander over this bridge will lead you to Prague Castle. Fun Fact: We spent NYE at the ‘biggest club in Europe’ just next to the bridge.
Or Frank Gehry’s eyeball-tickling Dancing House.
And of course, the Jewish Quarter of Josefov, formerly the Jewish Ghetto. This deserved much more time as it’s mystical and beautiful and boasts one of the largest Jewish museums.
The Old New Synagogue, which I fancied to look like a menorah.
Rabbi on a string.
While you should see all these because they’re spectacular, the highlight of Prague to me lies an hour’s train ride outside of the city in Kutna Hora. I first learned about The Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora from a group of girls I met in Berlin on a Third Reich tour. They told me if I did only one thing in Prague I HAD to go there. And I did!
The Sedlec Ossuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a Roman Catholic chapel decorated entirely of skull and cross bones. Yes, you read that correctly. The interior is the most beautiful display of bones you will ever see, and while it’s quite macabre, it’s exquisite at the same time. To think of living the remainder of eternity as the most bizarre artwork is quite a spectacular thing to imagine.
Above the chapel is the cemetery, that holds a special history. In the 1200s, an abbot of the monastery returned from the Holy Land with some holy earth to be sprinkled on the cemetery grounds. When word of this broke out, it became one of the most prized burial sites in Central Europe at the time. In the 1300s, after the Plague swept through Europe, the cemetery had to be enlarged to compensate for all the additional bodies to be buried there. Then, in the 1500s, after the chapel had been built in the center of the cemetery, bodies that were exhumed to make room for new ones were piled up in the cathedral. The bones were later organized in the 1800s into the masterpiece that it is today. It’s strange, and creepy, and extraordinary, and this kind of ish fascinates me!
Craziest chandelier I ever did see!
New meaning to human shield…
The only kind of selfies I take.
And one more for inappropriate measure.
Crazy, right? If you are intrigued just as much as I, I suggest carving out a morning or afternoon to get your badonk out of Prague to see it. You can either do it on an organized tour or by yourself, which is what we did. Many of the tour companies don’t do it everyday, so you’re left to do it yourself. It’s open everyday except I think Christmas and New Years Day.
Getting to Kutna Hora on your own: From Prague train station, purchase a roundtrip ticket to Kutna Hora Main for 183czk. From there, basically just follow the herd, but it’s about a 10 minute walk from the station to the Ossuary and quite self-explanatory once wandering. A suggestion is to check the train times back to Prague at the station before you head out to the chapel, because we ended up waiting 2 hours for the next one from the time we were done. When you purchase your entry tickets, you can buy for 1, 2, 3, or 4 of the UNESCO sites. We bought for 3 of them and decided we didn’t want to see the others after the 2nd one (which was a huge let down after the bone chapel). The final 2 are in the city center, so a train or bus ride away.
Well there you go! I hope you weren’t too creeped out and have now decided that you will hop on a plane just to go see this miraculous chapel! Have you been to the Bone Chapel before? Did you go to the other UNESCO sites? What did you think of them? Did I make a stupid decision to throw them to the wind? Were there any other off-the-beaten-path wonderments I should have seen while in Prague? Did you think the Czech people were as rude as I did? Let me know all of your whathaveyous in the comments!
If you liked these photogs, follow my life through Instagram filters over on Instagram.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line738
|
__label__wiki
| 0.741726
| 0.741726
|
24 May 2019 / Bay Area Sports / James Sanders
Klay Thompson Doesn't Make All-NBA Team, Which Could Cost Him $30M
Golden State Warrior shooting guard Klay Thompson is clearly one of the best guards in the NBA, arguably one of the best shooters of all-time. His combination of defensive ability, scoring acumen, and overall playmaking skills make him a prized commodity in today's game. He is one of a select few players who can truly shoot the three from anywhere on the court, regardless of who is guarding him, with hands in his face, and varying degrees of difficulty.
That being said, when the All-NBA teams were released, on Thursday, the Splash Brother was noticeably absent from each of the three levels of league-wide honor. Each team of five includes two guards, two forwards, and a center. With Thompson playing the shooting guard position, there are six open slots he can possibly fit into. However, the media panel who selects the members of the All-NBA first, second, and third teams chose to leave the All-Star sharpshooter off the elite list.
According to ESPN's Nick Friedell, Klay was in utter disbelief that he didn't make it onto an All-NBA team, as he happened to be filled-in on his "snubbing" while on-camera:
"Klay Thompson found out he hadn't been selected to an All-NBA team while he was being interviewed by reporters Thursday, and the shock on the face of the Golden State Warriors' normally unflappable swingman told the story...
'I didn't? It already came out?' Thompson said after Thursday's practice, before being told that he just missed being selected for the third team. 'I mean, that's cool and all, but like when you go to five straight Finals -- I respect those guys, but when you go to five straight, it takes more than just a couple All-NBA guys. It's like an all-time team, but whatever. I'd rather win a championship than be third-team All-NBA, so it's all good.'"
Not only does this mean that Thompson, a consistently under-appreciated and underrated performer, has been undeniably disrespected by those in the media who failed to vote for him, but this will most likely cost the All-Star wing somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million on his next contract. You see, the NBA's five-year supermax (worth $221 million) contracts are directly tied to a player's making an All-NBA team. A player is only eligible for up to a five-year/$191 million contract, if he is not selected to be an All-NBA member.
Fellow Warrior Kevin Durant was also selected for the All-NBA second team.
Which guards were selected ahead of Klay?
All-NBA First Team:
Stephen Curry: 27.3 ppg (5th), 43.7% 3pt (4th), 91.6% ft (2nd)
James Harden: 36.1 ppg (1st), 7.5 apg (8th), 2.03 spg (2nd)
All-NBA Second Team:
Kyrie Irving: 23.8 ppg (16th), 6.9 apg (t-12th), 1.54 spg (13th)
Damian Lillard: 25.8 ppg (11th), 6.9 apg (t-12th), 91.2% ft (3rd)
All-NBA Third Team:
Russell Westbrook: 22.9 ppg (19th), 10.7 apg (1st), 11.1 rpg (10th), 1.95 spg (4th)
Kemba Walker: 25.6 ppg (t-12th), 5.9 apg (t-21st)
***Klay Thompson: 21.5 ppg (20th), 40.2% 3pt (t-22nd)
Plenty of NBA insiders will tell you that Klay brings something intangible to his team. His ability to guard four of the five positions on the floor, often times drawing the assignment of checking the opposing team's top playmaker, is almost unparalleled around the league. Especially when you lump-in his ability to shoot the lights out and put the ball on the floor, knifing inside to the rim, he should register as one of the game's most elite guards.
Photo: Keith Allison/Wikimedia
Bay Area Sports
NBA Considers Pausing Season as COVID Cases Rise Among Players
Curry Cooks in Clippers Collapse, Warriors 5th in Western Conference at 5-4
Warriors Light Up Kings For 31-Point Victory; 10 Different Warriors Make 3’s
Day Around The Bay: Zuckerberg Needs The Winklevoss Twins' Crypto Help
Dismemberment suspects were arrested in China, Berkeley is cleared in homeless civil rights case, and Glass Door is moving into downtown SF.
Two Men Shot At 6th and Mission, SFPD Seeks Suspect
Two men were shot and critically injured Friday afternoon at the intersection of 6th and Mission streets. The incident happened just after 1:30 p.m. and the entire area has been shut down for the investigation, impacting traffic on Market Street and in SoMa.
James Sanders
James Sanders is a journalist with years of experience covering sports and politics. James was born and raised in the Bay, which is where his passion for SF sports originated.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line740
|
__label__wiki
| 0.737018
| 0.737018
|
MediaOutReach
Singapore's LABMED shipped over 20 million masks to meet global demand
3 June 2020, 10:00 pm ·2-min read
Rising Singapore medical equipment company has been supplying much needed masks, PPEs to Covid-19 hotspots worldwide
SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 4 June 2020 - Singapore based LABMED is playing a crucial role in supplying medical masks and medical personal protective equipment (PPE) globally, to countries such as India, Malaysia, Germany and the US.
To date, LABMED has shipped over 20 million masks globally. With the increase in demand for PPEs and other medical supplies during the current Covid-19 crisis, LABMED's Regional Managing Director, Wilson, elaborates how they are contributing in the fight against this global pandemic, "Our manufacturing plant in China has 480 employees working round the clock to produce medical PPEs. These are all quality products that have received worldwide certifications"
"Our company also recently introduced into Singapore our latest product - the VTM (Virus Transport Medium) kits for the transport and containment of Covid-19 swab test results," adds Jason, who is the Managing Director.
LABMED's Regional Managing Director, Wilson, and Managing Director, Jason.
Having collaborated with many well-known organizations to provide R&D and procurement services for specialized medical supplies, LABMED is making its global presence felt in the sales of pharmaceutical devices.
In a short span of four months, from 1 Feb 2020 to 1 June 2020, the company's revenue increased exponentially to hit more than S$35 million.
LABMED had been predominantly supplying their products to the US, Germany and the UAE, however, the developing Covid-19 situation has seen the company enter new markets with the urgent call to supply much needed PPEs from Asia to Covid-19 'hot-spots' in Europe and North America.
About LABMED
LABMED, a subsidiary of Kin Seng Hong Pte Ltd that was established since 1977, is a brand created by Wilson and Jason (known as Labelmed Pte Ltd) that specializes in the manufacture of disposable civil mask, medical mask, surgical mask, KN95-FFP2 mask and other medical instruments. Strategically headquartered in Singapore with access to a wide distribution network both locally and globally. The company has a strong connection in exporting products all over the world, with special focus on the US, France, Germany and United Kingdom.
The company has collaborated with many local well-known medical device companies, MNCs as well as government entities to provide new and existing customers with procurement services for medical supplies such as medical masks, protective suit, rubber gloves, goggles, thermometer, disinfectant, hand lotion, mask production equipment as well as nasal swab test kit for Covid-19.
LABMED has a large inventory of medical masks, they are able to handle fast delivery, and ensure direct-factory price supply.
Website: https://thelabmed.com/
Manchester United are never underdogs, says Klopp
Manchester [UK], January 16 (ANI): Ahead of the clash against Manchester United in the Premier League, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said that the Red Devils are never underdogs and they are always in contention to lift the title.
Emirates has suspended flights to Australia's three largest cities as the country further restricts international arrivals over fears of new virus strains. "Due to operational reasons, Emirates flights to/from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne will be suspended until further notice," Emirates said on its website. Australia's borders have effectively been closed since March to curb the spread of the virus, with the government even limiting the number of citizens allowed to return.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line741
|
__label__wiki
| 0.877163
| 0.877163
|
Our Daily Life
Brief History of Carmel
Early History of Carmel
St. Albert, Lawgiver
Primitive Rule
Migration to Europe
Modification of the Rule
Expansion and Decline
Carmelite Nuns
Discalced Carmelites
St. Joseph in Avila
St. John of the Cross
Evolution of an Order
Spread of Teresian Carmels
Carmel for Englishwomen
American Foundation
Carmel in Seattle
Malcolm McDougal
Call to Carmel
Arrival in Seattle
Mother Aloysius
The New Monastery
Our Vocation
Initial Formation
Package Deliveries
Email Phone Vimeo
St. Albert of Jerusalem presents the Rule to the Carmelites
The first Carmelite hermits appeared on the scene in the late 12th century, probably around the year 1191. They were primarily uneducated lay penitents from the Latin West, with perhaps some priests, who ventured to the Holy Land as pilgrims or Crusaders and chose to remain in Palestine as hermits. These first hermits lived in deserted places, away from the activity of towns and society, each settling in separate, cave-like dwellings or cells on Mt. Carmel near the spring of Elijah. They were contemplatives living a life of prayer, silence, solitude and penance with a special emphasis on an intense relationship with Jesus.
The hermits formed a loose-knit community that had no ties with any established ecclesial order, though their dedication to Mary led them to become known as the brothers of St. Mary of Mount Carmel. By 1300 these lay penitents were recognized as a religious order by the Holy See and given full canonical status as Carmelite friars and brothers.
The Carmelite Nuns were admitted to the Order in 1452, and in the 16th century St. Teresa of Avila initiated a reform of the Order that began in Spain, spread throughout the world, and led to the establishment of the Teresian Carmel of which we are a part. In 1790, four Carmelite Nuns from Flanders in Belgium crossed the Atlantic Ocean to make the first foundation at Port Tobacco, Maryland. Eventually this settlement of nuns moved to Baltimore.
St. Joseph Carmelite Monastery of Seattle at its present location
St. Joseph Carmelite Monastery in Seattle was founded in 1908 by a little band of four nuns who ventured from the Baltimore Carmel by train at the request of Archbishop Edward O’Dea. It is the 7th Carmelite monastery to be founded in the United States and the first on the West Coast.
Next: Early History of Carmel
Carmelite Monastery of Seattle
2215 NE 147th Street, Shoreline, WA 98155
© 2021 St. Joseph Carmelite Monastery of Seattle. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line743
|
__label__wiki
| 0.784461
| 0.784461
|
\Venture Capital Interview/
Tetra Pak heir turns angel investor
Magnus Rausing is heir to the multi-billion euro Tetra Laval fortune. Now he has turned to startup investing.
By Mimi Billing 8 July 2019
Credit: Magnus Rausing, heir of the Tetra Pak fortunes, has become an angel investor.
\Deeptech
Meet the startup bringing hard data to impact investing
By Connor Bilboe 10 December 2020
The Swede Ruben Rausing revolutionised the global food industry back in the 1950s with the Tetra Pak packaging technology, creating a vast fortune and a powerful family dynasty in the process. Today, his great-grandson Magnus Rausing has started investing in European startups through his investment company Mahr Projects.
“I have tried to be as discreet as possible. But with Zaver, I just happened to get more attention than I expected.”
Having previously invested mainly in American companies, the heir to a multi-billion euro fortune’s recent investment in the Swedish fintech company Zaver created headlines in Swedish tech media.
“The Mahr project doesn’t have my name anywhere on the website or in the documents. I have tried to be as discreet as possible. But with Zaver, I just happened to get more attention than I expected,” Rausing says.
Magnus is the son of Jörn Rausing, who runs the packaging company Tetra Laval (of which Tetra Pak is a part), together with his two brothers. Jörn Rausing is said to be worth $9.4bn, according to Forbes’ 2019 rich list.
Magnus Rausing says he is fine with being in the limelight as long as it helps the companies he has invested in. For an early stage startup such as Zaver, it at least wins the company some media attention.
The fintech company, which was founded by Amir Marandi, Linus Malmén and Filip Gauffin in 2017, has already managed to attract a wide array of Swedish angel investors, including Tom Dinkelspiel, Lars Wingefors and Joen Bonnier, media veteran and partner at the London-based VC firm Atomico.
“I found out about Zaver through Joen Bonnier and when I sat down with Amir Marandi, it was hard to say no to him. He is a superstar in his own right. I really liked his vision and his story and I think the story is as important as the vision,” Rausing says.
From lemon drinks to fintech
Zaver has a payment platform designed to increase the security of peer-to-peer trades and also help with financing. A typical user might be a student trying to sell an iPhone on a classified site safely. Zaver has also created a payment service for businesses, such as home repair contractors, that allows them to get paid straight away while customers still can wait for the invoice date to pay.
For Rausing, this investment is an unusual move. Since he started investing about a year ago he has put money into around 20 companies, many of them in the drinks space. These include Matchabar, a plant-based energy drink and Dirty Lemon, one of Rausing’s first investments.
“As it says on my website, the focus is on that intersection between consumer and technology, because I believe technology will differentiate the consumer product. I also wanted to find companies that are trying to create a better world somehow, whether it’s reducing sugars, offering cleaner energy, helping with the payment process, or making auto insurance cheaper and more transparent.”
Amir Marandi and Linus Malmén are two of Zaver’s three founders.
Amir Marandi, the chief executive of Zaver, tells Sifted that Rausing’s lack of previous investments in fintech may be to an advantage.
“Not having experience in fintech can be a good complement for us, as he may have a different perspective on things,” Marandi says.
“There is really no limitation other than, I need to be able to get there, I need to have a network and I need to have a value add.”
The reason most of the portfolio companies are American is that Rausing until recently lived in New York. The last few months he has been back in London.
“I’m definitely looking more into European companies now. The reason why I’ve invested in the US was that I was based there. It’s important to be close to your investments,” Rausing says.
Value add – not easy capital
“Stockholm is close enough in London, and I’m in Sweden enough for Zaver to make sense. But in the same way, France is just a two-hour train journey from London. So there is really no limitation to where I am looking other than, I need to be able to get there, I need to have a network and I need to have a value add”, Rausing says.
With international expansion in mind for Zaver in the future, Marandi is hopeful that Rausing’s network will prove useful.
”We have tried to choose investors who can support us in the short and long term. We have great Swedish investors but we also see a value with an investor like Magnus Rausing, based outside of Sweden with an international network,” Marandi says.
“I don’t want to be seen as easy capital and I don’t invest in anything that I don’t think I can add value to.”
Adding value is important for Rausing and he says he wants to get away from the focus on his money and therefore never shares how big his investments are.
“I am very rarely the biggest ticket out there. It is more the value add that I can bring whether it’s access to my network or to the rest of my portfolio. I don’t want to be seen as easy capital and I don’t invest in anything that I don’t think I can add value to.”
The investment in startups is not new to the heirs of the packaging success Tetra Laval. Jörn Rausing, who also lives in the UK, invested £15m in the online grocery company Ocado as early as 2003.
Magnus Rausing says that his interest in investing has certainly come from his father:
“Undoubtedly, he’s taught me a lot. So, yes, a lot of it comes from him.”
Please keep comments respectful. By commenting, you agree to abide by our community guidelines and these terms and conditions.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line747
|
__label__wiki
| 0.65015
| 0.65015
|
Tag Archives: Julius Caesar
5 B-Grade Historical Movies We Can Only Hope Will Be Made
Say "Apartheid" again. SAY "APARTHEID" AGAIN!
5. “A Long Walk to Freedom,” starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nelson Mandela
While Nelson Mandela’s story is known quite well throughout the United States, there are parts of his life that are still shrouded in mystery. This cinematic biography sheds light upon the complete legend of Mandela, from his dabbling in the Jedi arts as a youth (the guy had a lot of fucking midichlorians) to his acting roles in Quentin Tarantino films. During his 27-year prison sentence, he became notorious for being a mediator and peacekeeper; in one memorable instance, he interrupted some good old-fashioned prison shower rape by viciously fending off the perpetrator, asking “Does he look like your bitch?!” The film also delves deep into Mandela’s political activity after his release from prison. In arguably the most poignant scene of the movie, Mandela – in his first speech to the public after his release from prison – proclaims: “I’m tired of this mothafuckin’ Apartheid in my mothafuckin’ country.” Supposedly, Samuel L. Jackson repeatedly tried to add gratuitously violent fight scenes into the film, but was forced to settle for an allotment of twelve “mothafuckas” to add anywhere in the script.
Louis XVI feels the internal repercussions of drinking so much "tiger blood."
4. “Liberty, Fraternity, and Raunchiness,” starring Charlie Sheen as Louis XVI and Sarah Silverman as Marie Antoinette
Adequately described as a combination of Les Miserables, A Tale of Two Cities, and American Pie, this film is the only one to have ever gotten Ebert and Roeper’s worst rating, “Two thumbs up my ass.” As the working class of Paris begins to revolt against the monarchy, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette respond as any concerned leaders would: by making dick jokes. In fact, as indicated in one of the opening scenes, the phrase “Let them eat cake” was actually a reference to a secondary meaning of cake in the aristocracy, which was “Louis XVI’s wrinkled scrotum.” So Marie Antoinette suggested the poor masses address their severe hunger by eating Louis XVI’s wrinkled scrotum. Most critics agree that the most heinous scene of the movie is either the one where Louis XVI uses the guillotine to circumcise his nephew or the one where Louis XVI does lines of coke off of a rotting peasant carcass. Rumor has it that the director of the movie, Judd Apatow, has already started filming a sequel, featuring Jim Gaffigan as Maximilien Robespierre and Rosie O’Donnell as Napoleon Bonaparte.
I came, I saw, I failed to convince anyone that I'm a credible actor
3. “The Roman Empire: Abridged,” starring Keanu Reeves as Julius Caesar
Predictably failing to accurately portray the manifest heinousness of Caesar, Reeves captivates audiences who happen to be blind and deaf. He effectively delivers his lines with the voice inflection of a 14-year-old skateboarding protégée after taking LSD, and that is quite evident in lines like “Whoa – the Rubicon!” and “It’s, like, the Gallic Wars.” Of course, Caesar’s political strategy doesn’t go over especially well with Brutus (played by Vin Diesel), who had just finished snowboarding down the Matterhorn. In an especially uninspired scene, Brutus knifes Caesar, as the latter famously whispers, “Et tu, bald man who looks like a serial rapist?” The Augustan Era is only very quickly reviewed, with a few memorable lines from the famous emperor Augustus, who – in a rather questionable casting choice – was played by Mike Tyson. After the reign of Augustus, the movie quickly becomes depressing, as we see the rule of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, all of whom are played by Nicolas Cage.
Cera, shortly after mispronouncing "clitoris"
2. “A History of Impotence,” starring Michael Cera as several historical figures
This cinematic masterpiece takes us back to the beginning of time, telling the story of the development of the human race through various case studies of sexual ineptitude, with every impotent character portrayed by semi-adolescent boyman Michael Cera. The film opens with a depiction of the Cro-Magnon man first exhibiting a distinct lack of sexual prowess, resulting in a series of unsettlingly detailed cave drawings. The movie proceeds to travel through history, beginning with impotent men such as Nebbuchadnezzar (turns out his obscenely lengthy name was merely overcompensation for his obscenely short dingalong) and Emperor Constantine, lovingly referred to by his subjects as “The 3-Minute Wonder.” Moving on to the Renaissance, we gain some insight into Leonardo da Vinci’s personal life; his famous “Mona Lisa” aimed to portray the woman in the most hideous way possible, as revenge for her publicizing his lifelong problem of chronic premature ejaculation. After exposing a few more renowned impotent historical figures in early modern and modern history (think Lewis AND Clark), the movie ends with an earthshaking reveal about Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s honeymoon.
Sadly, Joseph Kony's fashionable sweater was made by - you guessed it - children.
1. “The Axis of Evil,” starring Jackie Chan as Kim Jong-Il and Ryan Gosling as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks, this film depicts the backstory behind the romantic relationship between these two world leaders. The star-crossed dictators first met in the most fateful of ways: rolling on ecstasy at a Skrillex concert. After an ephemeral but sticky affirmation of their love for each other and authoritarian rule, they make a pact to build an “Axis of Evil.” Kim Jong-Il establishes his rule in North Korea through a masterful implementation of his ancient martial arts skills, while Ahmedinejad seduces dozens of Iranian politicians (all of whom are women, of course, because there are definitely no homosexuals in Iran, and lots of women hold political office) in order to work his way up to the presidency. After separately attaining their positions of power, they embark on an astonishingly homoerotic adventure to find a third party to complete their political threesome, encountering prominent figures like Vladimir Putin (played by Tom Felton), Hugo Chavez (played by Antonio Banderas), and Joseph Kony (played by Bill Cosby).
Tags: American culture, American Pie, Antonio Banderas, Apartheid, Augustus Caesar, Axis of Evil, Bill Cosby, Brutus, Caligua, Cro-Magnon Man, culture, Ebert and Roeper, Emperor Constantine, history, Hugo Chavez, Jim Gaffigan, Joseph Kony, Judd Apatow, Julius Caesar, Kim Jong-Il, Leonardo da Vinci, Les Miserables, Lewis and Clark, Louis XVI, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Marie Antoinette, Maximilien Robespierre, Michael Cera, Mike Tyson, movies, Nancy Reagan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nebbuchadnezzar, Nelson Mandela, Nero, Nicholas Sparks, Nicolas Cage, North Korea, Paris, Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, Ronald Reagan, Rosie O'Donnell, Rubicon, Samuel L. Jackson, Skrillex, Snakes on a Plane, South Africa, Star Wars, Tale of Two Cities, The Gallic Wars, Tiberius, Tom Felton, Vin Diesel, Vladimir Putin
Categories Geography/History, Lists
Famous Moments in Hook Up History
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for two consenting parties to get their mutual rocks off, mankind has resorted time and time again to the perennial spectacle of the “Hook Up” in order to satisfy its carnal needs. From casual make-out sessions to all-out boot knocking, humans have been engaged in the barter of sexual favors pretty much ever since we evolved to develop the capacity for euphemisms, and at an increasingly rapid pace since the invention of alcohol, Cosmo, and the internet. But despite the interminable nature of this miraculous form of erotic consortium, there are some moments in hook up lore that truly stand above and beyond the rest of the fray. These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill regrettable one-night stands, but rather moments of extraordinary courage and fervor, where the libido of two humans changed the course of human history forever.
The evolutionary process enables humans to complete the walk of shame faster than any other mammal
48,000 BC: Caveman and Cavewoman
Historians have concluded that the first hook up in the history of man occurred approximately 20 minutes after Homo sapiens reached full behavioral modernity. The inaugural event, commemorated on cave walls and cave chat rooms everywhere, is rumored to have taken place at the annual Festival of the Woolly Mammoth, when a noticeably intoxicated caveman of the local Sig Ep tribe managed to seduce a female, forget her name at least three different times, and engage in a brief and thoroughly mediocre tryst with her. The next morning, the proud male reportedly never even considered hunting breakfast for her the next morning, and neglected to send smoke signals her way after a three-day waiting period. During their next encounter at a cave party in Lascoux, France, the two cordially greeted each other, but then quickly separated to avoid the shame and awkwardness that was to forever plague the human race.
Alright, my roommate's gone for the next 30 minutes. Let's see how fertile the Nile Delta really is.
41 BC: Cleopatra and Mark Antony
The inventor of the “power trip,” Cleopatra was never quite satisfied ruling over one of the greatest civilizations in the world or bearing Julius Caesar’s child. Instead, she cooped up in her love den with Marcus Antonius (the most tantalizing triumvir in all the Roman Empire) in what became one of the most geo-politically significant coitions of all time. Using highly sensitive facial recognition technology, archaeologists have determined that Cleopatra was approximately 56,000 times hotter than a combination between Brooklyn Decker and Pippa Middleton, which goes a long way to explaining why Antony preferred to get his freaky on in Alexandria than return to Rome and his wife Octavia. Pascal once that “Cleopatra’s nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed,” which means that, had Cleopatra been less of a slampiece or Antony less of a gallant philanderer, Octavian might never have risen to power as Augustus, and the world never would have inherited such valuable cultural contributions from the Roman Empire as corrupt politicians, togas, and lax sexual mores.
"If I were casting for a modern film interpretation of our romance, I'd totally get Claire Danes to play you."
1591 AD: Romeo and Juliet
In a now classic move, two adolescents met each other for the first time at a lame party and fell instantly, nay noxiously, in love with the first person to ever requite their affection. This hook up practically wrote the template for horny teenagers using make-out sessions to rebel against their family, and imbued western society with a healthy dose of suspicion towards drug-dealing Friars that hang out with 15 year old girls. That, combined with the fact that any male who can recite the balcony scene is instantly guaranteed to get some at any time he so desires, makes Romeo and Juliet’s horrifically saccharine relationship qualify for a position amongst the masters of the art of the hook up.
1788 AD: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Jefferson’s 38-year relationship with his slave Hemings that produced 6 children born into slavery was not just one of numerous blights on American Presidential history and convoluted racial past, but also a testament to three of the most important aspects of most hook ups: lying, hypocrisy, and shame. It took major cojones to write that all men are created equal and born with unalienable rights, and then to turn around and use those cojones to knock up a slave. Like most other men, Jefferson never divulged the truth about his affair, and the shame of his duplicity still hangs over the nation even worse than the memory of that one time with those two theater majors and a bottle of rum.
You have no idea what's hidden beneath those robes.
1928 AD: Harry Blackmun and Tiffani Brooking
During Justice Blackmun’s junior year at Harvard, the Lambda Chi brother experienced a regrettable one-night stand with his Con Law study partner. The episode turned far more distressing, however, during the ensuing pregnancy scare. It is said that the tense period when Blackmun wondered if he would become a father at the age of 20 greatly affected the future Supreme Court Justice, eventually playing the deciding role in his authoring of the Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. The American hook up scene would be a much different world without Blackmun’s passionate advocacy of abortion rights, earning this jowly Minnesotan the distinction of having partaken in one of the most important hook ups in all hook up history.
Tags: abortion, adolescents, alcohol, Alexandria, American Presidential History, Augustus, boot knocking, bottle of rum, Brooklyn Decker, carnal needs, cave chat rooms, cave walls, caveman, cavewoman, Cleopatra, cojones, Con Law, convoluted racial past, Cosmo, drug-dealing Friars, duplicity, erotic consortium, euphemisms, Festival of the Woolly Mammoth, France, full behavioral modernity, geo-politically significan coitions, great moments, great moments in hookup history, history, homo sapiens, Hook up, Hooking up, horny teenagers, human history, hunting, hypocrisy, Internet, Juliet, Julius Caesar, Justice Harry Blackmun, Lambda Chi, Lascoux, libido, lying, make-out session, Marcus Antonius, Mark Antony, Minnesota, mutual, noxious, Octavia, Octavian, one-night stands, Pascal, philander, Pippa Middleton, power trip, pregnancy scare, rocks off, Roe v. Wade, Romeo, Sally Hemings, sexual favors, sexual mores, shame, Sig Ep, slampiece, smoke signals, Supreme Court, Thomas Jefferson, togas, tryst, two theater majors
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line751
|
__label__cc
| 0.699586
| 0.300414
|
Le gouvernement luxembourgeois Service des médias, des communications et du numérique Menu principal Rechercher
Le SMC
Allez à l’accueil
Luxembourg Prime minister Xavier Bettel launches Luxembourg's free & highly acclaimed Elements of AI – course
Press release 18.12.2020
On this 18th of December 2020, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel launched the Luxembourg equivalent of the highly acclaimed "Elements of AI” online course for students, civil servants, businesses and the global community, thanks to the Finnish government's leadership in digital skills.
"Elements of AI" allows to understand and harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). It is designed to encourage everyone, regardless of age or educational background to learn what AI is, what can (and can't) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The course combines theory with practical exercises and can be completed at your own pace.
"AI's potential is very broad, but it doesn't have to be scary. Instead, the Luxembourg government wants each citizen to have access to excellent resources when it comes to this new technology. I'm convinced that knowledge on AI is power", stated Xavier Bettel.
"Elements of AI" is a free online course developed by the University of Helsinki and the Finnish company Reaktor. The initiative for offering the "Elements of AI" course to all EU countries was launched in the context of Finland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019. Utilizing and developing the digital economy and artificial intelligence as well as investing in citizens' knowledge and skills were the priorities of Finland's Presidency in regards to the Agenda for Sustainable Growth.
"Artificial intelligence is one of the key success factors in the future, enabling sustainable growth and competitiveness in the European Union. Investments in digitalisation are particularly needed when we build a way out of the coronavirus crisis. The EU should strive to become a pioneer in the field of digitalisation, and this course contributes to these efforts," says Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs, Mika Lintilä.
The translations of the course materials are provided by the European Commission while Luxembourg's tailor-made version is made available in German, French and English. The University of Luxembourg will provide specialist support for the weekly interactive webinars, the Q&A forums and exercises related to the course. Both the University of Luxembourg Competence Center, the continuing education entity of the University of Luxembourg, and INAP, the national academy for civil servants, will accompany the course and issue the certificates in their official curricula, allowing students, civil servants or professionals from all sectors to get official recognition for their efforts. SCRIPT, the Ministry for Education's innovation unit, also participates in the initiative and will inform the high school population about the opportunity.
Press release by the Department of Media, Telecommunications and Digital Policy
Minister(s)
BETTEL Xavier
Department for the Coordination of Educational and Technological Research and Innovation
Department of Media, Telecommunications and Digital Policy
Ministry of State
National Institute for Public Administration
Information technologies / Telecommunication
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line753
|
__label__wiki
| 0.919557
| 0.919557
|
Daily Archives: May 8th, 2015
Brewers players with three home runs in a game
By Jerry Tapp on May 8, 2015 | Leave a comment
Ben Oglivie hit three home runs in a game three times for the Brewers
At this point in the 2015 Milwaukee Brewers season, the pitching staff has allowed twice as many home runs as the offense has hit (allowed 42, hit 21). Not a great stat to hang your hat on for the team.
But there have been times in the past when the home run has been an important part of the team’s success. And, there have been a few times when one player has supplied significant power at the plate all by himself.
There have been 19 times in the team’s history that a Brewers player has hit three home runs in a game. Thirteen different players have homered three times in a game for the Brewers on at least one occasion. Here’s a handful of stats re: Brewers players who have hit three home runs in a game.
* The first Brewer player to hit three HRs in a game was Ben Oglivie on July 8, 1979.
* The Brewers are 18-1 in games when one of their players has a three-HR game. The only loss was on May 12, 1982 versus Kansas City when Paul Motitor had three HRS in a 9-7 loss to the Royals.
* Oglivie holds the Brewers record with three games with three homers. Four other players have hit three homers in two games for Milwaukee: Jeromy Burnitz, Geoff Jenkins, Richie Sexson and Ryan Braun.
* Burnitz and Sexson hit three home runs in the same game on August 25, 2001, a 9-4 win over Arizona.
* The last Brewers player to hit three jacks in a game was Braun on April 8, 2014.
* Most RBIs in a game when a Brewers player hit three HRs is seven; both Corey Hart (5/23/2011) and Braun (4/8/2014) had seven RBI in their three-HR games on those dates.
* A Brewers player had hit three-HRs in a game three times against the Detroit Tigers, most of any opponent.
* A Brewers player had a three-HR game four times in 2001, most of any season.
* Of the 19 times a Brewers player hit three HRs in a game, 11 happened at home, eight happened on the road.
* Here’s a look at which months these 19 occurrences happened for the Brew Crew: April-5, May-5, June-1, July-4, August-1, September-3.
* Of the Brewer players who hit three HRs in a game, six were playing left field in the game, five were playing first base, four were playing right field, two were playing third base, and one each were playing second base and shortstop.
* Of the Brewer players who hit three HRs in a game, five were batting third in the order, four each were batting fourth or fifth in the order, two were hitting in the sixth spot, one each were hitting first, second, seventh and ninth in the order. Dale Sveum was hitting ninth in the order when he had three HRs on July 17, 1987.
Posted in: Baseball | Tagged: Ben Oglivie, Brewers, home runs by Brewers, Milwaukee Brewers
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line758
|
__label__wiki
| 0.986142
| 0.986142
|
Crew Dragon in orbit after historic launch
by Jeff Foust — May 30, 2020
A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center May 30 placing the Demo-2 spacecraft, with two NASA astronauts on board, into orbit. Credit: Craig Vander Galien for SpaceNews
Updated 9:05 p.m. with post-launch press conference statements.
WASHINGTON — The first crewed orbital launch from the United States in nearly nine years took place May 30, placing a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft with two NASA astronauts on board into orbit, bound for the International Space Station.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. Eastern. The Crew Dragon spacecraft atop the rocket’s upper stage separated 12 minutes later after achieving low Earth orbit.
“I’m really quite overcome with emotion,” SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who founded the company in 2002, said at a post-launch press conference. “It’s been 18 years working towards this goal. It’s hard to believe that’s happened.”
“This has been a long time coming,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in post-launch remarks on NASA TV. “It’s been nine years since we’ve launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, and now it’s done. We have done it.”
The launch took place on the second attempt for the Demo-2 mission, after the first attempt May 27 was scrubbed less than 20 minutes before the scheduled liftoff because of inclement weather. Weather for this attempt was unsettled for much of the day, with only a 50% chance of acceptable weather in the hours leading up to liftoff. Conditions improved, though, through the afternoon, allowing the launch to proceed.
The Crew Dragon is scheduled to dock with the ISS at about 10:29 a.m. Eastern May 31, 19 hours after launch. After docking, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will remain on the station for up to four months to assist the one NASA astronaut currently on the station, Chris Cassidy, while the next Crew Dragon is prepared for a launch now scheduled for no earlier than Aug. 30.
The spacecraft, which Behnken and Hurley said in a brief downlink a few hours after the launch had been named the “Capsule Endeavour,” in part after the shuttle which both had previously flown on, is working well. NASA officials said while a previous Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the station on an uncrewed test flight, Demo-1, more than a year ago, they’ll be closely watching this spacecraft’s approach to the station.
“You always learn something with spaceflight, and now having a crew on board, and understanding how the crew and the spacecraft operate as a system, and then how that total systems works approaching the station, is another big thing that we’re learning,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA commercial crew program manager, during the press conference. The spacecraft’s extended stay at the ISS, which could be up to four months, is also “a huge learning opportunity for us” to see how well the Crew Dragon and ISS operate as an integrated system.
The launch is the culmination of an effort that dates back more than a decade to develop a successor to the space shuttle for transporting NASA astronauts. The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, started by NASA in 2005, supported the development of commercial cargo vehicles, including the original SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The COTS program included an option for crew transportation, but NASA did not exercise that part of its award to SpaceX.
NASA then started the commercial crew program in 2010 with a series of funded Space Act Agreement initiatives to SpaceX and other companies. In 2014, Boeing and SpaceX won Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts to complete development and testing of their commercial crew vehicles and for initial flights to the ISS. SpaceX’s award was worth $2.6 billion.
At the time of the CCtCap awards, NASA expected to have the spacecraft completed and certified for flying NASA astronauts by 2017. But development delays pushed back the schedule for both companies, exacerbating earlier delays in the program caused by funding shortfalls.
SpaceX flew the Crew Dragon spacecraft for the first time in March 2019 on the Demo-1 mission, going to the ISS without a crew on board. That flight was a success, but a little more than a month after the Demo-1 spacecraft splashed down, it was destroyed during a static-fire test of the SuperDraco thrusters in its launch abort system.
That accident pushed back an in-flight abort test of the spacecraft, where the capsule separated from a Falcon 9 rocket in flight, to January. That test was a success, and final testing of the spacecraft, including its revamped parachute system, cleared the way to proceed with the Demo-2 crewed mission.
The delays, along with SpaceX’s focus on other projects, like its Starship launch system, strained the company’s relationship with NASA at times. Just before SpaceX held a media event about Starship at its South Texas site last September, Bridenstine tweeted his frustration: “Commercial Crew is years behind schedule. NASA expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American taxpayer. It’s time to deliver.”
Bridenstine, at the press conference, said that SpaceX had put a new emphasis on commercial crew after that statement. “If you would have told me then that we would be right here today, I don’t know if I would have believed it,” he said, recalling that tweet. “Since that day, Elon Musk and SpaceX have delivered on everything NASA has asked them to deliver on, and at a speed that we never would have guessed.”
Behnken and Hurley both joined the NASA astronaut corps in 2000. Behnken flew on the STS-123 shuttle mission in 2008 and STS-130 in 2010. Hurley flew on STS-127 in 2009 and STS-135, the final space shuttle flight, in 2011. The two joined the commercial crew “cadre” of astronauts in 2015 to train on both the Crew Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner vehicles, providing inputs from an astronaut’s perspective for both companies.
“This is a great time in America to be able to do this again,” Hurley said in comments May 20 when he and Behnken arrived at KSC for the launch, calling the development of commercial crew vehicles a “marathon” by NASA and SpaceX. “I think it’s kind of a culmination. It’s that next stage of human spaceflight.”
“I’m breathing a sigh of relief,” Bridenstine said after Crew Dragon reached orbit. “But I will also tell you, I am not going to celebrate until Bob and Doug are home safely.”
Musk agreed, arguing that the Crew Dragon’s reentry and landing may be more dangerous than its launch. “We don’t want to declare victory yet,” he said. “We need to bring them home safely.”
Civil Commercial Launch Commercial CrewCrew DragonDemo-2Falcon 9NASASpaceX
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line762
|
__label__wiki
| 0.932783
| 0.932783
|
White House Ramps Up Its Heinous MS-13 Propaganda Campaign
Jorge Rivas
The White House on Monday took its dehumanizing campaign to brand MS-13 gang members as “animals” to a new level.
A 480-word “article” published on the White House press site Monday morning referred to MS-13 members as “animals” eight different times.
The statement went on to list the most heinous crimes allegedly committed by suspected gang members affiliated with MS-13, the transnational street gang founded in Los Angeles.
“MS-13’s animals are accused of stabbing a man more than 100 times and then decapitating him, dismembering him, and ripping his heart out of his body,” noted the press release, referring to a September 2017 incident in Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb outside Washington DC.
The statement mentioned some of the the same crimes White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders raised last week when she was asked to clarify President Donald Trump’s comment that “ these aren’t people, these are animals.”
Those comments led to a media controversy over whether the press had taken Trump out of context, with outlets like CNN and The Associated Press bowing to pressure and clarifying that Trump had made them after someone else spoke about MS-13.
Other outlets like the New York Times defended their handling of the comments.
Experts say the White House’s campaign against MS-13 is wildly out of proportion with their actual threat. For example, MS-13 gang members predominantly live in just three metropolitan areas around Los Angeles, Long Island, and Washington, DC, according to the Times. But the White House’s statements could quickly make you suspect your brown neighbor from any Latin American country is a violent MS-13 “animal.”
The White House press release also claimed that “recent investigations have revealed MS-13 gang leaders based in El Salvador have been sending representatives into the United States illegally to connect the leaders with local gang members.”
But academics have noted that “there appears to be no empirical evidence that MS-13 members in the United States are overwhelmingly foreign-born nationals.”
The police chief in Montgomery County, the suburb outside Washington DC, told the Times earlier this year that “MS-13 is certainly a threat, just not the one the president is making it out to be.”
Trump is scheduled to visit Long Island this Wednesday, where he is expected to talk about the need to deport MS-13 gang members.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line765
|
__label__wiki
| 0.886809
| 0.886809
|
Sports-Life-News
sports-life-news.com
Home » NFL » Why do some NFL teams never hire people of color as GMs and coaches and others do?
Why do some NFL teams never hire people of color as GMs and coaches and others do?
With the NFL currently having just three coaches of color and two Black general managers, the Atlanta Falcons seem to be sending a message that teams really do understand it’s no longer enough to pay lip service to diversity.
In need of both a coach and a GM, Atlanta’s interview list is filled with Black and brown men. While the Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least two people of color for coaching openings, the Falcons have interviewed four. The five candidates who interviewed for the GM job are all Black or brown, and the Falcons do not plan to interview anyone else.
It’s promising. It’s also out of character for the Falcons.
The Falcons have never had a person of color as their full-time coach or GM.
But the Falcons are not alone, according to USA TODAY Sports analysis of NFL hiring practices since 1990.
Four franchises – the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – are responsible for 32% of all the Black and brown coaches and GMs hired in the past 30 years, while Atlanta and six other teams have not had a single person of color in either of their two most important positions.
Art Shell was the first Black coach to be an NFL head coach when he took over the Raiders in 1989. (Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP)
The Falcons had no comment other than to point out what they are doing this hiring cycle.
“We’re stuck,” said Tony Dungy, the Hall of Fame coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts. “I don’t know if you can force people to make good decisions.”
When Art Shell became the first Black head coach in the NFL’s modern era in 1989, the hope was that his hiring would lead to more opportunities for other coaches of color, as well as general managers. People who would have the power and influence to create a pipeline of talent so NFL owners couldn’t fall back on the excuse that there weren’t any good Black and brown candidates.
WILL HE OR WON'T HE? Eric Bieniemy is ready to be a head coach. Which NFL team will finally take him?
OPINION:Hall of Famer Tony Dungy destroys the myth of the poorly interviewing Black coach
But results since then have been abysmal. Of the 327 full-time coaches and general managers hired since 1990, USA TODAY Sports found that 40 were Black or brown.
For the purpose of this project, USA TODAY Sports looked at full-time hires made from 1990 through the start of this season, and classified a general manager as someone who had control over the coaching staff in addition to the 53-man roster.
Even the adoption of the Rooney Rule in 2003 has not brought greater diversity. There were a record-tying eight coaches of color in 2018 – a quarter of the 32 teams in a league where about 70% of players are Black – but that dwindled to three when the Los Angeles Chargers fired Anthony Lynn after the recently concluded regular season.
It is the divide that is most startling, however. Among USA TODAY Sports’ findings:
►Ten franchises have hired more than one person of color, accounting for 62% of the 40 Black and brown coaches and GMs hired since 1990. The Browns lead the way with four, two coaches and two GMs, while the Buccaneers, Cardinals and Raiders have had three each.
The Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets each have had two people of color as their coach or GM. Indianapolis went from one Black head coach, Dungy, to another, Jim Caldwell.
“What I benefited from both in Tampa and Indianapolis was that I worked for people who didn’t just talk about hiring the best people, and having a diverse staff, but actually worked to do it,” said Dungy, now an analyst with NBC.
►The Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans have never had a person of color as either their coach or general manager.
Collectively, they have made 60 hires since 1990, 41 coaches and 19 general managers.
►The Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks have not hired a person of color since 1999. Each of the teams has had one head coach of color – Tom Flores for the Seahawks and Ray Rhodes for both the Eagles and Packers.
It's on NFL owners
The NFL's diversity failings are not for a lack of trying by the league office.
In 2003, the NFL adopted the Rooney Rule, which required teams to interview at least one Black or brown candidate for any open coaching position. That was expanded in 2009 to include general manager and equivalent front-office positions.
In May, following a third consecutive hiring cycle in which only one man of color got a head coaching job, the NFL expanded the Rooney Rule again. Now teams must interview two external minority candidates for head coach openings, and at least one for coordinator jobs. Women also were included in the definition of minority.
The league, led by executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, has also worked with the Fritz Pollard Alliance and Black and brown coaches and executives, past and present, to compile a list of minority candidates. In November, it approved giving teams additional draft picks for developing minority coaches and executives who are hired as head coaches and GMs.
But the NFL can only do so much when it is individual team owners who do the actual hiring.
“I wish could say `X, Y and Z and then it will happen.’ But the buck stops with the owners. This is one of those issues where it’s entirely leadership-owned,” said Pamela Newkirk, who devoted a chapter to the NFL in her book "Diversity, Inc.: The Fight for Racial Equality in the Workplace."
“It’s not an issue of rocket science or we just don’t know how to do it,” Newkirk added. “We have myriad ways to make this happen, whether through recruiting efforts, reaching outside of the familiar networks you tap into, the Rooney Rule. … The strategies are not what’s lacking. It comes back to whether or not these owners are willing to do it.
“That’s it. The buck is stopping with them.”
Research has shown that bias – implicit and otherwise – plays a significant role in hiring, with decision makers tending to gravitate toward people they see as similar. That’s exacerbated in the NFL, where the coach and, to a lesser degree, the general manager are the “face” of billion-dollar franchises that are owned overwhelmingly by white men.
Unless owners are intentional about confronting their biases, Newkirk said the status quo will prevail.
“I think it will come down to economics,” she said. “If they continue to get away with doing it, they’ll continue to do it. If fans continue to support it and sponsors continue to support it – if we continue to normalize exclusion, that’s what will happen.”
Notably, Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Rams owner Stan Kroenke were members of the NFL committee that created the Rooney Rule. So, too, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie. Neither the Falcons nor Rams have hired a person of color as coach or GM, while the Eagles haven’t since Rhodes was fired in 1998.
Two of the other teams that have never hired a person of color as head coach or general manager do have long-term stability at those positions. Bill Belichick has been coach and de facto GM of the Patriots since 2000, and Mickey Loomis became Saints GM in 2002 and hired Sean Payton four years later.
But the Patriots hired four coaches between 1990 and 2000, and the Saints hired two coaches and a GM prior to Loomis and Payton.
Jerry Jones has been his own GM since buying the Cowboys in 1989. He’s hired seven coaches since then, including Mike McCarthy, whose hiring last year after a cursory search raised eyebrows.
“The pipeline is robust. The league office has moved mountains with the Rooney Rule,” said Cyrus Mehri, co-founder of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a non-profit organization that champions diversity in the NFL. “Ultimately, there needs to be a cultural change, where leadership at the top really embraces it in a genuine, heartfelt way, and ensures there’s fair, merit-based decision making for all positions at a club so all candidates can compete for the full panoply of opportunities.”
Andy Reid used to sit in on owners’ meetings when he coached the Philadelphia Eagles, giving him a chance to get to know some of the other owners. It also gave him an opportunity to think about who he might like to work with, should he ever leave Philadelphia, and the Hunt family in Kansas City was at the top of his list.
Fast forward to 2012. Reid was fired by the Eagles on Monday. He was hired by the Chiefs on Friday.
It’s those kinds of personal connections that are essential to overcoming the NFL’s diversity failings, said Bill Polian, the Hall of Fame executive who hired Dungy and Caldwell in Indianapolis and, years earlier, was responsible for Elijah Pitts being elevated to assistant coach in Buffalo.
“If you get to know a person, if you can put a face with a name, if you have an impression, however fleeting, it’s very different than just hearing a name for the first time. Or reading about them,” Polian said.
“These decisions are not at the league level, they’re made in 32 different team offices,” he said. “The introduction to 32 different owners and 32 different general managers and team presidents is really what’s important.
“If you get to know a person and become familiar with them, they’re not a label anymore. They’re a person. They’re an individual.”
Then, when people of color are in position to influence, they can pull others along. Dungy recalls being in Tampa and asking his scouts for recommendations on a new assistant, and them giving him Lovie Smith’s name.
Dungy hired Smith, whose experience to that point was in the college ranks, as his linebackers coach. Eight years later, Smith became the Chicago Bears’ first Black head coach.
“We had a diverse staff,” Dungy said. “That diversity meant there were a lot of open minds.”
Just hire, baby
For all of the studies and committees and initiatives, achieving diversity really is as simple as just doing it. Take the Raiders.
Legendary owner Al Davis broke the NFL’s modern-day color barrier by hiring Flores, the league’s first Hispanic coach, in 1979. He then hired Shell in 1989. He also hired Amy Trask as CEO, the first woman to be a team executive in the NFL.
Davis, who also was the Raiders’ general manager, died in 2011 and control of the team passed to his son, Mark. His first significant hire? Reggie McKenzie as the team’s first Black general manager.
“Al hired without regard to race, gender and other individualities which have no bearing on whether one can do a job, many decades before this was a topic of conversation in the National Football League,” said Trask, now an analyst for CBS Sports.
But 30-plus years after Davis hired Shell, that conversation feels no closer to reaching a conclusion. Two hires have already been announced, and both – general managers for the Texans and Broncos – were white men.
“We’re out of the excuses that have been used for a century to explain an acute under-representation of minorities in leadership positions,” said Newkirk, the author of Diversity, Inc. “Now it’s just coming down to, `OK, we’re just going to normalize the exclusion of people of color in these roles.'”
Drew Brees on facing Tom Brady: 'That's 85 years and a lot of football experience that's gonna be on the field'
The quarterbacks looking to guide their teams to Super Bowl glory
DJ LeMahieu, Yankees finalizing six-year, $90 million deal
Baseball Hall of Fame debate: Jeff Kent – the best power-hitting 2B ever – on the outside looking in
MLB hires ex-Cubs’ prez Epstein as consultant
Wayne Rooney’s 10 defining matches as Man Utd and England legend retires
Why Chelsea v Manchester United is the biggest WSL game in years
Guardiola admits Garcia could leave to join Barcelona this month
On : 01/15/2021
Is WWE trying to kill Ric Flair?
It’s been Sasha Banks’ year in WWE, but let’s get her a better one soon
Von Miller under criminal investigation by Parker police – The Denver Post
Saints RB Alvin Kamara learned importance of staying mentally sharp following time on COVID list
Copyright © 2021 Sports-Life-News
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line766
|
__label__cc
| 0.593897
| 0.406103
|
Home › Natural Balance L.I.T. Limited Ingredient Treats Sweet Potato and Bison Formula Dog Treats
Natural Balance L.I.T. Limited Ingredient Treats Sweet Potato and Bison Formula Dog Treats
Small Breed: 8-oz - $4.99 USD 14-oz - $7.10 USD
Natural Balance L.I.T. Limited Ingredient Treats Sweet Potato & Bison Formula is a wonderful grain-free, nutritious snack for your dog.
Our L.I.T. Formulas come in two sizes, regular and small breed!
Dried Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Bison Meal, Potato Protein, Dried Cane Molasses, Canola Oil, Natural Flavor, Sodium Chloride, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Citric Acid.
Crude Fat 3.0% min
Crude Fiber 5.0% max
Moisture 12.0% max
Visit Main Site
Monday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tuesday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
NORTHPOINT PETS & COMPANY
943B South Main Street
© 2021 NorthPoint Pets & Company
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line769
|
__label__cc
| 0.623765
| 0.376235
|
HomePosts tagged 'Blades'
Wind Turbine Blades: A Toxic Legacy For Centuries to Come – So Much for Saving the Planet …
July 15, 2017 July 17, 2017 Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W) Ecological Damage, Turbine Blades, Wind Turbines Blades, Ecological Damage, GL-W, Greg Lance - Watkins, Greg_L-W, Landfill, Stroat, Wind Turbines
DO MAKE USE of LINKS,
>SEARCH<
>Side Bars<
The Top Bar >PAGES<
Wind Turbine Blades: A Toxic Legacy For Centuries to Come –
So Much for Saving the Planet ….
Greg_L-W
Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com
STROAT WB SITE
https://stroat-gloucestershire.com
https://InfoWebSiteUK.wordpress.com
The Main Web Site:
www.InfoWebSite.UK
Wind Turbine Blades: A Toxic Legacy For Centuries to Come – So Much for Saving the Planet
Nightmare Of Wind Turbine Blade Disposal: 2 New Papers Expose The Environmental Nightmare Of Wind Turbine Blade Disposal
Kenneth Richard
“If the industry cannot come up with more sustainable manufacturing and disposal processes, public acceptance of wind energy would decline if the public becomes aware of these issues” – Ramirez-Tejeda et al., 2017
Despite an explosion in installed wind capacity since 1990, wind power had achieved just 0.39% of the world’s total energy consumption as of 2013.
Germany has assumed a leading role in promoting the consumption of renewable energy. And yet even in Germany the share of energy consumption from wind power reached only 2.1% in 2016.
Despite its extremely limited infiltration as a world energy source, it is assumed that a rapid expansion of wind power will ultimately be environmentally advantageous both due to its reputation as a “clean” energy and because of the potential to contribute to reduced CO2 emissions.
Recently, however, the austere environmental impacts and health risks associated with expanding wind energy have received more attention.
For example, scientists have asserted that wind turbines are now the leading cause of multiple mortality events in bats, with 3 to 5 million bats killed by wind turbines every year. Migratory bats in North America may face the risk of extinction in the next few decades due to wind turbine-related fatalities.
Frick et al., 2017
“Large numbers of migratory bats are killed every year at wind energy facilities. … Using expert elicitation and population projection models, we show that mortality from wind turbines may drastically reduce population size and increase the risk of extinction. For example, the hoary bat population could decline by as much as 90% in the next 50 years if the initial population size is near 2.5 million bats and annual population growth rate is similar to rates estimated for other bat species (λ = 1.01). Our results suggest that wind energy development may pose a substantial threat to migratory bats in North America.”
Wind Turbine Blades Last 20 Years…And Then They Are Tossed Into Landfills
Besides reducing wildlife populations, perhaps one of the most underrated negative side effects of building wind turbines is that they don’t last very long (less than 20 years) before they need to be replaced. And their blades aren’t recyclable. Consequently, 43 million tonnes (47 million tons) of blade waste will be added to the world’s landfills within the next few decades.
Liu and Barlow, 2017
“The blades, one of the most important components in the wind turbines, made with composite, are currently regarded as unrecyclable. With the first wave of early commercial wind turbine installations now approaching their end of life, the problem of blade disposal is just beginning to emerge as a significant factor for the future. … The research indicates that there will be 43 million tonnes of blade waste worldwide by 2050 with China possessing 40% of the waste, Europe 25%, the United States 16% and the rest of the world 19%.”
“Although wind energy is often claimed to provide clean renewable energy without any emissions during operation (U.S. Department of Energy, 2015), a detailed ecological study may indicate otherwise even for this stage. The manufacture stage is energy-intensive and is associated with a range of chemical usage (Song et al., 2009). Disposal at end-of-life must also be considered (Ortegon et al., 2012; Pickering, 2013; Job, 2014).A typical wind turbine (WT) has a foundation, a tower, a nacelle and three blades. The foundation is made from concrete; the tower is made from steel or concrete; the nacelle is made mainly from steel and copper; the blades are made from composite materials (Vestas, 2006; Tremeac and Meunier, 2009; Guezuraga et al., 2012). Considering these materials only, concrete and composites are the most environmentally problematic at end-of-life, since there are currently no established industrial recycling routes for them (Pimenta and Pinho, 2011; Job, 2013).”
In a new paper entitled “Unsustainable Wind Turbine Blade Disposal Practices in the United States”, Ramirez-Tejeda et al. (2017) further detail the imminent and unresolved nightmare of wind turbine blade disposal. The environmental consequences and health risks are so adverse that the authors warn that if the public learns of this rapidly burgeoning problem, they may be less inclined to favor wind power expansion. Advocates of wind power are said to be “largely ignoring the issue”. It’s an “issue” that will not be going away any time soon.
In light of its minuscule share of worldwide consumption (despite explosive expansion in recent decades), perhaps it is time to at least reconsider both the benefits and the costs of wind energy expansion.
‘Adverse Environmental Consequences’ For A Rapidly Expanding Wind Power Grid
Ramirez-Tejeda et al. (2017)
“Globally, more than seventy thousand wind turbine blades were deployed in 2012 and there were 433 gigawatts (GW) of wind installed capacity worldwide at the end of 2015. Moreover, the United States’ installed wind power capacity will need to increase from 74 GW to 300 GW3 to achieve its 20% wind production goal by 2030. To meet the increasing demand, not only are more blades being manufactured, but also blades of up to 100 meters long are being designed and produced.”
“The wind turbine blades are designed to have a lifespan of about twenty years, after which they would have to be dismantled due to physical degradation or damage beyond repair. Furthermore, constant development of more efficient blades with higher power generation capacity is resulting in blade replacement well before the twenty-year life span.”
“Estimations have suggested that between 330,000 tons/year by 2028 and 418,000 tons/year by 2040 of composite material from blades will need to be disposed worldwide. That would be equivalent to the amount of plastics waste generated by four million people in the United States in 2013. This anticipated increase in blade manufacturing and disposal will likely lead to adverse environmental consequences, as well as potential occupational exposures, especially because available technologies and key economic constraints result in undesirable disposal methods as the only feasible options.”
Problems With Landfills
“Despite its negative consequences, landfilling has so far been the most commonly utilized wind turbine blade disposal method. … Landfilling is especially problematic because its high resistance to heat, sunlight, and moisture means that it will take hundreds of years to degrade in a landfill environment. The wood and other organic material present in the blades would also end up in landfills, potentially releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and other volatile organic compounds to the environment.”
“The estimated cost to put blade material in landfills, not including pretreatment and transportation costs, is approximately US $60 per ton. [A typical blade may weigh 30-40 tons]. In the United Kingdom, where landfilling organics is not yet prohibited, the active waste disposal cost (which includes plastics) is approximately US $130 per ton.”
Problems With Incineration
“Incineration of blades is another disposal method with potential for energy and/or material recovery. … Combustion of GFRP is especially problematic because it can produce toxic gases, smoke, and soot that can harm the environment and humans. Carbon monoxide and formaldehyde have been reported as residue from thermal degradation of epoxy resin. Another residue is carbon dioxide, which poses concerns regarding greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, about 60% of the scrap remains as pollutant ash after the incineration process, some of which is sent to landfills, potentially contaminating the sites. Possible emission of hazardous flue gasses is also among the issues with incinerating wind turbine blades.”
“One key issue is that all these thermal processing techniques for wind turbine blades would also require fragmentation of the material into smaller pieces through mechanical processing before being fed into the reactors, increasing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.”
Problems With Mechanical Processing
“Mechanical processing is a relatively simpler disposal method that consists of cutting, shredding, and grinding the material to separate the fibers from resins, so it can be repurposed. This process is energy intensive and produces small fiber particles with poor mechanical properties that can only be used as filler reinforcement material in the cement or asphalt industries. … The dust emitted in the grinding process of FRP creates occupational health and safety risks for workers. Inhalation, as well as skin and eye contact can produce moderate irritation to mucous membranes, skin, eyes, and coughing. Occupational exposure and prolonged inhalation of such particles have been found to produce alterations of the cellular and enzymatic components of the deep lung in humans, identified as acute alveolitis.”
Problems With Chemical Degradation
“The last method is chemical degradation, which consists of first mechanically reducing the size of the blades, then degrading them using a chemical solution. … Although no industrial-level chemical recycling of thermoset polymers has been done yet, some hazardous chemicals such as nitric acids and paraformaldehyde have been used in testing and development processes. Occupational exposure to these chemicals can produce harmful respiratory diseases including potential nasal cancer, and dermal health effects.”
Advocates Of Wind Power ‘Have Largely Ignored The Issue’
“Few individuals and organizations recognize the problems inherently related to blade recyclability. This situation creates an obstacle for promoting policy interventions to solve these problems. As a result, manufacturers, wind farm operators, and advocates have largely ignored the issue, focusing efforts on promoting wind energy and addressing other issues such as negative impacts on wildlife and noise generation.”
“If the industry cannot come up with more sustainable manufacturing and disposal processes, public acceptance of wind energy would decline if the public becomes aware of these issues, inhibiting its growth as one of the main sources of electricity generation in the United States.”
NoTricksZone flatters these things when it puts the lifespan of wind turbine blades at 20 years. The whole unit has an economic life of little more than a decade (see our post here).
Wind turbine blade failure is one of the more common features of these wondrously ‘reliable’ things: Wind Turbine Terror: Spanish Home Hit by Flying Blade – Just 1 of 3,800 Blade ‘Fails’ Every Year
And it’s not uncommon for turbine blades to fail within months of coming into operation.
At AGL’s Hallett 1 (Brown Hill) wind farm, south of Jamestown, South Australia the blades on each and every one of its 45 Suzlon S88s failed within their first year of operation, requiring their wholesale replacement.
The 2.1 MW, Indian built turbines commenced operation in April 2008. Not long into their operation, stress fractures began appearing in the 44m long blades. Suzlon (aka Senvion aka RePower) claimed that there was a “design fault” and was forced by AGL to replace the blades on all 45 turbines, under warranty.
The photos below show the stubs from those blades outside Suzlon’s Jamestown workshop. The main bodies of the blades were ground up and mixed with concrete used in the bases of other turbines erected later (the plastics in the blade are highly toxic, and contain Bisphenol A, which is so dangerous to health that the European Union and Canada have banned it):
Turbine blade failures, including events where 10 tonne blades are thrown to the 4 winds (aka ‘component liberation’) are so common that we are able to finish this post with a graphic documentary, the captions are linked to the stories behind the pictures:
Sigel Township, Michigan, February 2016.
Ostsee, Germany, December 2015.
Pontecesco, Spain, January 2016.
Fenner, New York, February 2016.
Leystad, A6 Highway, Netherlands, May 2009.
Donegal, Ireland, December 2013.
Kerry, Ireland, January 2015.
Ocotillo, California, May 2013.
Whitelee (near Glasgow), Scotland, March 2010.
And, we’ll finish with the video that strikes fear into the hearts of those unfortunate enough to live within 2 kms of these things:
Terrifying, dangerous and pointless!
And, it must be comforting to know that the liberated components depicted above (along with 3,800 odd blade fails every year) were quietly dumped in landfills to deliver their toxic cocktail into aquifers and water supplies for centuries to come.
Welcome to your wind powered future!
tel: 44 (0)1594 – 528 337
Calls from ‘Number Withheld’ phones Are Blocked
All unanswered messages are recorded.
Leave your name & a UK land line number & I will return your call.
‘e’Mail Address: Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com
Skype: GregL-W
TWITTER: @Greg_LW
I try to make every effort to NOT infringe copyrights in any commercial way & make all corrections of fact brought to my attention by an identifiable individual
Please Be Sure To
Re-TWEET my Twitterings
https://twitter.com/Greg_LW
& Publicise
My MainWebSite & Blogs
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line773
|
__label__cc
| 0.639711
| 0.360289
|
Download Discrimination in Employment and Task Delegation at Workplace in
Gender inequality wikipedia, lookup
Gender inequality in India wikipedia, lookup
Sexism wikipedia, lookup
Equal pay for equal work wikipedia, lookup
Special measures for gender equality in the United Nations wikipedia, lookup
Gender pay gap wikipedia, lookup
Racism in Asia wikipedia, lookup
Racism in North America wikipedia, lookup
Housing discrimination (United States) wikipedia, lookup
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing wikipedia, lookup
Mentalism (discrimination) wikipedia, lookup
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination wikipedia, lookup
Racism in Europe wikipedia, lookup
Ageism wikipedia, lookup
Occupational inequality wikipedia, lookup
Religious discrimination against Neopagans wikipedia, lookup
Employment discrimination wikipedia, lookup
Employment Non-Discrimination Act wikipedia, lookup
Employment discrimination law in the United States wikipedia, lookup
United Kingdom employment equality law wikipedia, lookup
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
July 2015, Vol. 5, No. 7
Discrimination in Employment and Task Delegation at
Workplace in the Malaysian Context
Vimala Kadiresan
Lecturer, PhD Candidate). Faculty of Business, Accounting and Management, SEGi University
Kota Damansara, Malaysia. Email: [email protected]
Najwa Khalid Javed
Faculty of Business, Accounting and Management, SEGi University ,Kota Damansara, Malaysia,
Email:[email protected]
10.6007/IJARBSS/v5-i7/1707 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v5-i7/1707
Discrimination has an area of concern for Human Resource Management in all workplaces and
it has been a great concern in Malaysia. The purpose of this research is to analyze the
demographic characteristics which trigger discrimination in workplace. It is to examine the
intensity of these factors in order to develop a solution for the discrimination which is present
in the workplace. The idea is to deduce the relationship between the demographic background
of the employees and the biased treatment which they tend to receive at workplace from other
employees or their superiors based on the similarities and differences of these demographic
features. An empirical approach has been adopted in this study by using Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences (SPSS) method. Employees from various private organizations in the state of
Kuala Lumpur participated in this study. Through this research, managers, top management
and relevant parties are expected to identify the intensity of the factors which influence
discrimination and tactfully find ways to avoid work discrimination. Furthermore, this research
can also be an eye opener to employers to realize their roles and enhance how their decisions
can affect their employees. The findings and conclusion of the results are further discussed in
this research.
Key words: - Discrimination, Employability, Task Delegation, Workplace, Malaysia,
There is a huge concern on discrimination at workplace especially at managerial level in the
Malaysian context despite many implementation of good regulatory practices by the Malaysian
government. Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitutions was amended in 2001 to prohibit
discrimination against Malaysians on the grounds of religion, race, descent, and place of birth
or gender (Anuradha, 2008; Maizatul Azila, Hawa & Rohaidah, 2011; Othman & Othman, 2015).
www.hrmars.com
Malaysia is one of the few countries which requires a picture of the potential employees
attached to their credentials. The need to differentiate one from another or to hire and
delegate tasks and duties in a biased manner because of these demographic differences such as
age, race, gender and others can all be considered some form of discrimination (Keleiner &
Keleiner, 2001). Basically, discrimination in work place can be described as anything that makes
someone feel less appreciated or treated differently based on their features and characteristics
which do not reflect on their job performance.
For an organization to function on its optimal potential, it is crucial for the employees to
achieve job satisfaction as they are the largest asset. (Phomphakdy & Kleiner, 1999). Managers
in the HR department tend to generalize the value and skills of the employees. In terms of
decision making and employability, women was deprived to climb up the career ladder in a
male dominant environment. The skills and qualifications should ideally speak for themselves
and should be the only aspect the managers should be concerned with however, this is not
always the case. In Malaysia, cases of gender discrimination where females are associated with
insignificance and males are attributed as authority figures is practiced often. Racial inclination
and discrimination is common as well (Daily Express, 2014). For a nation which consists of three
unique and equally important races, Malaysia fails to display this fairness when it comes to
workplaces in organizations. Ignorance and lack of exposure hinders the managers from
realizing that they are being biased or preferential towards certain characterized employees.
This proves a barrier between healthy workplace relationships. Once the relationships are not
stable between colleagues, it starts to affect their job performance which evidently effects the
overall performance and efficiency of the organization. A study conducted on effects of
discrimination showed that employees tend to become more stressed and demotivated
consequently, they try to leave the job position and work elsewhere. (Naidoo, 2009) Hence, it is
important to find out the causes and factors that influence managers to discriminate while
hiring and assigning tasks to employees.
Discrimination is the differentiating and giving preferential treatment to certain people over
others. It is associated with unfairness and being biased while making decisions or treating
people based on their demographic features. (Riesch & Kleiner, 2005) There are two kinds of
discrimination for which a company can be sued for: disparate treatment and disparate impact.
Disparate treatment is where the employee is discriminated because the employer does not
like his/her age, gender, race, etc. disparate impact is where the policies and regulations of the
company are discriminatory (Kapur & Kleiner, 2000) .For example, flight attendants must be
within a certain weight, height and age group. Ratsamy Phomphakdy and Brian H. Kleiner (199)
conducted a research on ways to eliminate discrimination in a workplace. In this study they
described workplace discrimination by using factors such as the race, age, gender, cultural
background etc. as basis on which employees are hired, dismissed, given raises and bonuses,
promoted and delegated. Similarly, other researchers have found preferential treatment
towards employees as discriminatory based on age, race, religion, and gender as well
(Supateera & Kleiner, 1999).
A study was conducted on the discrimination on religion particularly for Muslim women in the
workplace and their decision to wear to headscarves in the USA. The research showed that
even though Islam in the second largest religion in the world, the stigmatism associated with
women wearing headscarves has led to hostile discrimination in the workplace. In addition,
Muslim Americans faced the most discrimination by their claims due to the relation of their
religion and the extremist terrorist attacks faced by the country. Forms of discrimination are
also associated with bullying which includes name calling, avoiding eye contact, refusal to serve,
acts of intimidation and staring. (Reeves, McKinney, & Azam, 2012) .These attitudes effect the
victims psychologically which can result in low job satisfactory and eventually effects the
victims’ self-esteem. The discrimination against Muslims arose greatly after the terrorist attacks
of 9/11. Most organizations refused to hire any Muslims and the ones who were already hired
were bullied and mentally tormented as mentioned in the research (Schulze & Kleiner, 1999).
Another study on gender discrimination in Greece showed that women in Greece are hired in
large numbers but are kept in contingent job positions such as lower managerial levels while
the male population is easily promoted. Males who are promoted over the women share equal
levels of qualification. The findings concluded that gender discrimination was primarily the
impact of the employees’ attitudes towards their own gender. (Mihail, 2006) .This proves
gender discrimination in delegating tasks by managers. The chances of promoting a male
employee are higher than that of a female due to their gender. (Quak & Kleiner, 2001)
Booysen & Nkomo, (2010) mentioned that racial and gender discrimination in South Africa
exists generally due to the historical and political background of the country. The percentage of
both black and white men think that males should be managers while the black women strongly
disagree. This shows that factors of managers discriminating while delegating tasks is due to the
persona created by the society of two main variables; gender and race.
A research on age discrimination showed that is it common to associate old workers or aged
employees with technological ignorance, their lack of ability to learn and comprehend new
skills, their old habits are hard to break and that they lack the energy and flexibility required to
work. There are different forms of age discrimination (Osborn & Kleiner, 2005) .For example, an
obvious case would be a young employee who is inexperienced is given low profile tasks such as
photocopying documents and running other errands while the senior employee gets a better
position. (Ozcan, Ozkara, & Kizildag, 2011) This discrimination could also be seen in a more
subtle manner where a senior employee who is close to retirement is shifted into a smaller
office space (Xia & Kleiner, 2001) .Discrimination towards younger employees can also be
shown when older workers get promoted over the younger ones due to their seniority. Younger
employees complain that they are equally qualified yet underpaid. There have been cases
where employees have sued companies for age discrimination because benefits of the
company were not given due to their age (Shah & Kleiner, 2005).
The findings from previous researches show that the impacts of discrimination in workplace are
plenty but there is not enough information as to what causes these discrimination and how
much of it is the product of the managers who are in charge. This research is conducted in
order to explore the demographic factors of the managers which characterize them and may
influence their behavior while delegating tasks to the employees.
The previous researchers have determined that race is one differentiation in people which has
proven to be the cause for most discrimination cases. (Tisserant, Wagner, & Barth, 2012). In the
study of South Africa, it was found that black and white men and women have been treated
unequally over the years due to the history of the country. Managers who have employees that
share the same race as them tend to get better treatment than the rest. This shows partiality
(Dhesi, 1998). A study conducted in USA shows that Hispanic ethnicity is discriminated against
on the average of one out of every five times they apply for a job. The same research shows
that Hispanics face barrier to promotions as well.The case showed that promotion for middle
and upper level management positions was given to whites who had less experience and
qualifications than the Hispanics (Hsieh & Kleiner, 2001) .Similarly, in Asia, companies were
sued by employees for favoring white men over Asian during downsizing (Dong & Kleiner, 1999)
.Mexican-Americans are another race which have been in America for some time yet they still
experience discrimination. The civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s gave them a
certain amount of help in this department but job discrimination still exists. (Nguyen & Kleiner,
Gender discrimination is common in most countries. It is one of the factors which still struggles
for equality in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen (Marshall, 2007). Gender
discrimination and stereotyping go hand in hand. (Huang & Kleiner, 2000) The work from past
research studies show that this form of discrimination existed in most work places in different
parts of the world from Greece and USA to South Africa. The ego-centric war between male and
females and the right for equality is yet to be settled. (Chan & Kleiner, 2000) Pregnancy
discrimination can be categorized under gender discrimination as women are the ones who get
pregnant. (Chester & Kleiner, 2001) It can be argued that in most countries this falls under
marital status discrimination as it is assumed that a married woman will have the potential to
get pregnant. In the western and European countries where it is normal for single ladies to be
pregnant, this is considered gender discrimination. (Middlemiss & Downie, 2009) .Gender
discrimination is one of the most common forms of inequality which was observed by several
studies on workplace discrimination (Kuta & Kleiner, 2001).
Religion is an acquired property consisting of a set of beliefs that can be dynamic in nature.
(Gebert & Boerner, 2011) Other than disability, it is the only protected basis that may require
accommodations in the workplace practice to avoid intentional or unintentional discrimination.
(Wang & Kleiner, 2001). It describes the faith they possess and consequently the principles they
live by (Fakhro & Kleiner, 1999). Many people in Malaysia are still confuse and assume that
religion is the same as race. This is due to stereotyping. For example, if they see someone who
is Indian, they will assume that person is Hindu. (Morgan, 2005) .It is important in this research
to keep these two factors separately in order to understand which one is more likely to be the
cause of discrimination at a workplace. (Pearce, Kuhn, & DiLullo, 2005) . In India, discrimination
level is due to caste and religious diversity where people who share the same caste and religion
as the person in charge of hiring them is more likely to be selected for a job over others
(Sengupta & Sarkar, 2012). Some countries such as Malaysia, have an unspoken connection
between religion and the government which can be the cause of religion discrimination
(Vasconcelos, 2009) .A study conducted on the US and India showed that religiously-based
disaster relief in the US is conducted through groups and networks while in India, it is taken
place more through values and norms. (Paulson & Menjivar, 2012). Religious discrimination can
be found in various forms in the workplace. Harassing employees for practicing religion or
wearing religious clothes, refusal to give a raise which the employee deserves, due to his/her
passion for religion, or firing an employee due to his/her religious beliefs are some of the forms
(Huang & Kleiner, 2001.(Johnes & Sapsford, 1996)).
Age discrimination occurs when the skills and qualifications of the employee are overlooked
due to their seniority or youth. (Peng & Kleiner, 1999) .This is common in industries in Malaysia
where the salary of an employee depends on the seniority instead of anything else. (Topper,
2009). Young employees with high qualifications still need to serve their time before they can
get a promotion or pay-raise. A study of employees working in the Statesshowed that age
discrimination is more on purpose for older employees. Thus, older people feel more unwanted
and uninvolved in the workplace than younger ones. Demolishing age discrimination lies in the
hands of the organization. (James, McKechnie, Swanberg, & Besen, 2013) The managers should
be educated and trained to know that age is just a number hence, is should be used against an
employee. (G, Shen, & Kleiner, 2001) Government rules and regulations also impact age
discrimination. (Shah & Kleiner, 2005).
Research Framework
Independent Variables
Dependent Variable
Discrimination in
employability and
delegating task
Source: Developed for research
The framework consists of all the factors that determine the discrimination in employability and
delegating task at workplace. The hypothesis are based on the independent variables which
include age, religion, race and gender. These hypothesis are to determine whether these
independent variables are significant to the discrimination in employability and delegating task
at workplace which is the dependent variable.These factors include race, gender, age, and
There are four hypothesis based on the objectives of this research:
H1: There will be a significant relationship between race and the discrimination faced at
workplace.
H2: There will be a significant relationship between gender and the discrimination faced at
H3: There will be a significant relationship between religion and the discrimination faced at
H4: There will be a significant relationship between age and the discrimination faced at
The population in this research are the employees of the private companies in the state of
Kuala Lumpur. A descriptive analysis was adopted by using SPSS version 21 where it supports
to evaluate data skills (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012). Total number of 250 questionnaires
were distributed but only 199 were received. The discrimination faced at work was measure
through surveys using a five point likert scale which ranges from strongly agree to strongly
disagree was used to help measure the results in a more uniformed way. The questionnaire was
sent to employees working in various industries such as IT, engineering, health and care, and
education. Participants were given assurance to participate as confidentiality was taken care of.
Results and Findings
The statistics for the frequency findings of race indicates that most of the employees who
answered the questionnaire are foreigners. Out of the 199 results, 106 are of other races. This
makes up more than half of the survey results which is 53%. The second highest race which
answered the survey is Chinese with a total of 38 replies consuming 19.1% of the total results.
This is followed by Malays and finally Indians bringing in 29 (14.6%) and 26 (13.1%) of the
survey results respectively. As for gender, the number of females who responded are 106 while
the number of men is 93 out of a total of 199 responses. This means that 53.3% of the overall
results are from females which makes more than half of the total results. According to religion
of respondents, the highest percentage of the respondents are Muslim (38.2%). This comprises
of 76 people out of the 199 responses. The least popular religion among the respondents is
Buddhism. Most of the respondents fall in the age group of 25-30. A total of 81 out of 199
respondents fall in the range of 25-30 which makes up 40.7% of the overall respondents. The
second largest age group of the respondents is 30-50 which consists of 52 of the total
respondents. The majority of the people who responded are from the age group of 25-30 which
is the common age of when people first start working. The second highest amount of people
who replied are in the range of 18-24. This means that the majority of people who replied
don’t have much experience. The least amount of people who replies are from the age group of
50+. This shows that most of the people working are in generation Y.
Table 1 : Employment Industry
Valid Percent
HSE Coordinator
(IT)
Management/marketing
The results from the Table 1 above shows the type of different industries which the
respondents are currently employed. From the results displayed, 86 of the respondents are in
the IT industry which makes 43.2% of the total sample survey. The second most popular
industry among the respondents is from Education which consists of 35 people closely followed
by Engineering with 34 respondents. These industries make 17.6% and 17.1% of the total
survey respectively. Majority of the respondents are in IT while Engineering and Education
consist of almost the same amount of people. Other industries which include HR, HSE
Coordinator, and Banking etc. have very few respondents.
Furthermore, Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the data of the relationship
between the independent variables and dependent variables.
Correlation between Race and Discrimination in Employability and Task Delegation at
Based on the findings of the result, race has a correlation of .504 to discrimination. There is high
correlation between the two variables which proves that race has a significant relationship with
the discrimination faced by employees. A research conducted in the US on housing
discrimination based on race shows that segregation due to race is a common discriminatory
factor (Chai & Kleiner, 2003). Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a significant
relationship between race and discrimination.
Correlation between Gender and Discrimination in Employability and Task Delegation at
Gender shows a coefficient of .349 which is a moderate correlation meaning that it is neither
very high nor very low. It does prove however, that there is a relationship between gender and
discrimination faced by employees. This is supported by Booysen & Nkomo, (2010) studies,
where gender discrimination has caused women to face inequality in salaries and job
promotions in Greece. This shows that gender has an effect on the discrimination employees’
face. Therefore, there is a significant relationship between gender and discrimination.
Correlation between Religion and Discrimination in Employability and Task Delegation at
Religion shows a strong correlation with discrimination with the coefficient of .455. It can be
said when religion presence increases, the discrimination will increase as well. Researchers
have concluded in previous researches that this is true. This verification proves that religion has
a significant relationship with discrimination (Chi-Chen, 2001) .Therefore, in summary, there is a
significant relationship between religion and discrimination.
Correlation between Age and Discrimination in Employability and Task Delegation at
Age has a correlation along the lines of gender which means it is not as high as race and
religion. The correlation for age resulted .395 which proves a relationship with discrimination.
In Malaysia, there is priority given to seniority. The older people get paid more and are prone to
have higher chances of getting promoted compared to the younger employees such as fresh
graduates’ .In certain countries seniority is given superiority while in others, the companies
discriminate against hiring old people. They prefer younger fresher minds which proves age
discrimination still exist (Keleiner & Keleiner, 2001;Chi-Chen, 2001). This rejects the hypothesis
H0 there is no significant relationship between age and discrimination and concludes that there
is a significant relationship between age and discrimination
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis
Table 2:Model Summary
R Square
Adjusted R Square
.569a
a. Predictors: (Constant), race, age, gender, religion.
Std. Error of the
The Table 2 above shows the relationship between the independent variables and intensity of
their influence on the dependent variable. The R value shows the strength of the relationship
between the independent values and the dependent values. In this case, the value for R is .569
which shows a strong relationship. This means the independent variables have a high level on
influence on the dependent variable. R square shows that the independent variables has a
32.4% of effect on the dependent variable.
Table 3:ANOVAa
Sum of Squares df
Mean Square
.000b
a. Dependent Variable: Discrimination in hiring/selecting and delegating tasks
b. Predictors: (Constant), age, gender, religion, race
The ANOVA analysis in Table 3 indicates the F-value of 15.357 and the significance of 0.000. This
is less than 0.5 which shows a positive relationship between the independent variables and the
dependent variable.
Discussions and Conclusion
Based on these findings of the study, it has been revealed that the existence of discrimination
at workplace in Malaysia in terms of age, race, religion and gender in the workplace can be still
felt in subtle forms. Most of the respondents felt that race is a major factor although the other
factors of age, religion and gender hold significance as well. From the research, most foreign
employees felt that racial discrimination in the workplace is due to the political history of the
country and the reasons cannot be narrowed down to one or two. This is something that is built
over years within people due to historical conflicts which result in some sort of resentment or
dislike of people who fall under a certain category. The same goes for religious discrimination
since religion and race are interrelated more often than not. Furthermore, the findings
indicates the level of significance of race and religion towards discrimination is higher than that
of age and gender. Thus, the chances of improving towards avoiding gender and age
discrimination are much higher. The Human Resource Departments must monitor closely on
the recruitment and selection process to minimize any workplace discriminations. Integration
of best practices into the workplace culture will allow the employers to improve the quality of
treatment among the employees in the companies. One way could be by training managers and
employers in charge of delegating tasks to deal with people of different age groups and gender
in a fair manner. Inner improvement of a company would be the best way to step closer
towards fixing this problem of discrimination. When the employee feels discriminated or
undervalued, chances of productivity level to reduce increase and the motivation for working
and achieving goals for the organization begins to slowly dissipate. Therefore, it is crucial for
managers to be aware of their actions and feedbacks toward the employees
The study also suffers from several limitations where most of the respondents were foreigners.
This could be because the organizations selected are private organizations. Therefore the scope
of the sample survey may not be accurate. In addition, the areas to which these surveys were
sent are limited and the results cannot be considered accurate for the whole of Kuala Lumpur.
Amat Taap Manshor, M. J. (2002). Diversity factors and Preferential treatments in selecting
employees. 643-644.
Anuradha, R and the International Women’s Rights Action Watch (2008), “Domestic Application
of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women:
Potential and Actuality,” in Women Living Under Muslim Law Dossiers, 29, p. 13.
Booysen, L. A., & Nkomo, S. M. (2010). Gender role stereotypes and requisite management
characteristics. Gender in Management, 286-287.
Carby, J. (1987). Discrimination in Employment in the UK. Equal opportunities International Vol.
6, 15-40.
Chai, S., & Kleiner, B. H. (2003). Housing Discrimination based on Race. Equal Opportunities
International vol. 22, 16-48.
Chan, A., & Kleiner, B. H. (2000). How to Investigate Discrimination ans Harassment Complaints.
Equal Opportunities International, 19-25.
Chen, C. -L., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). How Organizations Should Manage Discrimination and
Harassment Complaints. Equal opportunities International vol. 18, 16-20.
Chester, N., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). Pregnancy in the Workplace. International Journal of
Socioligy and Social Policy vol. 21, 137-147.
Chi-Chen, H. (2001). New Developments concerning Religious Discrimination in the Workplace.
International Journal if Socioligy and Social Policy vol. 21, 128-136.
Daily Express (2014). Independent National Newspaper of East Malaysia Established since
1963. Retrieved from http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/read.cfm?NewsID=1409
Dhesi, A. S. (1998). Caste, class synergies and discrimination in India. International Journal of
Social Economics vol. 25, 1030-1048.
Dixit, S., & Kleiner, B. H. (2005). New Developments Concerning Pregnancy Discrimination in the
Workplace. Equal Opportunities International Vol. 24, 1-14.
Dong, N. T., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). Asian Discrimination In the Workplace. Equal opportunities
Fakhro, H., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). Discrimination in city police departments. Equal
Opportunities International vol. 18, 88-93.
G, G., Shen, Y., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). Age Discrimination in Hiring. Equal Opportunities
Gebert, D., & Boerner, S. (2011). Do religious differences matter? An analysis in India. Team
Performance Management: An international Journal vol. 17, 224-240.
Godinez, R. H., & Kleiner, B. H. (2000). Discrimination in The Aerospace Industry. Equal
Hsieh, Y.-H., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). New Developments Concerning Discrimination Against
Hispanics. Equal Opportunities International vol. 20, 59-63.
Huang, C.-C., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). New Developments COncerning Religious Discrimination in
the workplace. international Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 128-136.
Huang, C.-I., & Kleiner, B. H. (2000). New Developments Concerning the Discrimination and
Harassment of Gays in the Workplace. Equal Opportunities International, 66-69.
Icheku, V. (2011). Post-Taliban measures to eliminate gender discrimination in employment.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal vol. 30, 563-571.
James, J. B., McKechnie, S., Swanberg, J., & Besen, E. (2013). Exploring the Workplace Impact of
International/Unintentinal age Discrimination. Journal of Managerial Psychology vol. 28,
Johnes, G., & Sapsford, D. (1996). Some recent advances in thhe economic analysis of
discrimination. International Journal of Manpower vol. 17, 10-25.
Kamkatwong, S., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). Discrimination in the Financial Industry. Equal
Kapur, A., & Kleiner, B. H. (2000). Discrimination in the Workplace of the beer industry. Equal
Opportunities International , 83-87.
Keleiner, S. H., & Keleiner, B. H. (2001). Age discrimination in Hiring. Equal Opportunities
Kuta, M., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). New Developments Concerning Discrimination Based on
Marital Status. Equal Opportunities International vol. 20, 45-47.
Lisa Finn, D. M. (2014, January 23). Reasons Why Discrimination Continues to Exist in the
Workplace. Retrieved from global post: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/reasonsdiscrimination-continues-exist-workplace-3054.html
Marshall, D. (2007). Discrimination in interviews. Human Resource Management International
Digest vol. 15, 3-4.
Maizatul Azila, C.D., Hawa ,R., & Rohaidah, M. Pregnancy and Discrimination: Effect of the case
Beatrice a/p At Fernandez v Sistem Penerbangan Malaysia and Others . International
Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.19. No.2 (May-August,
2011) pp 29-33)
Middlemiss, S., & Downie, M. (2009). Recent changes in the evidental requirements in indirect
sex and race discrimination cases. International Journal of Law and Management, 367373.
Mihail, D. (2006). Gender-based Strereotypes in the workplace: in the case of Greece. Equal
opportunnities International, 373-375.
Morgan, J. F. (2005). Religion at Work: A Legal Quagmire. Managerial Law vol. 47, 247-259.
Naidoo, K. R. (2009). Understanding the effects of discrimination in the workplace. 398-399.
Nguyen, T. H., & Kleiner, B. H. (2000). Discrimination Against Mexican-Americans. Equal
Opportunities International vol. 19, 101-104.
Osborn, S., & Kleiner, B. H. (2005). Discrimination in the Oil Industry. Equal Opportunities
Othman, Z., & Othman, N. (2015). A Literature Review on Work Discrimination among Women
Employees. Asian Social Science, 11(4), p26 doi:10.5539/ass.v11n4p26 URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v11n4p26
Ozcan, K., Ozkara, B., & Kizildag, D. (2011). Discrimination in Health Care Industry: a research on
public hospitals . Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An international Journal vol. 30, 2240.
Paulson, N., & Menjivar, C. (2012). Religion, the state and disaster releif in the United States
and India. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 179-196.
Paungshiri, M., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). What is Retaliatory Discrimination at Work? Equal
Opportunities International, 37-40.
Pearce, J. A., Kuhn, D. R., & DiLullo, S. A. (2005). U.S. Employers' Legal responsibilities for
Preventing Religious Discrimination. Managerial Law vol. 47, 208-2224.
Peng, B. (.-H., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). New Developments in Age Discrimination. Equal
Opportunites International vol. 18, 72-75.
Phan, B., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). The Basics of Employment Discrimination. Equal Opportunities
Phomphakdy, R., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). How to eliminate Discrimination in the Workplace.
Equal Opportunities International vol. 18, 43-46.
Phyllis L. Carr, M., Arlene S. Ash, P., Robert H. Friedman, M., & Laura Szalacha, E. (2000). Faculty
Perceptions of Gender Discrimination and Sexual. Annals of Internal Medicine, 889-890.
Quak, S. M., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). New Developments Concerning Discrimination and
Harassament in the Workplace. International Journal of Siciology and Social Policy, 8391.
Reeves, T. C., McKinney, A. P., & Azam, L. (2012). Muslim women’s workplace experiences;
implications for strategic diversity initiatives. Equality, DIversity and Inclusion: An
International Journal, 49-52.
Riesch, C., & Kleiner, B. H. (2005). Discrimination Towards Customers in the Restaurant
Industry. Equal Opportunities International vol. 24, 29-37.
Schulze, R. W., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). New developments concerning religious accomodation in
the workplace. Equal Opportunities International vol. 18, 67-71.
Sengupta, J., & Sarkar, D. (2012). Caste and religious diversity on formation of social capital.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal, 158-175.
Shah, P., & Kleiner, B. (2005). New Developments Concerning Age DIscrimination in Workplace.
Supateera, C., & Kleiner, B. H. (1999). Discrimination in Government. Equal Opportunities
Tisserant, P., Wagner, A. L., & Barth, I. (2012). The propensity to discriminate: a diagnostic
indicator for diversity management. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International
Journal vol. 32, 36-48.
Topper, E. F. (2009). WHAT'S NEW IN LIBRARIES Reverse age Discrimination. New Library World
vol. 110, 188-190.
Vasconcelos, A. F. (2009). Intuition, prayer, and managerial decision-making processes: a
religion-based framework. Managerial Decision, 930-949.
Wang, H.-W., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). New developments Concerning Nation Origin
Discrimination. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 116-127.
Xia, A., & Kleiner, B. H. (2001). Discrimination in The Computer Industry. Equal Opportunities
International vol. 20, 117-120.
Unit 5 Questions
Puritans James, lee, justin
Pricing To Capture Surplus Value
FN303-WSV
HSB4U review 2016 Definitions - For the definitions you will need to
Goal 10
The Rise of Segregation
Review #4 - El Camino College
Introduction to Sociology
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line775
|
__label__cc
| 0.514507
| 0.485493
|
1972 - Move to Arrowhead Stadium
In 1972, the Chiefs moved into the newly constructed Arrowhead Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex outside of Downtown Kansas City. The team’s first game at Arrowhead was against the St. Louis Cardinals, a game which the Chiefs won 24–14.
Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, is home to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Part of the Truman Sports Complex, together with Kauffman Stadium, it is the 28th largest stadium in North America and fifth largest NFL stadium in seating capacity, behind AT&T Stadium, Lambeau Field, MetLife Stadium, and FedExField. It is the largest sports facility by capacity in the state of Missouri. A $375 million renovation was completed in 2010.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line776
|
__label__wiki
| 0.820192
| 0.820192
|
Home The Spot Museums
State Museum acquires 1947 Tavern Television
by Ali Hibbs
in Museums, The Spot
The New York State Museum has announced that it recently acquired a fully-restored 1947 Tavern Television made by the United States Television Manufacturing Corporation (USTMC). Made in New York City, this unit is believed to be one of only five known sets left in the United States and the only one that is in operating condition, according to donor Adam Sayles of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The Tavern style television produced by USTMC was marketed to bars, hotels, and restaurants. Promotional materials touted that more people would be watching “the big game” on TV than in the stands. In 1947, this was a novel idea. USTMC claimed that up to 800 people could sit in front of the screen and enjoy the game. Those numbers turned into big sales at bars and restaurants, and for a while it was the only way to see the game outside of the stadium. In fact, 1947 was the first year that the World Series was televised, the New York Yankees vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The USTMC rose and fell with the unique market it helped introduce. Although it sold household units, the company focused on its tavern models. Once smaller, reasonably-priced units could be purchased for the home, the Tavern models were no longer as popular and the company went out of business in 1953.
Tags: Adam SaylesNew York State MuseumTavern TelevisionUSTMC
Theatre on The Spot 518 for Wednesday, August 3
Clubs on The Spot 518 for Wednesday, August 3
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line778
|
__label__wiki
| 0.872613
| 0.872613
|
Fred Pratt Green
Home » Shop » Fred Pratt Green
Fred Pratt Green (1903–2000)
Born 1903 at Roby, near Liverpool, England, the third child of Charles Green, a leather merchant, and Hannah, nèe Greenwood. The abbreviation Fred has been used by the author for his hymnwriting: his close family, and in particular his late wife Marjorie, used Derrick. Pratt was the name of a relative, who was a Methodist preacher. His father resigned from the office of Wesleyan Local Preacher because he could not accept current teaching about eternal damnation for unbelievers.
Green worshipped with his family at Childwall Parish Church: attended Huyton High School. The family moved to Wallasey, Cheshire, England where the young Green attended Claremount Road Wesleyan Church and Wallasey Grammar School, before moving on to Rydal, a Methodist boarding school at Colwyn Bay, North Wales. In his schooldays, he showed interest in becoming an architect, but in fact took employment in his father’s leather business. During the pastorate of Rev William Rushby at Claremount Road, and after hearing a sermon on John Masefield’s The Everlasting Mercy, he offered for the Wesleyan ministry about the time his friend Eric Thomas offered for the Anglican priesthood. The key to Fred’s eventual choice of Methodism was its open welcome to Holy Communion.
• Fred Pratt Green was sent to serve in 1924 in the Severn Valley Circuit
• From 1925 to 1928, he attended Didsbury Theological College. Green emerged from Didsbury convinced that fundamentalism is a grave misinterpretation of the Bible, that Christian unity, though seemingly unattainable, is an important goal, and that the Church must involve itself in social concerns.
• He served next in Filey Circuit and as chaplain to Hunmanby Hall Boarding School for Girls: in 1931, he married Londoner, Marjorie Dowsett, who taught French at the school.
• He moved on to Otley Circuit, living at Pool-in-Wharfedale.
• He was appointed to Bradford (Manningham) Circuit based at Girlington where he began writing plays. In 1935 he attended the World Congress of Faiths. Green later suffered a breakdown, leading to the need for three months’ rest.
• In 1939, as the Second World War broke out, he moved to the London (Ilford) Circuit based at Gants Hill, combining his ministerial duties with those of an air raid warden in an area about three miles from the Thames with its heavily bombed docks and major industrial sites: later the Greens became guardians to Elizabeth, the daughter of Revd Vincent Shepherd, a missionary hospitalised with leprosy in India after fleeing from the Japanese in Burma.
• In 1944, Green moved to London (Finsbury Park) Circuit, based at Grange Hill: on a pastoral visit to a Sunday School member, he met Fallon Webb, a gentle agnostic poet, to begin a friendship which encouraged Fred’s poetry writing and lasted until Webb’s death.
• In 1947, he was appointed to the Dome, Brighton, in which concert hall the evening congregation often exceeded two thousand souls.
• In 1952 he moved to Shirley at the Southern edge of London and bordering Green Belt countryside.
• He was appointed in 1957 as Chairman of the York and Hull District of the Methodist Church.
• In 1964, he returned to the Circuit ministry in the London (Sutton) Circuit in charge of Trinity Church: in 1967 he was appointed to the working party planning Hymns and Songs, a supplement to The Methodist Hymn Book, a task which was to set-off his hymnwriting career coincident with his retirement to Norwich at the end of his distinguished itinerant ministry.
• Over two decades Pratt Green wrote around 300 hymns and songs which found their way across theological, denominational and national boundaries, his work gaining particularly wide use in the USA.
• A phone call from Lambeth Palace in 1977 advised Pratt Green of the inclusion of one of his hymns in the official order of service for the nationwide celebrations of the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
• He was appointed in 1977 to co-edit an ecumenical collection for all-age worship Partners in Praise (London: Stainer & Bell and Chester House Publications, 1979)
• In 1982, Emory University (Atlanta) conferred upon Green an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters
• In 1984, he set up The Pratt Green Trust, a charitable body for the furtherance of hymnody and church music, principally funded by the royalties from his hymnwriting.
• In 1990, the Greens moved to Cromwell House Methodist Home for the Aged, Norwich, where Marjorie died in 1993. The empty chair was all too poignant at low-key celebrations of Derick’s ninetieth birthday.
• In 1995, Frederick Pratt Green was honoured by the Queen with the award of an MBE for services to hymnwriting.
• Fred died quietly in his sleep at Cromwell House on Sunday 22nd October 2000.
For a much fuller biography see pages 122 to 171 of Bernard Braley’s Hymnwriters 3 (London, Stainer & Bell, 1991)
View basket “Green, Fred Pratt: Partners in Creation” has been added to your basket.
Showing all 7 titles
Green, Fred Pratt: Later Hymns and Ballads and Fifty Poems
Green, Fred Pratt: Partners in Creation
Green, Fred Pratt: Serving God and God’s Creatures
Green, Fred Pratt: The Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green
Green, Fred Pratt: The Last Lap
Percival, Allen (arr.): Infant in the Stall
Percival, Allen (arr.): The Donkey’s Carol
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line781
|
__label__wiki
| 0.84551
| 0.84551
|
Tag: Exclusion Act
July 15, 2019 Books, Finding Mr. Wong
IN SEARCH OF A HEAD TAX PAYER’S PAST
This article by a staff writer was originally published in Sing Tao September 18, 2010, and later reprinted in Kang He magazine. You can also download the article as a PDF (6.1Mb). It’s included as part of a series of stories about the search for the family of Wong Dong Wong, who paid the Chinese head tax to come to Canada. The translation below is by Shan (Joanna) Qiao.
Canadian writer of Irish descent Susan Crean is searching for the past of a long deceased family servant, the Chinese Head Tax payer Wong Dong Wong, a kind and influential member of her family who is still remembered [forty years later].
Born and raised in a middle class family in Toronto’s Forest Hill, Susan studied and travelled in Europe and U.S. in her twenties. She has published several books and served as Chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada in the 1990s.
Wong, on the other hand, was a Chinese labourer who struggled to make a life under Canada’s Exclusion Act. Study and travel was beyond his imagination. Because of legal restrictions and financial limitations, his start in life was a one-way ticket to Canada.
Growing up with Wong in her grandmother’s old kitchen, young Susan would not have known about his past, or how terribly the Head Tax affected his life. In her child’s eyes, Wong was part of the family, and worth fighting for when other white kids called him “Chink”.
Born in 1895, Wong came from a large village called Yong Nian of Tai Shan Province in Southeast China. He followed in the steps of a great many local Taishanese who bought boat tickets, paid the $500 Head Tax, and left for a better life.
Mr. Wong landed in Victoria on November 16th, 1911. He was sixteen and started his life in Gold Mountain unaware he would never get a chance to return home or have a family of his own in his adopted land. In 1928, he moved to Toronto and was hired by Crean’s grandparents as a domestic cook.
As a trusted family servant, Wong was at the deathbed of Crean’s grandfather, and played in the park with Susan and her siblings. He stayed on duty, fulfilling his responsibilities for almost four decades, looking after three generations of the family.
Wong is there in Crean’s childhood memories, a consoling and positive presence. He kept her Grandmother’s house and cooked the meals to perfection, and kept a proper distance with his employer and white society. He was generous at Christmas, and a whiz at fixing bicycles which meant he was popular with the children in the neighbourhood. He was also reserved. He had his dos and don’ts at the house. For example he’d never discussed his private life unnecessarily, or cooked Chinese food, or brought any of his countrymen to the house — not even a lady or companion.
So far as Crean knows, Wong was single and childless. Even though he occasionally mentioned to her father that he had someone back in the village, she never saw any photos or letters from family.
She still remembers some of the stories Wong told them they were young. “He told us about being an orphan, and how once he’d lost his way in the fog while tending his uncle’s cow. He’d been terribly afraid, but the cow knew her way, and guided him back home through the night.
“Wong wasn’t by himself in Chinatown. However, he never brought friends or acquaintances to us. Sometimes, I did hope that he had a regular family life like anybody else does,” she says.
Working as a domestic servant in the fifties and sixties, Wong had a stable and decent job and it would have been possible to save some money at the end of the year. Gambling in underground casinos in Chinatown was a popular way for old Chinese bachelors to kill time. Susan learned later that Wong either sent the money back to the village, or spent it on the gambling table, for he died with very little.
“He was a very generous man. I knew he was sending extra money to China for the education of the next generation,” Crean adds.
At the age of 70, Wong retired from his work and moved to a rooming house with other Chinese bachelor seniors. “I was studying in Europe, and not able to see him a great deal after he retired. However, my sister Jennie made efforts to visit him regularly. After seeing the cockroaches and mice in the first rooming house, she helped him move to 177 Dundas St. West. That was where Wong lived for the rest of his life,” she adds.
Crean visited him every Wednesday with Jennie during her stays in Toronto. They’d hang out at some legendary Chinese restaurant — like Sam Woo ((Sai Woo was located at the time at 130 Dundas St. West. it closed in 2000.)) down the street — enjoying the food Wong wasn’t able to make at her grandparents’ house.
Wong became sick in 1969. Unable to care for himself, he spent his last three months in the hospital and he passed away there on the August long weekend, 1970 at the age of 75. He didn’t leave any written will. Jennie was the one whom the hospital called. He’d left a few hundred dollars, as if he’d figured out how much would cover his funeral expenses and a gravestone. The money was hidden in a tensor bandage that he used to wrap his ankles and legs with as he was a long-time sufferer of varicose veins. The bandage had already been cleared from the room when Jennie arrived, but she managed to find it in the laundry.
Wong was looked after by Jennie and Mr Jim Wong, a younger generation Taishanese who lived next door. Yet no family was there at the end. He was buried not far from his old employers at Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The little square gravestone is hardly big enough to tell the story a Head Tax payer and the solitude he endured his entire life.
As both a beloved member of the family and a Chinese Canadian pioneer, Wong is a character whom Susan wants to include in her current book on Toronto. She talks about the hidden history of those pioneers from distant continents, people of different colours and cultures and how diversity has contributed to the creation of the city we now call Toronto.
In order to find out something about Wong’s kin and the place he came from, Crean will be travelling to Taishan, China at the end of September. She will reverse the route that Wong took when made his journey almost a century ago.
Should readers have any information on Wong or his family, please contact Susan Crean.
Sidebar: How Much Was the Chinese Head Tax?
Wong Dong Wong would not have be able to imagine the Canadian government officially apologizing for its past mistake in legislating the Chinese Head Tax. It is equally hard for us to imagine the extreme conditions the Chinese Head Tax payers faced in Canada:
The amount of Head Tax increased from $50 in 1885 to $100 in 1900. It was increased again to $500 in 1903, equivalent to two years wages of a Chinese labour at the time.
Meanwhile, Chinese were denied Canadian citizenship. In all, the Federal Government collected $23 million from the Chinese through the Head Tax, equivalent to more than $1.5 billion nowadays.
In 1923, the Canadian Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act excluding all but a few Chinese immigrants from entering Canada. Between 1923 and 1947 when the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, less than 50 Chinese were allowed to settle in Canada.
In addition to the Head Tax and Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants, especially the men, faced other forms of discrimination in their social, economic and political lives. They are not allowed to bring their family, including their wives, to Canada. As a result, the Chinese Canadian community became a “bachelor society”. Exclusion Act resulted in long period of separation of families. Many Chinese families did not reunited until years after the initial marriage, and in some cases they were never reunited.
The Chinese labourers struggled to make a living in Canada. Unskilled worker’s daily wage was from 5 cents to 10 cents, while skilled workers made about 20 cents a day. Their monthly salary was between $20 and $30. The family workers made between $10 and $30.
Stephen Harper’s minority government officially apologized for the Chinese Head Tax on June 22nd, 2006, promising to compensate all living Head Tax payers or their widows $20,000.
According to the statistics made by Chinese Canadian National Council, there were over 2,000 living Head Tax payer across Canada in 1984, however, in 2006, over 90 per cent of them passed away. Only 35 Head Tax payers and 391 widows were able to receive the compensation.
(Information from the website of the Chinese Canadian National Council)
June 9, 2019 Article, Writing
“FINDING MR. WONG: A TALE FROM CANADA’S EXCLUSION ERA” IN NEW CANADIAN MEDIA
In New Canadian Media, June 1, 2019
The story of Chinese immigration to Canada is best known for two things. First, the arrival of Chinese labourers in large numbers in the late 1800s to build the crucial last link of the Canadian Pacific Railway—the most difficult and dangerous section which required crossing the Rocky Mountains. And second, for the institution of a head tax meant to dissuade those very men from remaining in the country once the work was completed…
Read the full article Finding Mr. Wong: A Tale From Canada’s Exclusion Era here.
May 22, 2013 Finding Mr. Wong
MR. WONG’S STORY: A TALE OF SACRIFICE AND GENEROSITY
This article was originally published in The Toronto Star on January 26, 2011 as part of a special supplement celebrating the Chinese New Year. It’s the story of Wong Dong Wong who came to Canada as a teenager in 1911 to work in his uncle’s restaurant in Vancouver. He was an orphan with no future in China but he made one for himself in Canada, migrating East to Toronto in 1917 to work as a domestic cook during the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada. He was hired by my grandfather in 1928. You can download a PDF version of the piece (78Kb).
I was probably a couple of days old when I first met Wong Dong Wong. From then on he was part of my life, someone I was always in touch with and saw regularly until he died 25 years later. My earliest memories include him, and, throughout my childhood, he was a source of unending magic.
Wong Dong Wong in studio photo he had shot in the mid 1920s in Toronto.
Example: The drawer in the kitchen mysteriously stocked with contraband goods — comics, candy and chewing gum. Example: The May 24 fireworks extravaganza he put on in the back garden attracting half the neighbourhood, the crowd expanding each year until the Forest Hill Police dropped by to investigate.
He could mend bikes, do string games and make ice cream; he played gymnastics endlessly with us in the back yard, and he took me to see my first movie.
He could save your bacon by fishing articles out of the storm sewer lost in games of sink-the-battleship in the gutter after a rainfall; but he could also make you shrivel up smaller than Alice-in-Wonderland when your behaviour crossed the line and he issued a summons to the kitchen.
The other side of this idyll, and the reason for Mr. Wong’s presence in our lives, was anything but pleasant. It was the overtly racist immigration laws of the time, specifically the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada, which condemned thousands of Chinese men to lives of social isolation and targeted injustice in Canada.
Separated from family, often too poor to return to China despite a lifetime of labour, they ended their days, alone in rooming houses.
Mr. Wong paid a $500 Head Tax to enter Canada in November 1911.
He was 16, although immigration officials at the port of Victoria decided he was 11, and entered that age in the ledger noting he was 4′ 9” in height and had a scar over his left eye.
He was born in Taishan (Toisan) county in Guangdong in 1895, and brought to Canada as a teenager by a relative who had a job waiting for him in Vancouver.
By 1917, he’d acquired facility in Cantonese as well as English, and had mastered the basics of Canadian (English) cooking. Quite probably he’d also repaid his debt. He then moved to Toronto and found work as a domestic cook which meant fulltime, live-in employment in the homes of white people. He was working for a family in Rosedale when he met my grandfather in the late 1920s.
I began researching Mr. Wong’s life two years ago, using his C.I. 36 certificate to locate him in government records.
Always in my mind, though, was his village in China.
I remember talk about his making the journey home, but it was 1965 before he retired, and he was not in good health. He had worked for my grandparents, latterly my widowed grandmother, for 37 years, and was a great deal more than a cook. He ran the household which included cleaning, laundry and gardening as well as cooking, and when my grandmother reached her 80s and 90s, he was a companion to her.
Undoubtedly Mr. Wong worked longer than he should have.
He stayed because of a promise to my grandfather, and, I suspect, because the Canadian government’s refusal to accept his correct date of birth meant old age benefits were delayed until he was 70. His last years were spent in a rooming house in Chinatown, but not alone. He became close to his neighbour Jim Wong, whom he considered a son. (It was Jim who held Wong’s photo at his funeral in 1970).
When I saw Jim’s son, Tao Wong, recently we shared memories of weekly visits to see grandfather Wong: Tao’s family went on Sundays, my sister Jennie and I on Wednesdays. For 40 years, both families have visited Mr. Wong’s grave.
Wong Dong Wong never returned to China. Almost 100 years after his voyage to Canada, I found myself preparing to make the journey “back” myself.
To write about him, I needed to see his homeland, to experience firsthand, as a friend said, “the richness that must have haunted the memories of Mr. Wong when he looked about his Canadian landscape, and, surely, longed for home.”
I knew I might never find his village, much less the story of how and why he left. Yet, six months into the project, my collaborator in China, Smile Leung, located Wing Ning village, and, last Fall, we travelled there together.
Smile and I met first with the Village Head, Wong Jinhua, who told us we would not find Wong Dong Wong in the official genealogy. Wong was an orphan, whose father had died the month he was born and his mother two years later. His uncle, Wong Wanshen, had felt sympathy for the boy, and so arranged for him to go to Canada. There were no prospects for him in China.
Wong Jinhua introduced us to Wong Wenxi and his family, the descendants of Wong Wanshen. They retold the story of Wong Dong Wong, and showed me a photo of Wong Wanshen, as well as the family’s hand-bound, hand-written record of births going back to 1875.
And there it was, the entry “Wong Zongwong born late in the evening, August 28th, 1895.”
If I make this search sound simple, it wasn’t. I succeeded only because of friends, and the generosity of the Taishanese community, not to mention the perfect strangers who contacted me after an article appeared in Sing Tao daily — Taishan County’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau included.
Christmas is the time my family most remember Mr. Wong. We bake his shortbread, improved, I think, by the encounter with his Chinese savoir-fare.
Over the years, Chinese New Year’s has come to mean something, too. Living next to the Seto family in South Riverdale for 20 years, it was Wong’s Scottish shortbread for Mrs. Seto’s dumplings at the beginning of each lunar year. In Vancouver, a few years ago, it was Todd Wong’s combination Robbie Burns’ Day/Chinese New Year banquet Gung Haggis Fat Choy.
New Year’s for me this year is a time to celebrate the remarkable Mr. Wong.
Susan Crean is a Toronto writer and recipient of a Chalmers Arts Fellowship, which made the trip to Taishan possible. More of Mr. Wong’s story can be found on her website: www.whatistoronto.ca
LOOKING FOR WONG DONG WONG
This piece was published in Tai Shan magazine in November, 2010 as part of story about Chinese Canadian history, a scan of which you can download as a PDF (2.3Mb).
This version, in Chinese includes a photo of our meeting. [On the left Liang Xiaomei (my assistant and interpreter), myself, Cheri the officer who contacted us, the editor of Taishan Xing Ning and director Chen Yao Hong.]
I am a Canadian writer of Scottish and Irish descent. Two years ago I began work on a book which will include the story of a Chinese Canadian, Wong Dong Wong, who was born in Taishan, and came to Canada as a boy of 16 in 1911. In 1917, he relocated from Vancouver on Canada’s West coast to Toronto, and by the late 1920s when he met my grandfather he was working as a domestic cook. In 1928 he came to work for my grandparents and stayed for 37 years. He retired to Chinatown in 1965, and died there in 1970 having never — so far as my family knew, returned to China.
Tracing Mr. Wong’s Story
All this time later, I started tracing Mr. Wong’s story, dreaming that I perhaps would succeed in finding his village. I knew it was in Tai Shan, but I very little about his origins; the family stories varied on the subject of a wife or children. He was very private, but when I was little he told me about being an orphan, and how once he’d lost his way in the fog while tending his uncle’s cow. He’d been terribly afraid, but the cow knew her way, and guided him back home through the night.
I began with the documents he left, which fortunately included one identity card issued in the early 1940, and largely in Chinese. Thus I was able to locate his ancestral village — Wing Ning. I planned the trip over a year, but just before I left for China last September, a story about my search was featured in the local Sing Tao.
This brought a lot of calls and emails by people who were touched by the story. Several offered help, and more than one family contacted relatives in Taishan. The list included the County Bureau for Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs which contacted me before I’d left Beijing for Taishan!
Arriving at the Village
We met first with the Village head, Wong Jinhua, in the office of Zhen Changmin Overseas Affairs director for S’anhe County. This was the first of three meetings with Mr. Wong who was generous with his time, and in helping me meet people in the village. Director Chen Yao Hong and his staff in the FOC Affairs Bureau had researched what they could in advance, and offered continued support. I was travelling with an assistant and interpreter, but several of Bureau staff speak excellent English. We were included in the dinner being given that evening to honour Albert Chen, the founder of the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco, by deputy mayor Suzanna Huang. (And it happened to be the birthday of them both!)
We were welcomed in the village. Our arrival was not secret. We visited Wing Ning twice, and spent time there with elder Wong Wenxi who is a grandson of Wong Wanshen, the man responsible for bringing Wong Dong Wong to Canada. Wong Wenxi was six when his grandfather returned from Canada in the mid 1930s, and knew the story of Wong Dong Wong whose father died just before he was born. Wong Wanshen adopted the boy, and from papers the family still have relating to Wong Wanshen’s life in Canada, it seems likely he’d arranged a job for young Wong upon his arrival in Vancouver.
Meeting Mr. Wong’s Family
We met the sons and daughters, and grandchildren of Wong Wanshen’s grandson who showed us around the village and pointed out the landmarks. We met with the oldest resident, now in has 90s who remembers Wong Wanshen as a man of means when he returned, a man who looked after many things in the village.
The trip was a terrific success. I found Mr Wong’s story and met the descendants of his kin. This only happened because people found a reflection of other stories they know about and are connected to in Mr. Wong’s life. These are the stories of the Head Tax generation, an era of Chinese Canadian history when young men were condemned by Canadian Exclusion Laws to a lifetime of relentless work and solitude in Canada. Like Wong Dong Wong their lives were invisible to history during his lifetime, but their enormous contribution to Canadian life is finally becoming known.
Reference: The story of Chinese Canadian pioneers can be found at http://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/ which documents the contribution of the original immigrants from Guangdong to Canada who built the critical last section of the TransCanada railroad through the Rocky Mountains to the coast.
VISITING THE WONGS’ ASSOCIATION
This article was originally published in the Wongs’ Association Convention magazine in 2011 as part of an exploration of Chinese in Canada history. You can also download the article as a PDF (2.3Mb).
Climbing the narrow staircase to the Wongs’ Association’s third floor office in downtown Toronto, past the plaque reading Wong Kung Har Wun Sun Association in Chinese and English, you reach a nondescript door that gives no hint of what lies beyond. When the association bought the building in 1979 the entire top floor was redesigned and the space opened up. Along with offices and a small kitchen, it now accommodates a large assembly hall with a 20′ ceiling where the shrine to the Wong ancestors stands in gilded solemnity, lit from above by large windows encircling the raised roof — itself a first in the neighbourhood. So, past the door you walk into a burst of natural light — even on a rainy day.
Arriving at the Wong’s Association
Tuesday afternoon at the end of March might seem an unlikely time to find anyone at here, but my visit is at the invitation of Chuck K. Wong, a director of the Association for more than a decade. He is on duty today, one of a roster of volunteers who make sure “there’s always someone here to let members in.”
He shows me around, pointing to the Wong family tree and the photographs of Association members that line the hallway, and the place of honour inside the Hall for the photos of the Association chairmen going back to the 1950s.
A Tase of Chinese Canadian History
He relates the story of the ancestor commemorated here (one of 21 sons of the original patriarch) and gives me a thumbnail sketch of the history of the Association and its two antecedent organizations. The original members were Toishanese, and given the small Chinese community living in Toronto during the Exclusion years (1923-47), their numbers dwindled. “To strengthen the association we needed more members, so other Wongs were invited to join us,” he explains.
His knowledge, he tells me, comes largely from conversations; what he knows is what elders have told him over the years. So he worries about losing these memories before the history of the Association has been properly recorded.
What’s on Chuck K. Wong’s mind, though, is not the past but the up-coming tri-annual national convention which will bring Wongs from around the world to Toronto for three days in August. He sees the event as an opportunity for re-engagement.
An International Gathering
The international dimension of the clan’s experience is a key part of the Wong heritage. Emigration has produced an astonishing diversity in the name itself, he notes. It has also, obviously, nurtured a skill for negotiating cultures, not to mention foreign languages and customs. Two characteristics seem to be key. First the tendency of Toishanese to treat each other as family, and to believe in the ethic of helping one’s own and sharing resources.
So, from the beginning the community reached beyond the Chinatowns across the country into small towns and remote places like Moose Factory creating a web of relationships built up between relatives and friends that enabled people to survive.
Secondly, there was the clan’s reputation for honouring its word. The Association, for example, set up a committee which operated like a credit union, providing seed money for members when no bank would. “There was nothing on paper. It was all on people’s word, ” Mr. Wong emphasizes repeating the old adage: “When you deal with a Wong, nothing can go wrong.”
A Valuable Community
Mr. Wong was himself inspired by his great uncle Wong Nan Yao, the third chairman of the Wong Kung Har Wun Sun Association who first took him to the Association, and who always spoke of the importance of contributing to the community, and giving back. Times change, and today the Association may no longer be the social and economic lifeline it was, but the value of community has not disappeared.
A week later, on a Saturday afternoon, we pull up to Greg K.W. Wong’s house and find him working in the garden, eagerly making up for the long delay of Spring. He is part of the convention committee whose work is well underway at this point.
We chat in his spacious kitchen, my friend Chuck C.C. Wong, who brought me along, has taken on the task of putting the convention booklet together. Greg K.W. Wong regularly hosts sessions like this at his house — and very soon in his back garden, too — and clearly knows a lot of people. He recruits individuals who want to make something happen, and charges them with doing just that.
An affable man, he welcomes participation and delegates decision-making. So the cast of volunteers gathers numbers like a chain letter.
Greg K. W. Wong also sees history as instructive. However, there will be no dwelling on the past at the convention. “The intention is to encourage young people to ask themselves what they’d like to achieve, not to encourage them to carry chips on their shoulders.” Like Chuck C.C. Wong, he worries about the history that is locked up in memory, including those stories never spoken of. And he also speaks of the necessity of collaborative action.
He tells the story of how during the Exclusion years, when racism was virulent and the Chinese were barred from public places like trains, hotels and swimming pools, people would travel from Chinatown to Chinatown via an “underground railroad” of safe houses. This was how the community worked, looking after its own. And to this day, if you stop of at a local Chinese restaurant you are likely to be greeted as family.
The power of association has to do with numbers, but it also has to do with the sharing skills and knowledge. It can be a source of individual self-knowledge, and self-confidence. “Given the history of the Wongs in Canada, and our contributions to the country, to be a Wong today means being equal to all and second to none.”
December 8, 2012 Article, Writing
“WRITING MR. WONG” IN THIS MAGAZINE
In This Magazine, Nov-Dec, 2012.
This is the backstory to Finding Mr. Wong, the book on the life of Mr. Wong and why it has been possible for me to write it. In the first instance, this is because of the help and openness of Chinese Canadians who made the search not just doable but successful beyond any expectation. The changes in Canadian society since Mr. Wong’s death in 1970 has meant that the close, familial association across race we had is no longer so unusual; it’s become a commonplace experience. Canadians have taken to practicing diversity at home and work, and slowly it’s become part of our identity. We’ve pride in our multicultural cities, and see multiculturalism as an ideal, a standard of tolerance and non-discrimination.
Read the article "Writing Mr. Wong" online here.
November 1, 2011 Books, Finding Mr. Wong
Shortly after I arrived at Kogawa House, artist Laura Bucci came for an evening session of button making. She arrived with several plastic packing boxes filled with an array of coloured and patterned paper, old magazines, scissors, glue, and a collection of rubber stamps with words like “escape” and “passion” on them. The event was part of Word on the Street, which expanded this year to three days over the weekend, and to off the traditional site at the Central Library to community venues like Kogawa House.
We set up a table in the living room and over the evening about twenty-five people set to creating their own “designer” buttons. The best part, naturally, was the moment you got to slip your creation onto its metal backing with Laura’s neat little hand-press, and pop out the result.
That evening I also met Howe Chan. Howe contacted me last November just after I returned from China. I’d been to Taishan, the county in Guangdong which many Chinese Canadians came from, looking for the story of a head tax payer named Wong Dong Wong who left China for Canada in 1911. The Saturday before I left for Beijing, Sing Tao published a front page story about my search. Howe, who happened to be in Taishan himself at the time, saw the story when he returned home, got his daughter Jennifer to sleuth down my phone number, and called me up.
“If only I’d known,” were practically his first words. “I was there in Taishan right at the same time, and could have taken you to his village.” My own visit had yielded the fact that Mr. Wong was an orphan whose father died the same month he was born in 1895, and his mother a few months later. Mr. Wong was brought to Gold Mountain by an uncle to work in the business he was setting up with two others in South Vancouver. Howe grew up in a village very close to Wing Ning where Mr. Wong was born, and knows it well. As a boy he often fished in the river that runs in front of it, and remembers going there at lunar New Year with his mother to see Cantonese opera.
I began sending Howe copies of material I’d gathered. The official Wong family tree from the Bureau of Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs, and the family’s own handwritten genealogy that dates back to the 1870s shown to me by the grandson of Wong Wanshen, the uncle who sponsored Mr. Wong. In return Howe sent me copies of histories he written about the Chen family, and montages of photos and maps of Taishan with detailed notations written in a very precise and clear hand. Howe does not do computers, so over the year we sent stuff back and forth through the mail, and had long conversations on the phone.
Howe is now my chief advisor on all things to do with Shui Doi – the name of Wing Ning in the local dialect. But since meeting him in person and getting to know him, I have also heard more about his story, and the hardship of his mother in particular. Separated from her husband for decades she was forced to live out her life alone in China. For in 1946, despairing of ever reuniting, Howe’s father had married in Canada. The very next year the exclusion laws were lifted.
Today, Howe leaves for another trip back to his village. He’s undertaken to visit Shui Doi and to see what else he can find out about Mr. Wong. By this time, too, he has discovered his own connection to Wong’s story. There in the family tree he discovered his own mother,a cousin of my Mr. Wong, five times removed but in the same generation.
I’ve always been aware that Canada is a small country. I didn’t realize that China, in some ways, is a small place, too.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line783
|
__label__wiki
| 0.568276
| 0.568276
|
ECB candidates: Lane is the better candidate
The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs held a detailed informal exchange of views with the two candidates for Vice-President of the European Central Bank this Wednesday evening. The European Parliament has now informally forwarded its assessment of the two candidates to the Council of member states. The Council will now select one candidate and propose it to Parliament. Parliament will then hold a formal hearing on 26 February. Afterwards the plenary of the European Parliament votes on the candidate. The vote of the plenary is not binding, but influential.
Sven Giegold, spokesperson for economic and financial affairs for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, comments on this:
“Irishman Philipp Lane is clearly the better candidate. He gave convincing answers to all question of the Parliament. Lane has shown himself to be a distinguished and proven economist, De Guindos, on the other hand, as a politician who would like to be a top job at the ECB.
It is poor show that no Member State has proposed a woman. It is hopelessly antiquted that no woman has ever been president or vice-president of the ECB. For us Greens, it remains unacceptable that the Member States have ignored Parliament’s demand to propose female candidates.
Luis de Guindos is also a threat to the independence of the ECB. As a long-standing member of the Eurogroup de Guindos cannot carry out the new office independently.”
The statement of Roberto Gualtieri, Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20180215IPR97911/informal-exchanges-of-views-with-candidates-for-ecb-vice-president
Rubrik: Unkategorisiert
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line786
|
__label__cc
| 0.747346
| 0.252654
|
When the bell rang, Neil told Jesse to stay behind.
“Because I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”
“You can go to the bathroom later. Right now I want to talk to you.”
“I gotta go now.”
“No. Later. Come here.”
Jesse came up to the front of the room, looking slantways at Neil as if he were not quite bright, and squirming as if he were about to wet his pants. Neil almost let him go, but he had seen so much that he concluded this was also an act.
“Jesse, what were you doing during reading?”
“Just reading.”
“Not making anybody’s life miserable?”
Jesse was all wide-eyed innocence, hurt that he should be accused. He said, “I never did nothing to nobody.”
Neil enumerated the things he had seen Jesse doing.
“I didn’t do any of that stuff.”
“I saw you, Jesse.”
“You did not. I didn’t do it.”
Neil was shocked. Could the boy believe his own denials, or was this another scam? He looked into Jesse’s eyes and saw eyes that were old and wise and — evil? Can an eleven year old child be evil?
The look in Jesse’s eyes shook Neil to the core.
Still, it had to be dealt with. “Jesse, I saw you do everything I said, and I don’t intend to put up with it.”
Jesse lowered his eyes and said, under his breath, “Didn’t do it!”
“When the other kids come back, you will change places with Scott Anderson.”
“For today?”
“Until I say otherwise.”
“I don’t want to sit up front.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have any choice.”
“It’s not fair. I didn’t do anything.” The look on Jesse’s face was frightening. If the boy believed his own denials, then he had real problems. If he was lying coldly, he had worse problems.
Jesse left for the bathroom muttering under his breath. As soon as he came back, as late as he thought he dared be, Neil made him exchange seats with Scott.
From the other students’ reactions, Neil realized he had been too slow in seeing this problem. Scott didn’t mind the move. Jesse muttered under his breath that it was unfair, but no one paid any attention to him. The ones in the back row heaved sighs of relief. Lorraine Dixon who sat in the front said, “Don’t you put him next to me!” and Rafael Ayala who would sit behind Jesse said, “I don’t want to be anywhere near him.”
Jesse made a grandstand production of the move, sighing deeply and sending black looks toward Neil. Neil ignored him.
When he was finally seated, and Jesse said, “I hope you’re satisfied!” he had pushed Neil one step too far. Neil leaned over Jesse to make close eye contact and said, “Jesse Herrera, your behavior last hour was terrible, and this hour hasn’t been any better. I will not tolerate that kind of nonsense in my classroom. The next time you misbehave, you will get a detention.”
“Detentions don’t mean nothing to me. I lived in the detention room last year.”
Neil shook his head. The boy had gone from apparent angel to this in twenty minutes. Now he sat looking forward with a wooden expression on his face and ignored Neil when he told the class to get out their books. Neil decided to end the confrontation by letting Jesse have that bit of rebellion unchallenged. But when he looked at Jesse later, he realized that it really didn’t matter what he did. Jesse had declared himself ready to devote himself to making Neil’s life miserable. more tomorrow
This entry was posted in Serial and tagged literature, memoir, teaching, writing on November 8, 2017 by sydlogsdon.
← 430. The Rocket’s Red Glare Symphony 35 →
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line788
|
__label__cc
| 0.638501
| 0.361499
|
Home Insecurity LET’S COMBAT INSECURITY THROUGH JOINT EFFORTS – SULTAN OF SOKOTO URGES NIGERIANS;...
LET’S COMBAT INSECURITY THROUGH JOINT EFFORTS – SULTAN OF SOKOTO URGES NIGERIANS; DG-SSS calls for objectivity in the evaluation of roles of security agencies
The Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, Sa’ad Abubakar, says the security challenges across the country is getting worse by the day and requires the prompt and decisive action of all levels of government.
The monarch said this when he led other top monarchs to Maiduguri to condole with the government and people of Borno State on the recent killing of farmers by Boko Haram at a rice field in Zabarmari. “It is not just a condolence visit, it is a statement that all of us are fed up with the shedding of innocent blood under whatever guise across this country.
So many lives have been lost in the past, we can’t even compute how many lives we have lost. It becomes like a daily occurrence, a daily event. A new normal, it becomes a story when in a day, nobody was killed in a particular place of this country.We had various fora with our political leaders, mentioned these things out, how to take care of our security in various communities.
We have written papers, sent our governors, we have discussed with all our leaders, all the way forward. But we see things getting worse and worse. It used to be Boko Haram alone in Borno and Yobe, now, in all over the north in particular and generally all over the country. You have bandits and terrorists all over the north, you can’t even move freely. In the south, it is the same thing. The killings have taken new dimensions and we really don’t know what are the causes of these mass killings of innocent people.
We decided to come together as the council of traditional rulers to make this statement to all and sundry, not only to the governor of Borno State, but to all our governors. Let’s rise up to the occasion and see how we can come together to fight this menace of shedding innocent people’s blood.”
Stop blaming security agencies over insecurity — DSS DG tells Nigerians
The Director-General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi has asked Nigerians to stop tackling and blaming security agencies over the increased insecurity witnessed across the country. Bichi who said this at the Security and Emergency Awards (SEMA 2020), averred that the support of citizens is pertinent especially in the area of intelligence gathering.
He said: “we call on Nigerians to support security agencies and the government. security is no longer for government and security agencies; there is a need for collaborative efforts and partnerships. you continue to stay in your comfort zones and continue to blame security agencies for all, but the information that the security agencies need have you brought it?
He added: “All those bad people are part of our communities; they live in our neighbourhoods. if you know one, tell the security agencies about him. if you have not done all these, it’s time for us to have a rethink; it’s time for us to have a change of mind to rededicate ourselves to the ideals of building a country that is devoid of any insecurity.”
Previous articleBoko Haram: Sultan of Sokoto leads Obi of Onitsha to Borno, urges military to occupy Lake Chad, Sambisa forest; as federal govt denies increasing pump price of fuel
Next articleCORONAVIRUS – Global youth organizations launch offensive as 250 million young ones unite to fight the pandemic
BUHARI PLEDGES MORE RESOURCES TO COMBAT INSECURITY
terrific - July 31, 2020
President Muhammadu Buhari has given assurances that there would be more resources for the country’s military, police and other security agencies to deal with...
FALLEN HEROES: BASHIR MAGASHI REKINDLES HOPE OF MILITARY WIDOWS
terrific - October 13, 2020
The Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Salihi Magashi (Rtd) has assured Military Widows of continuous support in the tasks of making life worth...
ADDRESSING THE SCOURGE OF INSECURITY – Collaboration for peace and...
terrific - December 3, 2020
We are in a very difficult period that calls for both concern and sympathy from all well-meaning people. Concern because precious lives have been...
SILENCING THE GUNS IN AFRICA BY YEAR 2020 — A MIRAGE?...
terrific - December 18, 2020
The Initiative for Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in Africa by Year 2020, was adopted at an African Union Retreat held in Lusaka,...
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line790
|
__label__cc
| 0.726027
| 0.273973
|
Departing Post-Doc: Chad Gonnerman
July 3, 2014 In News
We are happy to announce that our Chad Gonnerman (who has been a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Michigan State working on the Toolbox) will be moving on to greener pastures. He has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Indiana.
We are thankful that though he’s leaving Michigan State, he is not leaving the Toolbox Project. He plans to continue all the terrific research he started this past year.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line791
|
__label__wiki
| 0.961955
| 0.961955
|
Indian fantasy sports app Dream11’s parent firm raises $225M at over $2.5B valuation
Manish Singh 4 months
Dream Sports, the parent firm of fantasy sports app Dream11, has secured $225 million in a new financing round as the Mumbai-headquartered firm builds what it calls an “end-to-end sports tech company” in the cricket-loving nation, which is also the world’s second largest internet market.
Tiger Global Management, TPG Tech Adjacencies (TTAD), ChrysCapital and Footpath Ventures financed $225 million in Dream Sports through primary and secondary investments, the 12-year-old Indian firm said.
The new round values Dream Sports at over $2.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Dream11 has raised about $325 million to date.
Dream11 has cashed in on the popularity of cricket — a game that has attracted serious attention from several major firms, including Disney and Facebook. Dream11 explores the fantasy part of it, allowing gamers to pick their choice of best players for an upcoming match. They can win cash prizes depending on how their selected team performs.
This year, Dream11 is also the title sponsor for the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, one of the most popular sporting events in the world. The startup won the rights, previously held by Chinese smartphone vendor Vivo, by bidding $30 million. Vivo had to abruptly back out of the sponsorship amid geo-political tension between the two nuclear-armed nations.
The new season of IPL kickstarts later this week after months of delay due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The sports sector has high growth potential in India. There is a significant opportunity to enhance the fan experience and we are excited to partner with Dream Sports to leverage technology in ways that will deepen the connection between Indian fans and the sports they love,” said Akshay Tanna, managing director at TPG, in a statement.
In recent years, Dream Sports has expanded into additional categories such as merchandize. Harsh Jain, chief executive and co-founder of Dream Sports, claimed in a statement today that the startup had amassed more than 100 million users. (Dream11 app is not on the Google Play Store and the startup relies on people either using its mobile web or sideloading its Android app on to their phones.)
“As a homegrown Indian company, we are proud to continue adding value to our 10 crore Indian sports fans, investors, employees and the overall sports ecosystem in India. In the last two years, we have grown beyond fantasy sports to sports content, merchandise, streaming, experiences, and there is much more to come. Our vision is to ‘Make Sports Better’ for India and Indian fans through sports technology and innovation,” he added.
Avendus Capital was the financial advisor to Dream Sports on the transaction.
Dream11 isn’t the only firm building a niche in the fantasy sports space in India. Sequoia Capital India and Times Internet-backed Mobile Premier League is also a major player, which has expanded to traditional mobile games in recent months. Twitter-backed ShareChat also quietly began experimenting with fantasy sports earlier this year.
But fantasy sports is still facing some regulatory hurdles in parts of India. Several Indian states, including Assam, Odisha, Sikkim and Telangana, have banned fantasy sports betting.
“It doesn’t help matters either that the fantasy sports business’ attempts at legitimacy involve trying to be seen as video games — a cursory glance at a speakers’ panel for any Indian video game developer event is evidence of this — rather than riding on its own merits,” said Rishi Alwani, a long-time analyst of Indian gaming market and publisher of news outlet the Mako Reactor, in an earlier interview with TechCrunch.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line792
|
__label__cc
| 0.538059
| 0.461941
|
across the globe, we are united in our dedication to human's rights
Human rights are standards that are essential to the full development of individuals and communities. They allow all people to live with dignity, freedom, equality, justice and peace. Gender equality is such a basic human right. Many organizations are working day and night to solve the inequality between men and women.
While most countries recognize that equal rights should exist between men and women, this is often not the case. Many have established regulations intended to fight discrimination and programs granting women access to health, education and economic rights such as land ownership. But these regulations don’t seem to solve the problem. We need compassionate organizations to fix the gap concerning gender equality.
Auntie Is MerkezI Organization is non -governmental group helps to fight and speak on the following.
Promote Human equality and encourage woman to be active and contributing in the society .
Equality (or the lack thereof) is a recurring issue when it comes to women and girls, whether it’s unequal access to schooling for girls in developing countries, or unequal pay for women in the workplace. In a world where 95% of countries are led by a male head of state, it’s clear that we as a global community have a long way to go before women are given a fair shake.
While the other issues outlined below are specific to girls and women, addressing them will positively impact everyone—even my fellow clueless men of the world. Stay tuned to Auntie Is MerkezI promotions all month as we explore the many ways in which a win for girls and women is a win for us all.
— Women Are At Higher Risk of Poverty
We all know poverty is a problem, but did you know it’s especially a problem for women? According to the 2014 census data:
Women are 60% more likely than men to live in poverty.
6 in 10 women lived in poverty in 2014.
2 in 3 single mothers lived in poverty in 2014.
Of the nation’s 4.5 million poor children, more than half live in families headed by women.
Women experience higher rates of poverty because they are more likely to be under-compensated, over-represented in low-wage jobs, and more likely to do unpaid caregiving work. Reducing poverty for women will require us to invest in support systems, employment initiatives, and most importantly, education.
— (Access to Education) Women Who Need Education Can’t Afford It
Female college graduates actually outnumber male college graduates—but don’t let this fool you. Getting a higher education is still a struggle especially for the most vulnerable and at-risk women including single mothers, women in poverty, and survivors of abuse.
Only 7% of single moms under 30 have finished college, and most cannot afford a degree now because childcare and housing expenses swallow over half their income.
A woman who hasn’t graduated college typically earns 67% less per year than a woman with a bachelor’s degree and is more likely to live in poverty, suffer health issues, and die early.
Education is proven as the most effective way to empower women for lifelong success. Not only does education open the door to better employment opportunities, it also teaches a woman to make positive choices that will help her—and her children—live longer and healthier.
— Women Are Victims of Domestic Violence
Every case of domestic abuse should be taken seriously and each individual given access to the support they need. All victims should be able to access appropriate support. Whilst both men and women may experience incidents of inter-personal violence and abuse, women are considerably more likely to experience repeated and severe forms of abuse, including sexual violence. They are also more likely to have experienced sustained physical, psychological or emotional abuse, or violence which results in injury or death.
— Female Genital Mutilation
Defined by WHO as including “procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons,” is a complex issue with religious and cultural implications for the groups who practice it. That said, the general consensus in the international community is that FGM imposes real health consequences, violates a child’s rights, and promotes inequality between the sexes.
— Ending Child Marriage Keeps Infants Healthy
Education is a major indicator for the likelihood of a girl to enter a marriage before she turns eighteen. Girls with little to no education are at a much higher risk of becoming child brides than those who have attended through secondary school. For every year a girl is in school past the fifth grade, she delays her marriage a year.
support us and change the course of a child’s life today!
Copyright © 2019 Auntie Is MerkezI | Powered by KingsNet Web Solutions
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line793
|
__label__wiki
| 0.871796
| 0.871796
|
Tim McGraw Reacts to Violence at U.S. Capitol: ‘A Terribly Sad Day for America’
A mob of pro-Donald Trump rioters stormed the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 6), breaking through barriers and into the building, putting the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, along with other government offices and officials, into lockdown.
As the country followed the news on television and social media, many prominent names used their platforms to condemn the actions of the mob and the people in power, including the President Trump. Among those vocal people was Tim McGraw, who called the scene "terribly sad."
McGraw has identified himself as a Democrat in the past, and has advocated for causes including LGBTQ+ rights and stricter gun laws. His tweet about Wednesday's insurrection was not particularly political, however: "A terribly sad day for America, a terribly sad day for leadership," he wrote simply.
Country singer and former Hey Monday member Cassadee Pope, singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and others also spoke out about the riot, which prompted a 6PM curfew in D.C. and a call-in of the National Guard:
PHOTOS: Scene at U.S. Capitol Shows Chaos and Violence:
Wednesday's riot occurred as a joint meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate was convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election and officially declare Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the next president and vice president, respectively, of the United States. Following a pro-Trump rally at the Washington Monument on Wednesday morning, the mob of his supporters broke through Capitol barriers at about 1PM local time, CNN reports. According to the news outlet, it is the first time the Capitol has been breached since August of 1814, with British troops set fire to the building during the War of 1812.
Trump and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a staunch supporter of the president, attended Wednesday morning's gathering, with Giuliani encouraging a "trial by combat" regarding election results. Despite failed lawsuits due to lack of evidence to support such claims, Trump and his supporters continue to state that the 2020 election results are fraudulent.
"Hope [Vice President] Mike [Pence] is going to do the right thing," Trump told his supporters on Wednesday morning, alluding to the vice president's role in presiding over Wednesday's congressional meeting. "If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election."
As of publication time, with less than 30 minutes to go before D.C.'s 6PM curfew, law enforcement officials had begun dispersing the mob of insurrectionists. One woman is in critical condition after being shot in the chest on the grounds of the Capitol, per CNN, though further information has not been made available, and multiple officers have been injured.
Despite all of this, Congress is reportedly ready to complete the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, and hopes to do so this evening.
10 Country Songs Inspired by World Tragedy:
Source: Tim McGraw Reacts to Violence at U.S. Capitol: ‘A Terribly Sad Day for America’
Filed Under: Tim McGraw
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line795
|
__label__cc
| 0.741435
| 0.258565
|
Home Opinions Commentary Let Tsarnaev Rot
Let Tsarnaev Rot
Dhiraj Nallapaneni
On May 15, a federal jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a stunning incident that left 17 dead and more than 250 seriously wounded. Though there was no trouble establishing Tsarnaev’s guilt, the jury’s job was to determine the appropriate punishment. The prosecution argued that Tsarnaev deserved the death penalty, while Tsarnaev’s lawyers argued in favor of life imprisonment. The jury went with the former, making a decision that has raised many questions. An appropriate sentence would punish Tsarnaev while establishing closure, and the death penalty ruling may not accomplish these goals.
Giving Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the death penalty unnecessarily prolongs the case. The appeals process for capital punishment is a long and costly ordeal. These appeals will lead to increased media attention for Tsarnaev and his corrupted ideals as the process drags on. One of the motives for terrorism is recognition, and to increase attention for their cause. The more airtime Tsarnaev gets, the more people are exposed to his gospel of destruction. If an aspiring suicide bomber took note of the ruckus surrounding Tsarnaev, wouldn’t he come to the conclusion that perhaps a similar act of terrorism would provoke the same response? Life imprisonment for Tsarnaev would be a better option because it would remove him from relevancy. By giving Tsarnaev more media time, we are helping him spread his message and showing other potential terrorists that violence is an effective means of making a statement.
In theory, the death sentence is the harshest penalty the justice system could possibly mete. However, theory does not always apply to practice, as is the case here. If we put Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death, we are not dealing punishment, but rather we are elevating him to a new level. When Dzhokhar and his brother planted their pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon finish line on that tragic April day, they knew exactly what the probable consequences were. Like many other radical Islamic terrorists, they wanted to die while advancing their cause. Executing Tsarnaev may cause him to be seen as a hero in radical Islamist circles, igniting pernicious inspiration in the hearts of other potential terrorists.
Of course, the jury decision’s does not constitute the entirety of the problem. The media has dedicated a large amount of time to Tsarnaev and his personal life. Rolling Stone had a controversial magazine cover featuring a close-up of Tsarnaev, an honor usually reserved for rock stars. Though the media does have the right to share information about mass murderers, it sometimes raises the killers to celebrity status, serving as encouragement to future killers. Also, closure cannot be achieved if the media allows a murderer’s presence to permeate through our culture. Perhaps media outlets can draw our attention to rebuilding communities, as well as to stories of the victims’ struggles and resilience in the wake of calamity. This would show that the people’s spirit cannot be broken by acts of terrorism.
Understandably, the jury wanted the full power of the law to come down on Tsarnaev for his role in the atrocity. However, by doing this we are simply bringing more years of crooked spectacle. The right thing to do is to give Tsarnaev life in prison with no possibility of parole, and let the world move on. It is better to let him rot in obscurity than to give him a spotlight in the executioner’s room.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line796
|
__label__cc
| 0.633927
| 0.366073
|
Hit the Snow in Style with the Lavish New F2F x Chastity Garner Apres Ski Collection
Participating In Dry January? Check Out These 8 Delicious Zero Alcohol Alternatives That Will Blow Your Mind!
The Misrepresentation of Ma Rainey
We are very delighted that you have shown interest in our enterprise. Data protection is of a particularly high priority for the management of the The Curvy Fashionista. The use of the Internet pages of the The Curvy Fashionista is possible without any indication of personal data; however, if a data subject wants to use special enterprise services via our website, processing of personal data could become necessary. If the processing of personal data is necessary and there is no statutory basis for such processing, we generally obtain consent from the data subject.
The processing of personal data, such as the name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number of a data subject shall always be in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and in accordance with the country-specific data protection regulations applicable to the The Curvy Fashionista. By means of this data protection declaration, our enterprise would like to inform the general public of the nature, scope, and purpose of the personal data we collect, use and process. Furthermore, data subjects are informed, by means of this data protection declaration, of the rights to which they are entitled.
As the controller, the The Curvy Fashionista has implemented numerous technical and organizational measures to ensure the most complete protection of personal data processed through this website. However, Internet-based data transmissions may in principle have security gaps, so absolute protection may not be guaranteed. For this reason, every data subject is free to transfer personal data to us via alternative means, e.g. by telephone.
The data protection declaration of the The Curvy Fashionista is based on the terms used by the European legislator for the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our data protection declaration should be legible and understandable for the general public, as well as our customers and business partners. To ensure this, we would like to first explain the terminology used.
The Curvy Fashionista
30359 Atlanta
Website: https://thecurvyfashionista.com/
The Internet pages of the The Curvy Fashionista use cookies. Cookies are text files that are stored in a computer system via an Internet browser.
Through the use of cookies, the The Curvy Fashionista can provide the users of this website with more user-friendly services that would not be possible without the cookie setting.
The website of the The Curvy Fashionista collects a series of general data and information when a data subject or automated system calls up the website. This general data and information are stored in the server log files. Collected may be (1) the browser types and versions used, (2) the operating system used by the accessing system, (3) the website from which an accessing system reaches our website (so-called referrers), (4) the sub-websites, (5) the date and time of access to the Internet site, (6) an Internet protocol address (IP address), (7) the Internet service provider of the accessing system, and (8) any other similar data and information that may be used in the event of attacks on our information technology systems.
When using these general data and information, the The Curvy Fashionista does not draw any conclusions about the data subject. Rather, this information is needed to (1) deliver the content of our website correctly, (2) optimize the content of our website as well as its advertisement, (3) ensure the long-term viability of our information technology systems and website technology, and (4) provide law enforcement authorities with the information necessary for criminal prosecution in case of a cyber-attack. Therefore, the The Curvy Fashionista analyzes anonymously collected data and information statistically, with the aim of increasing the data protection and data security of our enterprise, and to ensure an optimal level of protection for the personal data we process. The anonymous data of the server log files are stored separately from all personal data provided by a data subject.
On the website of the The Curvy Fashionista, users are given the opportunity to subscribe to our enterprise’s newsletter. The input mask used for this purpose determines what personal data are transmitted, as well as when the newsletter is ordered from the controller.
The The Curvy Fashionista informs its customers and business partners regularly by means of a newsletter about enterprise offers. The enterprise’s newsletter may only be received by the data subject if (1) the data subject has a valid e-mail address and (2) the data subject registers for the newsletter shipping. A confirmation e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address registered by a data subject for the first time for newsletter shipping, for legal reasons, in the double opt-in procedure. This confirmation e-mail is used to prove whether the owner of the e-mail address as the data subject is authorized to receive the newsletter.
The newsletter of the The Curvy Fashionista contains so-called tracking pixels. A tracking pixel is a miniature graphic embedded in such e-mails, which are sent in HTML format to enable log file recording and analysis. This allows a statistical analysis of the success or failure of online marketing campaigns. Based on the embedded tracking pixel, the The Curvy Fashionista may see if and when an e-mail was opened by a data subject, and which links in the e-mail were called up by data subjects.
Such personal data collected in the tracking pixels contained in the newsletters are stored and analyzed by the controller in order to optimize the shipping of the newsletter, as well as to adapt the content of future newsletters even better to the interests of the data subject. These personal data will not be passed on to third parties. Data subjects are at any time entitled to revoke the respective separate declaration of consent issued by means of the double-opt-in procedure. After a revocation, these personal data will be deleted by the controller. The The Curvy Fashionista automatically regards a withdrawal from the receipt of the newsletter as a revocation.
The website of the The Curvy Fashionista contains information that enables a quick electronic contact to our enterprise, as well as direct communication with us, which also includes a general address of the so-called electronic mail (e-mail address). If a data subject contacts the controller by e-mail or via a contact form, the personal data transmitted by the data subject are automatically stored. Such personal data transmitted on a voluntary basis by a data subject to the data controller are stored for the purpose of processing or contacting the data subject. There is no transfer of this personal data to third parties.
If one of the aforementioned reasons applies, and a data subject wishes to request the erasure of personal data stored by the The Curvy Fashionista, he or she may, at any time, contact any employee of the controller. An employee of The Curvy Fashionista shall promptly ensure that the erasure request is complied with immediately.
Where the controller has made personal data public and is obliged pursuant to Article 17(1) to erase the personal data, the controller, taking account of available technology and the cost of implementation, shall take reasonable steps, including technical measures, to inform other controllers processing the personal data that the data subject has requested erasure by such controllers of any links to, or copy or replication of, those personal data, as far as processing is not required. An employees of the The Curvy Fashionista will arrange the necessary measures in individual cases.
If one of the aforementioned conditions is met, and a data subject wishes to request the restriction of the processing of personal data stored by the The Curvy Fashionista, he or she may at any time contact any employee of the controller. The employee of the The Curvy Fashionista will arrange the restriction of the processing.
In order to assert the right to data portability, the data subject may at any time contact any employee of the The Curvy Fashionista.
The The Curvy Fashionista shall no longer process the personal data in the event of the objection, unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
If the The Curvy Fashionista processes personal data for direct marketing purposes, the data subject shall have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her for such marketing. This applies to profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing. If the data subject objects to the The Curvy Fashionista to the processing for direct marketing purposes, the The Curvy Fashionista will no longer process the personal data for these purposes.
In addition, the data subject has the right, on grounds relating to his or her particular situation, to object to processing of personal data concerning him or her by the The Curvy Fashionista for scientific or historical research purposes, or for statistical purposes pursuant to Article 89(1) of the GDPR, unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.
In order to exercise the right to object, the data subject may contact any employee of the The Curvy Fashionista. In addition, the data subject is free in the context of the use of information society services, and notwithstanding Directive 2002/58/EC, to use his or her right to object by automated means using technical specifications.
If the decision (1) is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between the data subject and a data controller, or (2) it is based on the data subject’s explicit consent, the The Curvy Fashionista shall implement suitable measures to safeguard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests, at least the right to obtain human intervention on the part of the controller, to express his or her point of view and contest the decision.
If the data subject wishes to exercise the rights concerning automated individual decision-making, he or she may, at any time, contact any employee of the The Curvy Fashionista.
If the data subject wishes to exercise the right to withdraw the consent, he or she may, at any time, contact any employee of the The Curvy Fashionista.
16. Data protection provisions about the application and use of LinkedIn
The controller has integrated components of the LinkedIn Corporation on this website. LinkedIn is a web-based social network that enables users with existing business contacts to connect and to make new business contacts. Over 400 million registered people in more than 200 countries use LinkedIn. Thus, LinkedIn is currently the largest platform for business contacts and one of the most visited websites in the world.
The operating company of LinkedIn is LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court Mountain View, CA 94043, UNITED STATES. For privacy matters outside of the UNITED STATES LinkedIn Ireland, Privacy Policy Issues, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, is responsible.
With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this Internet site, which is operated by the controller and on which a LinkedIn component (LinkedIn plug-in) was integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the data subject is automatically prompted to the download of a display of the corresponding LinkedIn component of LinkedIn. Further information about the LinkedIn plug-in may be accessed under https://developer.linkedin.com/plugins. During the course of this technical procedure, LinkedIn gains knowledge of what specific sub-page of our website was visited by the data subject.
If the data subject is logged in at the same time on LinkedIn, LinkedIn detects with every call-up to our website by the data subject—and for the entire duration of their stay on our Internet site—which specific sub-page of our Internet page was visited by the data subject. This information is collected through the LinkedIn component and associated with the respective LinkedIn account of the data subject. If the data subject clicks on one of the LinkedIn buttons integrated on our website, then LinkedIn assigns this information to the personal LinkedIn user account of the data subject and stores the personal data.
LinkedIn receives information via the LinkedIn component that the data subject has visited our website, provided that the data subject is logged in at LinkedIn at the time of the call-up to our website. This occurs regardless of whether the person clicks on the LinkedIn button or not. If such a transmission of information to LinkedIn is not desirable for the data subject, then he or she may prevent this by logging off from their LinkedIn account before a call-up to our website is made.
LinkedIn provides under https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls the possibility to unsubscribe from e-mail messages, SMS messages and targeted ads, as well as the ability to manage ad settings. LinkedIn also uses affiliates such as Eire, Google Analytics, BlueKai, DoubleClick, Nielsen, Comscore, Eloqua, and Lotame. The setting of such cookies may be denied under https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy. The applicable privacy policy for LinkedIn is available under https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. The LinkedIn Cookie Policy is available under https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy.
17. Data protection provisions about the application and use of Pinterest
On this website, the controller has integrated components of Pinterest Inc. Pinterest is a so-called social network. A social network is an Internet social meeting place, an online community that allows users to communicate and interact with each other in a virtual space. A social network may serve as a platform for the exchange of opinions and experiences, or allow the Internet community to provide personal or company-related information. Pinterest enables the users of the social network to publish, inter alia, picture collections and individual pictures as well as descriptions on virtual pinboards (so-called pins), which can then be shared by other user’s (so-called re-pins) or commented on.
The operating company of Pinterest is Pinterest Inc., 808 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, UNITED STATES.
With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this Internet site, which is operated by the controller and on which a Pinterest component (Pinterest plug-in) was integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the data subject automatically prompted to download through the respective Pinterest component a display of the corresponding Pinterest component. Further information on Pinterest is available under https://pinterest.com/. During the course of this technical procedure, Pinterest gains knowledge of what specific sub-page of our website is visited by the data subject.
If the data subject is logged in at the same time on Pinterest, Pinterest detects with every call-up to our website by the data subject—and for the entire duration of their stay on our Internet site—which specific sub-page of our Internet page was visited by the data subject. This information is collected through the Pinterest component and associated with the respective Pinterest account of the data subject. If the data subject clicks on one of the Pinterest buttons, integrated on our website, then Pinterest assigns this information to the personal Pinterest user account of the data subject and stores the personal data.
Pinterest receives information via the Pinterest component that the data subject has visited our website, provided that the data subject is logged in at Pinterest at the time of the call-up to our website. This occurs regardless of whether the person clicks on the Pinterest component or not. If such a transmission of information to Pinterest is not desirable for the data subject, then he or she may prevent this by logging off from their Pinterest account before a call-up to our website is made.
The data protection guideline published by Pinterest, which is available under https://about.pinterest.com/privacy-policy, provides information on the collection, processing and use of personal data by Pinterest.
With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this Internet site, which is operated by the controller and on which a YouTube component (YouTube video) was integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the data subject is automatically prompted to download a display of the corresponding YouTube component. Further information about YouTube may be obtained under . During the course of this technical procedure, YouTube and Google gain knowledge of what specific sub-page of our website was visited by the data subject.
20. Data protection provisions about the application and use of Bloglovin
On this website, the controller has integrated components of Bloglovin’. Bloglovin’ is an online platform that allows users to organize their favorite blogs. A blog is a web-based, generally publicly-accessible portal, in which one or more people called bloggers or web bloggers can post articles or write down thoughts in so-called blogposts.
The operating company of Bloglovin’ is Bloglovin’ Inc., 25 Broadway, New York, NY 10004, UNITED STATES.
With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this Internet site, which is operated by the controller and on which a Bloglovin’ component was integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the data subject is automatically prompted to download a display of the corresponding Bloglovin’ component, through the Bloglovin’ component. During the course of this technical procedure, Bloglovin’ gains knowledge of what specific sub-page of our website was visited by the data subject.
If the data subject is logged in at the same time at Bloglovin’, Bloglovin’ recognizes with each call-up to our website by the data subject—and for the entire duration of their stay on our Internet site—which specific sub-page of our Internet page was visited by the data subject. This information is collected through the Bloglovin’ component and through Bloglovin’ assigned to the respective Bloglovin’ account of the data subject. If the data subject clicks on the Bloglovin’ button that is integrated on our website, then this information is delivered to Bloglovin’. The data subject has already agreed to the transmission of such information to Bloglovin’.
Further information and the applicable data protection provisions of Bloglovin’ may be retrieved under https://www.bloglovin.com/tos.
Art. 6(1) lit. a GDPR serves as the legal basis for processing operations for which we obtain consent for a specific processing purpose. If the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party, as is the case, for example, when processing operations are necessary for the supply of goods or to provide any other service, the processing is based on Article 6(1) lit. b GDPR. The same applies to such processing operations which are necessary for carrying out pre-contractual measures, for example in the case of inquiries concerning our products or services. Is our company subject to a legal obligation by which processing of personal data is required, such as for the fulfillment of tax obligations, the processing is based on Art. 6(1) lit. c GDPR.
In rare cases, the processing of personal data may be necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person. This would be the case, for example, if a visitor were injured in our company and his name, age, health insurance data or other vital information would have to be passed on to a doctor, hospital or other third party. Then the processing would be based on Art. 6(1) lit. d GDPR.
Finally, processing operations could be based on Article 6(1) lit. f GDPR. This legal basis is used for processing operations which are not covered by any of the abovementioned legal grounds, if processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by our company or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data. Such processing operations are particularly permissible because they have been specifically mentioned by the European legislator. He considered that a legitimate interest could be assumed if the data subject is a client of the controller (Recital 47 Sentence 2 GDPR).
We clarify that the provision of personal data is partly required by law (e.g. tax regulations) or can also result from contractual provisions (e.g. information on the contractual partner).
Sometimes it may be necessary to conclude a contract that the data subject provides us with personal data, which must subsequently be processed by us. The data subject is, for example, obliged to provide us with personal data when our company signs a contract with him or her. The non-provision of the personal data would have the consequence that the contract with the data subject could not be concluded.
Before personal data is provided by the data subject, the data subject must contact any employee. The employee clarifies to the data subject whether the provision of the personal data is required by law or contract or is necessary for the conclusion of the contract, whether there is an obligation to provide the personal data and the consequences of non-provision of the personal data.
Mediavine Programmatic Advertising
The Website uses Mediavine to manage all third-party advertising on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website. The cookie may collect information relating to your use of the Website, information about your device such as the device’s IP address and browser type, demographic data and, if you arrived at the Website via a link from a third-party site, the URL of the linking page.
First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/.
Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site.
The Website may collect IP addresses and location information to serve personalized ads and pass it to Mediavine. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp. You may also visit http://optout.aboutads.info/#/ and http://optout.networkadvertising.org/# to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.
Mediavine partners with the following data processors:
Pubmatic. You may find Pubmatic’s privacy policy through this link. The data collected on the Website may be transferred to Pubmatic and its demand partners for interest-based advertising. Statistical information and other non-cookie technologies (such as eTags and web or browser cache) may be used by third parties on this Website. Browser settings that block cookies may have no effect on these technologies, but you may clear your cache to delete such trackers. Data collected from a particular browser or device may be used with another computer or device that is linked to the browser or device on which such data was collected.
Criteo. You may find Criteo’s privacy policy through this link. The data collected on the Website may be transferred to Criteo and its demand partners for interest-based advertising. Criteo may collect, access, and use non-identifying data to improve the Criteo Technology and other Criteo products, programs, and/or services. This non-identifying data may include on-site user behavior and user/page content data, URLs, statistics, or internal search queries. The non-identifying data are collected through the ad call and stored with a Criteo cookie for a maximum period of 13 months.
Pulsepoint. You may find Pulsepoint’s privacy policy through this link.
LiveRamp. You may find LiveRamp’s privacy policy through this link. When you use the Website, we share information that we may collect from you, such as your email (in hashed, de-identified form), IP address or information about your browser or operating system, with LiveRamp Inc, and its group companies (‘LiveRamp’). LiveRamp may use a cookie on your browser and match your shared information to their on- and offline marketing databases and those of its advertising partners to create a link between your browser and information in those other databases. This link may be shared by our partners globally for the purpose of enabling interest-based content or advertising throughout your online experience (e.g. cross device, web, email, in-app, etc.) by third parties unaffiliated with our website. These third parties may in turn link further demographic or interest-based information to your browser. To opt out of LiveRamp’s targeted advertising, please go here: https://liveramp.com/opt_out/
RhythmOne. You may view RhythmOne’s privacy policy through this link. RhythmOne uses cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as mobile device identifiers and digital fingerprinting) to provide its services. RhythmOne may use aggregated information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, please visit the following webpage: http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.
District M. You may find District M’s privacy policy through this link.
YieldMo. You may find YieldMo’s privacy policy through this link. If you want to opt out of receiving interest based ads from Yieldmo or exercise your right under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) to opt-out of the sale of your personal information, you may do so through this link.
The Rubicon Project. You may find Rubicon’s privacy policy through this link. If you want to opt out of receiving interest based ads from Rubicon or exercise your right under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) to opt-out of the sale of your personal information, you may do so through this link. You may also utilize the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page.
Amazon Publisher Services. You may find Amazon Publisher Services’ privacy policy through this link.
AppNexus. You may find the AppNexus privacy policy through this link.
OpenX. You may find OpenX’s privacy policy through this link.
Verizon Media formerly known as Oath. You may find Verizon Media’s privacy policy through this link. You may also utilize the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page to opt-out of the use of cookies for interest-based advertising.
TripleLift. You may find TripleLift’s privacy policy through this link. To opt out of receiving interest-based advertising (including retargeting) from TripleLift’s services through the use of cookies in your current browser and for more information on what it means to opt-out, please go to www.triplelift.com/consumer-opt-out.
Index Exchange. You may find Index Exchange’s privacy policy through this link. You may also utilize the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page to opt-out of the use of cookies for interest-based advertising.
Sovrn. You may find Sovrn’s privacy policy through this link.
GumGum. You may find GumGum’s privacy policy through this link. GumGum may (i) use place and use cookies on end users’ browsers or use web beacons to collect information about end users who visit such Publisher Websites and (ii) link such collected end user information to other end user information provided by third parties in order to deliver targeted Advertisements to such end users.
Digital Remedy. You may find Digital Remedy’s privacy policy through this link.
MediaGrid. You may find MediaGrid’s privacy policy through this link. MediaGrid may collect and store information about end-user interactions with this website through cookies, advertising IDS, pixels and server-to-server connections. MediaGrid was receive the following information: the page an End-User has requested and the referring/exit pages; Timestamp information (i.e., the date and time the End-User has visited the page); IP address; mobile device identifier; device model; device operating system; browser type; carrier; gender; age; geolocation (including GPS coordinates); clickstream data; cookie information; first-party identifiers’; and hashed email addresses; demographic and inferred interest information; and post-conversion data (from both online and offline behaviour). Some of this data is gathered from this website and others is gathered from advertisers. MediaGrid uses this data to provide its services. You may also utilize the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page to opt-out of the use of cookies for interest-based advertising or review their privacy policy for more information.
RevContent – You may find RevContent’s privacy policy through this link. RevContent may collect information about your browser or device, including browser type, IP Address, device type, user agent string, and operating system. RevContent also collects information about the websites you visit through their services, such as date and time of access and specific pages accessed and the content and ads you click on. You may opt-out of any personalization track by opting-out of RevContent’s data collection.
Centro, Inc. – You may find Centro’s privacy policy through this link. You may find opt-out information for Centro’s services through the privacy policy link.
33Across, Inc. – You may find 33Across’s privacy policy through this link. To opt-out of personalized advertising, please visit https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1.
Conversant. LLC – You may find Conversant’s privacy policy through this link. Conversant uses information that does not directly identify you, such as information about your browser type, time and date of visit, your browsing or transaction activity, the subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over, and a unique identifier (such as a cookie string, or a unique advertising identifier provided by your mobile device) during your visits to this and other websites and apps in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. Conversant may use technologies such as cookies and other tracking technologies to collect this information. To learn more about interest-based advertising, or to opt-out, you can visit www.youronlinechoices.eu or https://www.networkadvertising.org/.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line798
|
__label__wiki
| 0.821931
| 0.821931
|
Home News CNL Healthcare REITs Appoint CAO Following Resignation
CNL Healthcare REITs Appoint CAO Following Resignation
CNL Healthcare Properties Inc. and CNL Healthcare Properties II Inc., two publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trusts, announced that chief accounting officer L. Burke Rainey submitted his resignation from both companies.
CNL Healthcare Properties Inc. and CNL Healthcare Properties II Inc., two publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trusts, announced that chief accounting officer L. Burke Rainey submitted his resignation from both companies, effective December 31, 2019. There was no disagreement between the REITs and Rainey, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Each REIT appointed Ixchell Duarte, who serves as chief financial officer and treasurer, to also assume the role of principal accounting officer.
Duarte first joined CNL in 1995, holding a variety of financial and accounting roles with its affiliates, including CNL Restaurant Properties Inc. After rejoining CNL in 2012, she served as senior vice president and chief accounting officer for all CNL-sponsored non-traded REITs. She was appointed to CFO and treasurer of the CNL Healthcare REITs in February 2018.
During her time away from CNL, she was senior vice president and chief accounting officer of publicly traded REIT, Trustreet Properties Inc, and following its sale to GE Capital in 2007, served as controller at GE Capital – Franchise Finance.
Duarte, a certified public accountant, started her career in the audit practice of KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
CNL Healthcare Properties II commenced its $1.75 billion initial public offering in March 2016 and raised approximately $50 million in investor equity before closing the offering in October 2018. The company oversees a portfolio of two senior housing properties with a total purchase price of approximately $45.7 million. Shareholders approved the company’s plan of liquidation in September 2019.
CNL Healthcare Properties closed its offering in September 2015 after raising more than $1.7 billion in investor equity. The company is currently evaluating strategic alternatives and sold 59 healthcare properties in May 2019 and paid shareholders a $2.00 special distribution.
CNL Financial Group
CNL Healthcare
CNL Healthcare Properties II
strategic alternative
Previous articleHartford Funds Launches First Interval Fund
Next articleSEC Charges Adviser for Ponzi Scheme, Fraud and Embezzlement
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line799
|
__label__wiki
| 0.548759
| 0.548759
|
WATCH: Cop Furious After Trying to Shoot Family’s Dog and Shot Himself Instead
Jack Burns December 23, 2019
Davie, FL — Proportionately, cops kill exponentially more dogs than they do people. It’s quite a strange phenomena because postal workers don’t seem to have the same problems with dogs like cops do. It’s so devious, the killing of family pets by those sworn to serve and protect the public, we actually keep an archive of stories of cops killing man’s best friend. But one cop learned the hard way shooting a dog can be dangerous. He shot himself instead of the dog.
A Davie police officer, whose name has not been released presumably out of embarrassment, shot himself in the hand after a boxer named Bella allegedly charged at him. The officer raised his weapon out of fear for his life and fired one round which passed right through his left hand, the one he raised to protect himself from the charging dog. Bella was only grazed by the bullet and suffered only a minor injury.
The cop, however, was caught on home surveillance video pacing back and forth, even kicking the bumper to his squad car. Responding officers to the “shots fired” over the radio announcement quickly arrived with many using their flashlights to get a look at their fellow officer’s wound. Moments later, an ambulance arrived and carted off the presumably humiliated officer. Fortunately, the family’s pet did not suffer any life-threatening injuries from the man attempting to dispatch the protective boxer police say was “charging” at the cop.
Davie police spokesperson Lt. Mark Leone said the officer was responding to a non-criminal call inside a mobile home community on Southwest 116th Way. Leone claims the officer was in fear for his life which is why he felt compelled to attempt to kill the dog in front of its family. However, if he was in actual fear of his life, we would hear about many more people being killed by dogs on the news every day. In reality, however, this does not happen.
When the police officer got to the front door of the residence, the family pet — happens to be a female boxer named Bella — ran right past him and went toward the officer…The officer was in fear, drew his firearm and fired one shot…Right now I’m being told that the dog is still at home with the family.
Cynical critics of police killing family pets quickly took to social media to express their pleasure the cop got injured. Others whose dogs have been killed by cops will likely share the same sentiment. Cop apologists, however, are quick to defend officers saying the decision of whether to pull the trigger is made in an instant and police officers should be supported. Unfortunately, the fact remains, the killing of family pets by cops has become an epidemic according to a 2018 report by the Justice Department (DOJ).
According to Criminal Legal News:
The DOJ estimates that around 25 to 30 dogs are killed by cops every day, with some numbers as high as 10,000 per year. The totals could, in fact, be higher, since most police agencies do not formally track officer-involved shootings involving animals.
Not only are officer-involved shootings of animals not being tracked but officer-involved shootings of people are only tracked by the FBI on a voluntary basis. In other words, if law enforcement agencies choose not to report their shootings to the FBI each year, it does not matter. There is literally no accountability at the federal level for officer-involved shootings of any kind, unless of course the feds are called in to investigate on a case by case basis.
We at TFTP are not a political organization and we do not condone violence of any kind. We are not happy the officer in this case was injured but we are ecstatic Bella can live to serve and protect her family another day and hopefully for many more days to come. Davie Police, however, may have other plans for Bella.
Under so called dangerous dog laws, Davie police may attempt to declare Bella a threat and confiscate and euthanize Bella. Fortunately, citizens have constitutional rights and can secure a lawyer to defend their family pets from euthanasia by cops. According to one article from NOLO:
Under the dangerous-dog laws in many states, animal control officers may also impound a dog during proceedings to decide if it’s a risk to the public because of its history of biting or attacking people (or sometimes other dogs). These laws usually include provisions for ordering dangerous dogs euthanized in certain circumstances.
For more information about what you can do if your dog is shot and killed by police or if your dog has been deemed a threat and has been confiscated, please visit the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF).
About Jack Burns
Jack Burns is an educator, journalist, investigative reporter, and advocate of natural medicine
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line801
|
__label__wiki
| 0.965628
| 0.965628
|
Home Sports Baždarević takes Bosnia and Herzegovina helm
Baždarević takes Bosnia and Herzegovina helm
Mehmed Baždarević has been chosen as the new coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina, filling the gap left following the departure of Safet Sušić.
The 54-year-old former FK Željezničar, FC Sochaux-Montbeliard and Yugoslavia player was chosen following a meeting of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Federation (NSBiH) executive board, with a mission to salvage the national team’s UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying campaign – the Dragons having taken just two points from their first four Group B fixtures.
“I am excited, happy and proud,” said Baždarević, who has been in charge of FC Istres and Grenoble Foot 38 as well as Sochaux. “This is a highlight of my career – a wish come true. There’s a lot of work ahead of me. We have no time to waste. It’s a rocky road to France.” His first match in charge will be a qualifier in Andorra on 28 March next year.
source: UEFA
Previous articlePoliticians in favour of overall improvement
Next article165.8 million Euro to support reform efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jokić Tenth on the ESPN List of the Best NBA Players
Bogdan Bogdanović in a new team!
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line804
|
__label__wiki
| 0.599616
| 0.599616
|
Home Uncategorized Deputies From Srpska Propose Law on Termination of Mandate of Foreign Judges
Deputies From Srpska Propose Law on Termination of Mandate of Foreign Judges
Only a BiH citizen with the right to vote who is a prominent jurist of high moral standing can be elected judges of the Constitutional Court of BiH, writes in the Proposal of the Law on termination of the mandate of foreign judges and the election of domestic judges to the BiH Parliament by parliamentarians from Srpska.
The Bill states that the three judges elected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights will terminate their mandate by completing the procedure for the election of three domestic judges.
– Judges elected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights remain in office until the procedure for selecting domestic judges has been completed – this legal decision states.
The bill stipulates that the election of national judges to replace the parties will be done by one being elected by the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska and two judges by the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH Parliament, Euroblic writes.
The explanatory note to the Bill states that the constitutional basis for its adoption is the provisions of the BiH Constitution, which states that three judges elected by the President of the European Court of Human Rights should be elected in a different way after more than five years.
– After 15 years, the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has not adopted a law that would otherwise prescribe the election of three judges from the expiration of that term, and it was, therefore, necessary to pass this law. The procedural jurisdiction of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly is set out in the BiH Constitution – stated in the explanation.
When it comes to the reasons for passing the law, proponents consider it unusual in comparative constitutionality that a country’s highest court has foreign national judges and that ending this practice is necessary from the standpoint of state sovereignty and democratic principles.
– As an independent and independent body, the Constitutional Court of BiH should represent the institution in which the state sovereignty of BiH came to the fore. With the aim of further strengthening the independence and independence of the Constitutional Court, as well as the conscientious, impartial and professional work of judges, one of the reasons is to replace foreign judges in the Constitutional Court of BiH with domestic judges in order to strengthen domestic institutions. integration – writes in the explanation.
For the implementation of this law, it was stated in the explanation, the budget of the institutions of BiH does not need to provide additional money since the budget of the Constitutional Court of BiH still allocates funds for salaries and allowances of international judges.
SNSD Member of Parliament’s House of Representatives in the House of Representatives of BiH Parliament Snježana Novaković Bursać believes that the bill could be in the process of a few days, stating that the principles of this law had been previously agreed with the representatives of the HDZ BiH.
– This law should not be confused with the need to pass a law on the Constitutional Court of BiH, because it defines only the departure of foreign judges and the appointment of local judges instead of them – said Bursać.
The obligation to adopt laws on the termination of the term of office of foreign judges and the election of domestic judges to the Constitutional Court of BiH stems from the conclusions adopted by the National Assembly of Republic of Srpska by the votes of the authorities and the opposition at a special session held on Monday, February 17th.
Previous articleA New Page in the History of the Bijeljina Hospital
Next articleThe State Cannot Be Built Through International Interventionism
Radmanović: Amendments Sponsored by SDP Contrary to Dayton Accords and Won’t Pass Parliament
589 New Cases of Coronavirus in the RS
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line805
|
__label__cc
| 0.520341
| 0.479659
|
Home Interview Rosie Gojich Stephenson-Goodknight: Everyone in Serbia made me feel like “this is...
Rosie Gojich Stephenson-Goodknight: Everyone in Serbia made me feel like “this is your home”
The streets of Belgrade neighborhood Dorćol, still echo with steps of the man who was the Strongest tie between Israel and Serbia – David Albala.
Granddaughter of David & Paulina Albala, Mrs. Rosie Gojich Stephenson-Goodknight, MBA, visited recently the home town of her grandfather and D&C had the honor to speak with this remarkable woman who is the Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University, Boston, US and the Vice President of Wikimedia District of Columbia.
David Albala was a Dorćolac who was the strongest tie between Israel and Serbia. Serbian doctor and a diplomat, Sephardic Jew, Zionist, an army captain and a mason – and the rest is history
On December 14th 2017 you were the honored guest on the ceremony dedicated to the 25 years of diplomatic relations between Republic of Serbia and the State of Israel – the event hosted by H.E. Alona Fisher Kamm, Ambassador of Israel in Belgrade. You have presented the fascinating tale of your family history which captured the attention of the audience. Can you please share the most important details about the man you are so proud of – your grandfather David Albala for the readers of Diplomacy&Commerce magazine.
My grandfather was a multifaceted man: a son, brother, husband, father. He was a Serb, a Sephardic Jew, a Zionist, a physician, a military officer, a polyglot, a community leader and organizer. He died in 1942 in Washington DC before I was ever born so I never got to meet him, but I feel as if I have a special bond with him.
Do you think people in Serbia and in Israel know about the importance of your grandfather’s diplomatic missions and significance of his work in regards to the Balfour declaration and Serbia being the first country in the world to openly endorse this important Declaration? Can you tell us more about the contribution of your grandfather to this event – very important both for Serbia but perhaps at that time, in 1917, more important for the nascent State of Israel.
I am not aware of what is taught in Serbian or Israeli schools so I am not sure if David Albala is known to the general public. I think there has been a lot of press in the last couple of months regarding the 100 year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, so people who had never heard of him may have read about him more recently. I think “The Jerusalem Post” wrote a nice synopsis regarding my grandfather’s role with the Balfour Declaration so I share it here: “On November 2, 1917, the Balfour Declaration was issued, in which British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour stated clearly and unequivocally that Britain’s leaders ‘view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object.’ While Jews everywhere rejoiced, and the Arabs were furious, governments around the world remained silent. If the Balfour Declaration were to have a lasting impact, it was imperative that it garner widespread international backing. And that is where Albala came to play a crucial part. Utilizing his close relations with the Serbian leadership, he suggested that they declare their formal support for the Declaration and its goals. Shortly thereafter, on December 27, 1917, Serbia did just that, becoming the first country in the world to openly endorse the Declaration.”
Do you have the feeling that he who helped increase international support for the Declaration and its aims and his contributions is a bit overshadowed in Israel despite the key role he played?
I don’t have a particular feeling about this. I do have a hope that my grandfather’s role is the Balfour Declaration is appropriately commemorated in Israel and elsewhere, and that he receives his due in history books and textbooks. For example, the letter addressed to grandfather and signed by the Serbian representative in Washington, Milenko Vesnic, would be a good starting point for discussions.
On your quest to explore the family history in Serbia, could you describe what you have found and seen in the Jewish historical Museum in Belgrade related to your grandfather?
I was so impressed viewing his photo and the information about him adjacent to it on a display wall at the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade. It was so nicely done. Most of my time, however, was spent carefully reviewing grandfather’s diaries, which are part of the museum’s archives. I touched the books he wrote in, read his words, looked over the newspaper articles he had cut out and pasted into his dairies. When I return to Belgrade, I will spend more time studying these diaries as they fascinated me.
You received a prize in December 2017 in Belgrade- what kind?
On the occasion of 25 years of renewed diplomatic relationships between Serbia and Israel, and the marking of 100 years since Serbia’s endorsement of the Balfour Declaration, H.E. Ambassador Alone Fisher-Kamm presented me with an authenticated copy of the letter written by Mr. Vesnic to grandfather. The original is held by National Library of Israel and was delivered there by my grandfather in the years between the two great wars.
You visited the home country of your grandfather in 2017. What was your first impression of Serbia/Belgrade? People? Compare it to USA.
My first impression of Belgrade occurred on the plane as I was flying into the airport. We broke through the clouds and below me I could see Belgrade all in white, with show everywhere! I said to myself: “This is why they call it white city (Beograd). It felt as if nature played a hand in the “opening act”, wanting to assure that I had an excellent experience, beginning with the snow. Secondary impressions included that the city was much more prosperous than I had imagined and that the farmland I saw in Serbia while driving to Sarajevo reminded me of the California central valley. I have traveled to almost 30 foreign countries and I find that people are friendly everywhere; no exception to that in Serbia. But what struck me was the way people looked. Let me explain. On my first evening, December 4th, I attended the 12 year anniversary of Serbian Wikipedia at the University of Belgrade Library. I was asked to make a small speech and when I stood up at the front of the hall, and looked at the audience, for a moment I couldn’t speak. I was staring at all these people and for the first time in my life, EVERYONE LOOKED LIKE ME! I’m an American, and in my country, almost everyone is from some other country. But looking at this audience, I saw my reflection… people whose eyes are shaped as mine and so forth. The other thing I want to say about the people is that everyone in Serbia made me feel like “this is your home”.
This was not the first time you visited Serbia. You have seen it during the “dark” nineties -yes? Can you describe that visit and compare it with the recent one.
In 1995, my husband, Mark Stephenson (we are now divorced) and I wanted to vacation in Europe, including a few days in Serbia. Before we left the United States, we tried to get visas for ourselves and sons to visit Yugoslavia, but were unsuccessful. We were told that if we went to Turkey, and tried again, we might get them; and this worked out for us. We boarded a train in Istanbul, travelled through Bulgaria, and upon reaching the Serbian border in the middle of the night, the train stopped. Eventually we heard gunshots, and then the train proceeded across the border. After it stopped again, two young men came into our compartment, dressed in military uniforms, carrying guns. They spoke in Serbian, and said, “Oh, this is just a family traveling together. We don’t need to search their luggage.” Then they took Mark off the train, carrying our four passports. If you remember, in 1995, the American-Serbian relationship was “difficult”. I looked out the window and all I could see is was the light from our cabin reflected on the night time snow. I thought about the Agatha Christie novel, “Murder on the Orient Express”. After more than an hour, Mark returned and the train moved on. After arriving at the Belgrade train station in the morning, we were greeted by men with machine guns protecting the train station. Mark took two photos of me standing underneath the train station sign, one side of it containing the word “Beograd” and the other, “Belgrade”. For posterity, I could say, “I was here!”. But we decided that because we had our children with us, 1995 was not a good time to be American tourists in this city, and so we continued on the train till we reached Vienna. It was a very disappointing experience.
The trip in December 2017 was the exact opposite. I was invited to come to Serbia! I didn’t need a Visa. Upon arrival at the airport, my son and a family friend met me and we went out for coffee and cake. Every day in Serbia during my December 217 trip felt like a “cake day”… like eating really good cake!
You came to visit Belgrade and to see the family house of Dr David Albala at the age of 64? Why so late? How did it feel?
In the 1980s, my mom hired a Jewish lawyer in Belgrade to try and regain the title for her father’s home, but the lawyer was unsuccessful. So that was always in my memory… that restitution was somewhere between difficult and impossible. I retired from my job in healthcare administration in 2016 and having time on my hands, it was a great opportunity to go back to Belgrade in 2017. I knew the address of my grandfather’s home, but I didn’t know if it was still standing, if it was a vacant lot, or if I’d find a grocery store in its place. The moment I learned it was still there, and then actually got to see it, I felt overwhelmed. For the first time in my life, I could look down the street and see the view of the sky that my mom and grandparents shared. I could touch a physical building, look up its chimney tops, look into windows and see a chandelier. Everything felt normal, like this is where I belong.
What were your son’s impressions of Belgrade? Can he “connect” to Serbia? If yes – in what way?
Like me, my son had a deeply moving experience in Belgrade. He feels at home amongst its passionate people, vibrant culture, complex history, evolving politics, religious mix, sophisticated restaurants, welcoming ambiance, and vibrant nightlife. He sees opportunities everywhere. Even the intemperate December weather suits his moods. He connects to Serbia deeply, and feels like the prodigal son coming “home” after a long absence. This is both beautiful and unusual for him. He is an attorney who frequently travels the world, having visited over 40 countries and lived on three continents. As to his connections, he has good friends that live in Belgrade, and is currently working on his Serbian language skills, which he reports to me as fun and slow going.
What is the perception of the home county of your grandfather in California? Do people know where Serbia is? What do they know?
It is impossible to speak authoritatively regarding what people in California or any of the 50 US states think as my country is large and diverse. As a generalization, and I stress this is a generalization, American people do not know much about Serbia and do not have a strong opinion, one way or the other, about the country. When speaking about Serbia, it is often easier to refer to the former Yugoslavia… Serbia vs. Siberia… Balkans vs. Baltic countries… some people don’t know the differences. People have heard of the conflict with Kosovo, but don’t understand why Kosovo is as important to Serbia as the Alamo is to Texas. For those people familiar with Serbia (and I would include Bosnia and Croatia), the extent of their knowledge is usually limited to details about wars, and perhaps, some knowledge about religious or ethnic groupings. When I told my friends I was going to the the Balkans, they jokingly said, “Don’t shoot any Archdukes!”.
Could you tell the readers little bit more about yourself? You are born in the States but you feel Serbian; you wanted to be an anthropologist but you instead completed a Master of Business Administration degree – Why? You are known on Wikipedia as Rosiestep, the American Wikipedia editor who is noted for her attempts to address gender disparity in the encyclopedia by running a project to increase the quantity and quality of women’s biographies. You contributed thousands of new articles and you were named co-Wikipedian of the Year in 2016.
I was born in Gary, Indiana, as were my two brothers. We grew up in Los Angeles, California. I have remarried and live near San Francisco, California. For more about me, I invite you and the readers of this publication to read my forthcoming book, co-authored by my son and me, regarding our recent trip to the Balkans.
Source: diplomacyandcommerce
Previous articleSpeech by President Jean-Claude Juncker to the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Next articleChinese Investors interested in Hydroelectric Power Plant “Buk Bijela”
#SlobodaNarodu: Wave of Freedom Comes in October, not November
“Good Host” from Banja Luka
Nedeljko Čubrilović : Srpska Will Celebrate January 9 for Long Time in Future
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0003.json.gz/line806
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.