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Frances Corcoran, Massachusetts – 2000
Frances began her professional career as a part-time instructor with the Marlboro Recreation Department from 1952-1956 while attending college. She is a member of the class of 1956, Boston-Bouve School. During her extensive professional career, she served as the director of physical education for girls at Somerset High School, where she also coached all girls’ sports from 1956-1970. During that time, she also coached several girls’ AAU track meets during the summers from 1956-1967.
In 1969, following her recuperation from a swimming injury, she changed positions and moved to Westborough Junior High School where she taught physical education and directed a year-round intramural program (1970-1988).
Frances was a very active official. She officiated basketball (1954-1958), field hockey (1954-1956) and softball (1954-1958).
Her extensive coaching career included coaching at Somerset High School: volleyball (1957-1970), varsity coach for field hockey (1956-1969), varsity and JV coach for softball (1956-1970), and varsity track coach (1956-1962). While in the Westborough Public Schools, Frances served as varsity field hockey coach (1975) and varsity and JV volleyball coach (1976-1988).
Frances was affiliated with the Narragansett League from 1956-1988, with the Bristol County Girls’ League from 1958-1970, and with the Midland League from 1975-1988. She served the Narragansett League as secretary from 1956-1958 and as the secretary-treasurer and president of the Bristol County League each for a two-year term.
Frances coached during the period when records for girls’ athletics were not kept. Each of her teams at Somerset High School – field hockey, volleyball, basketball, and softball – won at least a total of 100 games. Her teams won a total of 25 league championships and were runners-up 19 times. Her coaching record at Westborough High School includes a field hockey record above 500% and from 1976-1988 her volleyball teams were perennial runners-up, but there are no records.
Post season tournament play included participation in basketball playoffs (1957-1959) in Narragansett and Bristol County League playoffs and in volleyball (1977-1987) in State Tournament play.
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Alberta's economy: What's next?
ATB Financial releases latest Alberta Economic Outlook (Q2 2015)
CALGARY, March 31, 2015 /CNW/ - We're starting to see and feel the effects of the low price of oil. Our economy has slowed and various industries are tightening their belts. Many Albertans and others across the country are asking what will happen next.
ATB Financial's Chief Economist Todd Hirsch is addressing that question with findings from the latest Alberta Economic Outlook. Released today, it summarizes research on Alberta's most important sectors, analyzes the province's economic happenings and outlines what may occur over the next three months (April-June 2015).
Capturing five primary economic indicators, the highlights from the Alberta Economic Outlook include:
Alberta's economy will slow significantly in 2015 with real GDP growth of 0.8 per cent.
Labour markets are being affected by rising unemployment, which is expected to land at six per cent for 2015.
Consistently weak oil and natural gas prices have curtailed investment in the energy sector.
Housing starts remain stable, but softness in residential real estate suggests construction activity will cool.
Net inter-provincial in-migration will slow but should remain positive for the year.
"The economic slowdown is something we anticipated and started to talk widely about in January with the release of our first Economic Outlook of 2015," said Hirsch. "What's changed since then is the timing of when energy prices are expected to rebound. We now project them to stabilize and begin to gradually rise a bit later, likely at the end of summer and into the fall."
The Economic Outlook provides commentary on various sectors in our province including retail, housing and manufacturing. It also outlines three different scenarios for average oil prices in 2015, each with its own list of implications for the economy.
"The future is difficult to predict," said Hirsch. "However, our research suggests that scenario number two in the Economic Outlook is the most probable. It puts the average oil price between $US 50-60 per barrel by the end of the year."
Despite the challenges faced by the energy sector, there are some industries that are facing a brighter 2015.
"Agriculture, forestry and tourism will likely benefit due to lower fuel prices. The lower Canadian dollar and commodity prices (particularly higher cattle prices) also help provide some cushion to minimize the impact being felt during these next few months," said Hirsch.
"While it will be a challenging year, Albertans shouldn't panic," said Hirsch. "It will by no means be the worst economic year in recent history. Six years ago the province suffered a deep contraction (-4.2 per cent). As hard as it will be for a lot of people, this slowdown is a normal part of the cyclical nature of Alberta's economy."
For the complete Q2 Economic Outlook, please click here
SOURCE ATB Financial
For further information: please contact: Karin Põldaas, Communications Leader, Economics and Research, ATB Financial, (403) 660-5296, [email protected]
http://www.atb.com
With $54.9 billion in assets, ATB Financial is an Alberta-built financial institution. We got started in 1938 to help Albertans through tough economic times, and today we have 176 branches, 143 agencies, a Client Care Centre, four entrepreneur centres, as well as mobile and...
ATB Capital Markets to host 9th annual Institutional Investor...
Helping Albertans move forward: ATB Financial releases...
A marathon not a sprint: Alberta economy forecasted to need time...
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BC's Clean Energy Vehicle Program Provides Real Benefits for Consumers and the Environment
Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA)
VANCOUVER, March 23, 2015 /CNW/ - The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association welcomes the BC government's commitment of $10.6 million to the Clean Energy Vehicle (CEV) program announced by the Minister of Energy and Mines, the Honourable Bill Bennett.
"The CEV program announced today provides critical support to consumers buying plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles, helping to broaden their adoption, reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, and will help switch transportation fuel demand from non-renewable fuels to clean provincial renewable energy. The continued focus on public, workplace and residential recharging infrastructure with support for research, training and outreach will instill greater consumer confidence in the purchase of electric vehicles. And by linking it to the BC Scrap-it program, consumers will get the added financial incentive to replace their older vehicles with the more advanced technology vehicles that produce less greenhouse gas and exhaust emissions , said Mark Nantais, President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association"
In response to very stringent vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards now through 2025, vehicle manufacturers will be pursuing multiple vehicle technologies, including a growing number of electric vehicles. The new light duty GHG emission regulations are estimated to result in 50% lower GHG emissions for the light duty fleet by 2025. For Canada, this means a reduction of 266 Mt of vehicle related GHG emissions over the life time of the standards.
About the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA):
The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association is the industry association that has represented Canada's leading manufacturers of light and heavy duty motor vehicles for more than 85 years. Its membership includes FCA Canada Inc.; Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited and General Motors of Canada Limited. Collectively its members account for 62% of vehicles produced in Canada, operate 5 vehicle assembly plants as well as a number engine and components plants, and have over 1,300 dealerships. 115,000 jobs are directly tied to vehicle assembly in Canada. Direct and indirect jobs associated with vehicle manufacturing are estimated at over 500,000 across Canada. Please visit www.cvma.ca.
SOURCE Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (CVMA)
For further information: Mark Nantais, President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, 416.364.9333, 416.560.4005
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The New York Times Bestselling Author of The Horse Whisperer
Nicholas Evans
About Nicholas Evans
Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship
Sirona helps disadvantaged young people and adults get to know and work with horses. The aim is to increase wellbeing and resilience so they can develop more positive lives. Those who come to Sirona have many different support needs. Some are youngsters on the autistic spectrum, some with learning or other disabilities. Others are struggling with traditional education or suffering from anxiety or in need of support with various mental health issues.
LandWorks
LandWorks is a ground-breaking charity based in South Devon that works with people in prison, or at risk of going to prison, to aid their resettlement back into the community and employment. Located on the site of a former small quarry on the Dartington Hall estate, LandWorks uses the structure of a working day to teach transferable skills and work intensively on a one-to-one basis with its ‘trainees’, building trusted relationships to help them develop a crime-free identity and transform their lives.
Space for Giants
Space for Giants is an international conservation charity that protects Africa’s elephants and their habitats, while demonstrating the ecological and economic value both can bring. It uses science and best-practice to deliver conservation investment initiatives that attract new funding to under-resourced protected areas.
Nicholas Evans studied law at Oxford University after serving in Africa with Voluntary Service Overseas. He then worked as a newspaper reporter, TV producer and screenwriter before writing four bestselling novels. His first book, The Horse Whisperer was made into a movie directed by Robert Redford. He lives in Devon with his wife, singer/songwriter Charlotte Gordon Cumming … Read More »
UK Paperback Edition – On Sale Now
Looking forward to reading The Brave?
Why don't you read an excerpt or go behind the book to whet the appetite.
Pre-order the UK Paperback Edition: Amazon.co.uk
For information and updates on Nicholas Evans, and other Little, Brown UK authors follow us @littlebrownuk and littlebrownbooks.net.
Copyright © 2021 Nicholas Evans
Website Design and Hosting by Authors on the Web
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Home » Metro » Yuletide: Police ban fireworks, ‘knockouts’, others
Yuletide: Police ban fireworks, ‘knockouts’, others
Friday, December 11, 2020 Fashola MC POSCABA 0 Metro
The Bauchi State Police Command, on Friday, banned the use of fireworks and explosives, otherwise known as knockouts during Yuletide celebrations.
The Command also said it is not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring hitch-free celebrations.
These were contained in a press release signed by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, on behalf of the state Commissioner of Police, CP Lawan Tanko Jimeta and made available to newsmen in Bauchi on Friday.
The release assured the people of the state that the command was ready to perform its statutory responsibility of protecting lives and property of the people.
“In view of the forthcoming Christmas and New Year celebrations coming up on 25/12/2020 and 01/01/2021 respectively, the Bauchi State Police Command, under the leadership of CP Lawan Tanko Jimeta, psc, wishes to assure the good people of the state of its readiness to perform its statutory responsibility of protection of lives and property of innocent citizens during the celebration.
“The Command will collaborate with sister security agencies and all critical stakeholders to ensure that, the celebration is peaceful and hitch-free,” Wakil, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) stated.
He informed that CP Jimeta had ordered the deployment of police personnel to places of worship and venues of events in the state, adding that the personnel had been instructed to be civil but firm in the discharge of their duties.
“To this effect, the CP has ordered the deployment of officers and men consisting of conventional police and other tactical teams of the command as well as necessary logistics to all churches and venues of events in the state.
“Personnel deployed for this critical assignment are under strict instruction of the Commissioner of Police to be civil but firm in the discharge of their duties.”
While declaring the command’s readiness to deal with hoodlums and disgruntled elements who may want to foment troubles during the festive period, the state police image maker stated that the ban on use of fireworks, bangers and other explosives is still in force in the state.
“The ban on the use of fireworks, bangers and other explosives during festivities is still in force. As such explosives are capable of causing fire disasters, among other threats.
“Furthermore, the command is prepared to deal with hoodlums, political thugs and other disgruntled elements that may attempt to cause breakdown of law and order before, during and after the festive period.”
DSP Wakil stated that CP Jimeta sent his warm greetings to Christian faithful and other citizens in the state on the occasions of Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The police boss, according to the PPRO, however, enjoined people of the state to cooperate with police and other security agencies in their efforts towards ensuring peaceful celebrations and report any suspicious person or object to the nearest police station or call the Command emergency phone number 08151849417.
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Home » Latest News in Nigeria » Insecurity: Buhari told to sack service chiefs immediately, make new appointments
Insecurity: Buhari told to sack service chiefs immediately, make new appointments
Monday, January 11, 2021 Fashola MC POSCABA 0 Latest News in Nigeria
The Conference of Concerned Nigeria Elders has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to, without further delay, sack the nation’s service chiefs and appoint new ones.
According to the elders’ coalition, the growing state of insecurity across Nigeria necessitated their call.
They said it was wrong to treat the security chiefs as if they were indispensable, regretting their inability to contain insecurity in the country since their appointments.
The elders said the failure of the security chiefs to tackle banditry and insurgents has portrayed the All Progressives Congress, APC, led federal government in a bad light.
They urged Buhari to see reasons with the calls by the majority of Nigerians as well as recent resolutions by the National Assembly for the immediate dismissal of the service chiefs.
Their position was contained in the statement signed by Prof. Tunde Banjo, Dr Achike Nwachukwu, Barr. Jackson Spiff, Alhaji Baba Usman Funtua, Prof. Shehu Bulama, and Dr. Isaiah Terhila, representing South West, South East, South-South, North East, North West and North Central zones of the country respectively.
“We found President Buhari’s inaction over the sack of the service chiefs and other recommendations on security very disturbing and abnormal hence, we passionately appealed to him to rethink and save the country from further loss of lives and property,” they stated.
The elders said the purpose of their statement was to emphasise their position on a pertinent national issue that has become embarrassing to the country
The Nigerian elders wondered why Buhari has remained adamant even when, according to them, the whole country is speaking in one voice calling for the dismissal of the service chiefs, adding that this is not normal.
“Nigerians are tired of the alarming insecurity in the country and the seeming inaction of Mr President in addressing the situation,” they added.
They fear that the people may have no other options but to resort to self-help if nothing was done urgently.
The elders say there is no better time than now for Buhari to let the service chiefs, who have overstayed and have even crossed retirement ages go.
They charged the President to rise to the occasion by hearkening to what they called the “voice of the majority” that new hands were needed to pilot the affairs of the country’s security architecture.
“The Conference of Concerned Nigeria Elders wishes to appeal to our dear President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency, sack the current service chiefs without further delay.
“Our position is because we have seen that the president may lose the support of Nigerians over the embarrassing security situation we are facing if he doesn’t act fast enough,” they reiterated.
The elders said:”We are very disturbed over the president’s continued refusal to sack them despite calls by most Nigeria’s in the midst of the disturbing insecurity in the land including the home town of our president.”
According to the statement, “No part of Nigeria is safe today.”
The elders noted that most of the daily briefings the President gets on the security situation in the country from the security heads are not a true reflection of the situation on the ground.
The statement claimed that “Already, there is low morale in the military over the continued stay of the service chiefs whose tenures in their various offices have since lapsed.”
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Home / Chrysalis Records / Ultravox - Vienna [Deluxe Edition: Half Speed Master]: 40th Anniversar
Ultravox - Vienna [Deluxe Edition: Half Speed Master]: 40th Anniversary (Chrysalis Records)
RELEASED: 9th October 2020
Format: 2 x Vinyl LP
Formats: 2 x Vinyl LP
Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’ album was originally released in July 1980, their first with Midge Ure on vocals/guitar. Produced by legendary German producer Conny Plank (Neu!, Kraftwerk), it reached number 3 in the UK album chart and top ten in Australia, New Zealand and several European countries.
The album contains 4 UK Top 40 singles; All Stood Still, Passing Strangers and Sleepwalk (which was recently reissued as part of Record Store Day 2020) and the title track ‘Vienna’ which reached No.2 in the UK and Top 10 in seven countries around the world. The single went on to sell over half a million copies in the UK.
The new vinyl edition has been mastered and cut at half-speed by Alchemy Mastering using the original 1980 production tapes. The second bonus vinyl includes single versions and b-sides from the 4 singles released from the album, including a previously commercially unreleased US Promo Edit of Vienna, which is exclusive to this edition.
LP TRACKLISTING:
Disc 1 - Side A
1. Astradyne
2. New Europeans
3. Private Lives
4. Passing Strangers
5. Sleepwalk
Disc 1 - Side B
1. Mr X
2. Western Promise
3. Vienna
4. All Stood Still
1. Waiting
2. Face To Face (Live in St Albans 16/8/80)
3. King's Lead Hat (Live at The Lyceum 17/8/80)
4. Vienna (US Promotional Edit)
5. Passionate Reply
1. Herr X
2. All Stood Still (Single Version)
3. Alles Klar
4. Keep Talking (Cassette Recording During Rehearsals)
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ACSO search still on for car burglar
By Emily Lane
Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 24, 2010
NATCHEZ — You can’t put a price on peace of mind, but Beau Pré residents have issued a $1,000 reward to catch the man who allegedly victimized their cars and sense of security during the past few months.
Beau Pré is just one of the neighborhoods along U.S. 61 South hit by a car burglar who has been stealing cash and guns from unlocked cars, and breaking windows to rummage through locked cars.
The Adams County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for the arrest of Willie Edward Knight, 45, 141 Tubman Circle, also known as “Tight Knight,” after recovering a gun belonging to one of the Beau Pre burglary victims.
Mayfield said his team has not been able to catch Knight because he has been hiding in the woods near his home.
Mayfield said ACSO deputies have had surveillance on Knight’s house every day and night since the warrant was issued. The thick, wooded area has also been surveyed by helicopter. He said Knight’s family claims they do not know where he has been hiding.
Mayfield said he has reason to believe one or two people have been assisting Knight while he hides. He said those people will be charged with obstruction of justice or another charge if caught.
Two people who claim to know Knight and his whereabouts recently called ACSO with tips. The most recent caller told deputies Tuesday Knight was near his home.
Mayfield said when ACSO showed up, Knight re-entered the woods.
“I have no fear. We’re going to catch him. We’ve caught him before,” Mayfield said.
“This ain’t (Knight’s) first rodeo.”
Key ships ordered to leave spill site before storm
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) — Key ships stationed over BP’s crippled well in the Gulf of Mexico were... read more
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/09/150922-equinox-autumn-seasons-sun-moon-space-science.html
What is the fall equinox? Here's what you need to know.
It occurs each September and marks the first day of fall. Find out the science behind the autumnal equinox and how it has been celebrated through the ages.
What is an Equinox?
By Rachel A. Becker
Winter is officially coming. The Northern Hemisphere blew by the longest day of the year with June’s summer solstice and is now coming up to the fall equinox on September 22, 2020—the day when the sun passes directly over Earth’s Equator. (See gorgeous pictures that celebrate the arrival of fall.)
For the other half of the planet, September 22 is the vernal equinox, signaling the beginning of spring. Even though an equinox happens twice a year, every year, there are a lot of misconceptions about this seasonal transition. Want to know why equinoxes happen, what to expect, and how they have been celebrated through the ages? We've got you covered.
In a grainy video, a group of newly fledged Harvard graduates is asked why we have seasons. It seems like a pretty simple question. With varying degrees of confidence, the students explain that the Earth gets warmer or colder based on its distance from the sun. After all, Earth’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle.
The Harvard grads—captured forever in 1980s hair and their caps and gowns—were wrong.
“The Earth’s orbit is [only] about 3 percent out of round,” explains Jay Holberg, a senior research scientist at the lunar and planetary lab at the University of Arizona. “So in the northern winter—in December—the sun is actually closest to the Earth by a small amount, and in the summer it’s actually farther away.”
So if it’s not Earth’s changing proximity to the sun, what gives us seasons? It's all in the slant: Earth's axis isn’t straight up and down relative to the sun, but tilted at a slight angle of about 23.5 degrees.
As Earth revolves around the sun, it maintains that tilt, and the sun’s light doesn't hit the entire surface directly. When the planet's Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, sunlight hits it head on, bringing summer’s heat and longer days. At the same time, the southern half of Earth is tilted away from the sun and catches its rays at an angle, causing the cooler, shorter days of winter.
Earth is bathed evenly in sunlight only twice a year, on the equinoxes.
“What it has to do [with] is the amount of light per square centimeter that’s falling on you,” says Dan Milisavljevic an astronomy professor at Purdue University. “If the light is angled, it’s not going to be as hot.”
So, if the chillier air and crispier leaves have you happily reaching for pumpkin-flavored everything, thank Earth’s tilt—not its distance from the sun. And if you’re seething about summer’s end, consider moving closer to the Equator.
At the solstices in June and December, we celebrate the longest and shortest days of the year. And on the equinox, derived from the Latin for "equal night," day and night are the same length—roughly speaking.
“It’s close enough, but not exactly. It's actually different by several minutes in some cases,” says Milisavljevic.
Instead, day will seem a little longer than night. This discrepancy is partly due to an optical illusion: Earth’s atmosphere bends light, making the sun look like it’s above the horizon when it’s really below—just like a pencil stuck in a glass of water can look like it’s been split in two at the water line.
What's more, the length of daylight is not the same everywhere on Earth. It changes with distance from the Equator—which is why the poles have endless day in summer and months of night in winter.
“The equinox is defined as the time of an event. It’s really not when the day and the night are of equal length, although that’s what we think of—it’s really that moment is when the sun is on the Equator at local noon,” says Matthew Holman, an astrophysicist at Harvard University.
Celebrating the equinox
People throughout history have marked the equinox and the solstice. And no one has done it in more spectacular fashion than the Maya, who constructed the El Castillo step pyramid at Chichen Itza in Mexico so that a snake made of light would appear to slither down the pyramid’s steps at the autumnal and vernal equinoxes.
“Standing at the corner of the building with the sunset to my right, looking on the left, you see the big stairway going up the side of the building, and you’ll see the light of the un-shadowed portion looks like a snake on the stairway,” says Stanford University anthropologist James Fox, who has worked at Chichen Itza.
A light show plays out on the Maya pyramid at Chichen Itza twice a year on the equinox, when a sun snake slithers down the pyramid's steps.
Photograph by Israel Leal, Associated Press
The snaking light connects a sculpted snake’s head at the bottom of the building to its tail at the top. “If that doesn’t make an impression,” Fox says, “nothing will.”
Anthony Aveni, Colgate University professor and author of The Book of The Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays, says that there’s a legend that the ancient feathered serpent god descends from the sky on the equinox. Today, it draws crowds who hope to catch the light-snake slithering down the steps.
Although it’s clear that the Maya built monuments to catch the changing seasons, the archaeological evidence is equivocal about whether there were any rituals around this building.
“It’s sometimes very difficult to filter out the truth from the romance of the stones, that’s something you have to look at [in] the archaeological record and legends,” Aveni says.
Whether equinoxes carry any great cultural significance here on Earth, these celestial alignments link us with the rest of the planets in our solar system—except Mercury, which tilts pretty much perpendicularly to the sun.
Mercury is always in equinox, says Matthew Holman. “The equinox is when the sun crosses the equator, but really it’s always on the equator.”
So if we were settling another planet, what equinox would feel most like home?
“It depends on whether you like seasons or not,” Holman says. “If you like the seasons, you probably want a modest [tilt] so that there’s some variation.”
Mars looks pretty attractive. Its tilt exceeds ours by only a degree and a half, and its polar ice caps (made of dry ice rather than frozen water) freeze and thaw with the seasons just like our own.
The Cassini spacecraft snapped this shot of Saturn a day and a half after its equinox. Because it takes Saturn 30 Earth years to orbit the sun, its equinoxes fall every 15 years.
Photograph by NASA/JPL
Perhaps the worst: Uranus. With a tilt greater than 90 degrees, it rolls around on its side relative to the sun for its 84-year orbit. This means summers and winters last for 42 years.
This story has been updated; it was originally published on September 22, 2015.
Follow Rachel A. Becker on Twitter .
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‘Ready When They Are': Firefighters, EMTs Frustrated by Mass. Vaccine Plan
Some firefighters and EMTs in Massachusetts are voicing their frustrations with what they say is a lack of a vaccine plan from the state
By Kathryn Sotnik • Published December 22, 2020 • Updated on December 23, 2020 at 9:31 am
There is growing frustration from firefighters and EMTs in Massachusetts with what they're calling a lack of a vaccine plan from the state.
Tom Henderson is the EMT director with the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, which represents thousands of firefighters and EMTs in Massachusetts.
"The EMS and fire community are getting frustrated and raising their voices on this," he said. "We see hospital staff and employees getting the vaccine and we know we should be not far behind them after the long-term care facilities, and there seems to be no plan at this point."
This week alone, Henderson says, 112 firefighters across the state tested positive. In total, 637 members are in quarantine, the most since the pandemic started.
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Lt. Mike Murphy is on the frontline with the Newton Fire Department.
"We realize there are priorities. I'm ready when they are," Murphy said. "It's a frontline thing. We're exposed to medical emergencies maybe 10 times a day."
"It's a balancing act," said Henderson. "They want to go out and serve the public and protect the public and make sure they get the appropriate care, but also, they worry about their own personal health and the health of their families."
Henderson says they want to be involved in the planning, as well.
"We're concerned, also, that we haven't been involved in any of the planning process," he said. "We can't have an essentially one-size-fits-all for our communities."
Get the latest news on COVID-19 delivered to you. Click here to sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.
He says not every town or city is the same, and the vaccine rollouts may be different.
"The people that we normally talk to, we can't get answers from, and we try to keep on moving it up the chain, and we keep on reaching roadblocks," he said.
NBC10 Boston has reached out to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by email for comment, but had not heard back as of Tuesday night.
vaccineMassachusettscoronavirusCOVID-19firefighters
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In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
Baker Calls Continued Efforts to Overturn Election ‘an Affront to Democracy'
President Donald Trump has enlisted support from a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge the Electoral College vote
By Marc Fortier • Published January 4, 2021 • Updated on January 4, 2021 at 7:52 pm
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker lashed out at members of his own party on Monday, saying the continued efforts by some Republicans to overturn the results of the presidential election are "an affront to Democracy."
President Donald Trump has enlisted support from a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge the Electoral College vote when Congress convenes in a joint session to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 win.
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"I can't remember who said this over the weekend, but someone said, 'President-elect Joe Biden won the election fair and square,'" Baker said Monday. "He did."
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced the next steps for first responders to get the COVID-19 vaccine and had strong words for people in the federal government focusing on overturning the results of the 2020 election rather than stopping the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think the noise and the accusations and the commentary about challenging this or that is an affront to democracy and to the voice of the people who turned out in record numbers in this election," Baker said. "For the life of me, I can't figure out how people in my party can say all the other elections in which their folks barely won were fine, and the only one they seem to have any concerns about is the one at the top of the ticket."
"I hope these initiatives fail," he added, so an orderly transition can take place.
Audio of a call between President Donald Trump, members of his staff and Georgia state officials obtained by NBC News confirms the president begged, bullied and threatened Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in an effort to overturn the state's election results. NBC's Tracie Potts reports.
"We just finished 20 minutes of Q and A with you all about the largest and most significant and potentially life-saving vaccine rollout in U.S. history, and I think everybody at this point in time would say it can't happen fast enough... That, in my view, is where our colleagues at the federal level should be focusing their time and attention."
Baker is one of a growing number of prominent Republican lawmakers who are pushing back against Trump.
Heavy hitters for both the Democrats and the Republicans will descend on Georgia one day before the state's runoff elections to determine its new senators, and consequently, which party will control the Senate. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and President-elect Joe Biden is expected to stump for their respective parties in a last minute push to get voters out.
presidential electionDonald TrumpcoronavirusCharlie BakerGOP
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Gay rights loom large on agenda
The Rev. V. Gene Robinson applauds at the Episcopal General Convention in August before a vote on whether to elect Robinson, a homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire.
Aug. 4, 2003, 2:17 PM UTC / Source: msnbc.com
By Tom Curry
A sudden convergence of events has pushed the issue of the place of gays and lesbians in American society to the top of the political agenda. The Episcopal Church’s election of a New Hampshire cleric as the denomination’s first openly gay bishop comes on the heels of a far-reaching Supreme Court gay rights decision and the rise of Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean, who signed the nation’s first civil unions bill to give gays and lesbians the same rights as heterosexual married couples.
The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops voted Tuesday to elevate the Rev. V. Gene Robinson to bishop of New Hampshire after allegations of inappropriate conduct were investigated and dismissed.
On another front, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is expected to rule soon on whether to legalize gay marriage in that state. If the court OKs gay marriages in Massachusetts, it may lead to at least partial recognition by other states of gay marriages.
Gay rights advocates are hailing the spate of good news for their cause and are especially gratified by the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision that effectively struck down all state anti-sodomy laws.
Speaking shortly after that ruling, Elizabeth Birch, the executive director of the leading gay rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, said, “Every once in a while in the history of a people there is a monumental paradigm shift. ... it allows for a breakthrough to a deeper understanding to a nation as a whole. I believe we are in such a gay moment in terms of history.”
As unlikely as it once might have seemed, it was a Ronald Reagan appointee to the Supreme Court who, more than other person, triggered a series of events that may lead to legal recognition for gay marriages in every state.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the broad language of the court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas striking down anti-sodomy laws.
He said the liberty that is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution “gives substantial protection to adult persons in deciding how to conduct their private lives in matters pertaining to sex.”
When a state criminalizes sodomy, it creates,” Kennedy said, “an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres.” If, as Kennedy seems to be implying, states can’t discriminate against gays in the public sphere, then what basis can there be for a state ban on gay marriage?
Kennedy also explicitly referred to marriage and child-rearing, declaring, “Persons in a homosexual relationship may seek autonomy for these purposes, just as heterosexual persons do.”
BASIS FOR FUTURE RULINGS?
Paul Smith, the lawyer who successfully argued Lawrence v. Texas before the court, said the ruling has “very strong language that can be used in the future to attack other forms of discrimination.”
Dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia warned that the Lawrence decision “leaves on pretty shaky grounds state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.” Citing Scalia’s comment, Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a pro-may marriage group, said “When Scalia is right, it’s rare. But when he’s right, he’s right. We stand today on the threshold of winning the freedom to marry.”
Yale law professor William Eskridge, a gay rights activist and a scholar whose research on the history of homosexuals was cited in the court’s ruling, said, “Justice Scalia is right in the long term” that Lawrence v. Texas will add to the momentum for recognition of gay marriages.
Kennedy’s ruling, joined by four other justices, cast doubt on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed into law by President Clinton in 1996.
That statute says states can refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. DOMA’s critics say it clashes with the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, which says each state must honor legal agreements, contracts and judgements from other states.
Eskridge said, “DOMA is unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court will not dare say it in the near future — and they probably should not dare say it in the near future. DOMA’s unconstitutionality is an enterprise that we’ve got to work on state by state ... by having state laboratories that produce data and evidence which suggest that when marriages are recognized, God did not send the locusts.”
While the justices may not strike down DOMA in its entirety in the near future, Eskridge said, “a majority of the justices would be open to more localized challenges.”
WHAT MUST OTHER STATES DO?
If, for example, Massachusetts recognizes same-sex marriages, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones are a gay couple in that state whose marriage breaks up, there will be a separation agreement embodied in a divorce decree. “That decree probably does have to be recognized in other states,” Eskridge told MSNBC.com.
“If one of the parties wants to renege on the separation agreement embodied in the divorce decree and they move to another state and say, ‘I’m not bound by this,’ very probably under the Full Faith and Credit clause and as well as under state law, that party will have to stick with the divorce degree. In my opinion, it would be unconstitutional for Congress to say that the second state does not have to recognize a judgement in the first state. That’s where the initial lawsuits should be brought.”
Eskridge said the same reasoning would apply if one partner in a same-sex marriage dies and there is a probate decree that applies to property of the decedent.
“The legal principle throughout all of American history is that a marriage that is valid where celebrated will be valid elsewhere, even in a jurisdiction that would not have performed the marriage,” Wolfson said. States honor marriages from other states “because we don’t want couples to have to worry about whether they’re married or not depending on whether they’ve crossed the border.”
A gay-marriage ruling in Massachsuetts would create a classic debate over federalism: Must what is legal in Massachusetts also be the law in Missouri or Utah, even if the majority of voters in those states rejects gay marriage?
The issue will likely have reverberations in next year’s elections. Gay and lesbian marriage could be a tough issue to sell to conservative voters in the South and the Midwest. No Democrat has ever won the presidency without winning at least a few Southern states.
But some Democratic strategists say Republican candidates will be seen as spiteful “gay bashers” if they push measures to block gay marriage.
To forestall Supreme Court rulings or state court rulings that advance gay marriage, 76 members of the House, including six Democrats, are co-sponsoring the Federal Marriage Amendment, which says, “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”
Wolfson denounced the proposed amendment as an attempt “to intimidate the courts from doing their job.”
He added the amendment would, if adopted, “write discrimination into the most important document we Americans have.” It is, he said, “playing with fire near our most precious and important document.”
Explaining why he believes same-sex marriage is worth fighting for, Wolfson said marriage “gets automatic respect, honor, recognition. ... Marriage more than any other single word is the inescapable, significant, powerful engine that will drive all the other gains that we care about.”
Another gay rights advocate, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts, said, “We (gays and lesbians) could show heterosexuals who marry a whole lot if we were able to take on the institution of marriage and turn it into what we know it could be. ... We can show them what marriage is really worth and what it means.”
But Scalia predicted the court’s gay rights decision will cause “a massive disruption of the current social order.” The court, he argued, should not force its view of gay rights on the American people.
“The premise of our system is that those judgments are to be made by the people, and not imposed by a governing caste that knows best,” Scalia said.
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Meet the Women Who Will Be Coaching on the Sidelines in the NFL Playoffs
Take a look below to see the six women coaches who will be making a difference in this year's NFL playoffs
By Courtney Connley, CNBC • Published January 9, 2021 • Updated on January 10, 2021 at 11:53 pm
Will Vragovic | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
This year, the National Football League playoff games will look a lot more diverse with six of the league's eight female coaches on the sidelines, leading to the first time in NFL history that opposing playoff teams will have women coaches.
"I really think it's a direct testament to forward-thinking coaches opening up their minds to the entire pool of applicants for jobs, and I think these forward-thinking coaches have created cultures with sustained winning and ultimately they've made the playoffs now," Washington Football team's full-year coaching intern Jennifer King told NFL Total Access.
On Saturday, King and the Washington Football team will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that has Lori Locust as their assistant defensive line coach and Maral Javadifar as their assistant strength and conditioning coach. Currently, the Buccaneers are the only franchise in the NFL with two female coaches.
Six of our eight female coaches will be on the sidelines next weekend for @NFL #SuperWildCard. #forwardprogress
Congrats to @CalBrown17, @JenniferKing5, @CoachLoLoc, @Maraljavadifar, @_coachchels and @Bartlettc42. pic.twitter.com/phHbTJID5U
— Sam Rapoport (@samrap10) January 4, 2021
If any of the six women lead their team beyond the playoffs, they will be following in the footsteps of San Francisco 49ers offensive assistant coach Katie Sowers, who made history last year when she became the first woman and openly gay coach to help lead a team to the Super Bowl.
Take a look below to see the six women coaches who will be making a difference in this year's NFL playoffs.
Jennifer King, full-year coaching intern for the Washington Football team
Another opportunity on the national stage for us! #nfl #mnf #nike #mycausemycleats #ununtu PC: @NFL2Ucla pic.twitter.com/UgCcw70Vx7
— Jennifer King (@JenniferKing5) December 7, 2020
In 2020, Jennifer King made history when she became the Washington Football team's first Black full-time female coach. In her role, King works mostly with the team's offensive staff and assists running back coach Randy Jordan. Prior to joining Washington, she served as an offensive assistant coach for Dartmouth College and an intern running back coach for the Carolina Panthers.
Lori Locust, assistant defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Douglas P. DeFelice | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
TAMPA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 09: Assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on during training camp at AdventHealth Training Center on September 09, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.
In 2019, Locust made history alongside Maral Javadifar and became one of the first full-time female coaches in Buccaneers history. As the team's assistant defensive line coach, she works closely with the team's defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers.
Prior to joining the Buccaneers, Locust served as an assistant defensive line coach for the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football, and she worked as a defensive line coaching intern for the Baltimore Ravens during the team's training camp in 2018.
Maral Javadifar, assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar works with defensive end Ndamukong Suh (93) during a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers on September 12, 2019, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. (Photo by Mary Holt/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Javadifar, who is a licensed physical therapist, serves as the Buccaneers assistant strength and conditioning coach. A former college athlete, Javadifar played basketball at Pace University before graduating and earning her doctor of physical therapy degree from New York Medical College.
When Javadifar and Locust were first hired by the Buccaneers in 2019, head coach Bruce Arians spoke highly of the two women and their ability to coach at the NFL level.
"I know how hard it can be to get that first opportunity to coach at the highest level of professional football," he said, while adding that "sometimes, all you need is the right organization to offer up the opportunity."
Cristi Bartlett, strength and conditioning coach for the Tennessee Titans
In 2020, Bartlett joined the Tennessee Titans as a strength and conditioning coach. Prior to joining the team, Bartlett worked as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for several colleges including the University of Pennsylvania, James Madison University and Morehead State University.
Callie Brownson, chief of staff for Cleveland Browns
Sarah Stier | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Tight end coach Callie Brownson of the Cleveland Browns looks on in the second quarter against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on December 27, 2020 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
In 2020, Brownson joined the Cleveland Browns as chief of staff to head coach Kevin Stefanski, marking the first time in NFL history that a woman has held that position. In addition to serving as chief of staff, the George Mason University alum has also worked as interim tight end coach for the team, filling in for coach Drew Petzing when his wife gave birth to their first child in November.
Prior to working for the Browns, Brownson made history as Division I college football's first full-time female coach when she joined Dartmouth College's coaching staff in 2018.
Chelsea Romero, strength and conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Rams
Strength Coach in the NFL ✅ @RamsNFL pic.twitter.com/JOD51fwNrB
— Chelsea Romero MS, CSCS (@_coachchels) September 10, 2020
Romero joined the Rams in 2020, making history as the team's first female strength and conditioning coach.
Prior to working for the Rams, she served as assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of California Irvine and as softball strength and conditioning coach at Antelope Valley College in California.
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Red Sox hire Bianca Smith, first Black female coach in professional baseball history
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CoachNational Football LeagueMake ItTampa Bay BuccaneersTennessee Titans
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Sy Feltz
I Just Gotta Get Out of This Prison Cell: Fargo, “Somebody to Love”
By Cindy Davis
And That’s Only the Beginning of the Things I Could Tell You: Fargo, “Aporia”
Follow Me in Merry Measure: Fargo, “Who Rules the Land of Denial?”
On a Cold Winter’s Night That Was So Deep … Fargo, “The Law of Inevitability”
But He Refused to Answer Because He’s Naked and Ashamed: Fargo, “The Lord of No Mercy”
Save Me, Save Me from Tomorrow: Fargo, “The House of Special Purpose”
You Think You Know Me, But You Don’t: Fargo, “The Narrow Escape Problem”
That’s Like, I’m My Own Grandpa: Fargo, “The Law of Non-Contradiction”
Where Is the Vodka? Fargo, “The Principle of Restricted Choice”
What Are You Going to Do When Everybody’s Insane: Fargo, “The Law of Vacant Places”
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/ ► Hammurabi's Code
/ ► Code of Hammurabi
What is the Hammurabi Code?
The Hammurabi Code is a compilation of 282 laws of ancient Babylon (present-day Iraq), composed around 1772 BC Hammurabi is the sixth king of Babylon, responsible for enacting the code known with his name, which has survived until today is in part preserved copies, one in the form of a large monolith, the size of an average human, in addition to several smaller clay tablets.
Mesopotamian society:
When Hammurabi founded the First Babylonian Empire, he managed to unify the Mesopotamian region. This part of the planet is bounded by two very important rivers, which are the Tigris and the Euphrates, hence the name Mesopotamia, derived from the Greek, which means "land between rivers".
That is why we find in the code certain paragraphs that deal with irrigation and regulate the profession of a boatman. This already shows the importance of water, not only as a physical need, but for secondary purposes, but no less important.
Babylonian society was based on inequality.
The first class, and more numerous, was that of the Awilu, the citizens, owners, peasants, artisans and traders.
In a middle position was the mushkenu, they are the semi-free, between free and slaves. It was formed by former slaves, declassified free men (plebs), often foreigners.
Below these were the slave class, wardu, resulting mainly from war, but also determined by birth, under its heredity.
The provisions in the Code cover all classes, but we can see that the legislation is made with total bias in favour of the upper class, the “awilum”.
How important is the Hammurabi Code?
The historical importance of the Hammurabi Code is because it has become the legal source on which the laws of practically all the Semitic peoples of antiquity were based, including the Assyrians, the Chaldeans and the Hebrews themselves.
The main themes of the code are criminal law, family law and professional, commercial, agricultural and administrative regulations.
We can say that the Hammurabi Code is a fundamental milestone in the history of law because it was a pioneer in the regulation of criminal, civil and commercial rules, representing the historical trend of attributing to the State the protection of society.
Summary of the laws:
Ex. Law nr 127: If someone 'points the finger' at a sister of a god or the wife of anybody, and cannot prove it, this man will be taken before the judges and his brow must be marked (cutting the skin, or maybe hair).
Slavery and the status of slaves as property
Ex. Law nr 15: If someone takes a male or female slave from the court, or a slave or slave from a free man, outside the city gates, he should be put to death.
Duties of workers
Ex. Law nr 42: If someone takes over a field to cultivate it and get no harvest there, it must be proven that he did not work on the field, and he must deliver grain, as well as his raised neighbour, to the owner of the field.
Ex. Law nr 22: If someone is committing theft and is in prison, then they should be put to death.
Ex. Law nr 104: If a trader gives an agent of corn, wool, oil or any other goods for transportation, the agent must give a receipt for the quantity, and compensate the trader themselves. Then, he must obtain a receipt from the trader for . the money he gives the trader.
Ex. Law nr 53: If someone is too lazy to keep their dam in proper condition, and not to keep it if then the dam rupture and all fields are flooded, then if in whose dam the rupture occurred be sold for money, and the money must replace the corn it caused to be ruined.
Ex. Law nr 142: If a woman quarrels with her husband, and says: ‘You are not compatible with me’, the reasons for your injury must be presented. If she is innocent, and there is no fault on her part, but for him. leaves and neglects her, then it does not blame this woman, she will take her dowry and return to her father's house.
Ex. Law nr 129: If a man's wife was caught lying to another man, they would bind them and throw them into the water. If the wife's owner would save his wife, then, in turn, the king could save your servant.
You can find the original engraved large monolith, with the code of Hammurabi, in the Louvre museum in France.
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COVID-19 and retirement: Impact and policy responses
COVID-19 has shaken America and the world, causing widespread social and economic upheaval. The most obvious and distressing cost is the tens of thousands of lives lost to the pandemic, but attendant costs range from shuttered businesses to an unprecedented hole in the federal budget. As policymakers and others continue to grapple with controlling the pandemic, the permanent scars from this episode have yet to become clear.
Indeed, the economic downturn is unlike anything the economy has ever experienced. Over the first three months of the pandemic, tens of millions of workers applied for unemployment insurance as employment fell 21 percent through late April. As many as 20 percent of small businesses closed and bankruptcies skyrocketed. Housing construction fell by 19 percent relative to a year earlier before eventually rebounding, while the stock market fell by about one-third over five weeks.
As painful as this episode has been for all Americans, it has also been especially trying for older individuals. While seniors benefitted from the critical support provided through Social Security and Medicare, and to a lesser extent Medicaid, the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic introduced special challenges for this group. The most obvious and painful element has been the drastically higher fatality risks for retirement-age Americans, including in particular those in institutional settings. But older workers have also been disproportionately impacted: one recent study estimated that unemployment rate in April 2020 was 15.4 percent for workers aged 65 and older, compared to 13.0 percent for those aged 25 to 44. And sadly, economists expect that a devastatingly high proportion of these jobs are lost for good.
Why have older workers faced higher rates of displacement in this recession? The evidence is not yet in but is likely linked to disparate health impacts of COVID-19 by age and the nature of employment for older workers. Many older workers remain in the workforce by taking “bridge jobs” to retirement. These bridge jobs, especially those held by women, are more likely to involve face-to-face contact and are less likely to be performed using remote technology—heightening the health risks from work. These employees may also face heightened discrimination if employers are concerned they are more likely to catch the virus and more likely to become seriously ill if they do catch it.
On the health side, the impact is even more severe and likely longer lasting. As of July 2020, over 142,000 people have lost their lives, making COVID-19 one of the leading causes of death in the United States, with elevated fatality rates for older households. Hundreds of thousands of older Americans have become ill from the virus, with long-term consequences still unknown. Higher consequences for transmission have made shelter-in-place orders especially necessary for retirement-age individuals, likely exacerbating the loneliness epidemic that inflicts many older people. Nursing homes, which housed about 1.3 million mostly older Americans in 2016, have become hotbeds for transmission, inflicting sharply higher death rates on residents. With our nation already facing a crisis in long-term care, the devastating impact of COVID-19 on people over 60 has called into question the very safety of a system which has disproportionately relied on institutional settings for much of the formal care.
While we are still in the midst of the pandemic and its full effects are not yet known, it appears the impact will transform retirement for years, if not decades. On the economic side, prolonged weakness in the stock market, if it occurs, would eat into retirees’ income and savers’ expected returns, causing both lower spending during retirement and the need for more saving during working lives. An extended labor market slump may disproportionately impact workers near retirement age, in part because older workers often face acute re-employment challenges during downturns and in part because older workers’ health is especially at-risk in many work environments. If the economic impacts bleed into the housing market, retirees could lose trillions in home equity. And the massive Federal Reserve (Fed) response may keep interest rates low for years, undermining savers’ efforts to build up nest eggs.
Some of the impacts of COVID-19 will mostly affect today’s retirees, such as the safety of elderly institutions, while low interest rates will impact both today’s retirees and those who have yet to leave the labor market. Naturally, the future impacts are generally less certain than those experienced today.
This brief discusses the ways these social and economic impacts may transform retirement. Because this pandemic is unique in modern times, there is massive uncertainty about the future, but we will make arguments based on empirical evidence as much as possible. Our central conclusion is that the pandemic will threaten the quality of retirement for today’s retirees and near retirees by undercutting resources for retirement, imposing steep (but necessary) social restrictions, and calling into question the safety of institutional care. The impact on future retirees is less certain, but could include weakened public entitlement programs, the need for higher rates of saving, and a heightened focus on community-based care.
In the final section of this brief we lay out steps that can be taken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, with a particular emphasis on helping older workers and retirees.
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Is retirement good for health or bad for it?
Patrick J. Skerrett
Former Executive Editor, Harvard Health
For many people, retirement is a key reward for decades of daily work—a time to relax, explore, and have fun unburdened by the daily grind. For others, though, retirement is a frustrating period marked by declining health and increasing limitations.
For years, researchers have been trying to figure out whether the act of retiring, or retirement itself, is good for health, bad for it, or neutral.
A new salvo comes from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health. They looked at rates of heart attack and stroke among men and women in the ongoing U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Among 5,422 individuals in the study, those who had retired were 40% more likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those who were still working. The increase was more pronounced during the first year after retirement, and leveled off after that.
The results, reported in the journal Social Science & Medicine, are in line with earlier studiesthat have shown that retirement is associated with a decline in health. But others have shown that retirement is associated with improvements in health, while some have shown it has little effect on health.
Retirement changes things
In their paper, Moon and her colleagues described retirement as a “life course transition involving environmental changes that reshape health behaviors, social interactions, and psychosocial stresses” that also brings shifts in identity and preferences. In other words, moving from work to no work comes with a boatload of other changes. “Our results suggest we may need to look at retirement as a process rather than an event,” said lead study author J. Robin Moon, who is now a senior health policy advisor to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
These changes may be why retirement is ranked 10th on the list of life’s 43 most stressful events. Some people smoothly make the transition into a successful retirement. Others don’t.
For four decades, Dr. George E. Vaillant, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and numerous colleagues talked with hundreds of men and women taking part in the Study of Adult Development. Initially focused on early development, the study now encompasses issues of aging, like retirement.
When researchers asked study participants 80 and older what made retirements enjoyable, healthy, and rewarding, four key elements emerged:
Forge a new social network. You don’t just retire from a job—your retire from daily contact with friends and colleagues. Establishing a new social network is good for both mental and physical health.
Play. Activities such as golf, bridge, ballroom dancing, traveling, and more can help you let go a bit while establishing new friendships and reinforcing old ones.
Be creative. Activating your creative side can help keep your brain healthy. Creativity can take many forms, from painting to gardening to teaching a child noun declensions in Latin. Tapping into creativity may also help you discover new parts of yourself.
Keep learning. Like being creative, ongoing learning keeps the mind active and the brain healthy. There are many ways to keep learning, from taking up a new language to starting—or returning to—an instrument you love, or exploring a subject that fascinates you.
Individual effects
Understanding how retirement affects a large group of people is interesting, but doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how it will affect you.
If you’ve had a stressful, unrewarding, or tiring job, retirement may come as a relief. For you, not working may be associated with better health. People who loved their work and structured their lives around it may see retirement in a different light, especially if they had to retire because of a company age policy.
An individual who has a good relationship with his or her spouse or partner is more likely to do well in retirement than someone with an unhappy home life for whom work often offered an escape hatch.
People with hobbies, passions, volunteer opportunities, and the like generally have little trouble redistributing their “extra” time after they retire. Those who did little beside work may find filling time more of a challenge.
And then there’s health. People who retire because they don’t feel well, or have had a heart attack or stroke, or have been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, or other chronic condition may not enjoy retirement as much as someone who enters it in the pink of health.
Are you retired, or planning to be soon? What do you think are the elements of a successful retirement?
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World of Phenomena » Space » Solar Wind
Facts about Solar Wind
The average speed of solar wind as it is radiated from the Sun is 400 km/s.
Pressure created by the solar wind creates the heliosphere, which extends past Pluto and into the Kuiper belt.
The heliosphere ends when the speed of the solar wind is subsonic, a phenomenon called termination shock.
The Earth’s magnetic field acts as a shield against the solar wind, protecting life on Earth.
Some particles in the solar wind are diverted to Earth’s polar regions, and cause the auroras in the Earth’s atmosphere.
What is Solar Wind?
Solar wind is a plasma-like emission of protons, electrons and other particles emanating from the Sun. Many of these particles have been stripped off of the elements that are within the Sun – hydrogen and helium.
The solar wind occurs because the Sun’s extreme heat heats up the electrons, protons and nuclei to extreme temperatures, and in doing so excites the particles such that they gain enough energy to overcome the Sun’s gravitational pull.
What is the speed of Solar Wind?
The solar wind radiates in all directions from the Sun. The speed at which it is radiated differs depending on where the particles originated. The average speed of the wind as it is radiated from the Sun’s surface is approximately 300 – 400 kilometers per second. Coronal holes, or large regions on the Sun’s surface that are cooler than surrounding areas, eject these particles at speeds up to 800 kilometers per second.
The reason for the above differences is counterintuitive. The solar wind is actually radiated faster from cooler parts of the Sun than hotter parts of the Sun. This is because the strength of the Sun’s magnetic field over these holes is lower than the magnetic fields over the surrounding hotter areas. The charged particles radiating from the cooler areas then have less resistance to overcome on their way to the solar system.
Where does the solar wind extend to?
The pressure from the solar wind creates a shield or bubble called the heliosphere. As the solar wind begins to interact with the intergalactic medium, it loses velocity and pressure. When the velocity of the solar wind decreases to subsonic speeds, it is called termination shock. This area is called the heliopause, and is the end of the heliosphere. All of the planets in the solar system, and many kuiper belt objects reside within the heliosphere, and the oort cloud lies outside of it.
What planets does the solar wind affect?
The solar wind travels in all directions, impacting many planets within the solar system. Mercury is highly impacted by the wind. It does not have an atmosphere, but an exosphere that consists mainly of solar wind particles. If humans were to set foot on Mercury, they would quickly die from radiation without substantial protection.
Similarly, the solar wind would render Earth uninhabitable if Earth did not have an active magnetic field. This magnetic field forms a protective shield around Earth, diverting most of the particles in the wind away. A small percentage of these particles are carried to Earth’s polar regions by the magnetic fields. As these particles interact with elements in Earth’s atmosphere, they create beautiful light emissions known as aurora.
Most other planets within the solar system experience the same phenomenon. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all have aurora at their magnetic poles. Some of these auroras could possibly be seen with the human eye, but they would likely best be seen in ultraviolet part of the light spectrum. Certain moons that have atmospheres and active magnetic fields, such as Triton of Neptune, may also have small aurora caused by interactions with the solar wind.
Stellar Wind
The more appropriate name for this phenomenon would actually be stellar wind, as many other stars outside of our solar system would radiate their own ‘solar winds’. Depending on the phase of the star and type of star, the solar wind may contain ions of heavier elements such as oxygen and iron.
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Dr. Shad Morris, DMD, Sets Example for Sleep Dentists Nationally in Former NFL Player Health Assessment
Sarah Tulowitzki — March 21, 2018 0 comment
Dr. Shad Morris, DMD, led the dental/sleep apnea team of ASBA Diplomates at the health assessment for former NFL players in Las Vegas, Nevada
Press Release – updated: Mar 21, 2018 00:53 EDT
LAS VEGAS, March 21, 2018 (PressRelease.com) – The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) Former Players Convention is an annual meeting for retired NFL players who come together for days of “innovative professional and personal development workshops, networking, guest speakers and family fun.” A growing topic among the former player community, as well as the world population in recent years, has been health. So much so, that a health assessment planned and organized by Living Heart Foundation was included in the official agenda on two days of the three-day conference where players were assessed for body composition, blood pressure, pulmonary function, hearing, sleep apnea and more.
David Gergen, CEO of Pro Player Health Alliance (PPHA), was appointed by Andre Collins who is the executive director of the Players Athletes Foundation to oversee the sleep apnea component of the health assessments. Gergen selected a team of sleep dentists who need to meet a number of requirements to participate: They must be Diplomates of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy (ASBA), have a strong community presence and have the capability to treat Medicare patients. Dr. Shad Morris, DMD, led the team of ASBA Diplomates which included Dr. Ronald Rosenbaum, DMD, and Dr. Edward Hobbs, DDS. The board-certified sleep physician who worked in collaboration with Dr. Morris was Dr. Cliff Molin. Project Rose provided the sleep testing equipment for the event and was able to provide a home sleep test to every player who was found to be at high risk of sleep apnea. Founded by Earl Campbell and Gary Baxter, Project Rose Sleep Program is a premier sleep program that tests, treats and does research in the field of sleep for better health and wellness outcomes. The initial testing reports from this event found that 93 percent of former players who were tested came back positive for sleep apnea.
It was good to meet Dr. Morris in person. We are grateful for his high-level experience and the quality of care he provides for our guys.
Andre Collins
Executive Director of Player Athletes Foundation
Dr. Shad Morris impressed everyone who was involved with his dedication, professionalism and attention to detail as well as his demonstration of digital scanners. When asked why Dr. Morris was selected to be the point man for the health assessment, David Gergen said, “Shad has donated time and money to help elderly in his community with holiday church functions for years. He has explained to me that his grandparents forged the way for his future. Although many dentists stay away from Medicare because the reimbursement isn’t good and contains so many regulations, Dr. Morris doesn’t mind because he believes in doing the right thing and helping those who worked hard to give him the opportunities to thrive today; giving back is the right thing to do. When I interviewed him for the position in December of 2017, he told me it’s not about the money it’s about successful outcomes, I knew he was the right guy to bring that same attitude to treating members of the NFLPA.” In a separate meeting with Gergen, Morris and NFL Hall of Fame CB Mike Haynes, Gergen mentioned Dr. Morris as the perfect candidate to be the sleep dentist for the newly relocated Las Vegas Raiders because of his thousands of successful outcomes.
About the Author: Sarah Tulowitzki
Sarah holds a Master’s in Journalism from Ryerson University and writes professionally in a broad variety of genres. She has worked as a senior manager in public relations and communications for major telecommunication companies, and is the former Deputy Director for Media Relations with the Modern Coalition. Ashely writes primarily in our personal finance section.
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Wyoming's Leg Lake Cirque, where Absolon made his final climb. (Photo: Bryce Duffy)
Alan Prendergast
The Horror Vault
The Death of Pete Absolon
When Pete Absolon, the Rocky Mountain director of NOLS, set out for a climb in Wyoming's Wind River Range, life couldn't have been better. A deadly mistake by another man ended it all in an instant—and started a nightmare that's never going to stop.
Hanging 800 feet above Leg Lake, ten hours into a long summer's day of climbing in Wyoming's Wind River Range, Steve Herlihy was just starting to get comfortable. Getting into the bubble, he called it. He was tired but focused, feeling good about this latest adventure with his friend and mentor, Pete Absolon.
They were at the southern end of the Winds, three-quarters of the way up an enormous cirque that flanks the lake like a half-mile-wide backstop. Close to 12,000 feet above sea level, the cliff could be glimpsed from Absolon's house on the outskirts of Lander, 15 miles away, a stumpy tooth among more sensuously contoured peaks. In 17 years of climbing the area, Absolon had never tried the cirque before; there was better rock not much farther away. But late in July he'd gone camping at Leg Lake with his wife, Molly, and their six-year-old daughter, Avery. He'd studied the cirque, particularly a long shadow where the wall turned a corner as it wrapped around the lake. Two weeks later he was back with Herlihy to try a line he'd found.
Herlihy felt honored to be included; Absolon was choosy about the climbers he took into the Winds. Despite their age difference—Pete was 47, Steve 30—Absolon had drawn Herlihy into his circle as if he were a younger brother. They'd met on a National Outdoor Leadership School instructor seminar in 2001 and had worked together on and off since. Absolon, a sturdy blond athlete with a constant smile, had recently become director of the NOLS Rocky Mountain branch, while Herlihy had started law school in Laramie, at the University of Wyoming.
Absolon was amped for the climb—planning meticulously, leaving Herlihy a flurry of phone messages in the final hours before their departure. They got a late start from Lander Friday afternoon and camped by the lake. On Saturday, August 11, they rose early, left Herlihy's two dogs at the cliff base, made their way across a talus field, and then climbed up 300 feet of steep slabs to a small ledge, where the line Absolon had spotted began in earnest.
The climb was slow and tough. They found a couple of old bolts below the ledge, then nothing farther up. The route was steeper than it looked, and there was a quarry's worth of loose rock along the way. They cleared what they could, heaving the debris onto the glacier below, watching it land with hardly a sound. Herlihy started worrying about the amount of rock they were tossing and rappelled down to move his dogs back, then returned to the ledge.
Absolon led the crux pitch above the ledge, then two more pitches. Herlihy did his part, belaying and hauling and drilling in an occasional bolt. By late afternoon, they were 150 feet from what they'd agreed would be their goal for the day, a grassy ledge below the rim. Absolon set up an intricate belay; Herlihy was just below him and to the right. They lingered a few minutes, discussing how to handle the final pitch, a widening crack that curved right.
Pete Absolon on a ski day at the Leg Lake Cirque, 2006 (Photo: Courtesy of Molly Absolon)
Herlihy was tired and ready to head down to camp. But Absolon wanted to nail the last pitch, and Herlihy agreed that it didn't look like much trouble, particularly with Pete in the lead. But right in the middle of their conversation, something came hurtling down from above. There was no warning, Herlihy recalls. Just a sudden crack!—and then a kind of white noise buzzing inside his head.
As soon as he heard the sound, Herlihy instinctively curled up next to the wall. But whatever had ripped through was already gone, leaving silence in its wake. When Herlihy looked up, he saw Pete hanging from the ropes, staring straight ahead. His eyes and mouth were open, but he was absolutely still.
Herlihy reached up. His hand went to the back of Absolon's neck and felt a warm dampness. He turned his friend around and saw the shards of his white helmet, the blood, the crushed skull. "His face was perfect," Herlihy says, "but I just knew he was dead."
To the Rodolph brothers of Casper, the Leg Lake Cirque was known as the China Wall. They'd visited the rim several times before, coming up the back way, a steep but tolerable hike through neighboring Upper Silas Canyon. Aaron, 28, had backpacked in the area for a week at a time, and Luke, 23, had hiked the entire canyon rim by himself.
A large party of Rodolphs had made a three-hour drive from Casper to the canyon trailhead on Thursday, the night before Absolon and Herlihy left Lander. The group included Aaron, Luke, and their older brother, Isaiah; Eli Rodolph, a cousin from South Dakota; Eric McDonald, a family friend; and wives and girlfriends—eight adults in all, plus Isaiah's four children. They set up camp at a no-name lake and spent Friday fishing and hiking. On Saturday, Luke and Aaron decided to take Eli and Eric to the China Wall.
Although the trail up the canyon ends at Island Lake, the four kept going, to the towering headwall of the cirque. They all walked to the rim, which offered a panoramic view of the basin, the surrounding peaks, and Lander in the distance. It was a favorite spot that neither Aaron nor Luke had seen for a while. Aaron had been building a landscaping business in Casper, while Luke had spent four years in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, including two tours in Iraq, before coming home to work with his brother.
They saw no one after leaving the trail. They spent half an hour on the rim, soaking up the scenery and tossing rocks down toward Leg Lake. Later, Aaron would estimate that the group had pushed four or five small boulders over the cliff. "It was really awesome to watch the rocks fall," he recalled. "You could see every bounce, every hit, all the way to the glacier."
Around five, the Rodolph party decided to make their way to a new spot a quarter-mile away, where the rim becomes a series of jagged overhangs above the basin—a good place to watch rocks fall, they figured. Luke led the way to a 15-foot promontory jutting into space. He went out a few feet, peered over the right edge, picked up a bowling-ball-size hunk of granite, and launched it into the void. Then he crouched down and leaned farther over the edge to watch its descent.
His new position gave him an unimpeded view of the area below. He saw, to his surprise, two men in white helmets 200 feet beneath him. And at the same moment he registered their presence, the plummeting rock struck one of the men directly on the head.
Herlihy couldn't see where the rock had come from, and he assumed it had broken loose naturally. In the suspended silence that followed Absolon's death, he fought a surge of panic over the possibility that more was on the way. "I was a hundred percent sure the next rock to come down was going to hit me," he says. "I tried to think like Pete."
Herlihy wrestled with Absolon's body to retrieve the gear he'd need to get down. Blood spilled all over him, on the rope, and on the haul bag. He considered bringing the body along but decided the effort would slow him down and might get him killed. Even without the extra weight, it took him an hour to rappel to the ledge. Once there, he tied the ropes together and fixed them for the final rap to the base. Then he ran—and stumbled—down the scree field in his climbing shoes.
Herlihy retrieved his dogs and dunked his head in the lake, trying to wash off the blood and spitting to get rid of the pungent, metallic taste in his mouth. He looked around in the twilight, not sure what to do. He was startled to see four young men running toward him. The first one was crying.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Aaron Rodolph said. He was panting after the long run down from the rim.
"What happened?" Herlihy asked.
A pale, lean young man, more subdued than the first, approached him. "I threw a rock," he said.
Herlihy stared at him. "Did it hit another rock or something?"
"No," Luke Rodolph said. "That was the rock."
Herlihy took a moment to digest this. It wasn't a loose rock that had killed his friend. This kid had thrown the rock. Herlihy didn't know what to say. What came out of his mouth next amazed the Rodolph brothers, who were half expecting him to attack them. He looked at Luke and said, "I forgive you."
Wordlessly, the four men gathered around Herlihy. Aaron put his arm around him and asked if it would be all right if they prayed. Herlihy nodded, and Aaron began murmuring softly in the dusk.
Ultimately, it would be up to Steve Herlihy to tell people what had happened to his friend, to describe how one of Lander's most respected, confident, and skilled climbers had died because a stranger threw a rock for fun. It was an awful story to tell, bound to trigger outrage and bewilderment, but Herlihy ended up recounting the details, Ishmael-like, again and again—to sheriff's deputies, to colleagues, and to Absolon's family and close acquaintances. It was important to him that people understand how alive Pete was, how suddenly he'd been snatched away.
But nearly 15 hours would pass before he had a chance to tell anybody anything. First he had to spend a long, surreal night with Luke Rodolph. Aaron told Herlihy he had called 911 on his cell phone from the rim and that help was on the way. Right after the impromptu prayer session, the others decided to return to the family campsite, while Luke volunteered to stay behind; he and Steve would hike out in the morning.
Molly Absolon and her daughter, Avery, outside Lander, October 2007 (Photo: Bryce Duffy)
As the sun went down, Herlihy wandered out to the lake to be alone, but dropping temperatures soon lured him to the fire Luke had built. Over the next few hours, the two men talked, shared some whiskey, and waited for dawn. Herlihy spoke about Molly and Avery and what a great husband and father Pete was. Absolon had been his boss at NOLS, he explained, generous with his advice and hard-earned experience but never taking himself too seriously. He was, in short, Herlihy's hero. Rodolph listened quietly.
"I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I am really sorry about what happened to your friend," he said. "I want to cry, but I just can't do it. I've seen a lot of death."
In a flat voice, Rodolph described his time in Iraq—seven months in Fallujah, five in the northern Kurdish provinces. He'd lost a close friend two weeks into his first deployment, after they changed seats one morning in a Humvee. His buddy was sitting in Rodolph's place when an IED went off. Luke said he lost five friends in all. The only comfort he could find, he added, was his Christian belief that the deaths had been God's will. Everything happened for a reason.
The remark grated on Herlihy. He could see no reason why Pete was dead. But he didn't want to argue; right now he just needed to keep talking. He asked Rodolph why he hadn't run away—after all, nobody outside his family had to know he'd thrown the rock. Rodolph said he couldn't run from God. He was willing to do whatever was needed "to make things right."
"We had a long conversation about what that meant," Herlihy says. "He thought he was going to jail."
The talk, like the fire, died down after a while. At one point in the night, a helicopter circled above them, raking a searchlight across the face of the cirque. The next afternoon, a copter-borne rescue team from Grand Teton National Park arrived and got Absolon down. By that time, Herlihy and Rodolph had hiked to Herlihy's truck and driven to his home in Lander. They spoke little on the way.
Herlihy expected the whole world to be changed, but when he reached his house he realized that almost no one in town had heard about Pete's death yet; the coroner was waiting for the body to be retrieved before contacting the family. Once inside his front door, Herlihy started sobbing as he told his girlfriend, Wendy, what had happened. Then, leaving Rodolph standing alone in the front yard, he headed over to the Absolon place to do what he'd dreaded doing since he came off the wall: tell Molly that Pete was gone.
When he returned hours later, emotionally exhausted, Rodolph was still in the yard. He'd tried to clean the blood off the rope and haul bag and waited for Steve's return so they could go together to give their statements to the police.
News of Absolon's death spread across town like a stain, then all over the country. A week later, under lowering skies, more than 300 people streamed into a meadow near Sinks Canyon—a popular sport-climbing hub near Lander—for a memorial service. They all had Pete Absolon stories to tell, gleaned from what had been a full and remarkable life.
There were rock-climbing buddies from his early days as a guide at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia; tales of Mount McKinley's West Rib and big ice in Alberta; former NOLS students and staff who'd had life-changing encounters with Pete; people who'd met him climbing, biking, or elk hunting; and local parents who simply knew him as an enthusiastic dad, deeply involved in his daughter's school activities. Nobody could figure out how he made it all look so easy.
Steve Herlily, outside Laramie (Photo: Bryce Duffy)
Lander-based NOLS instructor Gary Wilmot was once saved from serious injury by Absolon, who snatched him by the boot after he stumbled and slid headfirst down an icy gully outside of Cody, headed for a cliff. But he considers such heroics the least of his friend's accomplishments. "Pete was a very good rock climber, an exceptional ice climber and mountaineer," he says. "Maybe not world-class at any of these things, but there are very few climbers who put them all together as well as Pete did. He could always keep the rope moving up, and he got his students to believe they could make certain ascents and achieve goals far beyond what they thought they could do."
Born in Minnesota, raised in Texas and Maryland, as a teenager Absolon went from Boy Scout hikes to hanging out at the Gendarme, the legendary climbing shop at Seneca Rocks. He persuaded proprietor John Markwell to hire him as a guide and began putting up bold new solo routes. "Many of Pete's routes are thinly protected and just scary," says Topper Wilson, another Gendarme alum, now living in Colorado. "But his legs never shook. When he got nervous, he'd start muttering and talk his way through."
In 1986, while soloing at Seneca Rocks, Absolon came across 25-year-old Molly Armbrecht, a Yale graduate and climber who worked for the nearby Woodlands Mountain Institute. Absolon informed Armbrecht that she and a companion weren't on the route they thought they were on. Armbrecht insisted she knew what she was doing. Molly and her friend pressed on, got lost, found their way down around midnight, and slinked past the Gendarme, where Absolon sat with his pals, watching with amusement.
The wedding came two years later, on top of the highest mountain in West Virginia. The couple moved to Berkeley, then Lander, where Pete took a NOLS instructor course and began working for the school. He called the place Blander at first but soon fell in love with it. At NOLS, Absolon emerged as a quiet but vital presence whose high spirits and people skills made him a valuable field instructor and administrator. Fatherhood compelled him to give up major expeditions, but he set up a swing for Avery at the base of Killer Cave, one of his favorite routes in Sinks Canyon, and continued to seek new adventures. He was always methodical and safety conscious—which made his sudden death an even greater shock.
The Lander community was still reeling from other fatalities, including the 2006 death of Todd Skinner, one of the area's most celebrated free climbers, who died after his harness failed in Yosemite. But Absolon's death was fundamentally different—not an equipment failure but a rock, thrown by a clueless hiker—and it sparked anger as well as grief.
"Pete was an extremely conservative and accomplished climber who was doing everything right," says Phil Powers, executive director of the American Alpine Club and a NOLS staffer in Lander for nearly 20 years. "Climbers sign up for a certain amount of risk. But Pete didn't sign up for this kind of risk."
In the days before and after the service, reminiscences about Absolon piled up in a long-running thread on SuperTopo.com, a popular climbers' Web site. "He had serenity in his life," wrote Pete's oldest sister, Mary, "and we are all the better for this because it is a whole lot more fun being with someone who is living out their passions!" But the tragedy also prompted a more vitriolic thread, in which people described their own near-death encounters with rock throwers. Some pointed out that climbers cast plenty of stones themselves—not just to clean a route but for the gravitational fun of it. "Everyone who's never thrown a rock off a cliff, raise your hand," wrote one poster. "Gee, there are no hands up." Climbers even have a word for the pastime: trundling.
"Pete enjoyed trundling rocks," says Wilson, "but he always looked first."
Experienced climbers know to look carefully before they roll any rock, and the type of accident that killed Absolon is exceedingly rare. Falling objects are the third-most-common cause of climbing injuries, according to data compiled by the American Alpine Club for its annual publication Accidents in North American Mountaineering. But Jed Williamson, the series's managing editor, says that most accidents occur as a result of naturally falling rock and that, of some 625 reported deaths and injuries involving falling objects since 1951, only a handful resulted from rocks being thrown.
"I just lost my husband and the father of my child, and I'm mad and sad," Molly Absolon says. "I'm struggling with this feeling that Rodolph has gotten off really lightly."
The worst case on record was a 1994 trundling incident that set off a 50-ton rockslide down the north face of 12,799-foot Granite Peak, Montana's tallest mountain. The three young climbers who did it apparently thought there wouldn't be a problem, because the north face was a difficult, less-used approach to the summit. Unfortunately, climber Tony Rich, 33, happened to be in the path of their barrage and was killed. The three were charged with negligent endangerment and received a combination of fines, community service, and jail time.
A few days after Absolon's memorial service, Fremont County district attorney Ed Newell announced that he would not file charges against Rodolph. As he saw it, this case was better suited to possible civil litigation than criminal charges. Yet he was careful not to describe Absolon's death as an accident.
"It was criminally negligent or reckless to throw the rock without first checking if anyone was below," he said. But there was no evidence that Rodolph intended harm; he simply didn't know Absolon was there. In addition, Newell noted, Rodolph had taken responsibility immediately, had been cooperative with authorities, had no prior record, and was a military veteran.
The decision distressed many of Absolon's friends. Powers believes that trundling injuries are often dealt with lightly because they happen in remote areas, but in his view that's precisely what makes them so dangerous. "If the argument is that this kind of thing happens because Pete was involved in a risk-taker's sport in a less civilized place, then I push back on both fronts," he says. "Yes, the rules are different in the backcountry: One's personal responsibility is heightened, not diminished. The frivolous tossing of a rock is even more irresponsible in the wilderness because the repercussions can be so much greater."
Not long after they came to Lander, the Absolons moved into an 1,100-square-foot log home east of town. The garage is now almost as big as the house; Pete added a climbing gym, financing the effort with $250 "membership fees" wrangled from friends. Mostly, though, it was a place where he could go to work out by himself.
"There are a lot of people who are members of that gym who have never climbed in it," Molly Absolon explains. "Almost everybody got suckered into joining."
These days, the phone rings frequently in the Absolon kitchen. Since Pete's death, Molly has been inside a tight network of family and supporters. Seeing the Leg Lake Cirque from her yard every morning triggers a wave of emotions. It's where Pete died, but it also reminds her of their last family camping trip, during which Pete and Avery sang and played games and Pete made fish chowder from the brookies that were practically jumping out of the lake.
"I remember thinking how great it was that she was comfortable in the mountains, that Pete was teaching her all this cool stuff," Molly says, sitting at the breakfast table as she talks publicly about her husband's death for the first time. "There are a lot of us who got to places we never would have gotten because he was willing to take us."
Molly had worked at NOLS herself, and she climbed mountains and skied down couloirs next to Pete. They never had "a huge conversation" about risk, but they both scaled back considerably when Avery was born. "It's the classic dilemma," she says. "This is who this person is, this is what you love about him, that's what our relationship is about. We thought we were being safe. It never, ever occurred to us that we had to worry about this—"
She breaks off. Molly shudders when she reads accounts that refer to Pete's death as a "climbing accident." Pete and Steve could have been at equal or greater risk from a thrown rock if they were hiking at the base of the cliff, she says. Such loose terminology is part of what troubles her about how the case has been handled by the authorities. "My anger at this point," she says, "is directed as much toward Ed Newell as Luke Rodolph."
Luke Rodolph on Casper Mountain (Photo: Bryce Duffy)
Newell's statement that he wouldn't press charges mentioned that he'd consulted with Molly before reaching his decision—giving many people the impression that the victim's family didn't want to see Rodolph prosecuted. But Molly says she never took a position on the matter, that she told Newell it was his call to make. "I was still in shock," she says. "It's not like I could have any kind of perspective on the act or whether Luke did it intentionally. Newell showed me some law books, how this could be construed as a criminal case. Then he went into his reasons for thinking it wasn't a good idea to pursue charges. He threw in Rodolph's military service. But the fact that he's an Iraq veteran shouldn't be any part of the decision as to whether or not this is a criminal act.
"I agree that Luke Rodolph did the right thing after he did the wrong thing," she says. "But I just lost my husband and the father of my child, and I'm mad and sad. I'm struggling with this feeling that Rodolph has gotten off really lightly."
Newell declines to go into detail about his meeting with Molly but says he never intended to imply that she didn't want to prosecute—or that her wishes, either way, would have dictated the outcome. "We always try to get with victims and get their input, but we never let them make the call," he says.
His decision was based on a combination of factors, he adds, including the sheer freakishness of the accident. Locals say the Leg Lake Cirque attracts maybe one climbing party a year. Upper Silas Canyon is a popular hiking area, but few hikers go as far as the rim. For Absolon, Herlihy, and the Rodolphs to be in the same location at the same time; for Luke Rodolph's throw to line up perfectly with Pete's route—it all seemed to defy astronomical odds. "You could give somebody a pile of a thousand rocks and tell them to try and hit a dummy on the cliff, and he just couldn't do it," Newell told me. "It's like getting hit by a meteor or something."
Molly has made no decision yet about whether to pursue a civil suit. There's some life insurance, but the family lived largely on Pete's salary, and the prospect of going forward without her husband at her side, having to redefine herself and figure out how to live, seems overwhelming. "Money is not necessarily a determining factor in pursuing a civil case," she says. "It's not the point for me. I'm mainly looking for some accountability."
Recently, Molly had a dream about Pete. He said he was "98 percent OK" but missed her and Avery. He also assured her that his death had been swift and painless. But the dream was scant comfort. "I feel like my rudder is gone," says Molly. "More than anything, I'm just so sad for Avery. Pete was so involved in her life, and I was so grateful for that."
She smiles grimly. "You should go look at the gym," she tells me. "It's hard for me to go in there."
Since Pete Absolon's death, Luke Rodolph has lived quietly in Casper. He works for his brother's landscaping service and spends a lot of time praying and trying to "stay focused on my walk with Christ." The news that he wouldn't be prosecuted was no cause for celebration.
"I don't know if it was a relief or not," he says, sitting at the kitchen table in Aaron's house, occasionally wiping away tears with his sleeve. "Sometimes you feel like you should have to pay for what you have done. At this point, I've accepted that this is what God wants. But I take full responsibility for what I did. Pete's death was my fault. I can't ever justify it."
Aaron nods solemnly. "I'll never throw another rock off a cliff," he says. "My dad told me, ‘That was an ignorant thing to do.' Whether everybody else does it or not, whether you looked or you didn't, it doesn't matter. Maybe our experience up there just makes us more guilty."
Before the memorial service near Sinks Canyon, the Rodolph brothers inquired discreetly whether they could attend and pay their respects. They were told to stay away. They haven't tried to contact Molly directly, but they did issue a public apology during an interview published in the Casper Star-Tribune. One comment Aaron made to the reporter—"You know in your heart there is nothing you can do"—didn't go over well in Lander, where a memorial fund has been set up for Avery. Aaron says he meant only that he couldn't bring Pete Absolon back to life.
"There's no way to repay Molly," Luke says, "but if she asked us to do something, I'd do my best. I'd like to tell her to her face how sorry I am and be able to offer something. But I don't want it to be seen as an attempt to cover up what I've done."
The Rodolph brothers have left several phone messages for Steve Herlihy, who hasn't spoken to either of them since the accident. Herlihy says he isn't ready to talk to the brothers yet. He's still haunted by his own relentless memories of Leg Lake, including the three words of absolution he offered Luke.
"I regret that, actually," Herlihy says, "but that's how I felt at that point. I feel some responsibility toward Luke. I don't think he did it on purpose... but I feel guilty for not hating him. I feel guilty because of Molly. I lost a guy I knew, my hero. She lost everything.
"Maybe you don't get forgiveness that easily," he adds. "Maybe I need more time. In light of everything, why couldn't he have just looked?"
From Outside Magazine, Jan 2008
Filed To: Outside ClassicsRock ClimbingLanderOutside Features
Lead Photo: Bryce Duffy
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Help to Control Rising Health-care Costs
HARRISBURG (Jan. 20, 2020) --- Pennsylvania ranks among the top draws nationally for certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and students, with 13 highly rated nurse anesthetist programs serving every corner of the commonwealth and helping to sustain one of the largest contingencies of professionals in the country.
This week marks CRNA Week in Pennsylvania, when patients, hospital administrators, health-care professionals, policy-makers, and others learn more about CRNAs and the work they do to keep patients safe and help reduce the cost of health care. The week-long celebration runs in conjunction with the 21st annual National CRNA Week from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25.
“Surgery and anesthesia can be intimidating,” said Angelarosa G. DiDonato, DNP, CRNA, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA). “That’s why it’s so important for people to understand the vital role CRNAs play as a patient advocate. We stay with our patients for every heartbeat and every breath, administering their anesthetics and watching over their vital signs. We never leave their side.”
Pennsylvania is recognized as a leader in anesthesia education and training, with 13 programs spread throughout Allegheny, Columbia, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Westmoreland and York counties. (For a full list of programs, visit www.PANAforQualityCare.com and click “Resources.”)
CRNAs are the hands-on providers of anesthesia care, operating safely in every setting where anesthesia is administered, including hospital operating and delivery rooms; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and plastic surgeons; pain management centers and more.
The nation’s 54,000 CRNAs and student registered nurse anesthetists safely and cost-effectively provide more than 49 million anesthetics each year. PANA itself represents more than 3,700 CRNAs and students across the state --- one of the largest contingencies in the country.
The role CRNAs play in Pennsylvania’s and the nation’s health-care system is expansive.
CRNAs are the main providers of anesthesia care in rural communities and medically underserved areas, delivering essential health care and preventing gaps in services. CRNAs also are battle-tested, serving on the front lines since World War I as the main providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel in austere combat theaters.
With advanced degrees and a high level of education and clinical experience, CRNAs are able to deliver the same safe, high-quality anesthesia care as other anesthesia professionals but at a lower cost, helping to control the nation’s rising health-care costs.
Because of their training and experience, numerous medical studies show there is no statistical difference in patient outcomes when a nurse anesthetist provides treatment. In fact, these studies by nationally recognized health-care policy and research organizations prove that CRNAs provide high-quality care, even for rare and difficult procedures.
That’s because CRNAs are with the patient throughout the entire procedure. Anesthesiologists, on the other hand, may have several cases to attend to simultaneously, or they may be somewhere else handling another response.
CRNAs provide routine anesthesia care but also quickly respond to patient changes and emergencies during surgical and medical procedures, ensuring patient health and safety.
For more information about certified registered nurse anesthetists in Pennsylvania, visit www.PANAforQualityCare.com or follow along on social media via Twitter at @PANACRNA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PANACRNA.
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Minister: 34,000 Karabakh residents left homeless after war
January 13, 2021 - 15:30 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Around 34,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have become homeless as a result of the six-week war unleashed by Azerbaijan in September 2020, Karabakh's Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Migration Mane Tandilyan has said, according to Factor.am.
Tandilyan said there is a need for 8-10,000 apartments to provide housing to those who have lost their homes in the war.
Some 120 settlements were ceded to Azerbaijan under a trilateral statement signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to end the hostilities in Karabakh, which means dozens of thousands of people have lost their properties and homes. Tandilyan said the Ministry will be starting a housing program and ensuring compensations to the displaced residents.
The Minister said houses and an opportunity to engage in agriculture will be provided in the regions of Askeran, Martuni, Martakert and Shushi to all those who'd like to live in those areas.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev on November 9 signed a statement to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side has returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.
Archive for January 13, 2021
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Will the proposed Asia trade pact give U.S. companies more customers?
May 14, 2015 7:47 PM EST
PBS NewsHour PBS NewsHour
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/will-asia-trade-pact-give-u-s-companies-customers
Today, the Republican-controlled Senate put President Obama's trade deal with Asia back on track, with a move that can clear the way for a final vote to give the president authority to negotiate the pact.
This week, we have spoken to leading senators and the head of a major labor union.
Now Hari Sreenivasan gets a business perspective.
HARI SREENIVASAN:
It comes from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents three million businesses and employers. It has been pushing hard for the deal.
John Murphy is a senior vice president who focuses on trade and joins me now.
So, why, in your opinion, is this a good deal for you and your members?
JOHN MURPHY, U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Well, trade has risen to the top of the agenda in Washington because it's one of the best ways we have to drive economic growth and job creation here at home.
It's already provided about a third of our economic growth over the past five years. But we hope it can do a lot more, on top of the 40 million jobs that depend on trade today, on top of the one in three acres on farms that depend on trade. But if you dig into it a little bit, you find that the playing field for American companies and the workers they employ really isn't always level.
As we're shipping goods, services around the world, we find that they often face trade barriers, tariffs that are in the double digits and other kinds of non-tariff barriers that shut out made-in-USA products.
JOHN MURPHY:
So, trade agreements are one way we have to tear down the barriers.
But one of the criticisms I'm sure you have heard over and over again, especially in the last week, is, why is this being done in such secrecy?
Today, there was an NPR that said she found the secret hallway where actually members of Congress have to keep their cell phones off. They go in. They can't take notes. If there's nothing wrong with the deal, why not just make it public?
Well, actually, the debate about trade promotion authority is in part a way to regularize how these negotiations take place.
Trade promotion authority is about ensuring that the Congress and the White House actually work together on trade. It's a commonsense notion, but one that we don't get enough of here in this city. So this bill, in addition to laying out the parameters for the White House consulting with the Congress, and the Congress holding the White House accountable, it would lay out new provisions to ensure that members of Congress can review texts.
At the end of the day, though, it's important to have a degree of confidentiality in negotiating texts. After all, a high school football coach doesn't want to share his game plan with the opposing team. You risk giving away — showing your sensitivities and your red lines. And at the end of the day, that could result in a weaker agreement that is not in the interest of American workers.
The head of a labor union on this program said the other night that 60,000 factories have closed since NAFTA, right, and that there are many parts of this agreement that are modeled on NAFTA or previous trade agreements. What kinds of protections are there for American jobs?
Well, actually, in the past 20 years, the output of American manufacturing is up by about 80 percent. American manufacturing has done quite well, and especially since the recession, we're seeing new growth. We're seeing hiring.
But there's truth in this, that American manufacturers are employing fewer workers. That's because there's been a productivity revolution. There's information technologies, increasingly sophisticated capital goods that allow them to make more products with fewer workers.
And that's a reality in the global economy today that we all have to wrestle with. What we need most of all, though, is more customers for American manufacturers, so they can make the goods here with American workers and sell them around the world.
So, there's some concern that Vietnam is not a free-market country. And sometimes the average wage there is 56 cents an hour. If I'm an American company, would I choose to make, let's say, socks for $10 an hour in the U.S. or, through this trade agreement, wouldn't I want to offshore those shows jobs into a much, much cheaper market?
Well, wages reflect productivity.
And the reality is that American wages are a lot higher because American workers are that much more productive. What we need is a level playing field. And that's why these trade agreements, by sweeping away the tariff barriers, are in the American interest. Our market's pretty much wide open. But the other markets that we face, such as Vietnam, they have tariffs in the doubling and triple digits that shut out American farm goods and manufacturing products.
And by having that level playing field, you help American workers here to ship their goods there, because we already have one-way free trade with goods coming in.
So, another concern is, is that this would give corporations a right to sue governments, not in our courts, but in these tribunals, and that sometimes the threat or the fines are so significant, that governments water down their own regulations, whether it's environmental regulations, worker protections, and that even foreign companies that work in the United States could do that to us.
You know, I think, in this debate, you're hearing concern about this because most of the American people have never heard of these things. There's a reason for that. They have been around for decades. There are thousands of — thousands of agreements around the world that have these provisions, but, in the United States, they're almost never invoked.
There have only been 17 occasions in the past four decades when anyone has brought one of these cases against the United States, and the United States has never lost a case. That's because we have rule of law here and companies use the domestic courts.
What these are most useful for, though, is when American companies are doing business abroad in countries where the rule of law isn't so strong.
So, final question for you is, whether it's on food or prescription drugs or, I should say, pharmaceuticals, there's this concern that we won't have the enforcement teeth to make sure that other countries are playing by these shared rules.
Well, that's actually an argument for the agreements, because, right now, oftentimes, we have got nothing.
These new agreements have the opportunity to write new rules that will protect the intellectual property that 40 million American jobs depend on. They will have rules to ensure that labor rights are not watered down in an interest to try and attract investment. And there's also environmental protections that are cutting new ground.
So I think, from across — across the board, that's why you see growing support.
That's why you have 65 senators voting for this today to move forward.
That's why you have the whole business community supporting it.
John Murphy, thanks so much.
PBS NewsHour from May 14, 2015
More From This Episode
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fast track authority
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BizFeed
By Joseph Fieber, PCWorld |
Smart tech advice for your small business
Do You Need a Quad-Core Mobile Device for Work?
Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor powers many of the phones and tablets on the market, and it's similar to the one found in Apple’s iPad 2. That could change soon, as Nvidia has announced its Tegra 3 quad-core processor, which makes its debut in Asustek Computer's Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet. Generally, more is better, but does your company really need a quad-core mobile device?
With a design based on the ARM Cortex-A9 processor, the Tegra 3, code-named "Project Kal-El", boosts by up to three times the graphics performance and five times the overall performance of its Tegra 2 predecessor. The graphics boost is largely due to a 12-core Nvidia GeForce GPU, which lends itself to dynamic rendering of textures and lighting in high-resolution 3D environments, and also makes possible 1080p high-profile video at 40 Mbps. Running at up to 1.3GHz, the extra horsepower comes primarily from the additional two cores, but is also helped by improving the memory bandwidth by three times and doubling the speed of the image signal processor.
Nvidia is best known for making high-end graphics cards for PCs, and the biggest use for those cards is in gaming. Popular games like Battlefield and Modern Warfare depend on a realistically rendered, highly dynamic 3D environment, which requires lots of graphics horsepower. Nvidia specializes in providing this type of equipment for the desktop and laptop, so it’s no surprise that its latest mobile chip would include these capabilities. The Tegra 3 will be the center of many multimedia and gaming devices in the near future because of this.
Asus Transformer Prime
So why should a business be interested in a Tegra 3-powered device? The performance of business-related software on the current dual-core processors is generally acceptable. There is plenty more that can be done to improve software functionality, and many of those improvements will require extra horsepower. But that will take time, so for your business today, the extra power the Tegra 3 provides is overkill.
The Kicker for Businesses
The reason businesses should pay attention to devices powered by the Tegra 3 is less about sheer power and more about power consumption. The Tegra 3 uses Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing (vSMP), which adds a fifth processor running at 500MHz. This low-power processor can be used for handling less demanding needs, such asplaying back music, viewing low graphics websites, and updating background data. When this is all that's required, the four main processors are turned off. During higher demand activities, such as viewing websites with heavy graphics, multitasking, or gaming, the main processors do the work and the fifth processor is turned off. This adds up to big battery savings--up to 61 percent, says Nvidia, which makes possible a 12-hour battery life in the just-released Transformer Prime tablet.
For many of us in business, heavy usage of a phone or tablet requires periodic charging to make it through the day. At the same time, we demand devices that are thin and light, so larger batteries aren’t an option. Though we initially didn’t see the point of a quad-core processor for mobile business devices, Nvidia’s Tegra 3 proves that more oomph doesn’t always come at the expense of battery life. There’s little doubt it will become a commonly used processor in upcoming mobile devices.
Joseph Fieber is an experienced blogger who spent 25 years as an IT pro, and has a background in computer consulting and software training. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter, or contact him through his website, JosephFieber.com.
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Progress and controversy over Wylfa nuclear plant
Horizon Nuclear Power has taken a key step forward in its plans to build a new nuclear power plant in the UK.
The Hitachi-owned company has applied to the Planning Inspectorate for permission to build the Wylfa Newydd plant on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales.
The application comes as UK Secretary of State for Business Greg Clark confirmed that Wylfa would be the next nuclear plant developed in the UK. There are also widespread claims that the government will provide a significant amount of the finance for the power station.
However this news has divided opinion: some see the plant as a key step forward in securing Britain’s energy future, while others see it as an enormous waste of money.
Horizon’s planning submission comprises 41,000 pages, 440 documents and over 400 drawings, specifying the power station and associated work the company wants to develop at the Wylfa Newydd site, as well as how it plans to go about it from a technical, logistical and social point of view.
Horizon has also submitted applications for a marine licence, operations combustion permit, operations water discharge permit and construction water discharge permit from Natural Resources Wales.
Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive at Horizon, said Greg Clark’s announcement “is fantastic news for Anglesey, the nuclear industry, and Horizon, as well as a clear signal of the Government’s commitment to delivering a low carbon future for the UK”.
“Building on last year’s regulatory acceptance of our tried and tested reactor technology, it shows real momentum behind the project which will bring huge benefits everywhere from Anglesey to Wales and the UK and Japan. Our focus now is to ensure we continue to deliver on our key project milestones as we move towards construction.”
It has been reported that a per megawatt-hour ‘strike price’ of £77.5 has been agreed for power from the power station for the duration of the project’s 60-year lifespan, and the plant is expected to start generating electricity by 2025.
News of the government’s possible financial involvement in Wylfa has been welcomed by two of Britain’s unions, Prospect and the GMB.
Prospect senior deputy general-secretary Sue Ferns said: “The government’s decision to take a direct stake in the Wylfa nuclear power plant is a sensible move that needs to be adopted for wider UK energy policy decisions to allow a low-carbon infrastructure to be fully developed.
“By taking a share in this project, the costs can be lowered, work can be directed to UK companies and the UK’s skills base can be developed.” She added that in order to capitalize on this, the government must take a similar approach to other sites such as Moorside in Cumbria, which is also the site of a planned new nuclear plant.
“Rather than choosing one energy infrastructure model over another, the government must take a broad view and recognise that other projects such as the Swansea tidal lagoon also have an important role in building energy resilience and capacity and would benefit from similar funding models.
“This decision cannot be viewed as a one-off and needed to be seen as a wider deal. There are many challenges ahead: Brexit, our climate targets and the need to renew our energy infrastructure. The energy sector needs to see this latest change as the start of a new approach.”
Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary for Energy said: “We may be witnessing an outbreak of energy policy common sense that should set a new precedent for our vital energy infrastructure projects.
“The go ahead on a new, publicly funded power station at Wylfa, and the accompanying creation of thousands of new jobs and apprenticeships, means a huge boost to the economy and reliable electricity to millions of homes.
“By government taking a stake in the new power station, the price to consumers will be greatly reduced. This makes good sense all round, not just the obvious benefits to bill payers but because government is ‘the lender of last resort’ when it comes to guaranteeing the country’s energy supply and so direct public funding of the construction does away with the nonsensical pretence that this is some other country or company’s responsibility.”
He added: “If we are to address the reality of climate change – whilst keeping our country’s lights turned on, our homes heated and our economy working – then we have to face up to the fact that we need a mix of energy which combines renewable sources, like wind and solar, with the reliable base load electricity capacity that comes from zero carbon nuclear and lower carbon gas.
“That wind and solar are intermittent shouldn’t be a point of contention, quite the contrary, but a reason why baseload zero-carbon nuclear and lower carbon gas energy sources are essential for a balanced and secure low emissions future.
Matt Rooney, Engineering Policy Adviser at the UK’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers, welcomed what he called a “step towards a firm decision on a new nuclear power station at the Wylfa Newydd site in Wales. Once built, it will provide large quantities of reliable low-carbon electricity, helping the UK meet its decarbonisation targets under the Climate Change Act.”
“Both the construction of the plant, and its operation, would provide hundreds of high-skilled engineering jobs in North Wales for decades to come. It would also bolster the long-term outlook for the nuclear manufacturing supply chain in the UK. This is especially important following the decision to leave the European Union, and the potential loss of access to the single market for nuclear good and services.
“The statement by the government that it may invest directly in electricity generation is a major development. It recognises the important role that state financing could play in reducing the cost of large-scale, low-carbon energy projects.”
However, the UK’s Solar Trade Association said the progress on Wylfa “marks a significant shift in energy policy towards explicit state investment in energy projects”.
It said this investment “will further tilt the playing field in the energy market which is already highly distorted by government interventions”.
The association says the Wylfa talks come at a time when the utility solar industry has been “waiting more than three years for access to competitive UK clean power auctions, where it can offer power at close to wholesale price. Simultaneously, rooftop solar on warehouses and factories, an application which no longer requires government subsidy, has been stalled by crippling business rate hikes.”
Solar Trade Association chief executive Chris Hewett said: “When [other under-construction UK nuclear plant] Hinkley Point C was given the green light three years ago, we pointed out that the UK solar industry could already supply clean power at half the price.
“Since then, solar prices have fallen even further, and storage technology is commercialising rapidly.
“Today solar combined with energy storage can provide low-cost, flexible power whilst supporting a smart energy pathway the government’s own analysis shows can save consumers billions of pounds.”
And Kate Blagojevic, head of Energy at Greenpeace UK, said: “The notion that new nuclear will be good value for money is farcical when it’s so much more expensive than cleaner, safer renewable alternatives that are faster to build. The economics are so weak that private investors have refused any involvement and the government is having to bail out this disastrous project before construction has even begun. This should be a red flag to the government that it is a terrible deal.”
She claimed that Hitachi and private sector investors “are all balking at the cost” of the project, and said Japanese press were reporting that the UK has agreed to step in and support the project with loans, guarantees and billions in direct investment.
She added that Greg Clark “was decidedly coy about what has already been offered to Hitachi. He seems intent on keeping the details of the deal secret for as long as possible. He needs to do more than cherry pick the bits of the National Audit Office’s advice that he likes and conduct a full and transparent review of the strategic case for nuclear, and its financing, before signing anything. If the government insists on using our money to subsidise failure, the least they can do is explain what advantage we gain, because it won’t be affordable, reliable power.”
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Bigger, better Dabhol facility is back on track
Enron`s massive Dabhol project has been watched as a `test case` for Indian power privatization, and it looks like passing marks are coming
By Ann Chambers, Assistant Editor
After long months of negotiations, the Dabhol project in India seems to be coming back on track, and with it there is a resurgence of faith in foreign investments there. A variety of cost-cutting measures have been applied to the project, allowing all participants to save face while rescuing the desperately needed electricity generation project.
Enron Corp. announced a working agreement with the state government of Maharashtra to revive the (US)$2 billion project in early January. The Houston, Texas, USA-based energy company said it will charge a lower price for the electricity and by cutting (US)$365 million in capital costs. Also, a planned regasification facility expected to cost more than (US)$400 million is being split off into a separate venture, a major part of cuts to reduce the capital budget from (US)$2.8 billion to a flat (US)$2 billion. The regasification facility will heat liquefied natural gas, transforming it into a gaseous state and will likely be built using other investors, according to Rebecca P. Mark, Enron Development Corp. chairman and CEO.
The original agreements for the Dabhol project have been criticized for a number of reasons, including: no primary local partners, no competitive bidding for equipment, no transparency in the PPA, high electricity rates, fuel management agreement, not following the two-part tariff system, and for cultural and political reasons, according to “The Future of Project Development in India in the Aftermath of Dabhol,” presented at POWER-GEN Americas(TM) in December 1995 by Vishvjeet Kanwarpal, Asia Consulting Group.
Under the new agreement, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) will pay approximately (US)5.28 cents per kWh for electricity, down from the (US)6.81 cents per kWh stipulated for the first year under the original power purchase agreement (PPA). Manohar Joshi, the state`s chief minister, estimated that the reduced rate would save customers about (US)$7 billion during the 20-year PPA. The rates are tied to the value of the US dollar, which was valued at approximately 32 rupees at this writing. The actual electricity expense could therefore vary from projections.
Technology changes were also agreed upon that are expected to boost the plant`s capacity to 2,450 MW.
The first phase of the project will run on locally produced naphtha or distillate. Naphtha is produced during the oil refining process. The second phase of the project, including the regasification facility, will be fueled by liquefied natural gas which Enron plans to bring in from Qatar.
Enron speculated at the time of the new agreement that construction would resume within 90 days.
A positive conclusion to the negotiations held as much weight for the state government as it did for the consortium building the facility, as the project has been portrayed as a test case for India`s quest for international investment.
The Dabhol project, sited approximately 100-miles south of Bombay, is still expected to earn a top return for Enron, as the company has repeatedly assured investors that it would not enter an international investment without assuring a minimum expected return, according to Carole Coale, Prudential Securities of Houston senior natural gas analyst. “Investors expect a 20-percent return on international investments,” Coale said. “Perhaps in a country like India that is not as progressive as other countries, approaching a project on such a large scale is a lot more risky than other fast-track projects.”
A 30-percent stake has been offered to the MSEB, although at the time of writing, the official documentation had not been completed. Originally Enron held an 80 percent stake in the project with Bechtel and General Electric each picking up 10 percent. Bechtel and GE`s stakes are expected to be unaffected by the MSEB offer.
Another adjustment to the original Dabhol setup is the inclusion of more Indian business, as the foreign exchange percentage has been reduced from 95 percent to 70 percent during renegotiations. Enron is to invite tenders for equipment in the second phase, with any savings from those tenders to be passed on to the tariff rate. Enron will also purchase Indian equipment for the second phase when possible. Enron is to source the naphtha for the first phase from Indian companies and will consult with the MSEB when purchasing LNG for the second phase.
Negotiations for this project began in 1992 when the Congress Party requested negotiated deals. Enron stepped up to bat with big ideas and a big purse. Lack of competitive bidding in the process was originally intended to speed the process along, but eventually became the largest bone of contention as the state government changed hands in an election, and the new government chose to cancel the project.
Construction of the first phase was in full swing, with approximately 2,200 people employed and more than (US)$300 million invested, when the cancellation occurred. The cancellation chilled other foreign investment in India. Other disputes continue as PepsiCo`s Kentucky Fried Chicken chain is under legal challenge from the groups that opposed Enron, and Coca-Cola and CNN have been reporting opposition.
India suffered under the cancellation as well, as banks began increasing risk premiums for other construction projects. Other multinational companies and outside governments, including Japan, where contracts are taken very seriously, closely watched the proceedings.
Careful, quiet negotiations allowed all parties to save face, as Enron, after several publicized political gaffes early on, solemnly insisted that it had legal recourse and offered no other comments.
“The Enron case is extremely unfortunate. But things do go wrong in democracies when parties change power,” said Frank Wisner, USA ambassador to India. “I believe the Enron project is good for India, and good for Maharashtra. There is a strong, broad consensus that India needs power, urgently.”
India began opening its economy to outside investment in 1991, pursuing multinational firms to negotiate the fast-track electricity generation projects in an attempt to get some of the much-needed electricity on-line as quickly as possible. Several projects were approved, with Dabhol the first and largest. Although there has been considerably more media coverage of the floundering Dabhol project, the others have also hit unforeseen roadblocks that have caused delays (Table 1).
The Dabhol facility and the 420-MW Ib Valley coal-fueled plant planned by AES TransPower, USA, are considered the two most advanced of the fast-track projects, holding secured financing and PPAs backed by government guarantees. The AES PPA has a guaranteed 16-percent return on investment up to a plant load factor of 68.5 percent with additional profit for additional generation.
In January, the Maharashtra government also approved Mittal`s coal-fueled 1,082-MW Bhadrawati project in Chandrapur and Reliance`s gas-fueled 410-MW Pathalganga project. The government has authorized the MSEB to sign PPAs for both projects.
Enron Development Corp. negotiated the PPA on the Dabhol project in 18 months, a government guarantee in six months and completed financing seven months later. Delay caused by the temporary cancellation has pushed the startup date back to early 1999. It had originally been slated to enter operation in mid-1997.
India projections
India appears to have reached a crossroads, as leaders struggle to realize the potential of the economy, which has been touted as capable of becoming the world`s largest in 20 to 30 years. Skeptics claim India will lag behind other, more dynamic East Asian neighbors. A key factor for India is infrastructure, including ports, power and roads.
“Unless infrastructure is expanded substantially and soon, its absence will throttle the strong and promising start that the liberalized Indian economy has made,” Wisner said.
Industry estimates project investments of (US)$30 billion will be required in the next decade in India`s power sector alone. Resources of the state-owned public sector are limited, and the growing gap between supply and demand will only be bridged by private-sector investments. The fast-track projects initiated by the governmental call for participation in 1991 and 1992 are a large step in the right direction, with the nine main projects representing more than 7,000 MW of added capacity by the turn of the century. The main projects are Dabhol from Enron, Mangalore from Cogentrix, Vishakapatnam from Ashok Leyland, Paguthan from Gujrat Torrent, Ib Valley from AES TransPower, Jegurupadu from GVK Industries, Neyveli-Zero Unit from CMS Generation, Kakinada from Spectrum Technology and Bhadrawati from Nippon Denro (Table 2).
India`s per capita consumption rests at 270-kWh annually. Demand has, however, been rising at 9-percent annually, approximately double the rate of India`s economic growth. “Lack of access to financial markets for the power sector, arising from the poor finances of the state electricity boards (SEB), their weak track-record of meeting payment obligations and the lack of credit rating for international financial markets, are creating obstacles for private investment in power generation,” according to the US Department of Commerce`s National Trade Data Bank.
India`s current installed capacity of more than 80,000 MW needs to double in the next 10 to 15 years to accommodate rising demand, estimated to be growing by 9 percent annually. Installed capacity already falls 20 to 30 percent short of peak demand. Demand is projected to escalate past 90,000 MW by 2000. Approximately 85 percent of India`s estimated 579,000 villages are electrified, with agricultural and residential users subsidized.
Coal is the predominant fuel in India, accounting for more than 70 percent of the generating capacity. However, shortages, transportation delays, and low thermal quality of coal supplies can disrupt generation and reduce average plant load factors. Average plant load factor for thermal plants in 1994 was 61 percent.
As new capacity is added, there is a drive to diversify the technologies and fuels involved with proposed projects estimated at 47 percent coal, 27 percent hydroelectric, 22 percent gas, 3 percent diesel and 1 percent all others (Figure 1).
Transmission and distribution losses are high, at 20 to 23 percent. SEBs generate and distribute power, set tariffs and collect revenues. Private investors often have reservations because they cannot control output prices, nor distribution and revenue collection. The SEBs are known to suffer from chronic financial problems stemming from rising generation costs, subsidies for agricultural electricity use, and nonpayment of electric bills.
One aspect of the answer to the chronic electricity shortage includes increases in use of energy efficient devices, especially in the steel, chemical and process industries, which are the largest electricity consumers. The potential to conserve generated power is estimated at 20 to 30 percent of total energy consumption, about 5,000-MW annually.
A US National Trade Data Bank report projects a strong market for energy efficient furnaces for the steel industry and for efficient pumps and electrical resistors for the chemical and process industries. Energy efficient lighting devices and energy demand management techniques are also thought to have a strong market. “The market potential for distribution transformers, capacitors and other energy-saving devices to minimize losses is excellent,” the Data Bank report stated. Most promising sub-sectors in 1996 and their associated estimated expenditures are listed as: power transmission equipment, (US)$418 million; energy efficient pumps, $375 million; capacitors, $350 million; and incandescent bulbs, $150 million.
The erratic power supply has affected industrial growth throughout the country as manufacturers and large service companies are forced to install back-up diesel generating units and voltage regulators to protect sensitive electronic equipment. Indian industrial output is expected to grow 10 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1996, a jump from 8 percent in the previous fiscal year.
The economic reforms, instituted under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, have made impressive advances, with exports growing by 27-percent annually, industrial output up more than 8 percent, and inflation reduced to single digits. After mortgaging its gold in 1991 to evade bankruptcy, India now has foreign currency reserves exceeding (US)$20 billion.
India`s struggle to meet the electricity and other infrastructure demands of its populace seems to be back on-line as the kinks are coming out of the fast-track electricity-generating facility agreements. The much-needed infrastructure to support the industrialization of the nation is beginning to come together as the multinational companies and the various state governments learn to communicate with each other and to understand that the needs of business and the needs of society can be mutually beneficial.
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A River and Longing At The Third Place Gallery
The Third Place Gallery is an urban living room for guest artists, social conversation, karaoke, and ping pong. Micheal Hoyt is releasing his new graphic novel, A River and Longing at the Third Place Gallery in November of 2018.
Business Reflections is a series of visual and written stories of the local businesses community in Powderhorn Park neighborhood in Minneapolis, MN.
The Third Place Gallery invites you to the release of A River and Longing, the first self-published graphic novel by artist Michael Hoyt. A composite story spanning multiple generations, it explores individuals' lived experiences with domestic and international adoption, ambiguous loss, and how fragmented pasts and presents intertwine to build meaning towards healing and reconciling a life of longing together. Original artwork from the novel will be on display and available for purchase for accessible prices, along with copies of the graphic novel. All proceeds will help offset publication costs, so please come out and support this independent project! Michael wears many artistic hats-an accomplished painter and installation artist, who also has produced, managed, and directed arts-based community projects and youth development programs for over 20 years. Mike will discuss the making of this project and its impacts on his personal life and his artistic career. A River and Longing 28 interior pages, black & white with color accents. 8.5" x 11," saddle stitched. Fall 2018. Cover art and all contents by Michael Hoyt. Copyright © Michael Hoyt. All rights reserved. When Friday, November 9th, 7 - 9 pm (followed by karaoke!) Where Third Place Gallery, 3730 Chicago Ave South, Studio B, Mpls, MN 55407
Follow the event on Facebook.
Thank you to the City of Minneapolis for their support of Business Reflections through the Great Streets Program.
#BusinessReflections #38thChicago #TheThirdPlaceGallery
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8/15/20: BLOG- A New Low in Negative Campaign Ads
7/19/20: BLOG- My Pledge to the People of Okaloosa County
July 2020: Ramswell Review- One Day at a Time
6/29/2020: Blog: Opposition to opening embayments: Audio from workshop
12/10/19: Ramswell Review- Good Tidings We Bring
7/15/2019: Ramswell Review - It's About Community
Senate President Gaetz Appoints Ramswell, Rice, Bagby to Lead US Senate's Florida Is For Veterans, Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2014
CONTACT: Katherine Betta, (850) 487-5229
Tallahassee —Florida Senate President Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) today appointed three Northwest Florida community leaders to serve as the Senate’s first appointees to Florida Is For Veterans, Inc., a nonprofit corporation created by the Florida GI Bill and responsible for strengthening Florida's standing as the most military-friendly state in the nation.
Florida Is For Veterans, Inc. is tasked with promoting Florida as a veteran-friendly state to retired and recently separated military personnel; promoting the value of military skill sets to businesses in the state; facilitating workforce training to veterans to meet the needs of employers; and to enhance the entrepreneurial skills of veterans. The corporation is governed by a 9-member board of directors. The President, the Speaker, and the Governor each appoint three members to four-year appointments.
The Florida GI Bill, of which Florida Is For Veteran’s, Inc. was a key component, was signed in to law on March 31, 2014, and took effect on July 1. A pillar of the joint House and Senate “Work Plan Florida 2014” agenda authored by President Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel), the Florida GI Bill seeks to establish Florida as the top “Welcome Home” state for military families and retirees by expanding education and career development opportunities for those who have served in the nation's armed services.
"In Florida, we know that our military bases and missions are critical to the nation's security and Florida's economy," President Gaetz said. "We also know military members, their spouses, their children and retirees from all services add strength, character, diversity and quality to our communities, our neighborhoods and our schools. The three appointees the Senate has chosen to oversee and guide Florida's military-friendly policies are exactly the kind of people Florida wants to attract. As persons who have served their country and as successful and contributing leaders in their communities, Prebble Ramswell, Tom Rice and Jim Bagby know what Florida must continue and what we must improve in order to reach out to military families nation-wide."
Florida Is For Veterans, Inc. will be administratively housed at the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA). The corporation will promote the value of military skill sets to businesses in Florida and assist in training veterans via the VETS program. Florida is for Veterans, Inc. will receive $300,000 from VISIT Florida for market research on the veteran and military communities and advise VISIT Florida in the development and implementation of a marketing campaign encouraging veterans and service members to make Florida their permanent residence.
The VETS program, housed at Florida Is For Veterans, Inc., is a workforce training program that caters to the unique training needs of veterans. This program is structured to serve as a hub where employers can be connected with veterans looking for jobs. Training that is needed to fulfill workforce needs can be funded through the VETS program. The program also provides services, such as resume building and helping veterans translate military training into civilian workforce skills. As part of the VETS program, Florida Is For Veterans, Inc., will contract with one or more university systems to establish entrepreneurial training programs for veterans to help them start small businesses in the state.
The three Senate appointees will also advise the Senate President on additional ways to attract and support military families and retirees.
Prebble Ramswell
Prebble Ramswell is a former intelligence officer specializing in counter-terrorism operations. She and her husband, Tony, met while both were working for the Central Intelligence Agency. Tony, formerly with British Special Forces, is a director of the Special Operations School at Hurlburt Field in Okaloosa County. The couple has one daughter, Briar, a second grader at Destin Elementary School.
Mrs. Ramswell was a Division I swimmer and sports journalist prior to her CIA service. She previously held positions with USA Swimming, Rice University, Stanford University and the Houston Chronicle. In 2014, she was elected to a four-year term on the Destin City Council. She is an open-water rescuer with the Destin Fire Control District and an instructor with the Destin Junior Lifeguard Program.
She earned Bachelors’ Degrees in Psychology, Sociology and Political Science from the University of Houston. Her Masters Degree in Social Sciences/Psychology is from Texas Christian University and she is currently working to complete a PhD in Political Science and International Development.
The Ramswells reside in Indian Bayou in Destin.
Tom Rice
Tom Rice, Fort Walton Beach, retired from the United States Army as a first sergeant and has served as an advocate for our nation’s veterans in a variety of capacities. He is chairman of the Veteran’s Tribute Tower Organization and its work at Beal Memorial Cemetery and as a board member of the Fisher House of the Emerald Coast Board which provides housing and other help for veterans in need. Mr. Rice is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans. He also serves on Senator Marco Rubio’s Service Academy Nomination Board.
Tom Rice is the owner and chef of The Magnolia Grill of Ft. Walton Beach, which he and his wife Peggy Starkey Rice opened in 1996. In 2004, the Magnolia Grill received Florida’s Good Neighbor Award from the National Restaurant Association and was the Greater Ft. Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year. Mr. Rice has been recognized nationally for his humanitarian work and his leadership of causes to help veterans and their families.
Mr. and Mrs. Rice have one daughter, Meghan Rice Gordon, who is a graduate of Auburn University and served as a legislative aide to President Gaetz prior to beginning work at the United Methodist Church of Niceville.
Jim Bagby
Jim Bagby, one of Northwest Florida's most respected tourism officials, served in the United States Army for 24 years in a variety of operational and staff assignments throughout the world. His military career began when he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He later earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Western Kentucky University.
Following a decade of service as town manager of Rosemary Beach, Florida, Jim was named executive director of the Walton County Tourist Development Council. He also served two terms on the Destin City Council until he was term limited in 2014. He currently serves on the Walton County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and as a lector and Eucharistic minister at Resurrection Catholic Church.
Mr. Bagby and his wife, Jennie, live in Destin and have two daughters: Sara who lives in New York City and works for MasterCard; and Jennifer, who is a recent graduate of New York University.
"Northwest Florida is rich in retired military personnel, from flag rank to enlisted members," Senate President Gaetz said. "I'm pleased the Senate and our region will be represented by three leaders who know what it is like to raise families, pursue education and plan for future job opportunities while pursuing careers in the service of their country. The purpose of the Florida GI Bill is to attract more families like the Ramswells, the Rices and the Bagbys."
The Florida Defense Support Task Force charged with advocating for our military bases, missions and jobs, also includes Northwest Floridians appointed by the Senate President and House Speaker: Judge Patt Maney, State Representatives Matt Gaetz and Jimmy Patronis, Dr. David L. Goetsch, John B. McDonald, Jr., Tom Neubauer, and Dr. Ed Naggiar.
For more information about this or any other issue, please contact Senator Don Gaetz, by e-mail at gaetz.don.web@flsenate.gov, by letter, 4300 Legendary Drive, Suite 230, Destin, FL 32541 or call 1-866-450-4DON toll free from anywhere in Florida.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Media/PressReleases/Show/1834
ramswell destin city council senate florida prebble
My Pledge to the People of Okaloosa County
Reelection Campaign Kickoff!
Negative Ads- A New Low?
$25000 reward
Alex Ayers
FBAE
Family Business for Affordable Energy
Gulf Power
Nic Allegretto
Norriego Point
Prebble
Public Beach Access
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audio candidate forum ocrec
audio video radio prebble ramswell destin city council
bed tax
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destin high school
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early voting results absentee
envision destin
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gaetz accountability destin ramswell okaloosa
garea
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occupancy limits
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ramswell office councilwoman city elected reflects
save our island
threat letter
tourist development
trident-operations city vote settlement
who wrote the letter
I Oppose Opening Any of the Embayments... and here is why:
Destin High School, Inc. announces Mascot Contest
Destin High School, Inc. submits application to OCSD
Driving on the Beach in Destin? Legal or Not?
Disregard for Rules as Public's Expense (Literally)
"Destin Conservatives" = Destin Developers Who Seek Higher, Denser
Ramswell Email Exchange with FBAE Concerning Allegations of Slander
Ask Questions and Demand Answers - Misadventures, Mistruths, Misconceptions
The Ramswell Review
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prebble@prebbleramswell.com
Paid for and approved by Prebble Q Ramswell for Destin City Council.
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Premium AEROTEC and Lockheed Martin Collaborating on Additive Manufacturing
Premium AEROTEC and Lockheed Martin signed an agreement today during the Paris Air Show to explore opportunities to implement Premium AEROTEC’s additive manufacturing processes into the F-35 Lighting II Program.
Premium AEROTEC and Lockheed Martin will collaborate to identify candidate parts in the F-35 aircraft that could be manufactured with additive manufacturing techniques with the target of improving efficiencies and further reducing costs as the F-35 reaches full rate production and sustainment of the operational fleet.
“We are excited to work with Lockheed Martin”, says Premium AEROTEC CEO Thomas Ehm. “This collaboration is a first step for our company into the important US defense market. Furthermore it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of Premium AEROTEC’s leading edge 3D-printing products and processes in combination with state of the art combat aircraft technology.”
“We see tremendous opportunity for additive manufacturing to further reduce costs, enhance quality and improve speed across the F-35 enterprise,” said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. “F-35 production includes the most advanced manufacturing techniques of any fighter jet in the world and partnering with companies like Premium AEROTEC, we will continue to integrate additional automation and additive manufacturing techniques that will ensure we’re always delivering on our cost, quality and efficiency goals.”
With stealth technology, advanced sensors, supersonic speed, weapons capacity and superior range, the F-35 is the most lethal, survivable and connected aircraft in the world. More than a fighter jet, the F-35's ability to collect, analyze and share data, is a powerful force multiplier that enhances all airborne, surface and ground-based assets in the battlespace enabling men and women in uniform to execute their mission and return home safely.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
For further information see: http://www.lockheedmartin.com
About Premium AEROTEC
Premium AEROTEC is the first component manufacturer in the world to supply 3D- printed components made out of titanium alloys for serial aircraft production. Premium AEROTEC is a global player in the aviation industry and achieved a turnover of € 2 billion in 2018. Its core business is the design and construction of aircraft structures in metal and carbon fibre composite material. The company has sites in Augsburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Nordenham and Varel in Germany as well as Braşov in Romania. Premium AEROTEC employs around 10,000 people in total.
Further information is available at www.premium-aerotec.com
Barbara Sagel
+49 (0)821 801 63779
communications (at) premium-aerotec.com
Carolyn Nelson
F-35 Communications
carolyn.nelson (at) lmco.com
+1 817/763-2643 (office)
+1 682/215-9699 (mobile)
Department of Communication and Political Relations
Phone: +49 (0) 821 801 637 70
Press release as PDF
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Former actress launches campaign against breast cancer
By Christabel Abiodun |
Juliet Aguwa, who was a victim of cancer herself, wants to help women suffering from breast cancer
Former Nollywood actress, Juliet Aguwa, has returned from her base in America, to continue her fight against breast cancer in Nigeria.
The mother of two who, survived the pangs of cancer, after being diagnosed of aggressive breast cancer stage 3c in 2008, says she intends to reach out to under-privileged African women undergoing the painful trauma caused by the disease.
Through her Courage to Dare Foundation, Aguwa who appeared in drama series like Twist Away, and Memorial Hospital, before relocating to the US to study, says she will begin a Breast Cancer Awareness programme in Imo State, later in the month.
“It will be the first ever event of its kind in Imo State and is at the insistence of the First lady of Imo, Nkechi Okorocha,” Aguwa said.
Narrating her experience as a survivor, Aguwa says, “these days, I feel as though breast cancer gave me a new life. Before I had breast cancer, I worked hard on being a mother and a wife, and I think one of the things I neglected most was me.”
The former actress who said she was ready to return to the film industry said she was “going to keep talking about breast cancer because people have to know that being diagnosed with the disease doesn’t mean that they are going to die.”
“With early detection and quick action, they can survive breast cancer.”
Aguwa will kick off her campaign on August 12 by meeting with breast cancer patients at Ahiazu, Mbaise, Imo State. She will also be at the Umuozu Development Union on August 16 and Umuovum Ulakwo L.G.A a day after.
Time and CNN suspend Fareed Zakaria for plagiarism
Boko Haram: Residents flee Damaturu as prices crash
Whistleblower files lawsuit against tobacco foundation
Three Nigerian artists to unveil graffiti wall murals
Mitt Romney gaffes in naming Congressman Ryan as running mate
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Notts weekly forces NHS care trust to end secret meetings
A weekly paper has stopped an NHS Primary Care Trust from holding secret meetings after giving a warning that it could be breaking the law.
Journalists at the Newark Advertiser, in Nottinghamshire, had been concerned for several weeks that they were not getting proper access to meetings of Newark and Sherwood Primary Care Trust.
The issue came to a head when the trust excluded the press from a session that decided not to grant a second pharmacy licence for the village of Balderton.
According to the Advertiser, people in the growing village were of the opinion they did need a second chemist.
With support from the Newspaper Society’s legal department, the Advertiser told the trust it was acting unlawfully and ignoring guidelines laid down by the Secretary of State for Health.
At the body’s next public meeting, trust chief executive David Sharp announced that he had seen the error of his ways.
According to the paper, Sharp said: “All credit to the Advertiser. It does a fantastic job for its readers. I have a lot of time for the Advertiser for helping us in these sort of issues.”
He said that he felt the trust had acted lawfully, but admitted to “operational issues” and promised that future meetings would be open to the public. Sharp also promised that agendas for meetings to which the public are excluded will be circulated in future.
The trust has also decided to review its decision not to grant a second pharmacy licence for Balderton.
Advertiser editor Harry Whitehouse said: “We have expressed ourselves in a very forthright manner in our dealings with the trust over this issue.
“I am pleased that Mr Sharp has reacted to that pressure in such a constructive manner and I trust that no further prodding will be necessary.
Unfortunately, many people involved in local government and assorted quangos are far more reluctant to acknowledge that the press has a constructive role to play in monitoring their activities.”
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH GUIDELINES REGARDING TRUSTS
Under Department of Health guidelines, NHS trusts are expected to conduct business in as open a manner as possible.
According to a government guidance note, quoted in McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists: “Closed sessions should be limited to those areas where real harm to individuals may result.”
Meetings of NHS trusts are governed by the Public Bodies Act 1960, which states that the public must be admitted to their meetings and to committees that include all the members of the body.
The act states that the public can be excluded “whenever publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest because of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted, or for other special reasons stated in the resolution”.
Complaints about access should first be made to a senior trust officer and then to the Health Service Ombudsman.
By Dominic Ponsford
Rhino mag plans to hold a launch party every month
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A celebration of horse racing featuring jockey, trainer and horse profiles
Don't Push It
Don’t Push It was a bay gelding, owned by John Patrick “J.P.” McManus and trained by Jonjo O’Neill at Jackdaws Castle in Gloucestershire, who won eight of his 28 races under National Hunt Rules and over £750,000 in total prize money. However, the son of top-class jumps sire Old Vic etched his name into the annals of racing history when, on April 10, 2010, he put in a faultless round of jumping to win the Grand National under A.P. McCoy.
Don’t Push It was backed into 10/1 joint favourite, from 20/1, on the day of the race, but McManus – nicknamed the ‘Sundance Kid’ because of his betting exploits – said, “I noticed his odds had come in before the race but I didn’t back him, I was just happy to see him deliver the goods.”
In a race run at an end-to-end gallop, Don’t Push It made headway from mid-division to track the leaders heading out into the country for the second time and, by the time the bold-jumping Black Apalachi took over from the long-time leader Conna Castle at Becher’s Brook on the second circuit, only a handful of horses were left with a realistic chance of winning. Two of them, Big Fella Thanks and Hello Bud, weakened from the second last fence, at which Don’t Push It took second place. He took the lead at the last and stayed on well from the famous “Elbow” to beat Black Apalachi by 5 lengths, with State Of Play, who snatched third place from Big Fella Thanks close home, a further 20 lengths away.
In so doing, he became the first Grand National winner for A.P. McCoy after fifteen attempts. The perennial champion jockey – who retired in April, 2015, with a record 4,358 winners and was knighted in the New Year's Honours in 2016 – said afterwards, “The National is the people’s race and to have won it at last is really special.”
Jonjo O’Neill, who was also winning the race for the first time, later reflected on the occasion, saying, “I think we’ll always remember the magical day he won the Grand National as it was one of the greatest afternoons in the life of myself, J.P. and A.P. as we had all been trying to win the race for so many years.”
Posted by G at 14:50 No comments:
Labels: horses
Jamie Spencer
Jamie Spencer is an experienced flat racing jockey, who is still currently plying his trade on the UK flat racing circuit. Born in the Spring of 1980 in Tipperary, he was to date won 4 major classic races with two in his home country of Ireland and two in the UK. Spencer has something of trademark for riding his horses sensibly until the critical moment and then kicking for home, using the sprint to great effect.
Racing has long since been in Jamie Spencer’s blood, as his father was a successful National Hunt trainer by the name of George Spencer, who most notably trained the 1963 Champion Hurdle winner, Winning Fair. Despite the family connection to the sport, the young Jamie Spencer was not involved until late in his childhood years.
When he did start however, he made up for lost time quickly, claiming the first of his classic triumphs on Tarascon in the Irish 1,000 Guineas in 1997. When he did so, he made history, as the youngest jockey ever to win a classic race, before going on to become Ireland’s champion apprentice the next year, riding to 46 victories.
Aidan O’Brien
Spencer’s talents hadn’t gone unnoticed and it led to a short stint as stable jockey at Ballydoyle for Aidan O’Brien. Despite only being in that role for a short time, he managed to become Irish flat racing Champion Jockey for 2004, riding 93 winners.
The success continued for Jamie Spencer after parting ways with O’Brien, as he moved to Britain shortly after to become flat racing Champion Jockey on the British circuit in 2005, riding a not too inconsiderable amount of 180 winners.
Repeat Success
Spencer’s next achievement of note was reclaiming the Britain Champion Jockey mantle in 2007, sharing the honours with Seb Sanders. It was a thrilling season, with Spencer only drawing level with Sanders on 190 winners in the very last race of the season.
Jamie Spencer went on to ride again for Aiden O’Brien, this time as a joint shareholder in Fame and Glory and Cape Blanco. It was to prove a successful reunion, as he rode Fame And Glory to the 2011 Ascot Gold Cup.
Jamie seemingly called time on his racing career in 2014, when he cited ‘family reasons’ for walking away to take up a consultancy role with Qatar Racing, but the pull of the saddle would prove too much and he returned to racing soon after. By 2017, he’d managed to clock up 2,000 winners, becoming one of only 4 active jockeys ever to do so and with Spencer still only 38 years of age, there’s still time for him to add to his already impressive tally.
Labels: jockeys
For the latest racing news and info go to race days
Want a breakdown of every UK racecourse and regular horse profile updates? Then Horses and Courses is the site for you!
A look at many of the UKs most beloved Racing Festivals and big races. International races too
Some people enjoy betting on outsiders, other like to Bet on favourites.
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You are here: Home / News / 1,558,252 Iowans voted in 2012 General Election
1,558,252 Iowans voted in 2012 General Election
November 7, 2012 By O. Kay Henderson
The state official in charge of elections says it appears voter turnout in Iowa is higher than it was in the last presidential election, setting a new record.
There may be some additional absentee ballots counted this week that had been postmarked before Election Day, but the current tally indicates about 12-thousand more people voted in Iowa this year compared to four years ago. Secretary of State Matt Schultz says that represent a sizable share of eligible voters.
“That’s about 72 percent right now,” Schultz says, “so it is a slight increase above 2008.”
There have never been more votes cast in Iowa — 1,558,252 Iowans voted in the 2012 General Election. But Iowa’s record in terms of the percentage of eligible voters casting ballots came in 1992 when Bill Clinton was challenging then-President George H.W. Bush. Just over 80 percent of registered voters participated in the 1980 election.
This year, about 43 percent of all Iowa votes were cast before Election Day.
“Clearly the ground game of getting early votes was tremendous this year,” Schultz says.
Nearly a third of the early votes came from Republicans; 26 percent came from independent or “no-party” voters, but the rest — 42 percent of all early votes — came from Democrats.
“So clearly Democrats really turned out heavily with their early vote and it showed in their late night totals,” says Schultz, a republican who was elected in 2010.
President Obama won 52 percent of the vote in Iowa compared to Mitt Romney’s 46 percent.
Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt, Top Story Tagged With: Democratic Party, Republican Party
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Clarence Davis - All-Time Roster - History | Raiders.com
Clarence Davis
Position: RB
The Raiders selected Davis in the 4th round of the 1971 NFL Draft out of USC. He played in 88 games with 31 starts and gained 3,640 yards on 804 carries and 26 TDs. He gained 137 yards on 16 carries in the Raiders 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI. Davis caught 99 passes for 865 yards and 2 TDs during the regular season in his career. However, his most famous catch came in a 1974 playoff game against the Miami Dolphins as he caught a desperation pass from QB Kenny Stabler for a touchdown in a "Sea of Hands." Davis also returned 79 kickoffs for 2,140 yards. He is the 9th leading rusher in team history and 6th leading kickoff returner.
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Raiders 50th Season Micro-Site
The Oakland Raiders - The Team of the Decades - recently launched a micro-site commemorating the 50th season of Raiders football.
The web site is available at www.raiders50thseason.com and includes many features commemorating the 50th season of Raiders football including photo galleries and videos showcasing great moments in team history. The site also includes merchandise and ticket promotions.
The Oakland Raiders, one of the eight original American Football League teams, will participate in four Legacy Games this season: at home against the San Diego Chargers on September 14, New York Jets on October 25, Kansas City Chiefs on November 15, and at the Dallas Cowboys on November 26. For each of these Legacy games the Raiders will don their historic uniforms from the 1963 season.
The American Football League, which merged with the NFL in 1970, played its first season in 1960 with eight teams. The original eight AFL teams were the Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs (played as the Dallas Texans), New England Patriots (played as the Boston Patriots), New York Jets (played as the Titans of New York), San Diego Chargers (played as the Los Angeles Chargers), and Tennessee Titans (played as the Houston Oilers). The Miami Dolphins became the ninth AFL franchise and played their first game in 1966. The Cincinnati Bengals followed as the 10th AFL team playing their first game during the 1968 season.
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LESLIE & SCOOTER
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Surrey RCMP awards recognize exceptional contributions to public safety
By Vanessa YbarraJune 24, 2019Community
On Friday, June 21st, the Surrey RCMP held its annual Officer in Charge Awards recognizing outstanding contributions made to public safety in Surrey by police officers, employees, community partners, and civilians. Recipients were honoured for their courageous efforts and decisive actions, as well as their investigational excellence and innovative problem-solving.
“The large number of recipients this year is indicative of the quality of officers, staff and civilians that police and live in Surrey,” says Surrey RCMP Officer in Charge, Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald. “I believe it is important to pause and recognize the contributions our officers and staff make, as well as the civilians who lend a hand when someone is in trouble. Much of the work being recognized goes largely unnoticed, but it is ultimately these efforts that keep our communities safe. I am very proud of all of this year’s award recipients and grateful for their service, bravery and commitment to community.”
In total, 65 awards were handed out, recognizing 376 people.
Surrey resident Karampal Sahota was one of six civilians presented with an award. Mr. Sahota was recognized for assisting police in locating the suspect of a pedestrian hit and run that claimed a woman’s life. He and his wife, along with another civilian, followed the suspect and reported his direction of travel which allowed for a quick arrest by police.
“I did what any decent person would have done,” said Mr. Sahota, whose wife was pregnant at the time. “I wish the outcome would have been better, but if I had a choice, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I would have hated to see someone like that get away.”
Constable Attila Szalay was recognized for his efforts in recognizing and apprehending an armed, wanted homicide suspect out of Washington state at local Surrey hospital.
“Thankfully we have scenarios just like this built into our training,” said Cst. Szalay when asked what he was thinking as he approached the suspect. “At some point, your training kicks in and takes over. I’m honoured to be recognized, but more proud of the combined efforts that led to this arrest.”
Other awards handed out included those for comprehensive investigations into drug trafficking, firearms possession, and sexual assault; life saving measures; operational tools and techniques developed to enhance service delivery; and community outreach initiatives that provided continued support to victims and clients.
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Reading FC fans set to return for home game against Nottingham Forest
Reading FC fans set to return for home game against Forest
By Matt Joy @MattJoy96 Reporter
2,000 Reading FC fans are set to be welcomed back to the Madejski Stadium for the home game against Nottingham Forest at the beginning of next month.
It has been confirmed that the town has been placed into Tier 2 of the new post-lockdown tier system, meaning that up to 2,000 Royals supporters will be able to return.
The Forest game on December 5 will be the first game in RG2 that has seen supporters in almost 300 days, with Reading fans last being allowed through the turnstiles back at the start of March for the FA Cup game against Premier League side Sheffield United.
No elite football club falls within a Tier 1 area, which is currently only in place in the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall.
As a result, no club will have a 4,000 capacity - which is the maximum amount that is allowed under the current guidelines.
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My 12 Films
I do not claim any extraordinary artistic merits or intellectual depth for any of these films. I love movies, but I also love detective novels, jazz, and Rogers and Hart songs without claiming that any of them is art in the sense of high art. These are movies I have seen several times and will probably see once or twice again, if I live long enough. Most of them, while being tremendously entertaining, have a serious point, though the directors and writers rarely beat the viewer over the head with the moral.
I have deliberately omitted some of my favorites, such as John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Tod Browning’s Dracula, John Ford’s The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and many others, Fellini’s 8 and 1/2, and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, both because I would be telling you what you already knew or because other people of good taste would be recommending them.
I am including a film that is to me as obviously significant as any I have mentioned. It is a flawed favorite of mine, famous in its day, which makes my general point about film: Sullivan’s Travels. When I first saw it, I was reminded of a time in San Francisco, when, down and out with neither job nor place to stay, I spent one of my last dollars at the Powell Street Theater watching A Night at the Opera. As I walked out still laughing, I realized I’d be happy to try to get a job waiting tables at a retirement hotel that had an opening.
Sullivan’s Travels (1941) was directed by Preston Sturges, the nearest thing to a full-fledged auteur that Hollwyood ever produced. Sturges started out as a writer, moved into directing, then even became producer. Men of genius-—like Sturges or Buster Keaton—-are hated in Hollywood, and when studio hacks recut Unfaithfully Yours and the film did not make money, Sturges was ridiculed. He washed his hands of Hollwyood.
Sullivan’s Travels is a morality play about the Hollywood film industry that takes itself all too seriously. A successful Hollywood director of comedies (Joel McCrea) decides that the serious times of the Depression require serious films. One improbable accident follows another, and the ambitious director finds himself in a prison work camp. Exhausted, he and the other prisoners are treated to movie night and find themselves laughing themselves sick watching a Disney cartoon. Travels is not as excruciatingly funny as the Palm Beach Story or as ruthless as the Lady Eve or The Great McGinty, Sullivan’s Travels remains one of the best movies ever made about movies.
Four Faces West (1948). Directed by the prolific and humdrum Alfred E. Green and written by Hollywood hacks C. Graham Baker and Teddi Sherman, this entertaining movie fails to do justice to "Pasó Por Aquí," Eugene Manlove Rhodes’ beautiful short novel about the not-so-old West. Fortunately, whatever weaknesses are in the film are more than made up for by by the stars: husband and wife Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, and Charles Bickford (as Sheriff Pat Garret).
Interestingly Rhodes, as a wild young man shooting off his revolver within the town limits, had been pistol-whipped by Sheriff Garret (the killer of Billy the Kid). Rhodes spent a good part of his life resenting Garret, but his portrayal of the wise and humane sheriff is a testimonial both to Garret’s real character and to Rhodes’s maturity. Bickford’s performance is entirely convincing.
To save his father’s ranch, the amiable McCrae robs a store and goes on the lam, only to be rescued by Frances Dee. Joel McCrea was never much of an actor, perhaps because he was too real and decent a human being to play such games. McCrea was perhaps the most normal American ever to have been a film star. Raised on a farm, McCrea only wanted one thing out of Hollywood: to make enough money to run his ranch. When I once observed to a WW II combat veteran that he had stayed married to one woman, the vet said, you’d have stayed married too, if your wife was Frances Dee.
My Man Godfrey (1936). Gregory La Cava’s finest movie stars William Powell and Carol Lombard, and is probably the best film either one of those actors made. It is Hollywood’s Answer to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, with Godfrey (William Powell) playing the aristocrat who forces the members of a dysfunctional family to grow up. It is La Cava at his zany best, and, despite a few lapses into moralizing, it gives real insights into the imbecility of America’s monied classes.
Roberta (1935). Directed by William Seltzer—best known for his Laurel and Hardy films--Roberta, based on a hit Broadway show, is one of the best musicals ever produced by Hollywood. The absurd plot makes Randolph Scott the heir to his aunt’s fashion design business in Paris. Scott is business manager for Fred Astaire’s band, “The Indianans,” mistakenly hired by a Parisian nightclub owner who thinks they are Redskins. When Scott inherit’s Aunt Roberta’s business, Fred decides to become a creative genius in fashion design, and his inept designs almost destroy the business.
Roberta plays off the serious romantic couple—Scott and Irene Dunne—against the comedic pair of Astaire and a phony countess played by Ginger Rogers. Dunne and Scott make a great romantic couple, as anyone who has seen My Favorite Wife already knows. The plot is fun, but the brilliance of the film lies in the songs by Jerome Kern and (mostly) Dorothy Canfield: "Let’s Begin," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Lovely to Look At," "I Won’t Dance"-—all performed with great vivacity by Fred and Ginger. Hollwyood has scarcely ever done anything better. This is America’s best answer to The Marriage of Figaro, an opera I cannot see without wishing I could leave the audience and step into the 18th century. Yes, I know, this says almost as much about America as it does about Wodehouse’s pal and collaborator, "Mr. Kern," as they always called him in the business.
Out of the Past (1947), perhaps the greatest of the films noirs, was directed by the under-appreciated Jaques Tourneur and starred Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. The moral catastrophe Mitchum brings on himself in the shape of a femme fatale is as inexorable as anything in Thomas Hardy. The young Mitchum is at his uncharacteristically understated best, and Jane Greer, who from everything one can hear was a genuinely nice and moral person, plays the wickedest woman in the history of film. Don Siegel directed an amusing rematch of the stars--The Big Steal—which is also very much worth seeing.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). This classic horror movie was an early masterpiece from Don Siegel. Its tale of normal Americans being turned into pod people without human feelings scared the pants off me when I was 12 years old: I dared not close my eyes lest I should fall asleep and lose my soul. The film is a less pretentious parallel with Ionesco’s Rhinocerus and Karl Capek’s War With the Newts, both of which touch on the same theme of dehumanization. Over 60 years later, observing the descent of Americans into watchers of reality TV and consumers of TV news, I am even more terrified. Siegel went on to make Dirty Harry, The Shootist, and several other good cops-and-robbers movies, but this inexpensive early flick shows what a real director can do even without money or stars.
I Vitelloni (1953), is chosen almost at random from my favorite films of Federico Fellini, which include Lo Sceicco Bianco, Luci della Varietà, 8 and 1/2, and Il Bidone. The “vitelloni” of the title are over-grown calves, who grew up during WW II and its aftermath and cannot seem to get on with their lives. The movie is set on the Adriatic coast, where the filmmaker grew up, and was the first big hit for actor Alberto Sordi. Unlike Fellini’s later films, where as he was running out of imaginative gas, he had to dabble in fantasy, this film enchants us with the drab lives of everyday people, all of them treated with kindness and good humor.
Sedotta e Abandonnata (1964). Seduced and Abandoned is Pietro Germi’s masterpiece. Inspired by newspaper accounts of a Sicilian seducation and elopement, Germi (North Italian from Genoa) plays off the cheerful and naive North Italian carabinieri against the grave and violent Sicilians. In one memorable scene, the cops, who are trying to find a village where a murder is supposed to be taking place, lose their way. The tall dumb blond—the Polentone—suggests that he asks directions. His boss, older and wiser looks in disbelief as the kid asks three locals who do not move a muscle of their faces. When he climbs back into the jeep he comments, “They must not know where it is.” Anyone who wants to understand the ongoing North/South clash in Italy should watch this film several times.
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945), a melancholy masterpiece by Marcel Carné. It is worth seeing if only for the beauty of the filming and for its depiction of mime theater. Truffaut, who spent his life hating and envying Carné—as well he ought—once said he would trade all his films for this one movie. I agree entirely though that is not much praise for Carné. I don’t weep at movies, but I keep a handkerchief handy for this one.
Underground (1995), a bizarre historical fantasy and political allegory directed by the brilliant Bosnian (at that time Muslim) Emir Kusturica. During World War II, a group of Serbs is lured underground to work in a munitions factory, where they continue to slave away through the Tito years. The plot is too preposterous to be summarized, but I have discovered people who know nothing about either modern history or the Balkans who fell in love with the film. If there are any geniuses making films these days, Kusturica must lead the pack, and his surreal realism is enhanced by the Gypsy music score of Goran Bregović.
The Testament of Doctor Mabuse (1933). In 1922 Fritz Lang had made a silent masterpiece, Doctor Mabuse the Gambler, four and a half hours about a criminal mastermind whose exploits typify the corruption of the Weimar Republic. In this sequel, Mabuse dies in a hospital, but his crime wave continues—I am not going to spoil it. Mabuse’s rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of statements made by the leaders of the Nazi Party. The film was banned, and Lang, though a famous director, fell into disrepute. As a Catholic with a mother who converted from Judaism, he had reason to be nervous and left. I rented this film on a whim: It is barely a talky—there is about as much spoken dialogue as could be represented by the captions in a silent—the sound and the video were scratchy, and my limited German, even with the aid of subtitles, is not conducive to enjoyment. And yet, and yet, the whole film is terrifying. Lang made many fine films, both in Germany and the United States, but this one haunted my dreams and scarred my waking life for weeks.
Yojimbo (1961). Akiro Kurosawa did 8 or ten films this good or better, but I find the comedy—and the moral actjion—of this film irresistible. The plot, later ripped off by Sergio Leone for his wretched Fistfull of Dollars, pits Toshiro Mifune as a comical samurai who plays off two sets of criminals until they have killed each other off. Of course, Kurosawa had in mind (though he did not rip off) Dashiel Hammet’s The Glass Key, which was made into a pretty good movie with Alan Ladd. In Yojimbo a samurai at loose ends and a sense of humor-—imagine a humane and intelligent prototype for Eastwood—-pits two sets of criminals against each other. Kurosawa took at least part of Hammet’s point in his novel and turned it into a comic masterpiece about political corruption and the creative uses of duplicity. If you don’t know Kurosawa’s work, this is a great place to start.
Thomas Fleming is president of the Fleming Foundation. He is the author of six books, including The Morality of Everyday Life and The Politics of Human Nature, as well as many articles and columns for newspapers, magazines,and learned journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Greek from the College of Charleston. He served as editor of Chronicles: a Magazine of American Culture from 1984 to 2015 and president of The Rockford Institute from 1997-2014. In a previous life he taught classics at several colleges and served as a school headmaster in South Carolina.
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A Future Without Discrimination Webcast
The fourth episode in a free 4-part webcast series entitled, The Power of Perceptions and Understanding, brought to you by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration and the Recovery Research Institute.
A Future Without Discrimination & Discriminatory Practices
Substance use disorders and related problems remain the most pervasive and intransigent public health problems in the U.S. Greater understanding of addiction as a disease of the brain and not a criminal issue, has led to an increased need to address addiction from a broad public health perspective. This webcast will envision what the treatment and public health landscape would like if we were to eradicate all discriminatory practices, and what steps we need to take to ensure this happens.
For more information visit: https://www.samhsa.gov/power-perceptions-understanding/webcasts
EXPERT PANEL INCLUDES:
Dr. HILARY CONNERY, the Clinical Director of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital. Dr. Connery is the New England director for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, rotation director for addiction psychiatry in Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital Adult Psychiatry Resident Training Program, and mentor in Partners Healthcare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. She contributed to American Psychiatric Association Practice Guidelines for treatment of substance abuse and is an investigator in Harvard University/New England Consortium of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network.
JOANNE PETERSON is the Founder and Executive Director of Learn to Cope (LTC), a non-profit peer-led support network that began in 2004. Joanne’s journey started as a young girl with siblings experiencing issues with mental illness and addiction. Years later when Joanne discovered that her own son’s experimentation with prescription drugs led to an opioid addiction, she was motivated and empowered to use her voice to bring about change.
TOM HILL joined the National Council for Behavioral Health in March 2017 as Vice President of Addiction and Recovery. Mr. Hill previously served as a Presidential Appointee in the position of Senior Advisor on Addiction and Recovery to the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. As part of this post, he initially served as Acting Director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Prior to his political appointment, Mr. Hill was a Senior Associate at Altarum Institute, serving as Technical Assistance Director for a number of SAMHSA treatment and recovery support grant initiatives. He also served for four years as Director of Programs at Faces & Voices of Recovery.
Dr. CHRIS YADRON is the regional vice president of the west for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. In this capacity he oversees the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, outpatient sites in West Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as Hazelden Betty Ford facilities in Newberg and Beaverton, Oregon. Dr. Yadron has provided exceptional clinical service and effective leadership in a wide variety of substance use, mental health and nonprofit settings over the past 20 years. Most recently, he served as the executive director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s facilities in New York, located in the Chelsea and Tribeca neighborhoods of Manhattan.
Moderated By Ivette Torres
Overcoming Stigma, Ending Discrimination Webcast
Why addiction is a “disease” and why it’s important
Reducing discriminatory practices in clinical settings
Reducing Discriminatory Practices in Clinical Settings Webcast
Why Addiction is a Disease & Why It’s Important Webcast
How to Identify a Drug Overdose
Transtheoretical Stages of Change Model
Risk Factors for Addiction
The Continuum of Care For Adolescents
Does Alcoholics Anonymous Work? Scientific Review From Dr. John Kelly and the RRI
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Get a Free Case Review Today
Patrick M. Regan
Salvatore J. Zambri
Victor E. Long
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Verdict of more than $4.2 Million
A verdict of more than $4.2 Million for several U.S. Army soldiers who were injured in when a Greyhound Bus crashed in North Carolina. The case was tried in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
A $4.2 Million settlement for a six-year-old child who fell from defective playground equipment. The settlement was one of the first and largest verdicts in the District of Columbia regarding unsafe playground equipment.
A $3.8 Million settlement for five-year-old child who was injured in a fire caused by a defective home appliance. The case resulted in the development of a warning label for such appliances.
See More Case Results for Victor Long
Northeastern University School of Law, J.D. – 1979
Johns Hopkins University, B.A. – 1976
Professional Associations & Memberships
National Bar Association Life Membership
American Association for Justice
Maryland State Bar Association
Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington D.C.
American Board of Trial Advocacy
A Life Time of Service to Individuals and the Community
With over 40 years of litigation experience, Victor provides focused attention to detail and values personal contact with his clients. Attorneys often associate with Victor for assistance. Since 1999, Victor has been board-certified in Civil Trial and Civil Pretrial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Currently he is a “Senior Specialist.” He is a past president of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington. Victor has been listed in Best Lawyers for Washington, DC and Baltimore for over 10 years and has been featured in Washington, DC Super Lawyers, for over 15 years. He practices in Washington D.C. and Maryland, and represents clients in a wide variety of personal injury cases, including medical malpractice, construction, products liability and automobile collisions.
Before entering into private practice as a personal injury lawyer, Victor was a trial attorney in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, the Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice and at the Office of the Solicitor in the U.S. Department of Labor. He has more than 35 years of complex civil litigation experience and is licensed to practice law in Maryland and Washington D.C.
Legal Accomplishments
Over his career, Victor has recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injury victims and has represented cases of national significance. He recovered $4.2 million for an injured child in one of the first cases involving defective playground equipment in D.C. His cases have also influenced the labeling and marketing of several products and medications.
Victor has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Council for Court Excellence for many years. He currently chairs the Youth Justice Committee. He continues to serve as a founding member of the Board of Trustees and Board Secretary for Friendship Public Charter Schools. Mr. Long has served as a court-appointed mediator in the District of Columbia for 15 years. He has taught training seminars for other mediators, has been certified for complex medical malpractice mediations, and has been an instructor in mediation for foreign delegations. Victor was granted a patent for a warning label developed to avoid fire hazard.
Contact us today to speak with Washington D.C. injury attorney Victor Long about your case.
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Did You Know: Area 51 Edition
Source: Wikimedia
You probably know Area 51 as the home of UFOs and little green men from outer space, but the real origins of the facility are far more down-to-earth. So if you’re thinking of breaking in to find out the truth, you’re probably better off staying home and playing online blackjack, or playing one of our alien-inspired online slot themed games.
What and where is Area 51?
Area 51 is a top-secret United States Air Force base located in a dry Nevada lake bed 85 miles (135km) north of Las Vegas. The real purpose of the base has been kept secret from the public for decades. In fact, the CIA only acknowledged the existence of the site in 2013 and President Barack Obama is the only president to ever publicly mention the site.
Why was Area 51 built?
The base was constructed near the beginning of the Cold War in 1955. It’s now known that its main purpose is as an Air Force testing base for secret and experimental aircraft. Recent satellite photographs of the airstrips at the site have confirmed this theory. Such famous aircraft as the U-2 spy plane and SR-71 Blackbird were first flown out of the facility.
Area 51 and aliens
Many people still believe that aliens are held prisoner and studied at Area 51. This is because of a number of suspicious and unexplained incidents that have taken place near the site over the years. These incidents have fueled numerous conspiracy theories involving aliens and other paranormal activities. As a result, Area 51 has become a popular tourist attraction and is often the setting of many science-fiction movies and TV shows.
The first of these incidents was a crash at the site in 1947 which was rumoured to have been aliens from another planet. The official government report is that the crash was nothing but a weather balloon, but some members of the public aren’t buying it. Other people claim to have seen unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the air over the site. However, it’s also likely that the UFOs are just experimental aircraft tested by the US air force.
In 1989 an ex-employee of Area 51 named Robert Lazar made claims that further fueled these conspiracy theories. Lazar said that he had seen photos of aliens and believed that the government used the facility to carry out experiments on them.
The myths are so famous that many local businesses even dress up their premises with extra-terrestrial themes to attract tourists and customers. It’s possible that these myths have been a useful distraction for the United States government. This is because public speculation helps to hide the truth of what actually goes on at Area 51.
Area 51 in the news in 2019
Area 51 recently made headlines when a man named Matty Roberts created an open Facebook event with the aim of storming Area 51 to uncover the truth once and for all. “We can run faster than their bullets. Let’s see them aliens” Roberts said on the page. The event eventually grew to include over 2 million attendees, but so far no one has stormed the gates of Area 51. A festival was set up to appear nearby, but has since been moved due to safety concerns. The air force has warned that the area is an open training area and heavily discourage anyone from entering.
Whether or not we’ll ever get to see what’s happening inside Area 51 is unknown. But for now whatever is going on behind its walls are hidden from the public eye.
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Margaret (Beth) Waldrep, Chief Administrative Officer, Avado Brands, Madison, GA
RH Staff | May 01, 1999
Age: 43. Why is she rising? Since joining Avado in 1985, Waldrep played a significant role in the development of more than 240 Applebee's Restaurants. After Avado sold off Applebee's, Waldrep continued her development efforts for Avado's other brands, including Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchen, Mc-Cormick, & Schmick's, Hops Restaurant Bar & Brewery and Canyon Cafe. Was the 1999 winner of the Woman's Foodservice Forum's Emerging Leader Award. Background: Prior to joining Avado, Waldrep was a long-range planner with the Greenville Zoning-Planning Commission in Greenville, S.C. Schooling: Bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in city and regional planning from Clemson University. Mentor: "My father, who never once said I couldn't do something because I was a girl; my husband, Hank, who is truly my right hand; and Tom Dupree (chairman/c.e.o. of Avado), who gave me the opportunity to work for a company that embraces diversity and provides a stage for all types of people to succeed." What the future holds: "To continue turning restaurant concepts into successful national brands and increase my involvement in organizations such as the Women's Foodservice Forum."
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Swim regulations for oceans, lakes tied to lower drowning rates
By Lisa Rapaport
(Reuters Health) - Drowning death rates are three to four times lower in states that regulate swimming in oceans, rivers and lakes, a U.S. study suggests.
Researchers examined data on so-called open-water drownings for all 50 states from 2012 to 2017. They also looked at regulations in 30 states in 2017 for things like lifeguards, rescue equipment, warning signs, tracking and reporting safety issues, and water quality.
States without any such regulations had open-water drowning death rates 3 times higher among children and teens and 4.2 times higher among non-white residents compared with states with regulations covering all five of these things, the study found.
“While it seems obvious that requiring some kind of lifeguarding would save some lives, what it means is that the state has committed to lifeguarding with probable funding, education, training,” said lead study author Dr. Linda Quan of Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington School of Medicine.
“It makes real sense to me that the regulation requiring planning and tracking with surveillance, and keeping an eye on the problem means that the state has its finger on the pulse of the problem at some level,” Quan said by email. “In other words, drowning prevention is on the state’s radar; the more attention it gives the problem, the more trickle-down that concern goes.”
Open-water areas like lakes, rivers and oceans are the most common sites for drownings among people over age 5, researchers note in Injury Prevention.
States and local communities have implemented a wide range of policies to try to minimize drownings, including marking off designated areas for swimming and posting signs advising against swimming when lifeguards aren’t on duty. But research to date hasn’t offered a clear picture of whether legislation regulating open waters impacts drowning rates, the study team notes.
For the current study, researchers focused on the relationship between legislation and open-water drowning-death rates in the 20 states with the highest rates and the 10 with the lowest rates.
Between 2012 and 2017, 10,839 people drowned in open waters in these 30 states.
The highest open-water drowning rates were primarily in northwest and southeast, with the highest rates in Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho and Wyoming. The lowest rates were in Rhode Island, New York and Delaware.
Only 12 of the 30 states had regulations for open-water swim sites. Only four - Illinois, New York, West Virginia and New Jersey - had four or five regulations in place.
Signage and water quality were not associated with lower open-water drowning rates, but after accounting for influential factors, such as a state’s total water area and poverty, surveillance and planning were each associated with a 45% reduction in drowning rates compared to when those policies were absent.
Lifeguards were also associated with a 33% lower drowning rate.
The study doesn’t prove whether or how legislation regulating use of open waters directly impacts drowning deaths.
“The effectiveness of state safety laws and regulations has been demonstrated for other types of injury, so it is clearly plausible that state safety regulations for open-water areas, including requiring the presence of lifeguards, may lead to decreased drowning,” said Dr. Gary Smith, president of the Child Injury Prevention Alliance in Columbus, Ohio.
Learning to swim, not swimming alone and swimming in designated areas where lifeguards are on duty can all help prevent drownings regardless of what regulations might be in place, Smith, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. So can being aware of tides, water depth, potential underwater hazards, currents, waves and weather.
SOURCE: bit.ly/3a51LVZ Injury Prevention, online January 7, 2020.
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ROLLERBLADE IS A DIVISION OF TECNICA GROUP S.P.A.
Company subordinate to the management and coordination of Sintesi Holding S.r.L.
Based in Giavera del Montello (TV) - Via Fante d’Italia n. 56 | Share Capital € 25,000,000.00 fully paid up
Company registered under no. 78175 R.E.A. of Treviso. | Business Register and Tax Code 00195810262
Managed by TRIBOO DIGITALE
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Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
2 Conservatory Drive, Singapore 117377
The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum is the newest incarnation of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR), and before that, the Zoological Collection of the former Raffles Museum (current National Museum of Singapore).
Based at the National University of Singapore, we house Singapore’s national and reference collection of preserved zoological specimens as well as the University’s herbarium. The specimens are used for comparative research on the flora and fauna of Singapore and the Southeast Asian region. They are the preserved physical records of the region’s biodiversity.
Visit Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum's website for more information.
An animal display at the Raffles Museum
The Christmas Island bird exhibit at the Raffles Museum
Learning Through Looking
Our Natural Heritage
National Library Singapore
Raffles in Southeast Asia: Revisiting the Scholar and Statesman
Natural History Drawings: The Complete William Farquhar Collection, Malay Peninsula 1803-1818
© 2021 National Heritage Board.
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7 reasons why 'Grey's Anatomy,' now 15, has outlasted 'ER'
David OliverUSA TODAY
As a “Grey’s Anatomy” fan, I am used to hearing an exhausting and easily Google-able question: “Is that show still on?”
Yes, it is. "Grey's Anatomy" premiered on ABC on March 27, 2005, so it's now 15 years old.
Last year , the series surpassed "ER" as prime time's longest-running medical drama.
Sure, it’s not the ratings behemoth it once was, and most of the many original characters have left the show through dying or otherwise (but mostly dying). But the “Grey’s” pulse keeps beating anyway, and it doesn’t need a defibrillator to resuscitate storylines each season. Here’s why:
1. An inexhaustibly large cast
"Grey's Anatomy" is set at Seattle'sGrey Sloan Memorial hospital (its latest name, anyway), and focuses on members of a surgical residency program. These programs train surgeons before they scatter to other hospitals. Someone can always get a job and leave, so it's easy to write someone out (though, on the show, people tend to stick around awhile).
Of course, it would be boring if the only way characters exited the series was by job-hopping. Creator Shonda Rhimes has killed off so many it's become the butt of jokes.
2. The willingness of its leading lady to keep going
Ellen Pompeo, bless her heart, has played Dr. Meredith Grey for 15 seasons. She's carried the show since its inception, first as an intern and now a rock-star attending general surgeon.
There's something gratifying in seeing someone go through the lowest of lows (the death of her husband) and the highest of highs (winning a coveted surgical award).
3. The show evolves for the current climate
Just like "Law & Order," if you've seen it in headlines, chances are you've seen it on "Grey's." The series has featured storylines about everything from gender reassignment surgery to the reverberating effects of racism. This isn't limited to patient cases: Last season, writers tackled the #MeToo movement head on with a plot featuring prestigious surgeon Harper Avery (Chelcie Ross). After his onscreen death, it was revealed that a group of women he sexually harassed signed NDAs.
4. Resurgence on streaming
Thanks to Netflix, Hulu and other services, fans can discover and binge on all kinds of series. In the case of "Grey's Anatomy," viewers have a whole lot to catch up on − and they're doing it anyway. Younger viewers have been introduced to the series through Netflix. This helped keep "Grey's" as ABC's top-rated drama until another medical drama, "The Good Doctor," came along in fall 2017.
5. It's reliable
You know what to expect when you're watching "Grey's": Feelings, feelings and feelings. Despite all the cast shakeups, there's never a shortage of personal and professional-driven drama to raise the stakes for characters old and new. What "Grey's" has going for it over "This Is Us" or a daytime soap is life-or-death consequences at every turn, making the romances amid the trauma that much more hopeful (and steamy).
Meredith has been in a number of different flirtations and has dated since husband Derek Shepherd's (Patrick Dempsey) death in season 11, and is now pursuing Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti). Elsewhere, Jackson Avery is making a go of a relationship with Maggie Pierce (to the chagrin of Japril fans everywhere).
6. The wackiest plots imaginable
Meredith (and, evidently, Pompeo) has been put through the wringer: She's survived a drowning, a shooting, a plane crash, complications from pregnancies and an assault. Who could forget when she put her hand in a body cavity with a bomb in it? She's also learned of three half-sisters she didn't know about until adulthood − Molly (Mandy Siegfried), Lexie (Chyler Leigh) and Maggie (Kelly McCreary). And she faced emotional trauma from a disapproving, Alzheimer's-ridden mother and a dad who abandoned her.
And that's just Meredith. Izzie cut Denny's LVAD wire? The John Doe who got hit by a bus was George? Owen's sister isn't dead after all? First and foremost, "Grey's" is a soap, and in that vein it mines the past for "hidden secrets." Sure, the Maggie reveal was apparently in the works for a while, but choosing to keep Richard and Ellis's love child a secret for 10 seasons gave the show a creative boost.
7. Hope for the future
Despite all the trauma, our favorite characters (and especially Meredith) come back stronger week after week, season after season. And that helps us deal with our own personal demons and put them in context. There's something poetic about it all, as Meredith's voiceovers providea comforting constant.
The show eventually will get canceled, no doubt when Pompeo and Rhimes mutually agree it will end. Pompeo's Meredith is key to the series' longevity, so when she leaves it'll be time to pull the show's plug.
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Home | events | Shelton School Jump-a-thon
Shelton School Jump-a-thon Shelton School Jump-a-thon Shelton School Jump-a-thon Shelton School Jump-a-thon
Shelton School Jump-a-thon
Shelton School Jumps to Save Lives!
Shelton School, Dallas, sponsored the 21st annual Brian Price Jump-a-thon on Feb. 12, 2020. About 500 students (preschool through 5th grade) and faculty members jumped rope in the schoolwide event to raise money for the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation. The mission of SADS is to create awareness of this sudden and unexpected death in children and young adults.
This Shelton School event is named in memory of Brian Price, who died in 1998 at age 15. No one knew he had Long QT Syndrome. He and a friend had gone to a movie theater to watch Spice World. The friend with Brian thought he had fallen asleep at the beginning of the movie. When Brian did not respond to a nudge, the friend went for help. All efforts to revive him failed. After tests were done by the medical examiner, Brian’s parents were told that he was perfectly healthy and they did not know the reason their son had died. Brian was a gifted student, football captain, outstanding basketball and tournament chess player.
Brian was the son of Kathy Price Martin, former Shelton teacher, and grandson to former long-time Shelton School Lower School head Betty Glasheen. The jump-a-thon is organized each year by Betty and members of the Price family. Melissa Price is parent to Zoe Price, Shelton middle school 7th grader, sits on Shelton’s Student Council and helped raise funds through candy sales and jeans days contributions benefitting the SADS Foundation.
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Last updated: March 12th, 2018 at 09:41 UTC+01:00
Galaxy S9 sales target reportedly set at 43 million units
Samsung has reportedly set the Galaxy S9 sales target at 43 million units for the year. It’s said to be slightly higher than the 41 million unit target set for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ last year. This suggests that Samsung really does expect its new flagship smartphone to outperform its predecessor in the market.
Galaxy S9 sales
Samsung said a couple of weeks ago that it expects Galaxy S9 sales to outperform that of the Galaxy S8. It has now reportedly told its local suppliers in South Korea to set their production schedules for parts based on the 43 million sales target for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+.
Market firms like Counterpoint Research already expect Samsung to sell more than 40 million units of its new flagship smartphone this year, outperforming the predecessor which saw more than 41 million units being shipped across the globe.
It has been over a week since Samsung started taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 and some initial reports have suggested that pre-orders for the new flagship haven’t really exceeded expectations. The Galaxy S9 is going to be released in a handful of markets across the globe on March 16. Some lucky pre-order customers have already started receiving their units, though.
It remains to be seen, though, if the Galaxy S9 will actually be able to move more units than its predecessor which was a revolutionary upgrade in its own right. The Galaxy S9 is more of an evolutionary upgrade and many Galaxy S8 owners are questioning the prudence in spending a lot of money again on a device that only comes with a few new features and little to no design changes.
Samsung is yet to officially announce pre-order figures for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ so it’s too soon to say right now just how well its new flagship has been performing in the market so far and if it will be able to outperform the Galaxy S8.
Do check out our detailed Galaxy S9/S9+ review if you’re still on the fence about buying Samsung’s new flagship.
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South Dakota Art Museum
Ada Caldwell Collection
South Dakota Art Museum Visit Tips
Anderson Plaza
Dunn & His Students
Cockerline Collection
Harvey Dunn Collection
Harvey Dunn, Illustrator
Marghab Linens Collection
Marghab Linens Exhibit
Marghab Linens Biography
Native American Collection
S.D. Nelson
Oscar Howe Collection
Oscar Howe Biography
Paul Goble Collection
South Dakota Collection
Grete Bodøgaard
Eugene Buechel
Palmer Eide
Grace Ann French
Charles Greener
Hubert Mathieu
Guild, Volunteers & Docents
Harvey Dunn Paintings in Pugsley Student Union
Native American Day 2020
South Dakota General Federation of Women's Clubs
Christo, the Coughlin Campanile and the Art Museum
Why so high?
1950 Harvey Dunn Exhibit
The South Dakota Memorial Art Center
50th Anniversary Letter from the Interim Director
South Dakota Art Museum Stories
Tom Thorson: My SDAM Story
History, Mission, Purpose
Artistic Gem
Staff Bios, Board and Guild Officers
Artist and professor Ada B. Caldwell (1869 – 1938) played an important role at South Dakota State University. She led the art department from 1899 to 1936 and taught famous illustrator Harvey Dunn. The South Dakota Art Museum houses 37 of Caldwell's works.
In 2015, the South Dakota Art Museum received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for $22,003 to treat nine of Caldwell's works that needed conservation treatment. Read more about the grant.
Ada B. Caldwell Biography
Ada B. Caldwell (1869 – 1938)
For more than a third of a century Ada Caldwell labored to show the young minds in her classes how a few rare spirits have been able to work upon the chaotic materials of human experience and transmute them into patterns of truth and beauty. Such a rare spirit was she herself; and into such a pattern, true and beautiful, did she fashion her own life. - Madison C. Bates
Ada Bertha Caldwell was born in Bryan, Ohio, on September 28, 1869. She was the youngest of three children born to Walter and Emily (MacGowan) Caldwell. The family moved to Nebraska, settling in Lincoln around 1876. Caldwell attended the University of Nebraska for a year before studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1893 to 1897. She taught for a year at Yankton College in South Dakota and then accepted a position as Professor of Industrial Art at South Dakota Agricultural College (now South Dakota State University). She served as head of the Art Department from 1899 to 1936, passing away in Brookings on November 8, 1938.
Caldwell believed that one could not be both a great artist and great teacher so she committed herself to teaching rather than to recognition for her own artworks. She believed a teacher must keep up with current developments to know their subject well so she spent all but three summers studying across the country, returning “each autumn eager to share her growing expertise.” Caldwell took a leave of absence to study at the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York in 1903 – 1904. She also studied at the Pratt Institute, the Chase School of Art, and the Art Students League in New York. Caldwell studied under landscape masters John F. Carlson, R.W. Woiceske and Birger Sandzén. She spent the summer of 1914 in the great art galleries and museums of Europe. Caldwell was a member of the Western Art Association and the American Federation of Art.
Caldwell was a civilizing force on campus. She was highly influential in establishing culture and envisioning a future for the college at a foundational time in its history. She tirelessly served the campus, city and state with selfless grace. Caldwell designed Coolidge Sylvan Theatre, the Art Department in the Administration Building and contributed to the design of Wenona Hall. She envisioned the sylvan theater, a campus grove and a student union long before those dreams were realized. She dreamt of a city art association and recreation center for children. She also dreamt of creating a landscape painting school in the state and an art pottery in the Black Hills.
Caldwell established the college’s Art Club in 1900, which met to discuss artists and art movements and also curated and hosted an annual costume party, picnic and travelling art exhibition. In addition to managing the Art Department, Caldwell had charge over all women students as Dean of Women from 1907 – 1917. She served as supervisor for women students in Wenona Hall from 1909 – 1911 and again from 1914 – 1917, establishing many of the principles of dormitory procedure. She was active in the Women’s Club of Brookings, a charter member and first Vice-President of the Faculty Women's Club and advisor to the Art Committee of the South Dakota General Federation of Women's Clubs. She advised the college’s YWCA, provided leadership in organizing a city YWCA and assisted in starting a Business Girls’ Club. She taught workshops and gave talks on art to many local groups, including an Association of American University Women art history class for the women of Brookings. She assisted agricultural extension staff in stimulating an interest in handicrafts amongst farm women in the state through their Farm and Home programs and created art exhibitions for their Farm and Home Week.
Caldwell’s contributions have been recognized through several dedications since her passing. The 1939 Jack Rabbit yearbook was dedicated to her because of her “service to the State College and its students, her leadership in cultural movements in the City of Brookings and the State of South Dakota, and because of the type of teacher she exemplified.” Harvey Dunn painted a portrait of her for the dedication. It is now in the museum’s collections. About the portrait he said “Miss Caldwell meant so much to me that anything I might do would seem inadequate.” A Rembrandt etching was placed in dedication to her memory at the Brookings City Library by Chapter P of P.E.O. In 1940 the college hosted a memorial exhibition of her artworks. In 1963 a memorial plaque was dedicated to her at Coolidge Sylvan Theatre. Most recently, Caldwell Hall was named in her honor in 2005.
Ada Caldwell
untitled (Harney Peak), n.d.
oil on canvas, mounted to board
Gift of South Dakota State University
Caldwell was intimately acquainted with the Black Hills of South Dakota. During summer vacations she frequented Rapid City, Deadwood and Hot Springs. In 2016, the United States Board on Geographic Names changed the name of the landmark to Black Elk Peak, in honor of the Oglala Lakota holy man.
untitled (Woodstock, NY), c. 1911-1912
oil on illustration board
Caldwell studied at the Art Students League of New York, Woodstock School of Art during the summers of 1911 and 1912. Her instructor, John F. Carlson, was an influential teacher of landscape painting in the early twentieth century.
Woodstock Houses, c. 1930
Gift of Betty L. Beer Franklin
Conservation treatment funded by Institute of Museum and Library Services, Museums for America Grant
Caldwell studied landscape painting in Woodstock, New York in the early 1910s. Around 1930 she returned to the area to study etching under Ronau Woiceske. By this later period, she was adept in many art forms, adding etching to her abilities at painting, drawing, woodcuts, bookbinding, weaving, and leather, reed and metal work.
Estes Park, c. 1923
South Dakota Art Museum Collection
Caldwell likely completed this painting during the summer she studied under Birger Sandzén at the Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Estes Park displays the broad, loose, Post-Impressionist style Caldwell embraced as a result of those studies.
"The Rockies" or "Estes Park," 1929
woodblock on paper
Gift of Neva Harding
In 1923 Caldwell studied painting at the Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs under the Swedish-American painter Birger Sandzén. Sandzén was a longtime art professor at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. This print is a product of Caldwell’s printmaking studies under him in the late 1920s, showing a scene that she likely sketched or painted during an earlier visit to Colorado.
The Pine, 1936-1937
The Pine is one of the artist’s last known works, completed during a summer visit to Serpent Lake near Crosby, Minnesota. In 1936, due to her ill health, South Dakota State College granted her emeritus status. She took the trip to Serpent Lake in hopes of reviving her health, which unfortunately continued to deteriorate. Caldwell died at her home in Brookings, South Dakota in November 1938.
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China: Moon probe preparing to return rock samples to Earth
Dec. 2, 2020 at 6:18 pm Updated Dec. 3, 2020 at 7:35 am
BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday its latest lunar probe has finished taking samples of the moon’s surface and sealed them within the spacecraft for return to Earth, the first time such a mission has been attempted by any country in more than 40 years.
The Chang’e 5, the third Chinese probe to land on the moon, is the latest in a series of increasingly ambitious missions for Beijing’s space program, which also has a probe en route to Mars carrying a robot rover.
The Chang’e 5 touched down Tuesday on the Sea of Storms on the moon’s near side, on a mission to return lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since 1976.
The probe “has completed sampling on the moon, and the samples have been sealed within the spacecraft,” the China National Space Administration said in a statement.
Plans call for the upper stage of the probe known as the ascender to be launched back into lunar orbit to transfer the samples to a capsule for return to Earth. The timing off its return was not immediately clear and the lander can last up to one moon day, or 14 Earth days, before plummeting temperatures would make it inoperable.
Chang’e is equipped to both scoop samples from the surface and drill 2 meters (more than 6 feet) to retrieve materials that could provide clues into the history of the moon, Earth other planets and space features.
While retrieving samples is its main task, the lander is also equipped to extensively photograph the area surrounding its landing site, map conditions below the surface with ground penetrating radar and analyze the lunar soil for minerals and water content.
Chang’e 5’s return module is supposed to touch down around the middle of December on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, where China’s crewed Shenzhou spacecraft have made their returns since China first put a man in space in 2003, becoming only the third country do so after Russia and the United States.
Chang’e 5 has revived talk of China one day sending a crewed mission to the moon and possibly building a scientific base there, although no timeline has been proposed for such projects.
China also launched Its first temporary orbiting laboratory in 2011 and a second in 2016. Plans call for a permanent space station after 2022, possibly to be serviced by a reusable space plane.
While China is boosting cooperation with the European Space Agency and others, interactions with NASA are severely limited by concerns over the secretive nature and close military links of the Chinese program.
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NCAA Tournament: Big shots that define the madness of March
March 19, 2020 at 10:17 am Updated March 19, 2020 at 11:04 am
DAVE SKRETTA
This is the time of year people usually start tweeting at Ali Farokhmanesh.
The Northern Iowa fans who remember his back-to-back buzzer-beaters to beat UNLV and Kansas and usher the Panthers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament a decade ago. The Missouri and Kansas State fans still thankful he helped take down the top-seeded Jayhawks. And yes, there will be Kansas fans still pained by the memory.
“I mean, any time someone brings it up to me or somebody randomly tweets at me, or something along those lines, it brings me back,” Farokhmanesh told The Associated Press this week. “And honestly, normally this time of the year is when I start thinking about that — thinking about when I was playing.”
Nothing is normal this year, though. There will be no last-second heroics in the NCAA Tournament after the outbreak of the coronavirus led to its cancellation. There will be no underdogs taking down basketball bluebloods, or previously unheralded kids becoming household names because of their heroics during the madness of March.
Instead, basketball fans will be left — like Farokhmanesh — to reflect on the big games, big shots and big moments that have come to define the NCAA Tournament as one of the most heart-stopping sporting events in the country.
For Farohkmanesh, it is not necessarily the 3-pointer in the final minute that took down Kansas in the second round of the 2010 tournament that jumps to the forefront of his mind. It’s the shot he hit two days earlier, a 3 from well beyond the arc in the final seconds, that gave the Panthers a 69-66 victory over the Runnin’ Rebels.
“That one gets completely passed up,” said Farokhmanesh, now an assistant at Colorado State. “Magnitude-wise Kansas was bigger, but the UNLV game, that was crazy too, because it was back and forth and we got lucky enough to have the last possession, and it was crazy because they were double-teaming us. I was pretty deep and let it fly.”
There are plenty of other players in the history of the NCAA Tournament that have “let it fly,” earning them a spot in the history books:
Christian Laettner hit plenty of memorable ones, including the winning jumper against Connecticut in the 1990 regional final and the winning foul shots against UNLV in the 1991 national semifinals. But it was his catch-and-shoot off a full-court pass from Grant Hill to beat Kentucky in double-overtime of their 1992 regional final that became historic.
“I don’t realize what happened,” Laettner said afterward. “I just caught the ball, turned around and made the shot.”
Villanova and North Carolina had already played a championship classic in 2016 when the Tar Heels’ Marcus Paige hit a 3 to tie the game 74-all with 4.7 seconds left. The Wildcats in-bounded the ball and Ryan Arcidiacono pushed up the floor, then dished to Kris Jenkins, who released the winning 3 as time expired to set off pandemonium inside NRG Stadium.
“I watched it one time,” Villanova coach Jay Wright told AP this week. “I watch game film right after the game. That one I didn’t. So I remember the day after the parade, our family said, ‘We’re going to sit down and we’re going to watch this game.’ We did it. The whole family sat down and watched the game and that was the only time I watched it.”
THE PERFECT MISS
To this day, North Carolina State’s Dereck Whittenburg jokes his deep jumper that came up woefully short against Houston in the 1983 title game was really the perfect pass. Regardless, the Wolfpack’s Lorenzo Charles was in the perfect spot to make the catch, drop the ball through the net and send Jim Valvano racing across the court like a mad man.
“I never thought it was going to be short,” Whittenburg told AP years later. “I thought it was going in.”
THE SLIPPER FIT
In the pantheon of Cinderella teams, the 1998 bunch from Valparaiso are near the top of the list, and the biggest reason is Bryce Drew’s winning shot against Mississippi. With the No. 13 seed Crusaders trailing with 2.5 seconds left, Bill Jenkins caught an in-bound pass from Jaime Sykes and got it to Drew, who let loose a shot as time expired. It gave Valpo a 70-69 win, kicking off a run to the Sweet 16 for Homer Drew’s team.
The play had been in the Kansas playbook for years, and it had been practiced so many times it almost seemed like second-nature to the Jayhawks. So when coach Bill Self called “chop” with his team trailing Memphis by three in the closing seconds of the 2008 national title game, Mario Chalmers knew he was likely going to get the shot. Chalmers curled off a screen, teammate Sherron Collins handed him the ball and he drilled the shot to force overtime.
““The biggest shot in Kansas history,” said Self, whose team ultimately won 75-68 in OT. “It’ll never be forgotten.”
No list of clutch shots is complete without Michael Jordan’s jumper to lift North Carolina over Georgetown for the 1982 title. Indiana’s Keith Smart deserves a nod for his winner over Syracuse for the 1987 championship. Tyus Edney is still cursed by Missouri fans for his coast-to-coast layup in the second round of the ‘94 tournament. And the indelible image of Loyola Marymount’s Bo Kimball making a left-handed free throw in a first-round blowout of New Mexico State in 1990 to honor his best friend Hank Gathers, who had died days earlier from a heart issue, remains the stuff of NCAA lore.
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston contributed to this report.
More AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/MarchMadness
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The Best Is Yet to Be
How to Age Wisely and Fall in Love with Your Life...Again!
By George Cappannelli and Sedena Cappannelli
Over the next several decades, a large number—some say half of our population—will be fifty years of age or older for the first time in history. Those of us in the second-half-of-life have the power to make a real difference, but only if we commit to put our own houses in order first, and exercise our true power by living consciously and aging wisely.
If you are in or approaching the second half of life, The Best is Yet to Be invites you to take the matter of how you live and why back into your own hands. Live your life with the dignity, purpose, and the quality of experience you deserve.
GEORGE and SEDENA CAPPANNELLI are authors, consultants, speakers, and cofounders of AgeNation, a digital media company and social enterprse, and The Age of Empowerment, a 501(c)(3) serving vulnerable sections of our aging population.
They are experts on individual, organizational, and societal change, with an outstanding track record serving hundreds of thousands of individuals and hundreds of the world's leading organizations in both the private and public sectors.
George and Sedena are hosts on two national radio talk shows, AgeNation Radio Magazine and Conversations with the Wisdom Keepers. George is also an Emmy Award–winning film and television producer and director, has been privileged to work with a number of world leaders, and is an award-winning sculptor. Sedena, a longtime member of the Screen Actors Guild, has appeared in numerous films, television programs, and theatrical productions. Her new Personal Energy Program (PEP) DVD and book introduce a series of groundbreaking wellness and deaging processes.
Together, George and Sedena are coauthors of three previous books Do Not Go Quietly: A Guide to Living Consciously and Aging Wisely for People Who Weren't Born Yesterday, Say Yes to Change: 25 Keys toMaking Change Work for You; and Authenticity: Simple Strategies for Greater Meaning and Purpose at Work and at Home.
They are also cofounders of AgeNation, the company whose mission is to provide information, inspiration, education, products and services, and opportunities for community and engagement for people who weren't born yesterday, a constituency that will soon be 150 million strong with many things still to learn, much to contribute, and the opportunity to make things right with themselves and others.
To learn more, visit www.agenation.com.
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The 100/0 Principle
The Dash (New Cover)
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In Memory of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (1920-2010) - S$12.00
In Memory of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (1920-2010) - S$12.00 quantity
In Memory of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (1920-2010) – S$12.00
Home » Shop » All Products » In Memory of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (1920-2010) – S$12.00
This collection of cartoons about the life of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew nee madam Kwa Geok Choo and her husband is renown cartoonist, Morgan Chua’s response to the passing on of Madam Kwa Geok Choo in 2010. He felt that a glimpse into the early as well as private life of Madam Kwa was important to complete the official narrative of a woman who had contributed so much to independent Singapore. He spent much time in researching her family background some of which had hitherto never been published before.
This completed book of cartoons which were published in 2011 elicited letters of compliment from Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong which, according to Morgan, “is even better than the Cultural Medallion award” given by the Republic of Singapore.
All attributable proceeds from this first edition of the book will be given to the family of the late Morgan Chua for use in charitable causes.
Report an abuse for product In Memory of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (1920-2010) – S$12.00
SKU: 9789810879723 Categories: All Products, Books, Graphic Novels Tags: Page to Print, POD
Morgan Chua was known for his astute and biting political cartoons. Described as “Review’s Unsparing Brushman” by the South China Morning Post and as the “Legendary Cartoonist of Singapore” by Asia Week, Morgan’s drawing were first published by the Pioneer, a magazine published by the Singapore Armed Forces which provides news on army matters relating to Singapore. He worked for the Singapore Herald in 1970 as the editorial artist before moving on to The Asian as and then the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) as its first art director at the age of 23.
In 1989, Morgan was in China when the events of Tiananmen Square occurred. Shocked by the events, he drew more than 100 cartoons of the massacre which were later published in his book, Tiananmen in the same year.
In his time, Morgan has illustrated iconic covers for FEER, using leader personalities such as Li Ka-Shing as “Superman Li”, Margaret Thatcher, Prince Sihanouk, Tun Razak, Indira Gandhi and Lee Kuan Yew.
Hard at work right up to the time when he passed on in 2018, Morgan Chua’s works have left a mark and a void on political cartooning in Singapore which would be hard to fill.
Title: In Memory of Madam Kwa Geok Choo (1920 -2010)
Author: Morgan Chua (1949 – 2018)
Book Size: 184mm x 184mm
Pages: 72pp + 4pp cover
Printing: cover – 4C x 0C; contents – 1C x 1C
Price: SGD$12
Finish: Paperback
Genre: Graphic novel
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Ronin Rat and Ninja Cat, Book 1 of 5 – S$6.50
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These Siblings Followed in Dad's Footsteps—Then Took Their Own Path
The Golden Tickets sent a nation of children into a frenzy, promising a rare peek behind the curtain at a mysterious candy factory where rivers are made of chocolate and sweets grow on trees. It’s a popular childhood fantasy, and, of course, it’s fiction.
As kids, though, Brandon and Kaleena Morrison had their real-life Willy Wonka moment when their father quit his job to start an organic dessert business, Black Bear Ice Cream. Except that, instead of being honored guests, they were hired as staff. “We still joke about our father’s philosophy on work,” Brandon says, “which was, ‘Why would I hire out workers? I have two perfectly healthy workers right here!’ ”
The siblings never wanted to take the reins of their father’s business. Yet, years later, as they discussed plans for their skin- and hair-care brand, United & Free, they would draw on what they learned from him to do it their own way.
After 30 years in the dairy business, Brandon and Kaleena’s father struck out on his own, building his ice cream business from the ground up. At the company’s peak, he was operating three shops and a manufacturing facility, churning out over 600 flavors of sorbet, organic ice cream and desserts to wholesale clients throughout Atlantic Canada. “My brother and I were always involved in [the business],” Kaleena says. “That’s just how we grew up.”
He dropped everything—his friends, his family, his life back in Halifax—and came out on a whim to do this.
Kaleena Morrison
“Growing up in the business” is an understatement, though. The two held important roles—Kaleena in sales and growth and Brandon in product development. “He’s really meticulous and detail-oriented,” Kaleena says of her brother. “He was thinking of being a lawyer.”
Brandon didn’t take that path, though, and neither of the siblings ended up staying in the family business. “I don’t think that was for me,” Kaleena says. “You do something for so long and when your heart and soul are not into it, then you know.” About 14 years ago, she even moved 6 provinces and 4 time zones away from her family, settling in Vancouver.
Kaleena pursued special-effects makeup, intending to start a business in that industry. Then her daughter was born. After the birth, she started experiencing new allergies—she couldn’t use perfumes and had to ditch all of her skin-care products. “My hair was falling out, I developed cystic acne,” she says. “It was just kind of a nightmare.” A doctor recommended forgoing synthetics and chemicals.
Meanwhile, back in Halifax, Brandon was dabbling in personal care, formulating beard products for himself and his friends. The two siblings, who remained close, spoke frequently. Kaleena complained to her brother on the phone about the quality of products in the natural skin-care space, while Brandon shared that he might be “onto something” with his beard brand. What if there was something here?
Siblings started United & Free by drawing on lessons from their entrepreneurial dad. Evaan Kheraj
Just months after those first phone conversations, Brandon was on a plane to Vancouver. “He dropped everything—his friends, his family, his life back in Halifax,” Kaleena says, “and came out on a whim to do this.” The result is United & Free, a brand of simple and clean products for skin and hair, manufactured on Canada’s west coast and shipped across North America.
Kaleena admits the learning curve was steep. For one thing, skin care is a completely new industry for them, and for another, a lot has changed since their father started his business in the ’90s—namely, a little thing called the internet. She’s thankful for the information you can glean about a customer before a pitch, say through LinkedIn—a luxury she didn’t have when cold calling for her father’s business. But, she says, with ecommerce and fewer barriers to building a brand, there’s a lot more competition.
One of us will piss the other one off. But at the end of the day, there's a bigger goal.
Carving out very distinct roles in the company has helped keep both their personal and professional relationships thriving. “We have our moments, for sure,” Kaleena says. “One of us will piss the other one off. But at the end of the day, there’s a bigger goal.” Working with family, after all, has been instilled in them since childhood.
The lessons they learned in those early days still guide the business. “One of the main things we take away from our dad is always providing people with a quality product,” says Kaleena. “Don’t ever skimp out on that.” She also notes that the company doesn’t test its products on animals—they’re tested on family.
Feature image by Evaan Kheraj
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Miles – House of Hospitality and Spirituality
In the spirit of their founders, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and Father Julian Woods the Sisters of Saint Joseph in the Transpacifico Region Queensland, are responding in a new way to the needs of rural people.
At the beginning of 2016, the sesquicentenary of the founding of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, a House of Hospitality and Spirituality has been opened in the parish of Holy Cross, Miles in the Toowoomba diocese. Sr Di Phillips, who trained in Spiritual direction through the Anglican Church in Brisbane, is the coordinator.
Miles is a Queensland country town situated on the Warrego Highway about one and a half hours west of Dalby. The former convent has been opened up to receive visitors and people passing through. Priests and travellers going to or from the eastern centres, call in for a cup of tea, sometimes lunch or even breakfast, before going on their way.
As it is in many places in Australia, Miles no longer has a resident priest. People are looking for spiritual support as they face illness, drought, down turn of rural communities, economic concerns and mining with its associated issues. It is hoped that a Retreat in Life will be offered annually and spiritual direction for those who wish to avail themselves of it. This new ministry is a way in which the Sisters of Saint Joseph are hoping to make a difference in rural Queensland.
Page last updated June 2016
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Development of the Valley Link Commuter Rail System
The I-580 corridor between Northern San Joaquin County and the Bay Area is one of the most congested and time consuming commutes in the Northern California Megaregion. The Tri-Valley – San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority was created by state law in the fall of 2017 to plan the Valley Link commuter rail project in the corridor. Phase 1 of the project is 42-miles long and includes 7 stations that span from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station to the planned station in North Lathrop. A future Phase 2 would extend the system from North Lathrop to Stockton. The proposed rail vehicles are diesel/battery electric hybrid multiple units. The Authority estimates the capital cost of Phase 1 to be $2.4 – 3.2 billion in year of expenditure dollars. The Authority has completed a feasibility report and is nearing the completion of environmental work and 30% design. The presentation will provide an overview of this fast-paced rail project, including the planned delivery methods and politics.
Michael Tree has 25 years of experience in public transportation and city management. He is currently the Executive Director for both the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) and the Tri-Valley – San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority. LAVTA is the operator of the popular Wheels public transit system in the Tri-Valley. The Tri-Valley – San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority is the Authority planning the Valley Link commuter rail system.
Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree from San Jose State in transportation management. Michael has been married 28 years to his high school sweetheart, Molly, and they have seven children together. They are residents of Livermore.
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Flares - The Basics
Health & Fitness Medicine
In this episode, I look at flares and some things that can be done to help work through a flare.
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of The Axial Spondyloarthritis Podcast. How is everybody doing? I hope when this message reaches you that you are doing fantastic and tackling every challenge that life throws at you head on. Today I was going through Instagram. And as many of you know, just a few weeks ago, I had on a really, really great guest named Steff Di Pardo. She's an author, a young woman with ankylosing spondylitis and dealing with everything that comes along with it. Her Instagram page is called totallyfunkless and I'll have a link to it in the show notes. Please go out and give her page a follow. She's really an inspirational young woman; she had a post out there that talked about that she's having a flare. I can certainly empathize as, as we all can. We've all been there and gone through them and come out on the other side of the fire as stronger, better person for it hopefully, hopefully, that everybody's like that.
But she posted “that photos from a flare up. My goal here is to be as honest as I possibly can be about this disease. This is one of those times when it gets the best of me. And that's okay. I'm allowed to cry when my pain levels are bad. I'm allowed to feel grief and sadness, and whatever I want to feel I'm having a very hard time this week. I do not love my body right now. “
We can all relate to that. We've all been there and my heart goes out to you, Steff, like many have said to me, I wish I could take that pain from you and bear it for you. It will hopefully one day lower for you, subside to a lesser level. That seems to be what happens for many folks that have had it for a number of years that start off when they get really young. So I hope that becomes something that you experience as well.
Flares are a terrible thing and that's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. And again, go out to totallyfunkless on Instagram, a link will be in the show notes and give Steff a follow, her page is really good. She's got really great content and read her book. There'll also be a link to her book in the show notes. It's a really, really good collection of stories about dealing with chronic pain and how she's dealt with get up and through this point in her life. So again, she's just a fantastic person, feel free to reach out to her and talk with her just a nice nice young woman.
Also, yesterday, I got a really cool message from Colin Burns, who lives in Glasgow, and Collin wrote,
“Hi, Jayson. I just wanted to start by saying thank you so much for sharing your experiences with the world through your podcast, I got diagnosed with AS, after 12 years of fighting with doctors, (I live in the UK) I got diagnosed and told to go search Google for it. So 10 minutes later, I was sitting in tears reading Google saying, I will end up in a wheelchair. Sitting in hospital car park for a month, I was so low social low with nowhere to turn, I drive for a job, he says, and I just happened to come across your podcast while driving and listening to your life story. And the drive you still have and the fight you have gave AS all your life gave me the strength to stand up and give AS the middle finger. I just want to let you know that you made a difference. Thank you so much.”
Well, Colin, thank you. It's because of listeners like you giving me feedback that they enjoy the show and find benefit in it, that I feel that I've been able to help somebody that's really all I ever want to do. When I was diagnosed, there was no Internet. As I've said before, there was no nothing, so as a 14-year-old kid, I was said you have Ankylosing Spondylitis. You know, a pat on the back, Good luck, we'll monitor it. Here's some naproxen. That was it. So you deal with the pain. I kind of glad that there wasn't all this to explore back then, because it allowed me to tackle the disease the way I wanted to tackle it. But at the same time, I wish that I would have had access to all this information. So that I would have known to do things like join the group Yoga for AS, practice yoga, practice meditation, doing these things to help try to give a better quality of life going forward. At that time again, there was no biologics, I'm a big believer in them. I know some people aren't, but I am and had they been available back then, I’d have been all over try them. So all I want everybody to take away from these is if you're in pain, and you need somebody to talk to reach out, whether it is myself, or any of the other. There's a great community on Instagram, go on to Instagram at house_of_spoons. There's just so many the list chronicallyJoanna, there's tons of them out there that are great people that will help you deal with what you're going through as you help them deal with what they're going through. It's a great, great community of people.
So with that, today's episode is going to be about flares. Now I have to be honest, it's been a long time since I've had a really bad flare, as I've gotten older and more fused to the point where just about anything not fused on me as my neck that the flares have become much much more less severe and much more infrequent. I just don't have them as much, one, maybe two a year and they're minor at that. But what is a flare? What do you need to know when you're having one? Well, the symptoms of a flare can be fatigue, fever, and pain in our joints, you know, shoulders, back, hips, ribcage, and an enthesitis. All of those can be potential symptoms of you having a flare, then there's local and generalized, local meaning it's just my lower back is flare like crazy, I can barely move or generalized, I feel like a truck hit me and I hurt everywhere. There's a number of treatments available, it can be NSAIDs and steroids, gentle exercise like yoga, heat or ice, a TENs machine or in some cases, even nap, you know, taking a nap and resting that can help but most people with AS can report that they have a flare, fairly common. And the other thing that comes into play with the flare is the emotional symptoms that you have. You can be all over the board. So I came across this article out of Creaky Joints, and I read it I thought it summed up a lot of what we deal with. And it goes on to say flares unfortunately, come with the territory of managing chronic arthritis, like Ankylosing Spondylitis, Axial Spondyloarthritis, Non-radiographic, you know, all of them, AS is an inflammatory disease that primarily affects the spine and the SI joints. It can also impact other joints such as the ankles, knees, neck, as well as caused inflammation of the emphasis. That's the connective tissue, where tendons and ligaments attach to the bone. So when we look at this, you know, people that have AS tend to have fairly consistently chronic low back pain, pelvic pain and hip pain, and then a flare can just send that into the stratosphere it, it can take it from manageable pain to just where you want to sit and cry. The intensity level just goes through the roof. Research indicates that flares in AS are very common, and one study found that AS patients had about one flare a month, each flare lasted about two weeks. Another study found that 70% of AS patients reported a flare in any given week. So it's common, you're going to deal with these and various levels and they're just part of the territory, and it stinks, but it is what it is when we deal with this thing called axial spondyloarthritis.
So the flares can sometimes be awful, or they can sometimes be emotionally taxing, or sometimes all of the above. And that is just something that really when you're going through one can just be as many of you are aware of emotionally draining. So with that gentle exercise, stress management, listening to your body, and the right medication treatments can help you through these periods of flare-ups. If you have as you can't prevent a flare, you can only deal with it, manage it, and help prevent the long term consequences of it says physical therapist, Maura Daly Iverson, and she's a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association, and says here's what to expect from as flares and how to deal with them. And we talked about types of layers. Based on patient surveys and self reported experiences of flares. Researchers characterize two main types of as flares as you said the localized and the generalized, the localized or where the symptoms affect one primary area causing pain, immobility and fatigue. Whereas as the name implies, generalized flares are more severe and may affect multiple parts of the body. In addition to the above symptoms like pain, immobility and fatigue. they also could induce flu like illnesses, fevers, sweating, hot burning joints, muscle spasms, and sensitivity.
So what are some of the symptoms of a flare? Well, first and foremost, many of us are going to recognize back pain and stiffness. As with many types of inflammatory arthritis a flare is marked by an increase of normal disease symptoms. So if a patient is experiencing worsening back or back pain lasting more than a few days, then it's likely a flare says rheumatologist Joan Appleyard. In addition to the back pain and stiffness, fatigue is another item that will be generally much more ramped up during a flare. And as the flare takes its toll on your body with inflammation increased and everything working against you. Your body fatigues much faster, it wants sleep, but sometimes sleep means lying down in the joints then sees up It seems to make it worse. So that fatigue can really come on strong. And it may help to be thinking of maybe napping up to three times a day, even if it's just a little half an hour nap here half an hour nap there that may help you alleviate some of that fatigue. If you can do that short term nap. You also can have pain and other joints. Could be your shoulders could be knees could be ankles, ribcage anywhere that you can have an attack, that pain might increase. So be very cognizant of that as you're dealing with everything. If that would you know if it's striking you everywhere those generalized flares are are really something just atrocious to deal with. The other thing that comes into play is depression. That's one thing that I think those of us with axial spondyloarthritis have to really watch for, there was a study done that said 75% of patients noted that emotional symptoms, such as depression were part of their flare symptoms. We all know that chronic pain can be mentally as well as physically debilitating. And we really need to watch ourselves so that we don't kind of slip into a dark spot. And that's where community really becomes important and that community might be through social channels like Facebook or Instagram, please go out to my Instagram page as_podcasts, or any of the other ones that I'll link in the show notes. All of those people are really great. And I encourage you to start to form a online community with all of us so that if you have issues need to talk, you know, you can reach out and we're all here for you. And then finally, there can be fever, as your body's fighting it. It can be almost like a flu type symptom where you, you get an elevated temperature, and you just feel rundown because the fatigue, so make sure to call your doctor if that happens. It could be something else besides a flare, but at least the doctor can look at you and help you determine what's going on. So what causes a flare? Well, nobody's 100% sure yet, but Dr. Appleyard said in a study that patients reported the main perceived triggers of a flare were stress and overdoing it. She said keep in mind; stress may mean both physical stress such as an illness or emotional stress. Excess fatigue may also trigger a flare. Unfortunately, he said beyond that experts don't really know what causes as to flare. Iverson who's the physical therapist goes on to say we truly don't understand all of the aspects of the inflammatory component. Environmental triggers are less clear than in other inflammatory arthritis, for example, like rheumatoid arthritis. So how are as flares diagnosed? Well, doctors can rely on you know your experiences so far in determining if you're having a flare. Also, there are two indexes that patients can fill out a form on to look at and one's called the BASDAI i think is how they say it, and it's the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index and the BASFI, which is the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index. These two questionnaires measure the major symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis, like fatigue, spinal pain, joint pain, swelling, inflammation, morning stiffness, etc, and the patient's ability to cope with everyday life, then a rheumatologist can use these measurements to help determine disease activity and to assess response to the treatment. So as Dr. Appleyard, in addition goes on to say, as symptoms as a whole are related to increased levels of certain cytokines in the blood. And so blood levels of these substances are closely correlated with the activity of the disease. Dr. Appleyard says.
So what are some treatments for flares? Well, there's medications, things like NSAIDs, like ibuprofen or naproxen can help to address the inflammation. Sometimes you might use steroids medications like prednisone if it's really bad case, it's a potent anti-inflammatory. And it's used for severe flares, not responding to like n sets. But and sets are considered the first line of therapy. I personally can't take them anymore because of some kidney damage. And I do have a standing order for prednisone, but I haven't used it in years, the pills probably aren't any good anymore. I do take a biologic drug, and that is usually used in conjunction with things like NSAIDs, to help keep you under control all the time biologic drug seems to help keep everything under control right now for me. And like I said, I have flares once or twice a year, and they're minimal, but knock on wood, three plus years of biologic use, and I've had really good luck. You could also use gentle exercise and this is where things like Tai Chi, modified yoga, maybe an elliptical machine, depending on your capabilities, you know, walking, some range of motion exercises, and I think it's really important go out and check out the Facebook page Yoga for AS,it's run by two gentlemen who both have Ankylosing Spondylitis one is in his 20s. The other is in his 70s, I believe, and using a gentle approach of yoga, they have both been able to keep fantastic qualities of life. So I highly recommend that you check out the page yoga for as, again, I had both Jeff and Jamie on a few months ago, and I have a link to their show in the show notes so that you can go and listen and see what we talked about. It was really quite an interesting deal what they've done with yoga. There's also heat and cold therapy, you know, you're gonna know what your body responds to listen to what your body says. For some people, it might be something like a cold shower, others a warm shower, could be a nice hot bath to try and soak up you know, with some Epsom salts to try and loosen up whatever works best for you. And then last but not least, is the Trans Continious Electrical Nerve Ttimulation, also known as a TENs unit, and this is a machine where you put the little patches on your muscle where you're having some of the pain, and you use an electric current to help kind of manage the nerve signals that are coming through that area and try and offset them a little bit so that you feel better. Sounds kind of scary, but it's not actually quite a few people use it like it, I had a TENs machine for years that I used.
So what are some tips for coping with as flares? Well prepare for it. So when it comes to the flare, you know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so to speak. Although you can't actually stop a flare from happening, you can make sure to keep up with your exercise plan, practice that yoga, learn meditation, all of those things can help. You know, there's also some strength training you can do. I've talked about that, in the last episode of starting a weekly exercise plan, it could be something as simple as just doing some push ups during commercials on TV, getting up and walking around your living room in your house, whatever it is, you have to start somewhere. So let's get going. And I'll have a link to that in the show notes. I want you to listen to it and follow along with what we're trying to do over on Instagram, develop your own pain management techniques. Otherwise, listen to your body do what your body thinks is best for itself. So if there's certain things you can do in yoga, and certain things you can't do, don't do them, it doesn't mean that Yoga is not working for you, it just means you can't do that particular pose, I have lots of those because of the multiple hip replacements I've had. But doing some is better than doing none. So focus on the parts of your body that you can exercise that you can put a little bit of stress on him to help build some muscle, tone up some muscle, get your metabolism running, you know, look at meditation I did Transcendental Meditation doesn't mean you have to do it. But there are a number of different options available right on YouTube for you to learn meditation really easy. So I have a link in the show notes to some of those to make it really easy for you to go out and find them. Also create some time in your routine in any given day for some rest. Now, maybe you can't rest every day at the same time. But maybe on your weekends, whatever those days are off that you make sure you fit in a couple of short naps half an hour to an hour, the middle of the day, or late morning or late afternoon, whatever the time, you can fit it in, that best works for your schedule. Maybe you have a spouse, or a partner that helps with some of the food preparation or goes grocery shopping, or takes off some of the chores off of any list so that you don't have to deal with them. And it's less stress; it's less thinking about it. So it's easier on your body.
Finally, manage stress and mental health. You know, in addition to the mind, body, you know, there are strategies for pain management, like we talked about what the TENs machine, maybe it's go to a pain management doctor, if your pain is really severe, educate yourself about the disease, go on to the different forums on Facebook, you know, talk with your doctor, talk with them and let them know about flares and anything that you might be able to do in advance to be prepared when a bad one happens. So you're not calling them in the middle of a flare, you're able to handle it. And then if it's really weighing on you with depression wise, like I said, reach out to any of us or seek a mental health professional, which is fantastic to do. You can go and find any number of therapists for any different reason and talk with them about what's causing stress in your life, what's causing other issues outside of the house that might be triggering to it and causing you to have a flare. So take advantage of any type of mental health plans that are available to you and use them.
So with that said, I want to thank you all for listening. Again, we're wrapping up 2020. It's been a crazy year. But I'm so glad to have everybody on board and listening. I really appreciate it. Go over to spondypodcast.com. Go ahead and sign up for the newsletter, you'll get a pop up when you log on that I'll talk to you about going in and sign up for the newsletter and the new shirts, check out the store where all the shirts are I went through and we did that whole section with the new logo. And I think some of the things look fantastic. So get yourself a shirt deal with yours flares in style, so to speak. So again, thank you, everybody, and you have a wonderful, wonderful week, and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Creaky Joints article episode based upon – https://www.creakyjoints.org/living-with-arthritis/ankylosing-spondylitis-flare-ups/
The Axial Spondyloarthritis Podcast Instagram Page - https://www.instagram.com/as_podcast/
Steff DiPardo’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/totallyfunkless/
House of Spoons Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/house_of_spoons/
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SRT receives the Charity Transparency Award for the second time
In an ever-increasing world of fake news, tax evasion and corporate misconduct, it has never been more important for organisations to adhere to the highest standards of transparency for all the partners they connect with.
As a leading charity in Singapore, SRT strives hard in its governance efforts to drive transparency in all its work and is delighted to announce that it has once again been awarded the coveted Charity Transparency Award for the 2nd year in a row.
Transparency and good governance have become the critical differentiators in business and are particularly vital in the charity community and not for profit sector, which rely heavily on public donations to operate. SRT has put in place a series of policies required for the Refined Code of Governance, which will take effect in 2018. Our new policies include Social Media Policy, Code of Conduct and a Whistle-blower Policy which aim to strengthen our governance and work in a more complex sector.
It’s this transparency and trust that are so key in the changing landscape of partnership marketing, as is the ability to create bespoke programmes that not only deliver outputs, but which are equally focused on the outcomes for businesses.
As SRT heads towards its silver jubilee next year it’s a real honour to receive this award for a 2nd time, an accolade that would not have been possible without the support of our Board of Directors.
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PARTNER CONTENT | Articles
What’s in your Marketing Toolkit?
As we move towards the end of a tumultuous year, many businesses are looking towards how to recover. Record losses of income have been registered across countless sectors, so as we approach a COVID-normal environment, the importance of marketing as a tool to recover and grow has skyrocketed.
SmartCompany pulled together some of Australia’s marketing masterminds for our webinar ‘What’s in your Marketing Toolkit?’, offering small business owners foundational tips and insights for a stellar marketing strategy.
Hosted by our startups and tech editor Stephanie Palmer-Derrien, the three-person panel represented a wide range of marketing expertise and experience.
Fiona Killackey, who runs My Daily Business Coach, brought over 20 years of marketing experience to the webinar. Koda Capital’s Andrew Rutherford spoke of his experiences working with some of Australia’s wealthiest individuals, and Michelle Aknidenor’s work producing brand podcasts as the founder of The Peers Project provided a great sense of how new media and marketing can be used.
How to reverse engineer your marketing strategy
Looking at how to start your marketing journey as a small business, and knowing your goals and identifying your potential customer base was advice echoed by each of the panelists.
Killackey says taking that first step to identify what you want to achieve as a business is crucial before diving into the nitty-gritty of marketing.
“What I like to do is ask people to try and think of the first three things you want to achieve in the first 12 months, and reverse engineer their marketing from them,” she says.
Once those first steps have been made, Rutherford stresses the importance of knowing who your business is for, and how you want to reach that market.
“Businesses need to be very clear about what customers want to hear,” he added. “You don’t want to be talking to a bunch of vegetarians about the newest beef burger you have for sale.”
Akhidenor says that once a foundation of what the business is looking to achieve has been set, a podcast can be great to take engagement to the next level.
“Realistically, you need that foundation, you need social media and an outreach method for sales,” she says.
“However, it can be the next step after the foundation has been laid… when you are ready to take that engagement to the next level.”
Cutting through the noise on social media
Once your marketing strategy is off the ground, getting the message out there to prospective and existing customers through marketing channels continues to be crucial, especially through social media.
Because there is so much free advertising online through social media, Rutherford identifies the importance of knowing how to cut through the morass of other campaigns to stand out.
“Marketing is now free and ubiquitous through social media,” he says. “How do you cut through so much? You have to have a starting point where you’re clear of what your product is. That will help define who your target customers are.”
This was reiterated by Akhidenor, who points towards being authentic as a major factor in retaining and enticing customers.
“It really comes down to authenticity and coming across as real and representing your brand values,” she continues.
“There’s so much out there that consumers can feel like things are not real, and that just doesn’t fly anymore. It’s about how you can connect with your audience.”
Moving further into using social media, Killackey speaks on using influencers to help reach a target market. While not a perfect method, she believes it can be a useful tool if used in conjunction with the correct data.
“Brand ambassadors can work really well to reach your target market,” she says. “If you are going to work with influencers, look at micro influencers with 5000 or less followers… There’s definitely a space for it but it’s about being smarter with it.”
The combination of accessible but vital business information and expert insights from across industries made this session a must-watch.
Keep an eye on SmartCompany’s newsletter and social channels for more virtual events like this.
Salesforce, the global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way.
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Dream Office: The joys and perils of a talkative workplace
Myriam Robin
Some workplaces are quiet. Some are not.
This can be bewildering for those who’ve recently moved organisations. Where they used to say hello to everyone and chat about their day, at their new organisation people come in and out when it suits them, and don’t bother talking much in the process. Going the other way can be just as unsettling – it can be hard for those used to peace and quiet to concentrate when there’s lots of buzz around them.
Most businesses strive to create an engaging and interesting work environment. But they can differ entirely on how much they want staff to talk as they do their job.
It is leaders who decide on what tone their office should take, so what should they aim for? Is a quiet office more productive? Or can innovation only happen in an environment where speaking up is nothing unusual?
What determines the level of office bonding?
Most companies have varying levels of HR-driven special events – such as lunches, barbecues, picnics and drinks nights – intended to solidify working relationships and to help people get to know each other in an informal setting.
But this doesn’t determine the vibe of an office. While it can tip it one way or the other, most of what employees remember about the place they work is determined by what it’s like to work there on a day-to-day basis.
The amount of casual chit-chat is determined by a couple of factors. Some are psychological, while others relate to design.
Corporate psychologist Leanne Faraday-Brash says when it comes to the level of chatter, there’s an interaction between the workplace norms set by a company’s leadership, and the individual personalities of the people in the office.
“Highly extroverted people actually derive energy and drive from bouncing off other people,” she says. “Highly introverted people, however, will derive energy from working quietly on their own stuff for long periods.”
There are other, non-psychological facets to how noisy or otherwise a workplace is. Office design plays a key role. Open-plan offices encourage chatter, but it’s not enough on its own. Studies have found that while people who work in open-plan offices talk more, their talk is also far more functional (“do you have those files”) than the idle chatter heard a corporate water-cooler. Employees are less likely to let their guard down when they feel their every word is likely to be heard and noticed.
Office design also impacts how often people talk to each other in another way.
There’s a name for how you probably never talk to anyone working on a different floor to you. It’s called the Allen Curve. In 1984, organisational psychology professor Thomas Allen published a book most famous for his analysis of the frequency of interactions in a multi-storey R&D complex full of engineers. His study, conducted before the open-plan office was popularised, found interactions between different workers declined exponentially depending on the distance between their offices. Even when they were in the same building, researchers on different floors almost never had anything to do with each other. This effect starts to take place when people are 50 metres or more apart. When he updated his research in the early 2000s to take account of the internet and other virtual communications, he found nothing had changed.
Allen’s findings have played a big role in corporate office design, with many newer offices encouraging interaction between staff through shared central spaces.
This trend towards shared spaces for discussion is also driven by another emerging factor – telework. As workers increasingly expect the ability to work from home, the purpose of the office is changing. No longer is it a place where workers can access the equipment they need. So leading companies are reimagining it as the nerve-centre, where workers come to interact and innovate.
In recent years, leading companies have revamped their offices, adding break-out spaces and abolishing desks, or as the jargon would describe it, moving to “activity-based working” environments.
But can all workplaces become chattering hives of collegiality? Not really, given the impact a company’s business model often has on how much staff talk to each other.
Client-focused workplaces where staff are constantly dealing with people other than their colleagues can mean they relish a chance for peace and quiet when they’re not dealing with clients. Factories with three people to a floor are likely to have minimal interaction between staff. Leanne Faraday-Brash says in her experience, operating theatres are full of lively chit-chat. “Sometimes it’s personal, sometimes it’s cheeky,” she says. “But only after the patient has gone off to sleep.”
The benefits of close co-workers
Martin Nally, the managing director of human resources consultancy HR Anywhere, says there’s a simple reason that saying hello and goodbye to people is very important.
“It’s critical, and the reason is about recognition,” he says. “Recognition can, of course, come in many different formats, but the acknowledgement of someone’s presence is a major part of it.”
Businesses that don’t make people feel valued can often gain a reputation for having a “bad vibe”, which ultimately, Nally says, can make hiring and hanging on to staff more difficult.
“The most important thing a leader can do is to model good behaviour. Say, ‘this is important, and we’re going to take the trouble to recognise people around here in different ways’.”
For some people, friendships and recognition are a key part of what drives them at work. Motivational psychologist David MccLelland identified three drivers that motivate people at work: the power drive (the ability to influence and lead); the achievement drive (which relates to the outcomes someone achieves); and the affiliation drive (the connections and social atmosphere of their workplace). Most people have one or two dominant drivers.
“For those with the affiliation drive being dominant, having friends at work is hugely important,” Faraday-Brash says. “They need that to make their work fun and engaging.”
Close co-workers are also able to more efficiently allocate tasks according to their strengths and preferences, she adds. “If they’re cohesive, they’re more willing to make allowances if someone is stressed or struggling with the workload. The ‘care factor’ is higher, and so the work can get done more efficiently.”
Relaxed, friendly workplaces are also a hallmark of creativity and innovation.
The perils of a friendly workplace
However, there are costs to having a chatty workplace.
The most obvious is time-theft. “Obviously, the social atmosphere at work can be a huge distraction, especially when people have time-based tasks to perform, or when they prioritise socialising over work,” Faraday-Brash says.
Highly social workplaces can also put part-timers at a disadvantage.
“Part-timers often have to be really efficient,” Faraday-Brash says. “They’re ruthless about spending the time at work on the work, so they can get the most done in the time they’re allotted. With many part-timers – particularly women who have family responsibilities – they don’t go to meetings where they don’t add value, they don’t go to lunches, they’re highly intentional about how they spend their time. They feel like they can’t afford to spend time socialising.”
The same issue crops up with those working from home, who sacrifice office chit-chat for convenience.
Reaching a balance for everyone
For business leaders, it’s a catch-22. Extroverted people can often imagine nothing worse than sitting quietly and doing their work, but others can’t stand distractions.
It’s a difficult balance to handle. Faraday-Brash suggests that instead of fussing over whether their workplace is noisy or quiet, leaders instead work to foster an atmosphere that’s flexible and accepting.
“It’s so easy to judge if people don’t do things the way you would,” she says. “But different people do their best work in such different circumstances.
“Leaders should make it OK for people to have different work styles. They should create environments where people respect difference. If Mary needs peace and quiet to think, there should be space for her to do that. If she blocks out time in a meeting room and closes the door, she should be left alone.
“People should be free to situate themselves where they work best.”
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Google accounts for 25% of all North American internet traffic
Google now accounts for a quarter of all internet traffic in North America, according to new figures from analytics firm DeepField.
The figure was discovered by looking at the traffic source and destination of traffic across the edge routers of 110 US ISPs.
The data also reveals 62.28% of all internet-connected end devices, including featurephones consoles, home media appliances, smartphones and tablets, exchange data with Google during the course of an average day.
While Google remains the second largest internet service in terms of bandwidth behind Netflix, it is larger than Facebook, Netflix and Twitter combined in terms of end device and user audience share.
“By far the most striking change in Google’s Internet presence has come with the deployment of thousands of Google servers in Internet providers around the world,” DeepField chief executive Craig Labovitz says.
“With little press coverage or fanfare, Google has deployed (Google Global Cache) servers in the majority of US Internet providers. By comparison, we observed GGC deployments mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America when we last did a large scale study in 2010.”
In the earlier 2010 survey, Google accounted for 6% of all internet traffic.
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Samsung apologises to cancer victims as it gears up its Google Glass rival
Samsung Electronics has issued an apology to former employees stricken by leukaemia and other forms of cancer, as the company reportedly prepares a Google Glass competitor.
According to a Korean Times report, Samsung Electronics vice chairman Oh-hyun Kwon issued a statement to apologising for former employees of its chip production plants who have been diagnosed with, or died from, cancer.
In December 2012, a South Korean court found the company responsible for the death of a former employee – identified as “Kim” – who worked at one of its plants between 1995 and 2000.
The woman died following a three-year battle with breast cancer, with the court finding a causal connection between her exposure to organic solvents and radiation at the factory and her illness, with the company coming under increasing scrutiny as a result.
The tech giant says it will drop all outstanding lawsuits against the families of victims and will organise a compensation fund, with the apology coming as Samsung Group chairman reportedly remains under sedation following a heart attack.
The news overshadowed reports in Business Korea suggesting the tech giant is currently working on a competitor to Google Glass – dubbed “Gear Glass” – which is set to run the company’s Tizen operating system.
The company is reportedly planning to unveil the new device during a keynote speech during the IFA trade show in Berlin, which will run from September 5 to 10.
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Sandy Hook Parents Sue Conspiracy Troll Alex Jones for Defamation
For years, Jones and his conspiracy-mongering network InfoWars have trolled grieving parents, accusing them of faking the deaths of their own children.
Bethania Palma
Image via Belltreephotography / Shutterstock.com
The parents of two children murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre have filed two separate defamation lawsuits against conspiracy-peddling troll Alex Jones and his InfoWars network.
Neil Heslin, the father of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, along with Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, the parents of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, are both seeking damages in excess of $1,000,000 in a lawsuit filed on 16 April 2018 in Travis County District Court in Austin, Texas, where InfoWars is based.
InfoWars has made it a mission to paint victims and survivors of the Sandy Hook massacre — in which 20 young children and six adults were killed by a gunman — as actors in a “false flag” attack. As a result, grieving loved ones have been relentlessly stalked, harassed and threatened by “hoaxers” who buy into these narratives, which are easily disprovable and wholly without merit.
According to court documents, Jones and cohost Owen Shroyer have been smearing parents with rants and false commentary that weaves their tragedy into a delusional New World Order conspiracy theory, in which they claim that mass shootings are staged incidents created by a secret, all-powerful cabal in an effort to seize Americans’ guns and establish an autocratic global government.
Bill Ogden, an attorney for the parents, told us:
This case has absolutely nothing to do with the First Amendment. This case has to do with a media source that touts itself as seeking the truth but makes false claims about people. That’s why we have defamation laws. When you point out specific people and call them liars, and say they didn’t hold their dead children in their arms, there are consequences for that.
An attorney for InfoWars did not respond to our request for comment.
Both lawsuits claim that Jones and InfoWars targeted the parents for harassment by telling their viewers that they were liars engaged in a scheme to cover up a “false flag,” or a mass casualty event staged by the government as a pretext for ramped-up repression. InfoWars co-host Shroyer, for example, made an easily-debunked claim that Heslin had been dishonest during a June 2017 interview with NBC host Megyn Kelly when he said he had held his son’s bullet-ridden body in his arms, because the victims of the shooting were identified using photographs.
But, obviously, the bodies were later released to families so that they could hold funerals for their loved ones, which the news media covered extensively. According to court documents:
Shroyer’s report was manifestly false. In addition, a minimal amount of research would have caused any competent journalist not to publish the defamatory accusation. According to contemporary news accounts, the bodies of the victims were released from the medical examiner into the custody of the families.
Funerals where the children’s bodies were in the custody of their parents were widely reported on by the press.
Jones also claimed an interview De La Rosa did with CNN journalist Anderson Cooper was faked and done on a set, in an effort to label her a “crisis actor”:
Mr. Jones’ assertion that Plaintiff Veronique De La Rosa participated in a faked blue-screen interview from a remote location is manifestly false. Mr. Jones’ assertion that the interview did not take place in front of the Edmond Town Hall is also manifestly false. The visual effect described by Mr. Jones is the result of motion compensation video compression, which would have been readily ascertainable at the time Mr. Jones made his claims.
Nonetheless, after five years, Mr. Jones continues to push this sick lie about Mrs. De La Rosa and her interview.
Of Heslin, Pozner and De La Rosa, Ogden told us:
Sadly this has gone all the way up through death threats. So not only can these people not grieve in peace, they’re now looking over their shoulders 24/7.
Jones is also being sued by Marcel Fontaine, a 24-year-old Massachusetts man falsely accused by InfoWars of being the gunman in the 14 February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where seventeen people were murdered. The InfoWars post claimed the shooter “dressed like a communist” and that the “MSM” — conspiracy-speak for “mainstream media” were covering it up. The post has since been retracted but still contains a link to another bogus story alleging there was a second shooter in Parkland.
Some who buy into the same conspiracy theory InfoWars traffics have been arrested for taking their conspiratorial thinking into the real world.
In 2015, hoaxer Matthew Mills of New York was arrested at an annual marathon held in honor of Sandy Hook teacher Vikki Soto for stalking and harassing Soto’s sister.
In 2017, Lucy Richards, a 57-year-old Florida woman, was sentenced to five months in prison for sending death threats to Pozner in which she said:
Did you hide your imaginary son in the attic? Are you still fucking him? You fucking Jew bastard. Jew bastard. Look behind you. Death is coming to you real soon.
In March 2018, Robert Ussery and Jodi Mann, hoaxers who go by the social media handles Side Thorn and Conspiracy Granny respectively, were arrested for trespassing after verbally assaulting the pastor of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, whose 14-year-old daughter was among 26 people killed in the 5 November 2017 mass shooting there.
In February 2018, three other conspiratorial web sites, GotNews, TheGatewayPundit.com and FreedomDaily.com were also hit with a defamation lawsuit after falsely accusing an innocent person of driving the car that ran down counter-protesters, killing a woman, at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017.
A Facebook page run Sandy Hook hoaxers has also been removed by Facebook; it is now being controlled by anti-hoaxers who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
hoaxers
Wahl, Liz. “Truthers: When Conspiracy Meets Reality.”
WMAR. 13 December 2017.
McMahon, Paula. “Woman Accused of Threatening Sandy Hook Parent Jailed After She Was a No-Show for Court.”
Sun Sentinel. 3 April 2017.
Haag, Matthew. “Alex Jones and Infowars Are Sued for Defamation After Misidentifying Parkland Gunman.”
The New York Times. 3 April 2018.
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Chasing the memory, not the high
UCI cognitive scientist says memory, more than compulsion, could be to blame for relapses among those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol
Addiction to drugs and/or alcohol is a problem that affects millions of Americans - yet one for which treatment has advanced very little for decades, says UCI cognitive sciences professor Aaron Bornstein. And with the National Institute on Drug Abuse reporting that 40- to 60-percent of people in recovery relapse, something’s gotta give.
“I think we’ve been looking at the model for addiction wrong,” he says. In an article published online in Neuropsychopharmacology, he and co-author Hanna Pickard, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of philosophy and bioethics at Johns Hopkins University, present a novel theory that focuses on memory, not compulsion, as the driving factor behind addictive behavior.
“If you speak to an addict,” Bornstein says, “you will often hear stories of the first time they remember really enjoying their drug of choice. These memories will be rich, vividly detailed - what music was playing, what color shirt their friend was wearing, and so on.” Bornstein and Pickard reasoned that these memories might themselves be driving the choice to use again.
Aaron Bornstein
Bornstein, who specializes in memory and decision making, recently earned a Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science. He teamed up with Pickard - a philosopher and bioethicist with years of clinical experience - to understand how computer-simulated laboratory experiments could help answer what Pickard calls “The Puzzle of Addiction” - how we can explain why addicts persist in using drugs despite increasing negative consequences that might, to an outside observer, appear to outweigh any and all benefits to consumption.
“My previous work has shown that episodic memory of rewarding past experiences guides our decisions in the present - sometimes to our detriment,” Bornstein says. “And, when those rewarding experiences come back to mind, they might drive us to re-live them - regardless of cost.” This idea could explain why people keep using drugs despite having repeated negative experiences. It might also explain how people can relapse, even after years without using.
Put another way, the drug may have disappeared from their lives, but the memories always remain.
This is a different way of looking at addiction than is typical in contemporary research. Most work on substance abuse uses rodents as models, because a great deal can be learned about the specific neural circuits that underlie a behavior, Bornstein explains. But rodent addiction in the lab differs from the human experience in several important ways.
I think we’ve been looking at the model for addiction wrong.
“For one, humans tend to know what they’re getting in to when they take a drug for the first time. Someone probably tells the person what they’re taking and they’re probably with friends or in an environment with lots of details that can define that moment in time,” he says. Conversely, an animal is often just hitting a lever in a box and has no idea what’s coming or how to make sense of it. So even if there is a memory of that experience, it might not be tied to the sensation they’re feeling in the same way. This may be part of the reason that addiction research tends to think of drug-seeking behavior as purely compulsion - that’s all there is in rodents, he says.
“A recovering addict may know the consequences of using again, but something as seemingly innocuous as a social cue – like seeing a friend they’ve used with in the past – can bring back those past experiences, and might be enough to cause a relapse, despite the consequences,” he says. “This richness of memory is exactly why it can be so dangerous.”
They reason that there’s something more happening beyond a compulsive, habit-like response. And unlocking the solutions to this puzzle may help clear the way to new treatments.
“Once we understand that the drug use and relapse may sometimes be caused by the impact of episodic memories of early drug experience on present decisions, we can see a new target for intervention,” says Pickard. “Drug memories can’t be erased, but their power can be diminished, if other things that a person values can be simultaneously brought to mind when they are faced with a decision to use.”
This new model suggests that treatment for addiction may need to focus on strengthening existing and creating new associations between drug cues and drug-inconsistent rewards, rather than breaking learned associations between drug cues and drug rewards - which is a common goal of many other treatments under development today. The researchers are pursuing these questions using tools from philosophy, the laboratory, and the clinic to try and understand both what drives people to remember these early drug experiences, and how to guide them to build new experiences and memories that can help them achieve the life they want to live.
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The Arab Spring and Its Implications on The Peace Process
Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100
David Makovsky,The Washington Institute’s Project on the Middle East Peace Process and Ghaith Al Omari, Executive Director at the American Task Force in Palestine
The International Studies Public Forum (ISPF) presents
"The Arab Spring and Its Implications on The Peace Process"
with David Makovsky,The Washington Institute’s Project on the Middle East Peace Process
and Ghaith Al Omari, Executive Director at the American Task Force in Palestine
3:30-5:00 p.m.
David Makovsky is the Ziegler distinguished fellow and director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Project on the Middle East Peace Process. He is also an adjunct lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Before joining The Washington Institute, Makovsky was an award-winning journalist who covered the peace process from 1989 to 2000. He is the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post and was diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s leading daily Haaretz. Now a contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report, he served for eleven years as the magazine’s special Jerusalem correspondent. He was awarded the National Press Club’s 1994 Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence for a cover story on PLO finances that he cowrote for the magazine. In July 1994, with the personal intervention of then Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Makovsky became the first journalist writing for an Israeli publication to visit Damascus. In total, he has made five trips to Syria, the latest in December 1999 as he accompanied then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In March 1995, with assistance from U.S. officials, Makovsky was given unprecedented permission to file reports from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for an Israeli publication.
Ghaith Al-Omari is executive director of the American Task Force in Palestine (ATFP). Prior to that, he served in various positions within the Palestinian Authority, including director of the International Relations Department in the Office of the Palestinian President, and advisor to former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. In these capacities, he provided advice on foreign policy -- especially vis-à-vis the United States and Israel -- and security. He has extensive experience in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, having been an advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team throughout the permanent status negotiations (1999–2001). In that capacity, he participated in various negotiating rounds, most notably the Camp David summit and the Taba talks. After the breakdown of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, he was the lead Palestinian drafter of the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial model peace agreement negotiated between leading Palestinian and Israeli public figures. Al-Omari is a lawyer by training and a graduate of Georgetown and Oxford universities. Prior to his involvement in the Middle East peace process, he taught international law in Jordan and was active in human rights advocacy.
For further information, please visit http://internationalstudies.ss.uci.edu/is_public_forum.
Contact: Mike Roesler, mroesler@uci.edu, or visit http://internationalstudies.ss.uci.edu/is_public_forum
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Game Math Cookbook: Finding out where to move to through the Pythagorean theorem
It's been fifteen years since I had math in school, and even then trigonometry was barely just touched on. Every time I try to do game development though, I'm hitting a brick wall because people throw around concepts like tangents, radians and square roots of things like it's nothing and I completely forgot about all of that. Wikipedia isn't really that helpful because it explains the concepts from a math perspective which means it's dry, complicated, and doesn't answer the question "What would I use this mathematical concept for?". So for my own sake, I'm blogging about a game problem and how to solve it with math in a way that I can understand.
A note on Vectors: I use "vector" for a collection of 2 points (since I'm dealing with 2D here). In Mathematics, vector has very well defined meanings, but here it's just a X and Y value and a vector might both define a Point in space or an adjustment that's done over time.
Movement from A to B over time
Possibly the earliest (and easiest) problem is movement of something from A to B over time. I know that my object can move at 3 units per second (this is something I made up for the game, you'll have to figure out what speed you use in whatever game and coordinate system you use). I know where it is right now (A at 4,4) and where I want it to eventually be (B at 9,6), but how do I get there?
What we need is a movement vector, that is a set of X/Y values to add to A over time. What does this mean? Let's say that our movement vector is 0.6,0.4 just for the sake of the example. That means that after 1 second, A should be at 4.6,4.4. Then, a second later it would be at 5.2,4.8 and so on. The movement vector is called velocity because it doesn't describe a point in space but a magnitude of which a point gets shifted over time.
How do we find out the velocity? First, we need to know the difference between points A and B so that we know what we have to cross. Let's call this the difference vector, and it's calculated by B.X-A.X,B.Y-A.Y or in the example, 9-4,6-4 which results in 5,2. That's neat, but that's the complete distance I have to cross it doesn't tell me how much to move over time.
Here's the point I struggled with for a long time: Normalized Vectors. People call this the unit vector usually without going to deep into it. The textbook definition: A unit vector is a vector of length 1. What does that mean? For a long time, I thought that means that X + Y have to equal 1. The difference vector above seems to be 5+2 = 7. Why do I need to have a vector of length 1 and how to I turn my vector of 7 into a vector of 1? Just subtract X/Y by 7 to get 0.71,0.29?
First off, the length of the difference vector is not 7. This was a mistake I made for a long time. Rather, the length of the vector is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with origin 0,0 and points at the X and Y coordinates. Let's just quickly go over the parts of a right triangle (image courtesy of Wikipedia):
The Hypotenuse c is the longest side and is the one opposing the right angle. Side a is the adjacent while side b is the opposite. Angle B seems to be the source of the naming since side b sits adjacent to it while side a is on the opposite.
Point A is 0,0. Point B is my difference vector, 5,2. Point C is chosen by us to sit at 5,0 so that we get a right triangle like this:
This is where the pythagorean theorem comes in, which defines that a2 + b2 = c2. We want c, and we have a (2) and b (5). Let us calculate c2:
a2 = 5 * 5 = 25
b2 = 2 * 2 = 4
c2 = 25 + 4 = 29
Getting c is now simply the square root of c2, which is 5.385164807134504 or 5.39 for short.
The length of the vector 5,2 is 5.39, not 7. Because it takes 5.39 units to cross the distance from 0,0 to 5,2 or from 4,4 to 9,6. Because if the length were 7 it means you would first walk the X-Axis for 5 units and then the Y-Axis for 2 Units, when you could just cross diagonally.
Source (A): 4,4
Destination (B): 9,6
Desired Speed: 3 units per second
Difference: 5,2
Length of Difference: 5.39
Velocity: ???
So how do we get the velocity and what does this stuff have to do with normalized vectors? As said, a normalized vector is a vector of length 1, and we can get the normalized difference vector by dividing both 5 and 2 by 5.39 which gets us a vector of 0.93,0.37 (which, ignoring a rounding error for the sake of the blog post, has a length of 1 = sqrt(0.932 + 0.372)). We can now multiply this with the desired speed - 3 - to get the Velocity: 2.79,1.11 per second.
Normalized Difference: 0.93,0.37
Velocity (=Change applied to A every second): 2.79,1.11
This would then be multiplied with the frame delta time to get the amount of movement in a frame (so in a 60 fps scenario you would multiply it by 1/60 = 0.016666...).
I still haven't explained the use of a normalized vector. I think that Gamedev.net has done a good job explaining it, but in my own understanding: The difference vector has a magnitude of it's own - with a length of 5.39 it would mean that my object would move 5.39 units per second. So normalizing a vector to me is an application of the rule of three. How do I get from 5.39 units per second to the desired 3 units per second? By going down to 1 unit per second:
5.39 = 5,2
1 = 5/5.39 , 2/5.39 = 0.93 , 0.37
3 = 3*0.93 , 3*0.37 = 2.79 , 1,11
December 21st, 2013 in Development | tags: game math
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R Kelly is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop and contemporary R&B artists and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time
BUMP N GRIND - R KELLY (SK)
Bump N Grind
DO WHAT U WANT - LADY GAGA R KELLY (SK)
Do What You Want ft Lady Gaga
HAPPY PEOPLE - R KELLY (SK)
I BELIEVE I CAN FLY - R KELLY
IF I COULD TURN BACK THE HANDS OF TIME - R KELLY
IGNITION - R KELLY (SK)
ONLY THE LOOT CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY - R KELLY (SK)
Only The Loot Can Make You Happy
PLAYAS ONLY - R KELLY (SK)
Playas Only ft The Game
SHE'S GOT THE VIBE - R KELLY (SK)
She’s Got The Vibe
SNAKE - R KELLY (SK)
STEP IN THE NAME OF LOVE - R KELLY
THE STORM IS OVER NOW - R KELLY
THE WORLDS GREATEST - R KELLY
The Worlds Greatest
YOU REMIND ME OF SOMETHING - R KELLY
R Kelly Backing Tracks
Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play. He is known for a collection of major hit singles including “Bump N’ Grind”, “Your Body’s Callin'”, “I Believe I Can Fly”, “Gotham City”, “Ignition (Remix)”, “If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time”, “The World’s Greatest”, “I’m a Flirt (Remix)”, and the hip-hopera “Trapped in the Closet”. In 1998, Kelly won three Grammy Awards for “I Believe I Can Fly”. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop and contemporary R&B artists. Kelly became the first musician to play professional basketball, when he was signed in 1997.
Kelly has written, produced, and remixed songs and albums for many artists, including Aaliyah’s 1994 debut album Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number. In 1996, Kelly was nominated for a Grammy for writing Michael Jackson’s song “You Are Not Alone”. In 2002 and 2004, Kelly released collaboration albums with rapper Jay-Z and has been a guest vocalist for other hip hop artists like Nas, Sean Combs, and The Notorious B.I.G.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognised R. Kelly as one of the best-selling music artists in the United States with 40 million albums sold as well as only the fifth black artist to crack the top 50 of the same list. In March 2011, R. Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Kelly has released 12 solo studio albums, and sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide, making him the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop, earning the nicknames “King of R&B” and “King of Pop-Soul”. He is listed by Billboard as the most successful R&B/Hip Hop artist of the past 25 years (1985-2010) and also the most successful R&B artist in history. Throughout his career, Kelly has won numerous awards, including a Guinness World Records as well as countless other awards like Grammy, BET, Soul Train, Billboard, NAACP, and American Music Awards.
Artist backing track music music backing tracks pop singers Singing
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Alumni honored by UW-Stevens Point
For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
STEVENS POINT - Seven alumni, including four from Central Wisconsin, will be honored for achievement and service as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point marks homecoming weekend.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards Saturday, Oct. 15, will recognize an alumnus from each of the four colleges: Dick Okray, ’82, of the College of Professional Studies; Mari Regnier, master’s ’86, of the College of Fine Arts and Communication; Brig. Gen. Mark E. Anderson, ’86, of the College of Natural Resources; and Pat Fortune, ‘69, of the College of Letters and Science.
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The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Jim King, ’68, and his wife, Jean, for their commitment to the Stevens Point and Pointer communities. The Trailblazer Award will be presented to Lee Meyer, ’08, for exceptional achievement within 10 years of graduating. The Mary Ann Nigbor Volunteer of the Year Award will be given to Dianne Somers, ’68, for service to the potato industry.
Okray is president of Okray Family Farms, Inc., Plover, which was originally founded by his grandfather in 1905. He is active in the potato industry at the state, national and international levels, traveling to China to attend the World Potato Congress. Okray has worked with UW-Madison on biomass projects and opens his home to UW-Stevens Point international students. He majored in economics.
Regnier, Chicago, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, works with clients from the Pacific Rim that do business in the U.S. and overseas. A native of Japan, she received her law degree from Indiana University Law School. She completed a master’s in communication at UW-Stevens Point.
Fortune, Cambridge, Mass., is partner at Boston Millennia Partners, a health care and life sciences venture capital firm with more than $700 million under management. He has nurtured start-up activities from idea to prototype to standalone business and has been involved in more than 30 merger and acquisition transactions throughout his career. He majored in chemistry and math at UW-Stevens Point.
Anderson, Wisconsin Rapids, serves as Wisconsin’s Deputy Adjutant General for the U.S. Army. He also serves as the special assistant to the Chief of the National Guard – Diversity. He is responsible for advising the chief on matters relating to Department of Defense policy or programs that affect diversity in the Army and Air National Guard. He majored in water resources at UW-Stevens Point.
The Kings have served Stevens Point since starting their school software company, Skyward, Inc., in 1981. With more than 550 employees, hundreds of whom are UW-Stevens Point graduates, the Kings committed to keeping Skyward in Stevens Point and growing its workforce. Jim majored in math and economics at UW-Stevens Point. He and Jean, Plainfield, are loyal Pointer athletic and arts fans.
Meyer, Trenton, N.J., is an athletic trainer with the New York Yankees AA affiliates and has worked as an athletic trainer with baseball teams since 2006. After receiving his bachelor’s in athletic training from UW-Stevens Point, he completed his master’s in sports management from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Somers and her husband, Nick, own Plover River Farms, a 3,200-acre potato farm in Portage County. She has been active in the Wisconsin potato industry for many years and served on several committees for the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. In 2015, she won its Agri-Communicator Award. Somers, Stevens Point, majored in music at UW-Stevens Point.
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White Pride won’t bend library policy
By Steven H. Foskett Jr. TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Upholding a subcommittee recommendation not to censor any group, the Worcester Public Library board of directors last night decided to make no changes to the library’s meeting room reservation policy.
Controversy erupted earlier this year after local activists clashed with members of North East White Pride, or NEWP, a self-described white rights organization that had been meeting at the library.
As has been the case during public hearings held last week and last month, accusations, name-calling and denials flew between activists opposed to NEWP last night, and Russell A. James, a member of the white pride group.
Local activist Gordon Davis reiterated his belief that the group was a danger to public safety, and unsuccessfully petitioned the board to ban NEWP until what he described as “criminal proceedings” against the group are resolved.
Mr. James said he is not aware of any criminal charges against him as a result of a May 21 incident.
The library board left in place a 90-day “cooling off” period it instituted in July, when board members became concerned after viewing a YouTube video posted by the group they said could possibly incite violence at the library.
Members of the group have said they were attacked at their May 21 meeting by masked assailants, one of them armed with a chain with a bicycle lock at the end. Before they were assaulted, the group has said it previously held uneventful meetings at the library.
After the meeting last night, Mr. James said that after the cooling off period is lifted, he will start reserving rooms at the library again. He said he also anticipates further protest by Mr. Davis and others.
The recommendation the full library board accepted last night capped a summer-long series of heated discussion surrounding NEWP. Opponents of the group have called them Nazis promoting a dangerous ideology at a time when society is looking for scapegoats. Mr. James has said his group is simply speaking up for white people’s rights, and has the right to meet and discuss the group’s business as other groups that reserve library meeting rooms do. He has said that if the library could ban his group, they could ban any group they don’t agree with. Civil liberties activists have defended the group’s right to meet, and its First Amendment right to free speech.
Last week, the materials subcommittee voted to recommend no changes. Subcommittee members said the existing library rules are sufficient, and said it was against the library’s mission to censor or prevent a diversity of opinion.
The library has meeting rooms downtown and at the Frances Perkins Branch in Greendale.
Under the current policy, the rooms are for noncommercial purposes and may be used by groups or individuals engaged in "educational, cultural, intellectual, civic or charitable activities." The meetings must be open to the public and admission fees normally cannot be charged.
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A Versatile Renaissance Artist from Brussels
© Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte - Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali
© Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte - Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali © Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte - Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali
BOZAR displays Bernard van Orley’s many facets
By An Faems, translated by Louise Snape
Bernard van Orley (c. 1488-1541) not only painted large polyptychs and altar pieces, he also created intimate, small-scale devotional works, as well as designs for tapestries and stained glass windows. You still have until 26 May to visit a beautiful exhibition at Brussels’ BOZAR, which features this celebrated, multi-facetted, and innovative renaissance artist who was commissioned by the likes of The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Archduchess Margaret of Austria.
An impressive, classical-style building with enormous pillars and a dome crashes down under a black sky filled with devilish creatures. The festive meal taking place inside is being rudely interrupted. The dinner table has fallen over; in the foreground wine has spilled on the ground. In panic, some of the guests are trying to escape, while others have already come to a dreadful end, crushed under the falling debris.
This dramatic scene depicts one of the trials faced by the Old Testament’s Job, when he lost his ten children all at once. This makes up the centre panel of the Job and Lazarus Polyptych, and is one of the highlights of the exhibition that BOZAR dedicates to Brussels painter Bernard van Orley (c. 1488-1541).
Bernard van Orley, Job and Lazarus Polyptych, 1521 © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Van Orley was a multi-facetted and remarkably successful artist. Largely forgotten over the course of the twentieth century, he was very highly regarded in his time, as well as in the centuries that followed. He had important patrons, including The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Archduchess Margaret of Austria. He was also the foreman of a large studio in the area of Sint-Gorikswijk, in the centre of Brussels.
In the twentieth century Van Orley was largely forgotten, but he was very highly regarded in his time
The Job and Lazarus Polyptych is testimony to the innovation that Van Orley brought about in The Netherlands, and was inspired by some of the great German and Italian renaissance masters like Dürer, Rafaël and Mantegna. In addition to the classical building that forms the backdrop for Job’s children’s unfolding drama, the size of the figures is notable, as is the dynamism of the situation and the expressiveness of the faces. On top of that, this polyptych displays a certain self-confidence – the careful viewer recognises not only the painter’s name, his motto and coat of arms on the central panel, but also a self-portrait on one of the side panels.
Bernard van Orley, Virgin and Child Venerated by Saint Martin and Other Saints, c. 1510–15
The early work in the first room subtly sets the tone. The altarpieces with their surprisingly rich colours are still rooted in the tradition of the Flemish Primitives. The figures are rather static and different episodes appear on the same panel. That said, the scenes are held in particularly detailed and elaborate frames, decorated with grotesques and antique ornaments. Movement at the entrance of buildings is suggested by people entering or leaving.
Now and then, this delivers a touch of humour, like in The Virgin and Child, adored by Saint Martin and other Saints. Here, a monk enters a room in which the Virgin Mary and the Saints are to be found, and his foot is almost frozen mid-step. His face is even hidden behind one building’s pillars. Animals also sometimes create a playful element in his work.
Bernard van Orley, Legend of Our Lady of the Sablon: The Statue of the Virgin Welcomed with Grand Pomp in Brussels, 1516–18 © RMAH, Brussels
Bernard van Orley was not only a painter, he was also a highly regarded tapestry designer, for which he created templates. Since the 15th century this had been exclusively the job of master painters in order to ensure their quality. Van Orley’s early religious tapestries also include a series on the legend of The Church of Our Blessed Lady of the Sablon.
The clear connection to Brussels is notable in one of the tapestries in this series, featured in the exhibition. But the life-sized figures of Philip the Fair, the young Emperor Charles V and Archduchess Margaret of Austria also catch the eye - even though historically they have nothing to do with the legend of the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary.
Bernard van Orley, Atelier Dermoyen, The Hunts of Charles V. The Month of March (Sign of Aries), c. 1531–33, , Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d’art, Paris © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Daniel Arnaudet
Brussels and Charles V also appear prominently in a tapestry part of the 12-piece series, Hunts of Maximilian, which depicts a hunting scene for very month of the year. In the tapestry for March, which has been brought to Brussels from the Louvre, we see Charles V on a rearing horse, an unprecedented image that was later taken up by Titian. The background is a panorama of Brussels, with Coudenberg Palace, Brussels Park, the town hall and today’s cathedral clearly recognisable.
The devotional works and portraits contrast sharply with the imposing tapestries
The full series is about 73 metres in length and more than four metres high. This is art on a grand scale, in the truest sense of the phrase. The tapestries exude immense luster by virtue also of the generous amounts of gold and silver thread woven into them. One almost laments the fact that there is no light breeze drifting through the rooms, which would accentuate the tapestries shimmer even more.
BOZAR’s exhibition only offers a sample menu of the tapestries designed by Van Orley. Those who want to fully experience a caemer van tapisseryen (room of tapestries) experience should visit the Brussels Art & History Museum, which houses nine of his tapestries – eight of which form a series about the Biblical patriarch Jacob.
Bernard van Orley, Portrait of Georges de Zelle, 1519 © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The rooms displaying the devotional works and portraits contrast starkly with the tapestry rooms. These intimate, small-scale works were commissioned by individuals who aspired to have a court artist’s work in their home.
Even in these small paintings, the painter’s ambition is clearly perceptible. The portrait of his next-door neighbour, Georges de Zelle, a city doctor in Brussels, seated in his study, is reminiscent of the humanistic portraits of Erasmus and Pieter Gillis.
The painting of the Holy Family, part of the Louvre’s collection, places the Virgin Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in renaissance architectural surroundings, with a naked man standing on a pillar to their left. The figure of Joseph is inspired by Albrecht Dürers’ portrait of a 93 year old man. Van Orley knew Dürer personally and the artists were influential to one another.
Bernard van Orley, The Holy Family, 152(1), Paris, Musée du Louvre © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre) / Tony Querrec
Monumental stained glass windows
Bernard van Orley’s oeuvre also includes stained glass window design. There are only a few fragments on show at BOZAR, but The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula is only walking distance away, and is home to a number of examples of his work. Creating an imposing impression must have the been the main aim behind the design for the monumental window found in the northern transept. It depicts a praying Charles V and his wife under a triumphal arch, flanked by his patron saint, Charlemagne. Similar to the tapestry depicting the legend of The Church of Our Blessed Lady of the Sablon, the historic figures are presented as much larger than the worshipped saints.
Bernard van Orley worked together with specialist studios to create his tapestries and stained glass windows, but he was also able to find collaborators for his paintings, who would bring his designs to fruition. The exhibition therefore rightly pays attention to the (independent) work of a few of these collaborators, illustrating how this innovative artist from Brussels created a whole school.
Bernard van Orley. Brussels and the renaissance, Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, Brussels (BOZAR), until 26 May 2019.
Bernard van Orley Renaissance painter brussels painting
An Faems
Expert Middle Dutch Literature and Medieval Culture
Out and about with Bruegel
Bruegel Revisited. A Look at the Master in Anticipation of Bruegel Year 2019
Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the Limelight Again
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Master Drawer's Comeback
Money and Excrement. The Psychology of Capital and the Marketplace in Pieter Bruegel the Elder's ‘Dulle Griet'
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Trump aide Bolton in secret talks with Tory Brexiteers
By Christopher Hope
July 1, 2018 — 10.47am
London: One of Donald Trump's most trusted advisers has held a secret meeting with senior Conservative Eurosceptic MPs where he revealed that the US President wants to accelerate a trade deal after Brexit.
United States National Security adviser John Bolton met Eurosceptic figures without the knowledge of the Prime Minister's office. Credit:AP
John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, spent more than an hour discussing Brexit with members of the European Research Group of Conservative MPs in London last week.
He used the meeting to stress the President's enthusiasm for Brexit and his belief that the US and UK can agree a trade deal two years after Britain leaves the European Union.
Although Bolton met Sir Mark Sedwill, the British national security adviser, during his visit, the Prime Minister's office appears to have been kept in the dark about the ERG meeting.
No officials from the government were present, and sources said Whitehall civil servants were "raging" that they were not part of the discussions.
The Prime Minister, Theresa May, risks being further undermined if Trump chooses to meet Tory Brexiteers privately when he visits the UK at the end of next week, as many in Westminster believe is likely.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during celebrations marking National Armed Forces Day in Llandudno, Wales, on Saturday June 30, 2018. Credit:AP
News of the meeting comes just days before a crucial away-day meeting of the Cabinet at May's Chequers country retreat to finalise Britain's negotiating strategy and agree a new government white paper - to be published the following week - which will set Britain's course after Brexit.
The Prime Minister was facing mounting pressure this weekend as:
• Dozens of Tory MPs and parliamentarians set out a series of Brexit red lines that May must not backslide on, including any continuation of freedom of movement or remaining part of the customs union;
• Concern grows that David Davis, the Exiting the EU Secretary, could walk out after it emerged that briefing papers for their meeting will be drafted by Oliver Robbins, her EU adviser;
• The government is set to "significantly increase the pace and intensity" of negotiations with a new "divide and rule" strategy which would see ministers sell their plans directly to national governments, by translating the white paper into every language in the EU;
• May signals she wants to fight the next general election by appealing for MPs, peers and party members to help draw up 1000 new policy ideas in the biggest overhaul of the party's policymaking process in a decade.
US President Donald Trump is supportive of Britain's proposed divorce with the European Union. Credit:AP
Sir Bernard Jenkin, Sir Bill Cash and Iain Duncan Smith - all senior figures in the Eurosceptic ERG of 60 Conservative MPs who have known Bolton for a number of years - attended the meeting with him last week.
Sir Bill said Bolton "gave a positive view of what he believed the President thought about Brexit".
He said: "In advance of the President's visit there were some positive things said about potential trade deals."
Separately it has been reported that Trump is evaluating the costs of transferring or withdrawing troops from Germany, where the United States has its biggest contingent outside the country. Such a move would make the EU even more reliant on the UK's Nato contribution.
May wants to increase the pressure on Brussels to make progress on the Brexit talks by sending ministers to meet EU country leaders separately to explain the benefits of a UK deal.
This "divide and rule" strategy would see ministers tailor messages for specific countries.
One senior government source said this would take advantage of a "pragmatism" among member states, adding: "There are many in the Commission who would say 'look there are 2000 jobs lost in member states, that is a price worth paying for the UK being taught a lesson'."
At Friday's meeting in Chequers May will settle the row over whether Britain adopts a customs partnership with Brussels - which involves collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU - or the maximum facilitation option - which relies on new technology to avoid a hard border - by offering a single "take or leave it" option.
Two sub-committees of senior Cabinet ministers were asked to review the two options by May. They submitted their reports on Friday and a single "take it or leave it" compromise will be presented to the Cabinet this week.
The letter to May, signed by 36 MPs, urges her "to demonstrate courage and leadership in the face of those who seek to undermine the express wish of the British people in the 2016 referendum" and sets out eight red lines.
Ahead of the meeting 10 Downing Street shot down claims that May would try to bounce the meeting into accepting a free market in goods.
A Number 10 source said: "In the build up to Chequers there has been speculation that the UK is willing to allow freedom of movement to continue as part of the negotiations. The Prime Minister is clear that such a decision would not respect the will of the British people or the referendum."
Telegraph, London
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Miiesha
Thelma Plum, Miiesha and more to perform at 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards
The guest performers for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards have been announced today. The awards, which will be broadcast on across TV, Radio and online on August 8th, will feature performances from national treasure Archie Roach, Gamilaraay singer Thelma Plum, Pitjantjatjara and Torres Strait Island R&B star Miiesha and more. The evening will also […]
Miiesha and Baker Boy head up the finalists for National Indigenous Music Awards 2020
Today the nominations for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards were announced, with Miiesha and Baker Boy leading the way with three nominations apiece. The awards, with their sizeable geographic and genre range, honour the best of First Nations musical talent. The twenty-four finalists are spread across seven categories and represent a diverse and rich […]
Photo Gallery: Thelma Plum + Woodes + Miiesha – Factory Theatre, Sydney (17.08.19)
It was a triumphant night at the Factory Theatre on Saturday night, with Thelma Plum playing a sold-out show showcasing her recent album, Better in Blak. It might have been a long-time coming, but it was worth the wait. The set was incredibly well-received, for me the highlight was the title track of the album. She […]
Why Vanfest sets the bar high for regional festivals
Vanfest has drawn to a close for another year, proving itself as one of the best regional festivals Australia has to offer. Taking place in Forbes, a five-hour drive west of Sydney, the festival is a hike to get to but well worth the effort. This year, the line-up included some of Australia’s finest talent […]
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The Mountainair Hotel
Built in 1910 by the New River Company to house those who came to town to conduct business. Former names include Hotel Mount Hope and New River Hotel. Red brick likely added in the 1930s.
Street view of The Hotel Mount Hope. Image available through the West Virginia & Regional History Center
Post card of street view of the former Mount Hope Hotel (left) now known as the Mountainaire Hotel. Notice how the porch is elevated away from Main St. Picture provided by Marshall University, Rosanna Blake Library, Special Collections Department
New River Hostelry or New River Club House.
Postcard image of the Mountainair Hotel.
Mountainair Hotel
Public Invitation to the Grand Opening of the Mountainair Hotel. This is the front page of a special section of the Charleston Gazette that featured all the amenities of the town of Mount Hope offered travelers to the area.
This is part of a special section of the Charleston Gazette that featured all the amenities of the town of Mount Hope offered travelers to the area.
Work Begins on New Hotel
Mountainair Hotel, Damaged By Fire, Will Be Rebuilt
Mount Hope To Build Hotel
Coal Men Are Dinner Guests
Mount Hope Hotel Is Ravaged By Flames
A.P. Bailey owner of the Bailey Hotel Succumbs to Meningitis
Mountaineer Hotel is Near Completion
***HISTORICAL ENTRY CURRENTLY UNDER REVISION DUE TO NEW EVEIDENCE REGARDING CONSTRUCTION**
The Mountainair Hotel has a long history in the town of Mount Hope that predates the building itself. The land on which the Mountainair Hotel currently stands was once home to what was known as the Bailey Hotel. Built sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s, this hotel would house weary travelers. Dubbed the Bailey Hotel for its name's sake, Alfred Bailey, this building would be run by his brother Frank Bailey until approximately 1909 when Sam Fisher, a local merchant, and hotelier, would purchase the building and immediately begin doing renovations and adding the most modern of luxuries throughout each room.
Renamed as The Fisher Hotel, it was anticipated to become equal to or greater known as an ancillary hotel known under the same name, in the adjacent town of Beckley, WV. The Town of Mount Hope would experience tragedy in the Spring of 1910 when a great fire ripped through town and destroyed everything along its path. Over 1,000 citizens were displaced, and a total value of $500,000 in property damage occurred in one night. One of the biggest losers of the evening was Mr. Fisher. Forced to sell the property at a loss to the bank, Mr. Fisher would not only lose the money he invested for renovations, but he sold the land back to the bank for the $15,000 required to purchase the building.
While the Fisher Hotel was a personal loss for Mr. Fisher, the land on which the hotel once stood was valuable for those looking to invest in this promising location. The Glen Jean Insurance Company acquired part of the land and would go on to build a three-story building in which they had planned to house their operations. A group of local businessmen, known as the Warner Company, purchased the adjacent tract of land in MacDonald and formed a company with the intent to create a new hotel. By the end of June in 1910, this group would purchase the land and erect the footers on the remains of the previous foundation, building what would become known as Hotel Mount Hope.
By the end of 1911, the hostelry would open it's doors to weary industrialists who would arrive at the bustling berg on business. At the beginning of 1910, the newly laid Kanawha, Glen Jean & Eastern Railroad would bring coal barons to the Cherry Creek Depot to discuss the coal market at the White Oak Coal Company. The Hotel Mount Hope was a staple of Mount Hope Community, so much so that the town of Mount Hope would go onto annex the largest region of MacDonald, Warner Town, in 1915.
As early as August of 1926, plans began to come together as the businessmen in town invested $60,000 towards an $85,000 revamp of the New River Hotel. Their investment would provide the capital for improvements on what is now known as the Mountainair hotel. In July of 1929, the Mountainair was nearing completion. Built as a convention center for the area, the Mountainair Hotel, designed in the Colonial Style, was capable of seating 250 guests in the banquet hall and was designed with 50 rooms, each having a private bathroom, as well as a telephone in each room. Across the entire front of the building on the second floor housed the Sun Room. There was an amply sized ballroom known as the "Golden Room" used as a banquet hall and coffee shop. Installed on the first floor was a coffee shop with a large fireplace constructed in the lobby. In 1930 the hotel was purchased by W.C. Griffith, operator of the Beckley Hotel. He would see that renovations would be complete by the end of the year. Advertisements for the new hotel would begin to appear in the Beckley Post Herald in February of 1931.
The Mount Hope Chamber of Commerce discussed the hotel, taking out full-page inserts to invite visitors to attend a grand opening and ceremony from the Beckley area. Boasting on the installation of new carpet in each of the rooms, the uncrating of furniture, and new curtains and draperies giving the hotel a homelike-air, the hotel was already promoting its prominence in the coalfields of Southern West Virginia. On Thursday, February 19, 1931, the Mountainair Hotel officially opened it's doors to being the Home of Hospitality and Business center of the Great New River Smokeless Coal Field. A nine-page section of the Charleston Gazette promoted the town of Mount Hope and the hotel in great detail, showcasing the many qualities and conveniences Mount Hope held for businessman and coal families alike. With its location on a main transportation route at the time, North/South State Route 211, the hotel would find itself poised to become a premier stop in the region.
The Mountainair would house travelers from many different backgrounds. It would be the gathering place for many civic organizations and became the place for entertainment such as live music and dancing almost every weekend. Laughter heard coming from the windows of the Gold Room, grand parties held, and libations swooned the great halls found in the hotel until one fateful evening in December of 1938, tragedy would once again befall the grand-hotel.
Ethnic History and Immigration
Labor History
Political and Diplomatic History
Urban History
Created by Carrie Kidd on October 19th 2018, 1:39:40 pm.
Last updated by Carrie Kidd on November 26th 2020, 1:54:11 pm.
Mount Hope Historic Walking Tour
The Mount Hope Historic District contains 150 structures of architectural significance, as well as a variety of vernacular buildings, which reflect the building traditions prevalent in this part of West Virginia between the 1890s and the 1950s.
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Lucy Cobb Building
The Lucy Cobb Institute was founded in 1859 as a secondary school for young women. It offered an academically rigorous education to genteel girls and became one of the best schools for women in the South. It closed its doors in 1931, and the University of Georgia purchased the building. Today it is the central administrative home of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at UGA.
The Lucy Cobb Building Today
The Lucy Cobb Institute was a secondary school for young women in Athens, GA. The school was founded in 1859 by Thomas R. R. Cobb, a prominent lawyer and proslavery writer. Laura Cobb Rutherford was perhaps the first advocate for the education of women in Athens. Through her efforts and the financial backing of her brother, T. R. R. Cobb, the Lucy Cobb Institute was constructed in 1858 and held its first classes in 1859. W. W. Thomas was the architect for the building. The school was named after T.R.R. Cobb’s daughter, Lucy Cobb, who had died at the age of 13 from scarlet fever. She never got to attend the school her father helped establish.
Right after the first classes were held at the Lucy Cobb institute the Civil War broke out, but the school never closed. Pupils still came from other states, especially Mississippi and South Carolina during this time. Parents seemed to feel that Athens was a safer place for their girls. When Franklin College closed in order for the professors to enter the Confederate army, refugees from New Orleans, and other sea coast towns came to live in the college dormitories and sent their girls to the Lucy Cobb Institute. Mr. Muller of Charleston, S. C. was in charge of the school during the Civil War.
Most Lucy Cobb students came from wealthy and well-established families. Nineteenth-century schools for elite young women emphasized subjects that would enhance their gentility, including art, music, and French. The Lucy Cobb Institute was no exception. Yet even from its early days, the school offered a more academically serious curriculum than the stereotypical finishing school.
Between 1880 and 1928 Cobb's niece Mildred Lewis Rutherford, a Lucy Cobb graduate, taught at the school and served as principal for 22 of those years. Under Rutherford and her sister Mary Ann Lipscomb, the curriculum became even more rigorous. Students, or "Lucies" as they were called, in the collegiate track studied sciences (including chemistry and physics), higher mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry), logic, rhetoric, languages, history, and literature. After 1918, once the University of Georgia (UGA) began accepting women students, graduates of Lucy Cobb's collegiate program could enroll. The school aimed its curriculum to prepare graduates to attend the university. In her extensive 1916 report on women's education in the South, Elizabeth Avery Colton of the Southern Association of College Women listed Lucy Cobb as one of the very best schools for young women in Georgia.
The school faced financial difficulties in the 1920s, mostly because of the agricultural depression that hurt the entire state. The institute struggled to maintain high enrollment and keep its bills paid. After Rutherford's death in 1928, the school struggled on for a few more years, finally closing in 1931. UGA purchased the building. It served as a dormitory for girls attending the University of Georgia up until the 1960’s. Subsequently, it was used as faculty offices and for other purposes until being closed in the late 1970s. Thereafter, the condition of building deteriorated rapidly.
The entire Lucy Cobb complex was renovated in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with two appropriations by the U.S. Congress of $3.5 million and $1 million, and contributions of another $1 million by public and private donors. The Lucy Cobb Institute's inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places was a major consideration in the appropriation of federal funds. In 1991 the institute became the central administrative home of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at UGA.
Case, Sarah H. Lucy Cobb Institute. New Georgia Encyclopedia. August 24, 2013. Accessed March 23, 2019. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/lucy-cobb-institute.
Historical Society, Georgia. Lucy Cobb Institute (1858-1931). Georgia History. June 16, 2014. Accessed March 22, 2019. https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/lucy-cobb-institute-1858-1931/.
Rutherford, Mildren Lewis. Lucy Cobb Institute 1923. Clarke County GA Archives History. February 23, 1923. Accessed March 21, 2019. http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/clarke/history/1923/historyo/lucycobb573gms.txt.
Brown, Brian. Lucy Cobb Institute 1858 Athens. Vanishing North Georgia. March 05, 2017. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://vanishingnorthgeorgia.com/2017/03/05/lucy-cobb-institute-1858-athens/.
Lucy Cobb Building: Buildings & Locations at UGA
The Georgia Encyclopedia Entry on the Lucy Cobb Institute
201 North Milledge Avenue
Created by Marie Walker (Instructed by Akela Reason, University of Georgia) on April 25th 2019, 12:33:32 am.
Last updated by Marie Walker (Instructed by Akela Reason, University of Georgia) on April 25th 2019, 12:48:15 am.
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Workplace Retirement
Recordkeeping Sponsor/Consultant
Home / Insights / 2019 / Q3 / Finding Value Amid the Health Care Land Mines
Finding Value Amid the Health Care Land Mines
Marianna Korpusova, CFA, Credit Analyst
The health care sector has historically been viewed as relatively defensive and less economically sensitive than some other sectors. Nonetheless, it is “full of land mines as health care credits have recently come under pressure from potential legal and legislative initiatives,” says Marianna Korpusova, a T. Rowe Price investment professional who analyzes high yield bonds in the health care sector.
With health care shaping up as one of the pivotal issues of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the sector is facing political and regulatory risk as both Democrats and Republicans introduce initiatives aimed at lowering government health care costs. These include proposals allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices or index them to an international drug price index in developed countries.
Also looming is a potential crackdown on surprise medical billing in which patients are unexpectedly billed for out‑of‑network physician care at rates that can be much higher than care rendered by in‑network providers. In addition, some health companies are facing potential litigation risk involving distribution of opioids and price fixing of generic drugs.
“I think health care remains a defensive, less cyclical sector and there are many durable businesses worth investing in, but you really have to be careful not to step on one of these land mines,” Marianna says. “The good news is that it is a very diverse sector, so there is opportunity to diversify away from the credits that might be impacted the most and take advantage of any sell-off in certain credits when the time is right.”
Going Beyond The Numbers Reveals The Full Story
At T. Rowe Price, our investment approach is to go beyond the numbers when evaluating what companies may offer the best future potential. By getting out into the field, we gain insights and a deeper understanding of where a company or industry stands and where it could go in the future.
Marianna says attending industry conferences and meeting with company managements and government officials firsthand is vital to her research.
“This external research accounts for more than half of my evaluation because you don’t see the full picture from the numbers,” she says. “By doing the legwork, you gain a lot more insight into a company than what you see in the financials; you learn how the companies in the industry are interconnected with each other, and that leads to a better understanding of the trends. And that is how you spot inefficiencies in the market.”
For example, after a recent visit to Nashville to meet with hospitals and physician outsourcing companies, she decided not to recommend some outsourcing companies that provide physician services to hospitals. “These companies rely quite a bit on out‑of‑network billing, so they are very susceptible to the proposed surprise billing legislation, which would cap bills at median in‑network rates,” she says.
Research Reveals Opportunity In A Turnaround
On the other hand, she had a favorable view of Bausch Health Companies (formerly Valeant Pharmaceuticals), a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, as it appeared to be recovering from a tumultuous past in which it had accumulated too much debt.
Several meetings with the company’s new management “reinforced my belief that the company is on a growth trajectory. Also, it does not have much exposure to the various risks affecting the sector,” she says. Through the first half of 2019, Bausch bonds were among the best-performing credits in the U.S. high yield market.
In the current environment, Marianna says “it’s hard to find health care companies that are not affected by regulatory or litigation exposure, but there are opportunities if you do your homework.”
The specific securities identified and described do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold, or recommended for the portfolio, and no assumptions should be made that the securities identified and discussed were or will be profitable.
This material is being furnished for general informational purposes only. The material does not constitute or undertake to give advice of any nature, including fiduciary investment advice, and prospective investors are recommended to seek independent legal, financial and tax advice before making any investment decision. T. Rowe Price group of companies including T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and/or its affiliates receive revenue from T. Rowe Price investment products and services. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. The value of an investment and any income from it can go down as well as up. Investors may get back less than the amount invested.
Information and opinions presented have been obtained or derived from sources believed to be reliable and current; however, we cannot guarantee the sources’ accuracy or completeness. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. The views contained herein are as of the date written and are subject to change without notice; these views may differ from those of other T. Rowe Price group companies and/or associates. Under no circumstances should the material, in whole or in part, be copied or redistributed without consent from T. Rowe Price.
The material is not intended for use by persons in jurisdictions which prohibit or restrict the distribution of the material and in certain countries the material is provided upon specific request. It is not intended for distribution to retail investors in any jurisdiction.
USA—Issued in the USA by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., 100 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202, which is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For Institutional Investors only.
© 2019 T. Rowe Price. All rights reserved. T. ROWE PRICE, INVEST WITH CONFIDENCE, and the Bighorn Sheep design are, collectively and/or apart, trademarks of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.
ID0002496 (07/2019)
201907‑912843
Capitalizing on New Technologies in Europe
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Architects Apologize For 9/11 Design
Updated Apr. 24, 2017 12:48PM ET / Published Dec. 11, 2011 9:56PM ET
MVRDV / Barcroft Media / Landov
This is why you don’t design a skyscraper to look the World Trade Center—when it was under attack. A Dutch architectural firm has apologized after complaints that its blueprint for twin skyscrapers in Seoul resembled the Twin Towers on 9/11. The building’s blueprint reveals a cloud-like structure that sticks out of the building, which will hold the buildings’ amenities. The firm says that it had no intention of recreating the image of the attacks. It did not, however, say whether the plan was scrapped.
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Dragon Quest: Your Story Review
Posted by Doug Siltis on April 15, 2020
In 1992, Dragon Quest V was released in Japan for the Super Famicom, and it became known as one of the best, most beloved games in the Dragon Quest franchise. It featured a considerably deeper, more complex plot than any of its predecessors, and some of the best gameplay to ever grace the series. Even to this day, Dragon Quest V remains a fan favorite.
It wasn’t until 2009, more than 15 years after the original release of Dragon Quest V, that western players finally got to experience the game for the first time on their Nintendo DS systems. Since then, the franchise has grown in popularity, both in and outside of Japan, and millions of players all over the world have played through at least one or more of the Dragon Quest games.
It seems that someone at the Japanese film company Toho suddenly decided that 27 years after the original release of the game, it was time to adapt Dragon Quest V into a major motion picture. It is after all one of the most popular games in the series, so it makes sense to turn this particular game into a movie.
Dragon Quest: Your Story, released on August 2nd, 2019 in Japanese theaters, and it premiered on Netflix for western audiences on February 13th, 2020 It is more-or-less an adaptation of Dragon Quest V. I say more-or-less because the film does generally cover the plot of the game, but it takes more than a few liberties with that story. Unfortunately for the viewer, I feel that taking these liberties makes for a worse film. A much, much worse film.
The film follows the life of a young boy named Luca, who, along with his father Pankraz, are on a search for his mother. It seems she was taken by the monsters that attacked their kingdom when Luca was an infant. The movie quickly blasts through Luca’s childhood, skimming over several vitally important story events, or skipping them entirely, in order to reach the second arc of the game. We now follow a young adult Luca, after only mere minutes of film time, for the rest of the film. You should know that this is something that takes many hours to come to pass during the game.
Granted, the bulk of the game takes place during the young adult arc, so we can also expect that a movie adaptation of a video game is going to skim over the many lesser details. The problem isn’t that they blasted through the first part of the story, rather that the pacing is a complete mess. Events that are absolutely critical to understanding the story and characters are left out, or flash by rapidly in montage scenes with little context, while the film instead creates brand new scenes that were not in the original game and have very little impact on the overall story of the film.
Entire plot lines are cut or changed, and even some plot-important characters are removed from the story entirely. Again, it’s expected for a film adaptation of a game to have changes, but I cannot imagine anyone who hasn’t played Dragon Quest V being able to become emotionally invested in the characters or plot, because the film does so little to develop any of them. To put it simply, if your film adaptation of a game with a silent protagonist has that protagonist constantly talking and he still has less character development than he does in the game… something is wrong. However, despite all of my complaining, I didn’t find the film to be that bad… for most of its duration, at least. But I’ll get to that in a minute…
I went into the film knowing that it had a somewhat poor reputation, though I did not know why it was so widely hated. All I knew was that there was some sort of controversy - a particular change to the plot that made die-hard fans angry, but I had no clue what it was. That said, I decided to go into the film with an open mind. I intended to watch it and rate it fairly, basing my judgment not on what the film wasn’t, but rather what it was. Because of that, for the bulk of the film, I considered it to be pretty average. It wasn’t a perfect adaptation for sure, but what it was, wasn’t bad.
The combat scenes are excellent. Despite the fact that the film doesn’t use Akira Toriyama’s signature art style (he is the one who has drawn all of the artwork for the Dragon Quest series), but rather a pretty generic 3D animation style, I found that the film looked great anyway. The visuals, the music (which is pretty much ripped straight from the game), the fight scenes and the plot that was actually there were fairly enjoyable. I wouldn’t have given it a perfect score or anything like that, but for much of the film, I questioned the controversy surrounding the film’s plot. I wondered if maybe people were just overreacting, and that it was only anger from super hardcore fans who hated that even a single thing was changed about the film.
...Unfortunately, this turned out to not be the case…
The anger at the film is completely justified, in my opinion.
Sadly, I cannot tell you WHY this is, without spoiling a major event exclusive to the film. I wouldn’t want to ruin the story for you, so I’ll keep the details to myself, but it is safe to say that this particular event towards the end of the film completely and totally ruins what was otherwise a perfectly decent movie. And this isn’t just me being dramatic - it really and truly does RUIN this film. This is a plot twist so pointless, so unnecessary, so INSULTING to the viewer that I can barely believe that this event was written, storyboarded, animated, voiced and edited and not one person in the entire staff said “Is this some kind of joke?”
It takes what was otherwise a perfectly fine film and drags it down into an abyss from which it never escapes. It is a plot twist SO BAD that I actually stopped the film, got up from my seat and screamed “WHAT!?” at the screen. Needless to say, it is NOT something that happens in the game, and should rightfully never have happened except in some long-forgotten fan fiction. It is a truly, utterly irredeemable plot twist that I honestly can’t believe that I’ve seen some people online actually trying to defend it.
Dragon Quest V deserved better than this.
I mean, I’m not the hugest fan of Dragon Quest V to begin with - I enjoy it, but I wouldn’t count it among my favorite games of all time or anything like that. But I feel like this film was almost a personal attack on those who loved the original game, and it’s solely due to that particular last-minute plot twist. And it didn’t have to be like this, either. I think that if they had just never wrote that horrible plot twist into the story, and then made the film maybe 10 to 15 minutes longer, giving a little more exposure to some of the content that was skimmed over… this movie could have actually been a very worthy adaptation of Dragon Quest V. And for a while, it is certainly a passable adaptation… but then it has to go ahead and screw everything up at the last minute.
Final Verdict: Not Recommended
If you loved the original game, you will feel insulted by the ending of the film and disappointed by the story rapidly rushing through and skipping over major plot events. If you’ve never played the game before, you’ll have very little attachment to any of the characters and many plot elements are likely to be lost on you. This is not your story, nor is it my story - it’s a story for nobody. A story that nobody will be satisfied with. And the saddest part of it all, is that it really came close to being a decent film.
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The European adventure for Tour Music Fest kicks off with Madrid!
Update on: June 11, 2018
Tour Music Fest – The European Music Contest inaugurates the festival’s European edition dedicated to emerging music in Madrid.
In these past 11 years, Tour Music Fest has become a reference point for Italian and European emerging music, meeting thousands of artists each year. This year for the first time, the festival dedicated to emerging music is stopping off in Spain.
On July 14 Madrid will be the host of fantastic live event dedicated to emerging music, where hundreds of artists from all over Spain will be performing live, battling for a place in the International Tour Music Fest 2018 Final.
The show will be held in one of the most important venues in the spanish capital: the Sala Silikona , a live club that has witnessed performances from some of the most important music acts in the country: Antonio Vega, Enrique Urquijo, Luz Casal, Los Rodriguez, Dover, Los Planetas, Toreros Muertos, Los Coyotes, Luis Auserón, Mercedes Ferrer and many more.
Road to Rome
All of the artists who have passed the first step of Tour Music Fest will be able to experience performing on this important stage, in front of both the TMF judging panel and a live audience which promises to be numerous.
The artists are divided into four categories, Singers, Songwriters, Musical Performers and Junior Singers, all of which will perform live aiming towards a place in the Tour Music Fest 2018 International Final that will be held in November in the enchanting Italian capital, Rome.
Artists from the UK, Spain, Malta and Italy will be performing live at the final in Rome, the city that will be hosting this years international final set for November, hoping to win one of the many important prizes up for grabs this year.
Thanks to important partnerships with Berklee College of Music and Sony Music Italy, this 11th edition of Tour Music Fest is offering many interesting prizes. From the possibility to win a scholarship for the Summer Program Scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston, to a distribution contract with Sony Music Italy and a sponsorship contract worth 10,000€ and much more.
News for the TMF Spain edition doesn’t finish here, new updates are coming soon. Keep up to date by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
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Why visit Ukraine in Eastern Europe
The European 4 October 2011 Ukraine No Comments
Ukraine has enormous potential that enchants many tourists. Ukraine has many tourist attractions. Ukraine has excellent climatic conditions and picturesque nature. Many regions of Ukraine may sell their ethnic originality. So, tourists have an excellent opportunity to discover the national culture, songs, dances and meals for Ukraine.
The richness of the potential natural, historical and cultural development of Ukraine is hardly to overestimate. More than 500 cities in Ukraine were founded there are over 900 years, 4500 villages of Ukraine are more than 300 years. Over 150 miles of monuments of culture, history and archeology reflect the remarkable story of the Ukrainian people. 80% of monuments from the time of the Kievan Rus (IX – XII centuries) are concentrated in the territory of Ukraine. More than 600 museums keep artifacts the most remarkable in the history and culture of Ukraine.
A wide variety of attractions in Ukraine attracts tourists from around the world. The most remarkable monuments are the Laure-Kyyevo Pecherska, the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and the historic center of the city of Lviv. They were inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. The capital of Ukraine is famous for its churches and Orthodox golden domes.
In the historical center of Lviv visitors can admire the amazing architecture and explore the wonderful attractions such as the National Museum, the Museum of Ethnography and Crafts, the Museum of History.
Tourists are also very interested in architectural monuments from different periods and styles, including the monuments of defensive architecture – the castles of Lutsk, in Olesko, Zolochiv of the fortress of Kamyanets-Podilsky; palaces in Crimea The ethnic architecture in the Carpathians.
The Ukrainian Carpathians have many attractions for tourists: beautiful natural areas, forests, alpine meadows, rivers and lakes in the mountains, healing mineral springs. This mountain delight fans of tourism and hikers.
But Ukraine can also appeal to lovers of sea and sun with Odessa which is located south along the Black Sea, or the Crimea, a peninsula whose landscapes are reminiscent of some Greek islands. Admittedly, Ukraine is a wonderful country and has many attractions to visit.
castles of Lutsk, culture of Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Kiev, Saint Sophia Cathedral, tourist attractions, Ukraine
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Alcohol affects child even before conception
Eating healthy is a good idea in the time before conception, both for women and men. This is little known among young people, researcher says.
By Walter Norman Wehus
Published: Thursday 03 December 2020
“Many react saying ‘Help, no one ever told me this’. This is new knowledge and different from just avoiding alcohol during pregnancy”, says Professor Elisabet Rudjord Hillesund.
Most people know that alcohol and pregnancy do not mix. What is less known is that both maternal and paternal alcohol consumption before pregnancy may also affect the child.
“Eggs and sperm are sensitive to harmful substances and imbalances in nutrient intake. Both the mother's eggs and the father's sperm cells take several weeks to reach maturation in the body, and different types of influence during the maturation process can affect the life-long development of the child”, says Professor Elisabet Rudjord Hillesund at the Department of Nutrition and Public Health, University of Agder (UiA).
In a study recently published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, Hillesund and her colleagues examined the diet and alcohol use among more than 600 students. These were divided into three categories according to their self-reported weekly alcohol intake: Those who did not drink; those who drank 0-14 British units of alcohol per week (moderate intake); and those who drank more than 14 units (high intake).
Facts / Units of alcohol
The amount of alcohol per alcohol unit varies between countries. An alcohol unit in the British system corresponds to about half a glass of wine or 2.5 dl beer. More than one glass of wine or 0.5 l of beer on average per day is considered a high intake.
Previously, the recommended alcohol limits were different for women and men. In many countries, this has been changed, or is about to be changed, and more recommend the same guidelines for men and women.
Following this definition, every third male and every eighth female Norwegian student had a high alcohol intake.
Norway does not have specific guidelines for what is considered high intake, but the British system used in the study is similar to recommendations in American and Australian guidelines.
Poor nutrition and alcohol use can impair the ability to reproduce at all. It can also impact the baby during the time around conception.
“The sperm cells and egg cells give rise to all the cells in the body. Disruptions in the environment in and around these cells due to alcohol use or lack of essential nutrients can therefore affect fetal development negatively”, says Hillesund.
“Help! No one has ever told me this”
Hillesund says many students are surprised when they learn how alcohol, nutrients and reproductive health are connected.
“Many react saying ‘Help, no one ever told me this’. This is new knowledge and different from just avoiding alcohol during pregnancy”, says the professor.
Professor Elisabet Rudjord Hillesund at the Department of Nutrition and Public Health at UiA.
Hillesund says it can be difficult to talk to young people about diet and alcohol use with relation to the health of possible future children, long before they have even started to think about becoming parents.
“You have to balance your personal freedom with the responsibility you have for lifestyle choices that can impact future children. But I think young people have the right to know about these connections so they can take their precautions, such as using contraception when they have consumed alcohol. We know that it is a good idea to eat healthy and avoid alcohol for about three months before planning pregnancy”, she says.
Hillesund points out that this is a relatively new field of study and that a lot of research remains. However, taking precautions is still a wise move.
Facts / Lifecourse nutrition
Research advances regarding the importance of early nutrition have drastically changed our view of what forms the basis of life-long health.
UiA’s research centre Lifecourse Nutrition aims for advances in early nutrition science through high quality, ground-breaking research.
Elisabet Hillesund is involved in many research projects at the centre.
The centre currently has three different research projects on nutrition in young adults in the time before parenthood.
Researchers at the centre also focus on life stages such as pregnancy, early childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Alcohol affects nutrient uptake
Many of the students in the study had a low intake of important nutrients, regardless of how much alcohol they drank.
This problem can be made worse by excessive alcohol consumption, because alcohol interferes with the absorption and metabolism of nutrients in the body. This means that although they have more or less the same diet, people who drink a lot of alcohol will absorb less nutrients from their food than those who drink less.
“If you drink a lot of alcohol, it places additional demands on your diet for the body to be able to absorb the nutrients you need. Alcohol use also leads to oxidative stress in the cells, which requires more from the body's antioxidant defence system. Those who drink a lot of alcohol have lower levels of antioxidants in their cells and therefore a poorer ability to repair cell damage”, says Hillesund.
Parental diet affects baby before conception
Most participants in the study were in their early 20s. This is a time in life when the female body builds up a reserve of resources that will be useful in future pregnancies.
“Building up these resources is not done overnight. When students don’t get enough essential nutrients, this build-up is weakened. It is the same for men as well, their diet greatly affects how well the body works”, says Hillesund.
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AbRam is not Aryan's love child: Shah Rukh Khan reveals at TED Talk
Updated May 13, 2017 | 11:50 IST | Times Now Bureau
One such instance, Shah Rukh said, concerned his youngest child, AbRam
 Photo Credit: Indiatimes
Shah Rukh Khan’s address at the TED Talk in Vancouver has been loved by celebrities and fans after a video of his speech was made available this week. The 51-year-old actor spoke about humanity and love to a cheering crowd, but also explained the media’s apparent interference in his life after he became a star. One such instance, Shah Rukh said, concerned his youngest child, AbRam. After his birth in 2013, the grapevine insisted that AbRam was the son of the actor’s eldest child Aryan, who is 19 now. It was reported, Shah Rukh said, that AbRam was Aryan’s ‘love child,’ out of an alleged affair when he was 15.
"Four years ago, my lovely wife Gauri and me decided to have a third child. It was claimed on the net that he was the love child of our first child, who was 15-years-old. Apparently, he sowed his wild oats with a girl while driving her car in Romania. And yeah, there was a fake video to go with it. And we were so disturbed as a family," Shah Rukh said.
Aryan, in fact, did not even "have a European driving license,” Shah Rukh added.
AbRam, who turns four on May 27, was born via surrogacy. Shah Rukh and Gauri, however, haven’t addressed this fact officially, though. They also have a 16-year-old daughter, Suhana.
At the TED Talks, Shah Rukh, while explaining the impact of social media, said that life changed after the Internet arrived. And that was the cause of disdain, maybe.
"Reality became virtual and virtual became real. I started to feel that I couldn't be who I wanted to be or say what I actually thought. And humanity at this time completely identified with me. Both of us were going through mid-life crisis. Humanity, like me, was becoming an over-exposed prima donna,” Shah Rukh said.
Shah Rukh Khan, meanwhile, was last seen in Raees, and will be seen next in Imtiaz Ali's film with Anushka Sharma.
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Rhode Island TV anchor charged with assaulting police officer
Laura Damon, Newport Daily News
NEWPORT, R.I. — A news anchor for Eyewitness News This Morning on WPRI and FOX Providence and Eyewitness News at Noon was arrested Sunday morning after an incident in the area of the Newport Blues Cafe.
Thomas Patrick Little, 47, of 260 Fairview Lane, Portsmouth, was charged with disorderly conduct and simple assault.
Around 1 a.m., Newport police officers were in the area of One Pelham East on Thames Street when they heard yelling coming from the Newport Blues Cafe, according to an arrest report. When several officers arrived, Officer Michael Sherman in his report wrote, Little “was amidst a confrontation with staff.”
Newport Police Lt. Frank Rosa said the disorderly conduct charge probably stemmed from Little’s argument with staff, and “I think there was a simple assault on a police officer while taking him into custody,” he said.
Following a request for comment, a statement attributed to WPRI management was emailed to The Daily News: “We are aware of the incident and are conducting our own review of the facts. We have no comment at this time.”
An email to Little on Thursday afternoon was not immediately returned. His arraignment date was not immediately available on Thursday.
Little joined the Eyewitness News team in 1998 as a weekend sports anchor. He was promoted to news anchor in 2010, according to his online WPRI biography. He was named Sportscaster of the Year in 2008 by the Rhode Island High School Athletic Directors Association, according to his biography.
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Eva Stenram
'Offcut', 10 September - 22 October 2016
Eva Stenram: 'Offcut'
Split, 2016
Digital print on cotton, armchair, framed C-type print on Fuji Chrystal Archive Paper
33,5 x 59,5 cm / framed 35,2 x 61,2 cm / chair dimensions H 74 cm x D 74 cm x W 60 cm
For this show at The Ravestijn gallery, Eva Stenram further explores her use of found images and what it means to be looking at them. ‘Offcut’ consists of three works that combines the photographic with three dimensional installation. As in her previous work, Stenram uses found vintage pin-up photographs from which she makes new images. Central to this exhibition are the fabrics seen in each of the found pin-up pictures: thus attention is drawn to the background and surrounding details in the image, rather than to its ‘object’, a woman. The fabrics are rendered tangible in the material space of the gallery, both disrupting and expanding the narrative that the found image originally implied. These new fabrics incorporate and repeat photographic characteristics such as foreshortening, as well as the creases and folds in the fabric that was photographed many years ago.
As in the series ‘Parts’ and ‘Drape’, Stenram digitally ‘cuts up’ existing images in order to examine her own relationship with them as a viewer. For this new show, she further complicates the relationship between the viewer and the image up to the point of interfering in the actual conditions for looking themselves.
Stenram’s work is rich in its art-historical references - from Durer’s window to the world to Dada’s cut-up techniques, the Surrealists’ fragmentation of the female body, and the visual language of Pop art. The works display a mixture of the uncanny and the humorous, the commercial and the idle. At the same time her work questions the status of the photographic image today. In a culture that privileges vision above all other senses, Stenram’s installations make the viewer aware of her or his own act of looking in relation to the fantasy of touch implied.
By materialising elements, in this case fabrics, from within the picture, the conditions - and the expectations that come with them - for viewing are altered.
One of the works on show, titled ‘Split’, requires the viewer to sit in a chair, that might as well have been part of the original picture, thus changing the traditional viewpoint by suspending the vanishing point of a photograph. Although the viewer is still drawn in aesthetically, the notion of scopophilia is interrogated and reconfigured by these installations.
The title of this exhibition, Offcut, may point to the pieces of fabric made tactile for the viewer, to a set of neglected negatives that never made the final ‘cut’, and, most importantly, to what lies beyond the framing or instant that the photograph was taken. The question of what larger part has been removed, is kept lingering.
Eva Stenram (1976) was born in Stockholm and lives and works in London. In 2012 she was nominated for Le Prix Découverte des Rencontres d’Arles (Discovery Award) and in 2007 she won the Royal College of Art Graduate Award. In 2013, Stenram was a finalist in the Hyeres International Photography Competition and she won The Cord Prize - First Prize (UK).
Stenram’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including the Mumbai City Museum in India, Zendai Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai and The Photographers’ Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and Victoria Albert Museum (V&A) in London, Le Bal in Paris and Artipelag in Stockholm. The V&A and the Tate Gallery have included Stenram’s work in their collection.
Eva Stenram, Field , 2016
Eva Stenram, Harlequinade, 2016
Eva Stenram, Split, 2016
Eva Stenram, Vanishing Point, 2016
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Remembering Will Wright ‘22
by Trueman Andrews-Gibson | Nov 17, 2020 | cover story, News | 5 comments
Will Wright ’22 was born in Pasadena, CA on the 6th of March, 2000, and passed peacefully at home Nov. 5. Facing a congenital heart defect, he first had surgery at six months of age and developed pulmonary hypertension at 11. This didn’t stop Will from living fully, dreaming widely, and constantly cracking jokes.
In childhood, Will attained the rank of Eagle Scout, and continued mentoring Scouts every January at his troop’s annual desert camp trip.
At Pasadena High School, Will was the Bass Drummer in the Marching Band and Winter Drumline. He inspired family and friends alike with his leadership in the Gay and Straight Alliance Club, later bringing his energy to U of R’s Listening and Understanding Sexuality Together.
Will chose Redlands after considering both Occidental College and UC Santa Cruz, finding that it felt like home. He lived in Fairmont hall his first year, which is where he met Kayleigh Stelling ‘22. Stelling remembers first seeing Will in the hall during Freshman orientation.
“Will had this magnetic personality and so much energy and would talk to anyone,” she recalls. After hitting it off, the two spent much time together.
Will in front of his Freshman hall, Fairmont.
Working at the Armacost Library and traversing campus via electric bike, Will led a complete life thanks largely to his friends, according to his family.
Thoughtful, creative, original, humane. “Kind” is a recurring description offered by several of his friends and his academic advisor, History Chair Jessie Hewitt. Even Will’s most serious critique would come out “in the most strangely positive way,” Stelling said.
Hewitt remembers meeting Will in their first class together—European History since World War II. “He was wearing this green blazer with question marks on it. I always thought it was supposed to be like The Riddler’s [coat] in Batman, but I never asked him about it, and I wish I had,” Hewitt said.
His fashion sense was, according to Stelling, something Will would like to be remembered by. Among his most treasured possessions were his Mr. Rogers coat and rainbow jacket.
Professor Hewitt recalls how Will’s energetic, congenial personality was apparent even through email, once the pandemic hit last spring.
“He’d include book, music, or movie recommendations. I think this really speaks to Will’s empathy and kindness. He thought about other people, even when it wasn’t expected,” Hewitt said.
Will’s love of reading, from history to horror, came up in multiple interviews. In one essay about historical memory in Germany in the decades after the Holocaust, Will quoted the given reading materials as well as “Stephen King and a joke from a British game show,” according to Hewitt.
“He was a really eclectic thinker, which is something I admired a lot.”
There’s possibly no author Will admired more than J.R.R. Tolkien. He could talk forever about the difference in world building between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and how those worlds differ from any other fantasy novel.
Another subject of great importance to Will was his relationship with God. Despite his health challenges and the state of the world, Will’s belief in the goodness of God was not strained.
Never allowing his heart to hamper his dreams, Will planned to move to cleaner air in Oregon or Washington, where he would teach history. Having a family was crucial to Will’s ideal future.
Redlands will remember Will’s humor, humility, empathy, and unending positive energy. He is survived by his parents, Jan and Ed, and siblings Dani and Becca ‘18.
For students requiring support, the Counseling Center’s services can be read about here. At 6:00 pm tonight, ASUR will host a memorial for Will Wright at this address.
Trueman Andrews-Gibson
Trueman is the current Editor-in-Chief, set to graduate this spring with degrees in Philosophy and Political Science. He previously served as News Section Editor. Following graduation, he plans to attend law school.
Melissa Mitchell on November 18, 2020 at 12:19 AM
Sending our prayers for strength and comfort to Will’s family. My son, daughter and I were born with congenital heart defects. Our son is a first year student at Redlands, also choosing it over several colleges because it felt like home. Thank you for honoring Will and bringing awareness to congenital heart defects.
Kathryn Gibson on November 18, 2020 at 1:47 AM
Thank you for giving us a chance to learn a little bit about Will. Such a wonderfully unique and special person. Our heart goes out to his family, friends, and the Redlands community. May his memory be a blessing.
Sofia on November 18, 2020 at 2:05 AM
I spent innumerable hours in the library and distinctly remember Will’s smile brightening my day. I only knew him as the friendly student worker in the library who always seemed to emit positivity, but wish I had gotten a chance to get to know him on a deeper level. Unfortunately, the Webex link for the memorial does not work for me but I send my best wishes to the Wright family.
ESLEM on December 5, 2020 at 10:41 PM
I was Will’s virtual friend, snapting with him would give me a lot of peace, it’s very difficult to calculate how many thousand miles between us, but his energy made his happiness feel so beautiful, I really miss him.the only thing I’ll never forget in this life is his smile.. he was spreading happiness. I live in Turkey, and I would like to point out that he will be remembered well even here, he was a very good person, I constantly pray to God before going to sleep, wishing to meet him in the most beautiful place.I send my prayers for strength and comfort to the Wright family…
Tallis Edwards on January 8, 2021 at 2:54 AM
Goodbye Will. There was so much I didn’t know about you. I spent some time with you in our scouting experience. You were the silliest, the sweetest, and most loveable person there. I’m so happy you made Eagle, and got into a college that you enjoyed. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see you another time. Rest in peace buddy <3
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PGA moves 2022 PGA Championship from Trump’s Bedminster
PGA of America membership voted to move the 2022 PGA Championship to a new host site and away from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
Trump Bedminster was scheduled to host the event in May 2022.
PGA of America president Jim Richerson took issue with the location this weekend. He said President Donald Trump’s incitement of violence and encouragement of insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday was more than reason enough to move the event.
“It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand and would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver our many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission,” said Richerson. “Our board has thus made the decision to exercise to terminate the contract to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster. It was a decision made to ensure that the PGA of America and PGA professionals can continue to lead and grow our game for decades to come.”
Trump is an avid golfer and the Trump Organization owns 17 courses around the world with others in the works. A website dedicated to tracking Trump’s time on the course, Trump Golf Count, tallied 300 rounds over four years in office.
He awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to multiple golfers, including Gary Player, Tiger Woods, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Annika Sorenstam.
“We have had a beautiful partnership with the PGA of America and are incredibly disappointed with their decision,” a spokesperson for The Trump Organization told ABC News. “This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement. As an organization we have invested many, many millions of dollars in the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster. We will continue to promote the game of golf on every level and remain focused on operating the finest golf courses anywhere in the world.”
The 2021 PGA Championship is scheduled to be played at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina.
The PGA of America is expected to announce a new host site for the 2022 event prior in the coming weeks.
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‘Supremes’ could force the issue, prompt proper school funding
Following blog posting from The Stranger’s Slog is crossposted with the author’s permission:
By JEN GRAVES
There was a small detail you could easily have missed in my post Tuesday on the context of the Seattle school employees’ union strike.
It was something I noticed in a Slate story from earlier this summer about our situation here in Washington, and it bears repeating: “When, in 1976, New Jersey was in a similar situation [to Washington], the Supreme Court shut down the schools for eight days. The fruits of that conflict remain with New Jerseyites to this day, for the need to fund schools more fairly is what led New Jersey in 1976 to adopt a state income tax for the first time.”
It made me wonder the following things.
1. Does the Washington State Supreme Court have the authority to shut down schools across the state right now?
2. Is that story about New Jersey really true? Did New Jersey pass the state’s first-ever (and enduring) income tax because it had no other way to get its schools up and running after its Supreme Court put its foot down?
3. Has the income tax solved the problem of chronic school underfunding in New Jersey?
4. If the answer to all those questions is yes, then why isn’t the Washington State Supreme Court shutting down our schools to force the hand of the Governor and Legislature right now?
I made a few calls, and guess what? The answer to those first three questions is pretty much yes.
Let me tell you what I found, because it could provide hope or at least insight as you’re wondering just how long this teachers’ strike is going to last, and what all of us can accomplish.
Michael Rebell is not an advocate or activist. He is a scholar. He’s co-authored books including Courts and Kids: Pursuing Educational Equity Through the State Courts, and he teaches law and serves as executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. But he’s spending this year as a fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, so I called him there.
Rebell took me back to 1976 New Jersey.
It was a major political issue of the time that New Jersey didn’t have a state income tax, he said. (Today, only seven states don’t have state income tax, including Washington, and here, it’s the chief reason our government can reasonably claim it has no money for, say, education.)
In the early 1970s, politicians in New Jersey got elected by promising they’d never approve a state income tax. New Jerseyans took pride in not having an income tax.
But in a display of our basic American system of checks and balances between the three branches of government, the New Jersey Supreme Court did not particularly care about the priorities of the elected officials in the State Legislature.
The New Jersey Supreme Court had already ruled the state was out of compliance with the state constitution — any state’s ultimate guiding legal document — in the way it funded education. The court had also demanded a plan and a way to pay for it. Sounding familiar?
Then, New Jersey’s State Legislature provided a plan… but no funding. Sounding very familiar?
A year after the plans-but-no-funding debacle, the Supreme Court used what is referred to in certain education law circles as “the atomic option.”
On July 1, 1976, the court shut down every school in the state of New Jersey.
Wait, July?
“They said, ‘So long as the school system is unconstitutional and you’re not fixing it, we’re going to shut it down, and say it’s unconstitutional to spend any money on a school system that’s illegal,'” Rebell told me. “They were very savvy. They did this in the summer. The message was, there aren’t that many kids in summer schools, but if we can close the schools in July, we can keep them closed in September. So the legislature met in August, and once the parents saw the schools might not open, they put a lot of pressure on the legislature, and that’s how it happened.”
To recap the levers pulled here: Court rules State unconstitutional, then orders action from Legislature, the only branch that can dole out the State’s money. Legislature stalls. Governor — that third branch, the executive — does nothing. Court closes school — in summer, providing only a threat, really, but a tangible threat, and enough of one to freak out parents and provoke the Governor to call a special session of the Legislature, which then decided, well, there’s simply no way to get that kind of money without an income tax.
Hence, New Jersey had a new source for funding its schools.
But could it be that simple? Did that solve everything?
Getting New Jersey schools equitably funded hasn’t been fast, Rebell said.
But the court has been steadfast, and the results are better than in most states. So pretty much, yes, it worked.
“New Jersey’s had a long history of litigation in this area — plaintiffs have been back and forth to the court two dozen times or something,” Rebell said. “But each time, they’ve gotten much more money for the poor urban areas that were the subject of their case, and right now Newark and these other 28 or so urban districts are probably the highest-spending school districts in the state.
“In other words, the poor urban districts [in New Jersey] spend more per capita than most of the affluent districts in New Jersey, which is the opposite of how it works in most states. And that’s all because of the court pressure, and the court being resolute. At one point, they decided they needed preschool, so they ordered totally free, at-state-expense preschool for all low-income kids. Those are in place. Those are not cheap. Those are high-quality programs.”
Once again: New Jersey spends more on kids of all ages who have less and need more, and those same New Jersey kids go to preschool on New Jersey’s dime.
And that’s all thanks to the muscle of the New Jersey Supreme Court — starting with that first school shutdown.
Is Washington in the same situation? Yes.
Can the Washington Supreme Court shut down the schools? Yes.
Rebell: “So I would say it’s true that $100,000 a day” — the fine the Washington Supreme Court has been charging the State since August and until school funding is in compliance with the State Constitution — “doesn’t amount to much given the size of the Washington state education budget, and in fact, the way the court phrased it, that money is going to the school system anyway so ultimately the school system is getting a down payment on what’s to come. The plaintiffs did call for stronger action… If [the Legislature doesn’t] get it done, I would expect the plaintiffs would go back and ask for stronger sanctions. You ought to talk to the plaintiffs’ attorney.”
I definitely ought to.
That’s Bainbridge Island lawyer Thomas Ahearne, who represented the plaintiffs — the McClearys — in the landmark “McCleary” case. This is the case that led to the Supreme Court ruling, in 2012, that our state funding system is so broken, it’s unconstitutional.
I put the questions to Ahearne. What will the McCleary plaintiffs do next? And does the pressure point of the Seattle strike help motivate them at all?
“We don’t have any plans right this second,” Ahearne told me, explaining that you have to be summoned to the Supreme Court — you don’t just show up and order them around.
Ahearne has two kids who attend/ed public schools, on Bainbridge. He has a habit of calling the Supreme Court “the Supremes.”
Our Supremes to our Legislature: Where did our love go?
Here’s what Ahearne predicts will happen.
“I think the Supremes are going to give the Governor and the Legislature a couple months to do what they’re going to do,” he said. “My guess is they’re not going to do anything, and the Supremes will ask both sides [the plaintiffs in McCleary and the State] to submit something to the court saying, ‘So, how’s it going?’ and our response will be that it’s going nowhere, and the court should impose the heavy sanctions like the ones you saw with the New Jersey Supreme Court.”
Ahearne mentioned the case of Pasco, Washington, where the teachers have been on strike for nearly a week, and a court ordered them to stop striking — but declined to enforce penalties.
Ahearne is watching Pasco for developing precedent, and he’ll also watch closely to see what happens with Seattle School Superintendent Larry Nyland’s intention to file suit against the Seattle teachers’ union despite formerly seeming to be united with the union against the State, as Ansel wrote here on Slog yesterday.
There are examples to look to in other states, too, both Rebell and Ahearne said.
In Arizona, Kansas, New Jersey, and Ohio, “I’m oversimplifying… but the Supremes said you’ve got to fully fund [education], Legislature said we’ll get around to it, Supremes said we really mean it, Legislature said we’re working on it” — in other words, exactly what’s happening in Washington — and in Arizona, Kansas, and New Jersey, school closures or the mere threat of school closures motivated the Legislatures finally to act. In Ohio, a change in the bench, a stubborn Legislature, and a conservative governor meant that the Court backed down, Ahearne said.
But in the other three states where education did get funded, “when the Supremes put their foot down, there were years of the Supremes warning the Legislature first. My guess is at the end of this year or early next year, our Supremes are going to say we’ve been warning you for years and years and years. The next few months are going to determine whether the Supremes will put their foot down and be like Arizona, New Jersey, and Kansas, or wimp out and be like Ohio. And I don’t know which way it’s gonna go.”
Washington does not have a conservative governor. Where ya at, Jay?
One thing working in schools’ favor in Washington is the unusual strength of the Washington Constitution in spelling out that education is “the paramount duty” — the, not a paramount duty — of the state.
In other words, our state’s constitution says that nothing else should be funded if schools are not.
“A lot of states have education clauses in their constitution; none is as strong as Washington’s,” Ahearne said.
So what do we do now? Wait and see? What about the strikers? What about their students?
Ahearne’s advice to fellow parents of public-school students:
1. Support the strike.
2. Take that support further, and appreciate and respect and thank teachers more. They deserve it.
3. “Goddamnit, get the legislators to start amply funding the schools.”
Parents, get your freakout on. While supporting the strikers, don’t support the idea that our kids should be out of school. This is a very good exercise in civic engagement education, and it’s terrific that we’re talking to our kids about this. But we need to talk, too, and angrily, to those who can make change happen: Elected politicians.
Even if all parents of public-school children voted in Washington, they’d still be a vast minority, Ahearne told me. But the right to an education is, as some have pointed out, a civil rights battle. The people whose rights you’re fighting for in this case? The kids? Not one of them can vote, so this is going to be up to the rest of all of us.
Short URL: https://www.thestand.org/?p=43326
Posted by David Groves on Sep 11 2015. Filed under STATE GOVERNMENT, TAKE A STAND!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Cougars-back-s-against-the-wall-at-OVC-12636495.php
Cougars ‘back’s against the wall’ at OVC Tourney
Published 12:00 am CDT, Thursday, May 7, 2015
EDWARDSVILLE – The SIUE Cougars are defending Ohio Valley Conference Tourney champs and followed that 2014 triumph by winning the league’s regular-season softball title in 2015.
But with Tennessee Tech knocking off the Cougars 4-1 in an OVC Tourney semifinal Thursday at Cougar Field, SIUE must seize on that championship pedigree if it hopes to make back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
“We’re fighters and they will be determined and they will come out and play well and play hard,” SIUE coach Sandy Montgomery said of her team. “When you’re back’s against the wall, your true character comes out and I know what the true character of my team is.”
The top-seeded Cougars (40-15) join No. 2 seed Jacksonville State (37-16) in a losers bracket requiring five consecutive victories – two Friday and three Saturday – to win the tourney title. SIUE meets Eastern Illinois at 9 a.m. Friday in an elimination game, with the victor coming back at 4:30 p.m.
Tennessee Tech (30-26) joins Murray State (38-17) as the lone unbeaten entries in an eight-team field. Tech swept a doubleheader at SIUE – 4-3 and 4-2 – on April 5 and the Cougars were again unable to muster much offense against Golden Eagles pitcher Danielle Liberatore.
“We came out and played a great game, which is what we knew we’d have to pull out to beat SIUE,” third-year Tech coach Bonnie Bynum said. “We know they’re a good team and our girls came ready to play.”
Like they did in Wednesday’s 8-3 first-round victory over Morehead State, the Cougars fell behind in the first inning. An SIUE error, an infield single and a two-out, two run single by Hannah Eldridge put the Eagles up 2-0.
“I wasn’t unhappy with how we played,” Montgomery said. “That first inning, just bad luck on the first two on and then a flare to left, that just kills you. I thought we battled.”
But they could not score. Jordan LaFave’s RBI triple in the third inning accounted for SIUE’s lone run. With LaFave on third and one out, the Cougars’ top two hitters Haley Chamber (.381) and Rebecca Gray (.365) were unable to drive in the tying run.
“That’s part of the game, you have to have timely hitting,” Montgomery said. “Unfortunately, they got it and we didn’t.”
Tech added a run in the fifth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Chambers, the OVC Pitcher of the Year. Kelly Kennedy hit a solo home run in the sixth to put Tech up 4-1. SIUE had pitcher Baylee Douglass, the OVC Freshman of the Year and Cougars No. 2 pitcher, warmed and ready, but Montgomery stuck with her ace.
“Haley threw well,” Montgomery said. “There was nothing that I felt like she wasn’t doing well. She had command today, so we go with our ace.”
Chambers (23-7) gave four runs (two earned) on six hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts. Alex McDavid had two of the Cougars’ four hits. But an SIUE offense that had been held to less than two runs just twice in the previous 20 games, did not manage more than one baserunner in an inning after the third.
Liberatore, who is 17-11 with a 2.11 ERA and joined Chambers as a first team All-OVC pitcher, allowed four hits and two walks while striking out nine.
“Liberatore’s a good pitcher,” Montgomery said. “That’s why she was the other first team all-conference selection. Hats off to Tennessee Tech. We’re moving on to see what we have next.”
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https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Fireball-in-sky-over-Alton-creates-buzz-12636043.php
‘Fireball’ in sky over Alton creates buzz
Published 12:00 am CST, Friday, March 6, 2015
ALTON — Did little green men take a cruise in their spaceship over Alton? Probably not — but something strange in the sky caught the attention of several Telegraph readers Thursday evening.
According to Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society (AMS), reports of a fireball came from across the state Thursday evening.
“The sightings were clustered right around Chicago,” Lunsford said. “We’ve only received a couple from the St. Louis area. We have 34 total sightings. St. Louis seems to be on the southwestern edge of our reports. It was apparently seen as far away as Ann Arbor, Michigan.”
Lunsford added that similar sightings came from Texas and Louisiana around 2 a.m. Friday. He said the southern fireball had about half as many reports as the one over Illinois. Such bright fireballs are common in February, March and April, he added.
“This is the peak time for evening fireballs,” he said. “I have no doubt that it was a meteor.”
Lunsford said most of the reports claimed to have seen a large green fireball, but some were blue or yellow. According to Lunsford, the seemingly strange colors are actually quite common when a large chunk of space debris enters Earth’s atmosphere.
“Entering the atmosphere excites the oxygen molecules and creates a sort of greenish glow,” he said.
The AMS is still investigating the case, which includes looking for evidence that the meteor metamorphosed into a meteorite by hitting the surface of Earth.
“There’s still a possibility that it did,” Lunsford said. “We look for signs of sonic booms that indicate that the object entered the lower atmosphere. We haven’t had any of those so far.”
Social media in the Riverbend was abuzz with chatter about the fireball — or whatever it was — late Thursday and early Friday. Facebook user Jason Cox wrote on the Telegraph’s wall that he saw the object around 8:30 p.m. Thursday evening while traveling north on Homer Adams Parkway off Broadway.
Another user, Berthal Allsman said he saw a similar object on Homer Adams Parkway and described it as “kool as h—-.”
Mandi Carroll wrote that she saw it while driving on Missouri Route 367 towards Alton.
Most Facebook users that claimed to have seen the object on the Telegraph’s page described it as a meteor. Others jokingly theorized that it was a spaceship, a methamphetamine lab explosion or popular Star Trek character Spock, portrayed by the recently deceased Leonard Nimoy, reaching his destination on the final frontier.
The Alton Police Department said that they did not receive any calls on the matter. Alton Police spokesperson Emily Hejna speculated that it was most likely not a visiting life form from the far reaches of the cosmos.
The Telegraph also reached out to NASA regarding the matter, but nobody from the administration had responded to the request as of press time. An official did confirm they were investigating the reports, however. The official echoed the belief that it was probably not a spaceship.
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https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Quinn-announces-investment-to-help-food-banks-12638601.php
Quinn announces investment to help food banks
Published 12:00 am CST, Wednesday, November 26, 2014
CHICAGO – Governor Pat Quinn today announced a $4.48 million investment to help the eight regional Feeding Illinois food banks and their network of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters better serve more than 1.9 million residents who use their services each year. The investment will provide a 21st century digital infrastructure in each of the state’s food banks and with the 1,885 member agencies they support to more quickly deliver emergency food assistance to those who need it the most. Today’s announcement is part of Governor Quinn’s agenda to protect and improve the health of the people of Illinois.
“Our food banks provide critical support to nearly two million residents each year,” Governor Quinn said. “This investment puts more focus on providing food to those in need. As we sit down to our Thanksgiving meals the next few days, I encourage everyone in Illinois to remember their neighbors and donate to their local food banks to further our goal of ending hunger.”
The state investment from Governor Quinn’s Illinois Jobs Now! program will improve efficiency and lower costs of services by purchasing software, computer equipment, tablets and internet access, allowing hunger relief agencies and food banks to collect the signatures required for food bank network users statewide. Currently these signed “declarations of eligibility” required for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) generate millions of sheets of paper and force staff to spend thousands of hours tracking paperwork and collecting signatures. The eight regional food banks will invest $544,000 to train staff on the new digital sign-in and record-keeping system. The new system follows a 2013 Illinois Commission to End Hunger recommendation to streamline the client signature process.
The eight Feeding Illinois member food banks include the Central Illinois Foodbank, Eastern Illinois Foodbank, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Northern Illinois Food Bank, Peoria Area Food Bank, River Bend Foodbank, St. Louis Area Foodbank and Tri-State Food Bank.
“This investment will make it possible for all eight food banks that serve Illinois – and every agency in their networks – to adopt the e-signature process for USDA TEFAP commodities, greatly enhancing services to families across our state struggling with hunger,” Feeding Illinois Board President and President/CEO of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank Jim Hires said. “We are grateful to be able to move ahead statewide with technology that advances accountability and delivery systems, driving efficiency, quality of service and increased capacity for hunger relief in every community across Illinois. An investment building this community resource will be a huge step forward, strengthening the anti-hunger safety net across Illinois for years to come, bringing us closer to the day when no child, woman or man in our state goes without food.”
“Nearly 260,000 households are served each month through our State Emergency Food Program, so you can imagine the mounds of paper that are used,” Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Michelle R.B. Saddler said. “We are thrilled to partner with our eight regional Feeding Illinois food banks to enhance efficiencies in the intake process, improve customer service and make huge gains in data quality and accuracy, all while feeding our hungry neighbors in Illinois.”
The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) worked with the Greater Chicago Food Depository on a pilot program for the signature system at six Chicago area food pantries. The pilot program concluded in September 2014, demonstrating lower cost, greater efficiency, better service delivery and improved client experience through the use of the system. As part of the pilot program the eight regional food banks selected the appropriate software and equipment to implement the program statewide. In addition to collecting the necessary signatures, the initiative will link individuals with food and other critical programs and build additional capacity for community-based organizations in each of Illinois’ 102 counties.
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Flicks aimed at older folks foster Village idea
KEVIN PARKS THISWEEKNEWS.COM @KevinParksTW1
This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
As time goes by, the movie series for an older audience that launched May 16 with a screening of "Casablanca" at the Gateway Film Center may expand its appeal to everyone, said Christine Happel, director of the Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resources Center's Village in the Ville.
For now, though, the next entry in the series will be a contemporary film -- but one written and directed by a woman who is 81.
Eleanor Coppola's 2016 movie, "Paris Can Wait," will be screened at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, at the Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.
Tickets are $5 at the box office.
The series, which will continue the last Tuesday of each month, is the result of a partnership between the theater and Clintonville's Village in the Ville, Village Connections of German Village and the fledgling At Home on High, for those 55 and older in the Weinland Park, Short North, Victorian Village and Italian Village neighborhoods.
Age-friendly screenings feature brighter lights to make navigating the theater easier and lower volume for comfort.
"A big part of our mission is being loving and inclusive," theater President Chris Hamel said in an announcement. "When there are barriers to inclusion, like volume and light levels for seniors, we evolve so we can bring more people together."
"Paris Can Wait," which stars Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin, was chosen for the second entry due largely to the age of the film's director, Happel said.
"I think this is an opportunity to show someone doing something throughout their life span," she said. "I think this is a testament to 'you're never too old.' "
"We're really excited to partner with the other Villages and do some events," said Katie Beaumont, who is seeking to organize the At Home on High edition of the Village movement in Columbus.
The Village concept was launched in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood in 1999.
It is aimed at keeping people 55 and older happy and healthy in their own homes by providing dues-paying members discounts on services as well as getting them out of their homes on social outings such as wine tastings, museum visits and, locally, movie screenings.
"Social events are important in general once you're an empty-nester or retired or just less mobile, but movies bring people together in a fun way and also brings that nostalgia of being a special event that people can enjoy together," Beaumont said. "For those who are not that outgoing, it's a nice, easy way to be connected."
"In the future, we might want to include people who might be speakers or want to lead discussions on movies," Happel said.
For the June 27 screening, and possibly future ones, attendees are invited to arrive at the Gateway Film Center's Torpedo Room for food and drinks from noon to 12:30 p.m. The cost of refreshments is not included in the admission price but free popcorn will be available.
People who aren't members of the local Villages are invited to attend.
For more information, call Happel at 614-268-3539.
kparks@thisweeknews.com
@KevinParksTW1
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Volume 5 2012
Vol. 5: Issue 5
Review of Current Outcomes of Prostate Artery Embolization to Treat Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
The standard management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is based on the overall health of the patient, on the severity of the lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), and on quality-of-life (QoL) considerations. Voiding difficulties attributable to BPH can be quantified with the American Urological Association Symptom Index score (AUA-SI) or International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Various medications can decrease the severity of voiding symptoms secondary to BPH. Impotence, decreased libido, and ejaculatory disorders are known side effects.
The AUA guidelines indicate that patients with mild LUTS secondary to BPH (AUA-SI score < 8) and patients with moderate or severe symptoms who are not bothered by their LUTS should be managed using a strategy of watchful waiting. If the patient elects interventional therapy and there is sufficient evidence of obstruction, the patient and urologist should discuss the benefits and risks of the various interventions.
Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the most common interventional treatment, but it can be associated with bleeding, erectile dysfunction, and ejaculatory disorders in up to 10 to 65% of patients. The high prevalence rate of BPH has a tremendous impact on the health and quality of life of men. Increasingly, BPH therapy trends are moving away from the gold standard operation of TURP and toward less invasive pharmacological options and minimally invasive procedures provided in an outpatient setting.
Prostatic artery embolization (PAE) is a new BPH treatment under clinical investigation. PAE is a minimally invasive procedure that blocks the blood flow to the prostate, causing shrinkage of the gland. PAE is performed under local anesthesia as an outpatient procedure. A team of interventional radiologists, diagnostic radiologists, and urologists at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School are pioneers of the procedure, which has been widely reported since 2008. The multi-disciplinary team is encouraged by the data demonstrating PAE is a safe and effective minimally invasive treatment for patients with LUTS.
Francisco Cesar Carnevale, Alberto A Antunes, Joaquim M da Motta-Leal-Filho, Ronaldo H Baroni, Antonio SZ Marcelino, Luciana MO Cerri, Giovanni G Cerri, Miguel Srougi
Submitted March 29, 2012 - Accepted for Publication August 3, 2012
KEYWORDS: Benign prostate enlargement, benign prostatic hyperplasia, bladder outlet obstruction, transurethral resection of the prostate, prostatic artery embolization, lower urinary tract symptoms
CORRESPONDENCE: Francisco Cesar Carnevale, Chief, Interventional Radiology Section, Radiology Institute, Hospital das Clinicas, University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Rua Teodoro Sampaio, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, 05406-000, Brazil ()
CITATION: UroToday Int J. 2012 October;5(5):art 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.3834/uij.1944-5784.2012.10.04
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS: BPE: benign prostate enlargement; BPH: benign prostatic hyperplasia; TURP: transurethral resection of the prostate; PAE: prostatic artery embolization; LUTS: lower urinary tract symptoms; PSA: prostate specific antigen; QoL: quality of life; IPSS: International Prostate Symptoms Score; IIEF: International Index of Erectile Function
Symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) typically occurs in the beginning of the sixth decade, with more than 40% of men aged 60 and older presenting clinical manifestations [1]. As the world’s population ages, the prevalence of BPH is expected to increase, calling for a therapy that reduces and maintains reductions in prostate volume, provides lasting improvements of symptoms, and minimizes the risk for adverse outcomes.
Despite the advances in effective drug treatment and minimally invasive procedures, transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) remains the treatment of choice when medical management fails [1]. TURP is performed under direct endoscopic visualization with an electrocautery tool to remove prostate tissue. While considered a safe technique with a mortality rate below 0.25%, it is not without adverse events. The most frequent complications are ejaculatory disorders (up to 65%), early urinary incontinence (30 to 40%), acute urinary retention caused by blood clots (2 to 5%), sexual impotence (up to 5%), and the need for blood transfusions (0.4 to 7%). Patients who have undergone TURP require surgical retreatment for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in 3 to 14.5% of cases [1,2].
Minimally invasive techniques such as transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) and laser ablations have been developed as alternative treatments for LUTS, but they involve introducing energy into the gland and all require access through the urethra. Complications from these procedures are similar to TURP [1,2,3,4].
Patients with a history of TURP or pelvic trauma should not undergo TUMT because of potential alterations in pelvic anatomy. Patients with glands that are smaller than 30 g or a prostatic urethral length of less than 3 cm respond poorly to TUMT, as do patients with glands greater than 100 g and patients with a prominent median lobe. Other contraindications include patients with penile prosthesis, severe urethral stricture disease, artificial urinary sphincter, or American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class group V patients. Patients with pacemakers need clearance from their cardiologists concerning turning their pacemakers off during therapy, and performing TUMT in this group should be approached with apprehension [1,2,3,4]. These comorbidities are not considered a contraindication for prostatic artery embolization (PAE).
PAE is being evaluated as an alternative treatment for LUTS due to BPH. Clinical studies are ongoing to assess the outcomes and advantages of PAE. Results indicate that PAE can provide symptom relief through prostate-size reduction. There is a growing body of literature and data presented at scientific meetings supporting PAE as a safe and effective alternative for treating BPH when medical management fails [5,6,7,8,9].
Embolization of the prostatic artery has been used for decades to treat prostate bleeding after TURP or biopsy [10,11,12,13,14,15]. DeMeritt and colleagues reported the early clinical observation of prostate volume reduction after embolization for persistent hematuria in 2000. A 76-year-old man with a history of moderately symptomatic BPH developed acute urinary retention and was treated with transurethral catheter drainage for 2 weeks, after which he presented with severe gross hematuria, which failed to respond to multiple attempts at conventional therapy. The patient’s condition was successfully managed with super-selective transarterial embolization using polyvinyl alcohol particles (PVA). The patient stopped bleeding immediately after embolization, and his voiding significantly improved after the procedure. At 12 months after treatment, prostate reduction was almost 40% [16].
Similarly, embolization of the uterine arteries was originally used to treat heavy bleeding after childbirth. Embolization of fibroids was also done presurgically to decrease blood loss during myomectomy, after which it was recognized that many patients had spontaneous resolution of their fibroid symptoms and no longer required the surgery. From these observations, uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) was developed as a minimally invasive treatment for symptomatic fibroids. Embosphere Microspheres (Merit Medical Systems, Inc., Utah) were the first embolic cleared by the FDA for the indication of treating symptomatic uterine fibroid tumors. In a recent commentary on the potential value of PAE compared to TURP for BPH, Mauro indicated that PAE, not unlike UFE for fibroids, could be a minimally invasive alternative to TURP and current minimally invasive procedures [17]. At the same time, he underscored the need for more data on the procedure to assess the efficacy, durability, and adverse event rates compared to these treatments. Carnevale et al. and Pisco et al. have both published results from performing PAE using techniques similar to those used for fibroid embolization [5,6,7,8].
Prostatic artery embolization is a promising, minimally invasive alternative procedure for BPH, which has been shown to be safe and effective in both animal models and clinical trials. Until the recent clinical investigations, PAE was used principally to control massive hemorrhage after prostatectomy or prostate biopsy. In publications and scientific presentations, Carnevale and colleagues have reported successful PAE outcomes of LUTS symptom improvement and patient quality of life, prostate volume reduction averaging 30%, and low rates of adverse events [5,6,7]. Pisco et al. have reported similar outcomes [7].
Benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment with PAE requires a trained interventional radiologist because of the prostatic vascular anatomy. The normal human prostate is composed of a combination of glandular, fibromuscular (stromal), and smooth-muscle cells. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is due to a proliferation of glandular elements, stromal elements, or both, resulting in the formation of large, discrete nodules in the periurethral region of the prostate. The blood supply to the prostate arises from the anterior branch of the internal iliac artery, mainly by the inferior vesicle artery, which subsequently branches into the urethral and capsular vessels. Minor prostatic vessels also arise from the internal pudendal, obturator, umbilical, and middle hemorrhoidal arteries.
Initially, the blood supply to the prostate is mapped by angiography of the iliac vessels and the prostate arteries. Microcatheters are used for super-selective catheterization of the right and left inferior vesicle arteries. Embolization of arteries supplying the prostate is performed with a microcatheter to deliver microspheres or PVA particles. The PAE procedure takes an average of 2 hours to perform.
The main challenge of PAE is navigating within the narrow, tortuous, often atherosclerotic vessels, which can make visualization and super-selective catheterization of the inferior vesical arteries and the anatomical variations of the prostate arteries difficult.
Potential complications can arise from mistargeted embolizations, resulting in infarction of the bladder, rectum, or genitals. These complications can be avoided by using a microcatheter and calibrated microspheres for a predictable embolization.
PAE can be indicated in patients with small or large prostates and does not manipulate the urethra, thereby avoiding urethral stenosis. Severe comorbidities such as heart disease, atherosclerosis, penile prosthesis, severe urethral stricture, artificial urinary sphincter, or ASA class group V are not contraindications for PAE. Embolization can be repeated in the future, if necessary, and if it does not achieve the desired clinical outcome, it can be converted to prostatectomy. This procedure has been shown to be safe, effective, and with a low rate of complications. In addition, the overall cost of the procedure seems to be lower than other surgical therapies.
The first animal study to evaluate the feasibility and safety of PAE was conducted in a canine model and reported by Faintuch et al. [18] The study demonstrated the promising potential of PAE to decrease prostate volume and urethral stenosis due to BPH. The success rate for identification and selective catheterization of the prostatic arteries was 100%. Initial computed tomography (CT) showed good distribution of spheres in the embolized territory (hemi-prostate or prostate), with no evidence of non-targeted embolization. Clinical follow-up did not show evidence of fever, infection, decreased appetite, or access site complications. One animal (bilateral PAE) required a single, straight bladder catheterization for urinary retention on the second day after embolization, and 3 days of NSAID therapy. Imaging done during the 1-month follow-up showed decreased perfusion, cavitary necrosis, and 40% prostate volume reduction. There was excellent radiologic-pathologic correlation during histopathological examination.
Subsequently, Sun et al. evaluated the technical feasibility and safety of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) of the prostate in 16 healthy pigs [19]. Embolization of the prostate was technically successful in all animals, without complications. The mean prostate volume after embolization was significantly (p < 0.001) reduced compared to the mean prostate volume for the group control. There was no significant difference (p = 0.328) in sexual or erectile function between the 2 groups. Most recently, Jeon et al. evaluated the feasibility of prostate embolization for reducing the volume in hormone-induced canine prostate hyperplasia in a study with 9 beagle dogs [20]. They demonstrated the feasibility for reducing prostate volume without serious complication using arterial embolization.
Clinical Investigations
Carnevale et al. published preliminary results of PAE from a proof-of-concept study of 2 men with indwelling catheters for acute urinary retention due to BPH [5]. Both patients were initially managed with selective alpha-blockers without success, and stopped taking medication 1 month before PAE. Patients were evaluated using the IPSS, digital rectal examination, urodynamic testing, prostate biopsy, transrectal ultrasound (US), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before PAE. Malignancy and any other cause of voiding dysfunction such as neurogenic bladder obstruction were excluded. The procedure was performed under local anesthesia, and embolization of the prostatic arteries was done with a microcatheter and 300 to 500 µm microspheres. One patient had bilateral PAE and the other unilateral PAE. They urinated spontaneously after removal of the urethral catheter 15 and 10 days after the procedure, respectively. The urine stream increased with time, with reduction of the post-void residual urine volume. At the 6-month follow-up, prostate reduction determined by US and MRI was 39.7% and 47.8%, respectively, for bilateral PAE. For the patient with unilateral PAE, prostate reduction was 25.5% and 27.8%, respectively.
Midterm evaluation of PAE at 18 months demonstrated that post-void residual volume remained normal and stable in the patient with bilateral embolization. In the patient with unilateral embolization, however, the post-void residual volume increased (68 to 200 ml), as did the size of the prostate. Carnevale and colleagues postulated that unilateral PAE is an effective procedure to reduce prostate size, but bilateral PAE might provide better long-term prostate reduction and LUTS relief [6].
From this proof-of-concept investigation, Carnevale and colleagues conducted a Phase 2 study of 11 men with acute urinary retention due to BPH, who were on the waitlist for surgery [17]. Embolizations were performed with local anesthesia in the men who had failed previous treatment with selective alpha-blockers and were being managed by indwelling urethral catheters. Patients were discharged in less than 24 hours [8]. Urologists referred all patients in the study. The mean age was 68.5 years (range: 59 to 78 years). Prostate size ranged from 30 to 90 grams. Men with prostate cancer, stenosis of the urethra, detrusor failure, neurogenic bladder, previous treatment for BPH, and creatinine greater than 2.0 g/dL were excluded from the study. Prior to the procedure, all patients received 1 g per day of ciprofloxacin, and this was continued for 7 days post-procedure. Bilateral embolization was possible in 75% (9 of 12 procedures), and unilateral procedures were performed in 3 cases (3 of 12). One patient was embolized bilaterally twice but did not have clinical success (defined as catheter removal) and was referred to TURP. Less bleeding was observed during TURP because of the PAE before surgery. Clinical success (catheter removal and symptom improvement) was 91% (10 of 11 patients). The 10 successful patients urinated spontaneously post-embolization after catheter removal 4 to 25 days (mean: 12.1 days) post-PAE.
The most frequent symptoms related to PAE were mild pain (perineal, retropubic, and urethral). Opiate medication was not necessary. No major complication was observed. Adverse events were minimal rectal bleeding in 3 patients (25%), diarrhea in 2 patients (16.7%), and a single episode of hematuria in 1 (8.3%) [17]. During the one-month follow-up of the patient who experienced hematuria, an MRI revealed a small defect in the bladder wall due to non-targeted embolization. There were no symptoms other than the single episode of hematuria, and during an MRI at the 3-month follow-up visit the bladder wall appeared normal. No medical treatment was required. The PSA values varied during the first month of follow-up. Before PAE, the mean PSA was 10.1 ng/mL, increased to a mean of 85.6 ng/mL 24 hours after embolization, and it dropped to a mean of 4.3 ng/mL 1 month after the procedure (p = 0.003). Imaging follow-up with MRI and US showed a mean average prostate volume reduction of more than 30% after 12 months. Patients had indwelling catheters before intervention, and IPSS declined to 7.1 and 2.2 after 1 month and 1 year, respectively. Erectile function was evaluated using the IIEF score and improved consistently from 1 month to a year. The AUA symptom score and QoL improved from 6 (awful) to 0.25 (delighted) at 1 year.
Pisco and colleagues also studied the safety and potential effectiveness of PAE as an alternative minimally invasive treatment for BPH [7]. In 2011, these investigators published initial results of PAE to treat LUTS due to BPH in 15 patients (ages 62 to 82 years; mean age: 74.1) after failure of medical treatment. Short-term follow-up suggested good symptom control without sexual dysfunction as well as a reduction in prostate volume. Embolization was performed with non-spherical 200µm PVA. Discharge was 4 to 8 hours after the procedure for most patients, with 4 patients discharged the next morning (18 hours later). Unlike the Carnevale patient cohort, the majority of the patients in this published study did not have indwelling bladder catheters, and follow-up ranged from 3 to 12 months. Symptoms measured using the IPSS decreased a mean of 6.5 points, QoL improved 1.14 points, IIEF increased 1.7 points, and peak urinary flow increased 3.85 mL/sec. There was a mean PSA reduction of 2.27 ng/mL and a mean prostate volume decrease of 26.5 mL, as measured by US, and 28.9 mL shown by MRI. There was 1 major complication—an ischemia of the bladder wall treated with surgery—and 4 clinical failures (28.6%).
The initial promising results support the need for a larger study comparing PAE with TURP, the gold standard. Carnevale and colleagues have begun a randomized comparison study of PAE with TURP for reducing symptoms from LUTS due to BPH.
Minimally invasive treatments for BPH continue to be part of the therapeutic armamentarium for managing LUTS. However, costs, changes in reimbursement, quality of life, and unanswered questions regarding durability of success have tempered the initial enthusiasm for this class of therapy. Prostatic artery embolization has emerged as a new alternative of treatment for symptomatic patients.
PAE is performed under local anesthesia and can be done as an outpatient procedure. Current reports indicate that LUTS can be controlled even in patients at the end-stage of BPH. PAE does not manipulate the urethra, avoiding urethral stenosis. It can be performed even for large prostates and in patients with urinary retention. This suggests that PAE can be an alternative treatment to TURP or other minimally invasive therapies in the future. In addition, it could be performed before other treatments to reduce the risk of bleeding or to reduce the size of the prostate prior to TURP or laser resection.
A strong understanding of the pelvic vascular anatomy is needed to perform this type of embolization. In addition, inclusion and exclusion criteria using imaging evaluation based on MRI and urodynamic flow are essential. Most important, a collaborative effort between the urologist and interventional radiologist is key. Since the proof-of-concept study in 2008, Carnevale and colleagues have been working as a multidisciplinary group of urologists, diagnostic radiologists, and interventional radiologists for optimum continuity of care.
Prostate embolization has been done for years to control bleeding, with good results, but not as an alternate treatment for BPH. Initial results by Carnevale and colleagues in a selected group of patients suggested BPH can be safely treated by PAE with low rates of side effects and can reduce prostate volume by an average of more than 30 percent. Technical limitations to this technique are tortuous and atherosclerotic vessels, anatomical variations, difficulty visualizing and catheterizing small diameter arteries feeding the prostate, and the potential risk of bladder and rectum ischemia.
As of May 2012, Carnevale and colleagues have treated 40 patients with symptomatic BPH. There are 4 years of follow-up for the first two patients and a minimum of 18 months of data for patients in the phase II study. This patient population has sustained LUTS relief and improved their overall quality of life without symptom recurrence. This data suggests that PAE can be a very effective and safe minimally invasive treatment for patients with symptomatic BPH.
Rassweiler, J., D. Teber, et al. (2006). “Complications of transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP)--incidence, management, and prevention.” Eur Urol 50(5): 969-979; discussion 980.
PubMed ; CrossRef
Erol, A., K. Cam, et al. (2009). “High power diode laser vaporization of the prostate: preliminary results for benign prostatic hyperplasia.” J Urol 182(3): 1078-1082.
Rubenstein, J. and K. T. McVary. (2004). “Transurethral microwave thermotherapy of the prostate (TUMT).
Muruve, N. A. and K. Steinbecker. (2010). “Transurethral needle ablation of the prostate (TUNA).
Carnevale, F. C., A. A. Antunes, et al. (2010). “Prostatic artery embolization as a primary treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia: preliminary results in two patients.” Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 33(2): 355-361.
Carnevale, F. C., J. M. da Motta-Leal-Filho, et al. (2011). “Midterm follow-up after prostate embolization in two patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.” Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 34(6): 1330-1333.
Pisco, J. M., L. C. Pinheiro, et al. (2011). “Prostatic arterial embolization to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia.” J Vasc Interv Radiol 22(1): 11-19; quiz 20.
Carnevale, F. C. (2011). How to start with embolization for benign prostatic hyperplasia, Workshop (WS 3203). CIRSE.
Pinheiro, C., J. M. Pisco, et al. (2011). “Prostatic artery embolization to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia short and medium term outcomes.” J Urol 185(suppl 4): e908-e909.
Mitchell, M. E., A. C. Waltman, et al. (1976). “Control of massive prostatic bleeding with angiographic techniques.” J Urol 115(6): 692-695.
Li, B. C. (1990). “Internal iliac artery embolization for the control of severe bladder and prostate haemorrhage.” Zhonghua Wai Ke Za Zhi 28(4): 220-221, 253.
Michel, F., T. Dubruille, et al. (2002). “Arterial embolization for massive hematuria following transurethral prostatectomy.” J Urol 168(6): 2550-2551.
Barbieri, A., M. Simonazzi, et al. (2002). “Massive hematuria after transurethral resection of the prostate: management by intra-arterial embolization.” Urol Int 69(4): 318-320.
Rastinehad, A. R., D. M. Caplin, et al. (2008). “Selective arterial prostatic embolization (SAPE) for refractory hematuria of prostatic origin.” Urology 71(2): 181-184.
Tan, L., S. K. Venkatesh, et al. (2009). “Treatment of a patient with post-TURP hemorrhage using bilateral SAPE.” Nat Rev Urol 6(12): 680-685.
DeMeritt, J. S., F. F. Elmasri, et al. (2000). “Relief of benign prostatic hyperplasia-related bladder outlet obstruction after transarterial polyvinyl alcohol prostate embolization.” J Vasc Interv Radiol 11(6): 767-770.
Mauro, M. A. (2008). “Can hyperplastic prostate follow uterine fibroids and be managed with transcatheter arterial embolization?” Radiology 246(3): 657-658.
Faintuch, S., E. M. Mostafa, et al. (2008). “Abstract No.14: Prostatic artery embolization as a primary treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia in a canine model.” J Vasc Interv Radiol 19(2): S7.
Sun, F., F. M. Sanchez, et al. (2008). “Benign prostatic hyperplasia: transcatheter arterial embolization as potential treatment--preliminary study in pigs.” Radiology 246(3): 783-789.
Jeon, G. S., J. H. Won, et al. (2009). “The effect of transarterial prostate embolization in hormone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in dogs: a pilot study.” J Vasc Interv Radiol 20(3): 384-390.
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Boundary Disputes in Latin America
Peaceworks No. 50
Friday, August 1, 2003 / By: Jorge I. Domínguez; David Mares; Manuel Orozco; David Scott Palmer; Francisco Rojas Aravena; Andrés Serbin
Publication Type: Peaceworks
Since the start of 2000, five Latin American boundary disputes between neighboring states have resulted in the use of force, and two others in its deployment. These incidents involved ten of the nineteen independent countries of South and Central America.
Since the start of 2000, five Latin American boundary disputes between neighboring states have resulted in the use of force, and two others in its deployment. These incidents involved ten of the nineteen independent countries of South and Central America. In 1995, Ecuador and Peru went to war, resulting in more than a thousand deaths and injuries and significant economic loss. And yet, by international standards the Americas were comparatively free from interstate war during the twentieth century. Latin Americans for the most part do not fear aggression from their neighbors. They do not expect their countries to go to war with one another.
The puzzle that this paper seeks to solve is how to explain the following unusual cluster of traits in the hemisphere:
Territorial, boundary, and other disputes endure.
Interstate conflict over boundaries is relatively frequent.
Disputes sometimes escalate to military conflict because states recurrently employ low levels of force to shape aspects of bilateral relations.
Such escalation rarely reaches full-scale war.
Interstate war is infrequent.
Solving this puzzle may help point the way toward more effective prevention and resolution of conflicts about borders and territory.
It is encouraging to note that some ofthe longest-lasting and most serious boundary disputes in South America have been settled since 1990--Argentina and Chile, Ecuador and Peru, Chile and Peru, Brazil and all its neighbors. At the same time, however, similar border disputes have been exacerbated in the cases of Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia and in Central America. Each of this second set of countries has been involved in at least one militarized interstate dispute since 1990. Nicaragua tops the list, having had militarized disputes with four states. Venezuela and Honduras have each had militarized disputes with three neighboring states. El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, and Colombia have each had militarized disputes with two neighbors. Since 1990 militarized interstate disputes have been frequent, therefore, yet only the dispute between Ecuador and Peru in 1995 escalated to war.
This paper contends that the structures of the international systems in South and Central America and their somewhat distant relations to the global system, as well as the panoply of procedures and institutions evident in inter-American relations, explain the infrequency and short duration of interstate wars. More specifically, the paper advances the following arguments:
Interstate war became rare thanks to a balance of power that developed in South America in the late nineteenth century. In Central America, U. S. intervention early in the twentieth century temporarily interrupted warfare.
Interstate war remained rare because both South and Central America were relatively insulated from the wider international system.
Innovative international regional institutions and procedures that began to develop in the nineteenth century and blossomed in the twentieth century fostered and consolidated interstate peace and provided effective international mediation when interstate war broke out.
The ideology of a shared identity also fostered interstate peace. For a long time Latin Americans for the most part have not believed that their country's neighbor is their enemy.
U. S. hegemony has been largely irrelevant to explaining the prospects of interstate war and peace in Latin America.
Geography and poor cartography made it difficult to settle some boundary disputes. British decolonization in mainland Latin America is a persistent source of territorial disputes.
Specific international procedures, especially the formal "freeze"of a dispute for a period of years and some international arbitral practices, helped old disputes linger.
The change in international maritime law (the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas) and the development of new technology to exploit marine and seabed resources raised the salience of many territorial disputes.
Inter-American peacekeeping institutions have been very effective, yet they also generate moral hazard. The peacekeeping norms, procedures, and institutions in inter-American relations produce public goods akin to insurance. They insure each member-state against the likelihood of protracted warfare. States can behave recklessly, militarizing disputes to serve domestic political objectives, certain that inter- national agents will stop the fighting and thus prevent serious injury. States can also stubbornly resist making compromises over boundary disputes, equally certain that undesired outcomes will not be imposed on them. The common thread is that an international public good--international institutions and procedures--provides a kind of insurance that frees state actors from some of the prudential constraints ordinarily imposed by interstate competition.
Democracy has a complex relationship to interstate war and peace. First, in some instances democratic practices and procedures directly intensified bilateral conflict between states over boundary or territorial issues. Second, in only one instance in Central America and the circum-Caribbean did democratization improve the prospects for territorial dispute settlement, although in South America democratic politics had a more salutary effect on peacemaking in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Third and most important, most of the time the existence of democratic practices and procedures or the process of democratization was unrelated to the evolution of boundary and territorial disputes. The democratic character of the political regime was causally related neither to dispute containment nor to dispute exacerbation.
Grand strategies have an important effect on shaping the prospects for interstate war and peace. There is good reason to suspect that developmental objectives are the most important factor in distinguishing cases where boundary and territorial disputes are settled from those where they fester. Where development becomes the key concern of domestic elites, territorial and boundary dispute settlement is likely to follow as a by-product, provided thinking about development is directly linked to thinking about peace. These elites fashion grand strategies to accomplish these goals. In these instances, many boundary and territorial disputes are likely to be settled during a relatively short time. Where sovereignty, boundary, and territorial concerns are accorded higher priority than developmental objectives, conflict at the border will linger and perhaps worsen.
International institutions and actors can tilt the balance of ideas and incentives toward development and employ their resources strategically to reduce the incidence of moral hazard while fostering interstate peace.
Jorge I. Domínguez is the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Relations and director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He is a founding member of the Inter-American Dialogue. Domínguez is the editor and coauthor of several Inter-American Dialogue books, including the first and second editions of Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), as well as International Security and Democracy: Latin America and the Caribbean in the Post-Cold War Era (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998) and The Future of Inter-American Relations (Routledge, 2000).
Images & Downloads
Download http://usip.forumone.com/files/resources/pwks50.pdf
Americas Americas
25th Anniversary of Esquipulas II: Lessons for Peace in Colombia?
By: Virginia M. Bouvier
August 2012 marks 25 years since the signing of the Esquipulas II agreement in Guatemala that brought an end to the wars of Central America. USIP's senior program officer for Latin America, Virginia Bouvier, explores what lessons Esquipulas II might offer for peace in Colombia.
Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World
By: Chester A. Crocker; Fen Osler Hampson; Pamela Aall; editors
Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World examines conflict management capacities and gaps regionally and globally, and assesses whether regions—through their regional organizations or through loose coalitions of states, regional bodies, and non-official actors—are able to address an array of new and emerging security threats.
Negotiating the Pakistani-U.S. Relationship, One Step at a Time
By: Gordon Lubold
The U.S. and Pakistan have enjoyed an on-again, off-again relationship for years. Ambassadors Howard Schaffer and Teresita Schaffer describe the relationship in their latest USIP Press book “How Pakistan Negotiates with the United States: Riding the Roller Coaster.”
Truth Commission Digital Collection
The United States Institute of Peace’s Truth Commissions Digital Collection is part of the Margarita S. Studemeister Digital Library in International Conflict Management. The collection contains profiles of truth commissions and substantive bodies of inquiry from nations worldwide - offering general background information on the composition of each body, links to the official legislative texts establishing such commissions, and each commission's final reports and findings.
Type: Truth Commission
Conflict Analysis & Prevention; Human Rights
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Christmas Trees, Fir Real
November 19, 2015 by Dan Weckerly - VFTCB Communications Manager
Christmas Trees since 1929, when the Bustard Family began selling them in Lansdale, have changed a lot.
In terms of artificial varieties, a company in the 1930s sold a version made of brush bristles. The late 1950s brought the aluminum trees that were central to the plot of TV's A Charlie Brown Christmas. Plastic trees, fiber optic trees and even holographic trees have been produced - and proven popular with some holiday decorators.
But for the Bustards and the 4,000 families that come each year, there's nothing like a real tree.
"The business was started by my great uncle," Jay Bustard remembers. "He established a farm here, but he brought on a couple of sidelines to add revenue. There was a butcher business. And an orchard that he used to make cider that he sold. In 1929 - the farm had passed to my parents by that point - it was Christmas Trees. But, yeah, me and my brother Glenn are fifth generation here."
Live Christmas trees, according to the Bustards, are essentially recession-proof.
"People always buy a Christmas Tree," Jay states. "If times are good, it's a non-issue. If times are tough, they'll still buy a tree."
Glenn completes the thought: "They'll cut something else from the budget... a new string of lights, an extra present somewhere. But never the tree."
Jay drives me to the orchard, near Trooper Road. When we get out, the air is rejuvenating: clean, fresh and hyper-oxygenated.
"People might think this is just a seasonal business," Jay explains. "But it's not. We are always checking growth, pruning trees, composting and planting. The trees that are ready for this year's holiday season were planted in 2008. Those that we're planting now will be ready for the 2023 holidays. It never stops."
Glenn is examining the effects of the biggest threat to the inventory: deer.
"When the fall has been dry like this one, they get hungry and eat the trees," Glenn says. He examines one sapling that has been eaten into a misshapen stick, while the one right next to it is still a viable plant. "I don't know why they prefer one over the other. To the deer, I guess this one was filet mignon and this one was liver," he laughs.
Jay has a more philosophical take: "We use their land; they eat a few of our trees. It's not a bad tradeoff."
Bustards Christmas Trees sells the more popular varieties - Douglas fir, Fraser fir and Blue Spruce - but there are rarer varieties here as well.
"We have Korean fir," Jay points out. "It grows in the mountains of South Korea and has been used to decorate the Korean embassy."
Bustards also sells Concolor fir, Balsam fir, Turkish fir, Nordman fir, Meyer fir (from China) and various hybrids.
"I really like the Nordman firs," Jay says. "I think they're going be the next big thing in Christmas Trees. They have stiff bristles and dark needles. It's a beautiful tree."
The other trend the Bustards see emerging is for a Victorian fir. These stately beauties are not pruned but, rather, are allowed to grow in a more natural state. Their shape is, therefore, somewhat unpredictable, and the branches are "open," which Jay defines as being spacious.
"People who have many large decorations love them," he says.
The quality of the Bustards' stock is so high that one of their stately Fraser firs was chosen as the official White House Christmas Tree for the Obama family. The road to that distinction began with an entry in a statewide competition for trees - something like a dog show. When they won at that level, the competition went national, pitting state against state for a champ.
The Bustards' Douglas fir again went to the top of the list.
A contingent of D.C. dignitaries, including the White House Chief Usher and representatives from the National Park Service, came to the family's Lehighton location (Carbon County) and after hours of debate and evaluation, chose a 19-foor Fraser fir. It will be cut on November 23 and taken to Washington, where it will eventually stand in the Blue Room at the White House.
"The size was important," Jay says. "The ceiling at the White House is 18 feet, so the tree should ideally be at least six inches taller than that to give a little wiggle room for recutting the trunk and accommodating the top. Ours, at 19, was perfect.
"This has to be the greatest accomplishment in our history," he continues. "We will get to formally present the tree to Mrs. Obama and then return to see it decorated an in place. Of all the people who were excited over this, I think my mom topped the list. At 88, she's seen this business through a lot, and she was thrilled."
Bustard's Christmas Trees
2210 Bustard Road
Lansdale, PA 19446
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily.
Tags: Family Fun: Kid-Friendly Montco
Author: Dan Weckerly - VFTCB Communications Manager
Dan Weckerly, VFTCB Communications Manager, has lived in Montgomery County since 1988 but is still discovering its many treasures, which provides the basis for The Pursuit. He is well-traveled across the U.S. and even lived in London, but more commonly shares his household with a wife of more than 25 years, three daughters and a boisterous Labrador Retriever.
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Glamorgan CCC
South African star Jaqcues Rudolph celebrates first century for Glamorgan
Rudolph claimed Glamorgan’s first century of the season to help put the Welsh side in a dominant position the second day of their LV= County Championship Division Two match against Kent at Cardiff
Gareth Griffiths
Jacques Rudolph (Image: ©Huw Evans Picture Agency)
South African star Jacques Rudolph has expressed his relief at scoring a first-class century for the first time in more than two years.
Rudolph claimed Glamorgan’s first century of the season to help put the Welsh side in a dominant position the second day of their LV= County Championship Division Two match against Kent at Cardiff.
His 103 came in his 13th innings for Glamorgan and was the 47th hundred of his career. But it was the first time the elegant left-hander had passed three figures in first-class cricket since March 2012 at Dunedin when he posted an unbeaten 105 for South Africa against New Zealand.
Rudolph was later dropped by the Proteas and admitted he had struggled for motivation.
“It is a big relief,” said Rudolph.
“What quite a lot of people don’t know is that a few personal things outside of cricket had affected me.
“The other things is that I had fought very hard to get back into the South African team and I got picked again.
"But when you get dropped you almost lose that dangling carrot and inspiration to do well in four-day cricket because there is not much to play for.
“I have always tried to score runs and wanted to play for South Africa.
“But this is a massive relief and hopefully the signs of things to come.”
Rudolph signed as Glamorgan’s overseas player for two years and admitted he has been welcomed at the Swalec Stadium.
“This is one of the best dressing rooms I have been involved with,” said Rudolph.
“They are a great bunch of people, my fiancée is with me and everything has worked out well.
“It’s a great city and a lovely place to play cricket.
“I was initially offered a three-year contract but I specifically signed for two to see where I was at.
“I would like to sit down at some point with Toby Radford (head coach) and Hugh Morris (chief executive) and assess their thoughts.”
That might depend on any recall to the South African set-up although Rudolph accepts that is a remote possibility.
“You never know and I would be careful to say that was it for me,” he added.
If you get on a run where you score five hundreds in 10 games and someone gets injured then maybe they call you back.
“But at the moment I am just happy for finding my way and scoring runs again.”
Rudolph had previously compiled three county championship 50s all against Leicestershire and has made a storming start to the Twenty20 tournament.
“I have settled in well after the first couple of four-day games where most batsman have struggled,” added the 33-year-old.
“I found it difficult in those first couple of weeks with the slower bowlers seaming the ball both ways.
“We grow up back home with the ball coming onto the bat and that makes it easier to strike.
“For the last month I feel as if I have been striking the ball well and scored three fifties.
“As a top order batsman you should be capitalising on that and being able to do that is a bit of pressure off my back and hopefully it will be the start of things to come.
“The T20 tournament does also help release you.
“Sometimes in four-day cricket you can become bogged down and not play with freedom.”
Rudolph also believes this Swalec Stadium wicket was more conducive to batting.
“It was the first white wicket I have played on this year but maybe I am a bit biased because I am a batsman,” he said.
“We still managed to field first and bowl them out for 250 so it’s not as if it is totally flat.
“If you bowl in good areas it will still do a bit so it’s a good cricket wicket.
“The previous wickets have been more biased towards the bowlers and you had teams 50 for five.
“That’s not good cricket in my opinion.
“On a wicket like this one you can look to score all the time and you get values for your runs.
“If we prepare these sorts of wickets with two spinners then maybe that’s the way forward.”
Rudolph shared in a 181-run partnership with skipper Mark Wallace (82), who was promoted to number three in the order.
Despite losing three wickets for 26 runs after tea, Glamorgan, with useful contributions from Jim Allenby (59 not out) and Chris Cooke (54 no), finished the day on 337 for four - a first innings lead of 84.
That was after Kent had been bowled out for 253 in the morning with Michael Hogan finishing with figures of five for 58.
“That was our best day in the county championship and we batted at about four an over throughout the day,” added Rudolph.
“Myself and Mark had a good partnership and set a nice base for Jim and Chris to play their shots.
“The first session on the third morning will be very important.
“If we can get through the new ball we can look to attack and look to get close to 250 ahead.
“If we strike early they will be under pressure for the rest of the game.
“They would need a miracle or someone to play well to help them save the game.
“We have picked two spinners in this game, so if we can set up the first innings they can be dangerous.”
Following this county championship match, Glamorgan will turn attentions to facing Surrey in the T20 on Friday evening in Cardiff with South African captain Hashim Amla and ex-England star Kevin Pietersen in the opposition ranks.
“We don’t mind playing the big names,” added Rudolph.
“I have been fortunate to play with and against Hashim since a young age.
“He understands his game so well and we are going to have to find ways to get him out.
“KP plays a bit more expansively and gives you more opportunities.
“When you have those chances you have to take them.
“We might possibly be underdogs but we have played very well in this competition so far.
“If we can just sync the batting and the bowling we have the firepower to win, regardless of the opposition.”
Rudolph was involved in the dramatic T20 tie against Kent in Cardiff last Friday when he ran out Doug Bollinger with the final ball of the game.
“It was a great over from Michael Hogan,” added Rudolph.
“It was quite interesting because I had been standing at short fine-leg and Jim Allenby called me over to stand by the stumps.
“I wondered why but I soon realised when I got the run out.”
Chris Cooke
Hugh Morris
Jim Allenby
Swalec
South Africa Cricket Team
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World Cup 2014: Team by team guides - Russia
Can Fabio Capello taste World Cup success with Russia? Find out if they've got what it takes here...
Matthew SouthcombeRugby Audience Editor
The Russia national team listen to coach Fabio Capello
Russia will be taking part in their tenth World Cup, including participations as Soviet Union. Their last appearance was in 2002, when they were eliminated in the group round. The Russians failed to get beyond the opening stage during their last three World Cup outings, in 1990, 1994 and 2002. Their best tournament was in 1966 when Soviet Union finished fourth, having lost to Germany in the semi-finals and Portugal in the match for third place.
At the 1970 edition, substitutions were allowed for the first time and the use of yellow and red cards was introduced. The then Soviet Union were the first team to receive a yellow card, when Kakhi Asatiani was cautioned against Mexico, as well as the first to make a substitution, when Anatoli Puzach replaced Viktor Serebryanikov at half-time in the same match.
The record for the most goals scored in a single World Cup finals match belongs to Russia’s Oleg Salenko, who fired in five during the 6-1 win over Cameroon in 1994.
Manager: Fabio Capello
A young Capello began his career in the youth set up at SPAL and signed for the first team in 1964, despite interest from AC Milan. He stayed there for three years, making 47 appearances before moving on to Roma.
He won his first major trophy with Roma, the Coppa Italia, before moving Juventus in 1970.
The midfielder had a rocky start to his time at the Italian giants after he publicly criticised his manager, Armando Picchi. On the same day it came out that Picchi had been diagnosed with cancer and Capello was fined by the club.
Capello went on to win three league titles with Juventus before the club became concerned about his knees, an injury that had always affected his career.
In 1976 he was traded to Milan and after struggling through three seasons he called it a day in 1980.
He played 32 times for the Italian national team.
Capello has managed the likes of Milan, Real Madrid, Roma, Juventus and England. He took over as Russia boss in 2012 after resigning from the England job.
Russia manager Fabio Capello
Captain: Sergei Ignashevich
The 34-year-old began his professional career at Spartak Orekhovo in 1998, he only made 17 appearances before moving on to Krylia Sovetov.
He only spent a season here too, but made substantially more appearances, 31 to be exact, before his first big move.
In 2001, Lokomotiv Moscow came in for the defender who can cover most positions along the back four.
He won the Russian Premier League and the Russian Cup in his first season with Moscow and went on to win the Russian Super Cup in his second.
Moscow rivals CSKA then made a bid for Ignashevich and he's been there ever since 2004. He's made of 270 appearances for the club and won the UEFA Cup, four Russian Premier Leagues, six Russian Cups and five Russian Super Cups.
Key player: Alan Dzagoev
The attacking midfielder has 33 caps for his country and has bagged eight goals for Russia.
The 23-year-old has been at CSKA Moscow since 2008 and has made just over 200 appearances for the Russian giants.
He's picked up 47 goals in his time in the Russian capital and is a bit of a handful for defenders.
Alan Dzagoev
Qualifying Campaign
Together with the Netherlands, Russia were one of only two teams that won all of their home qualifiers on the trail to Brazil 2014, having notched five victories on native soil.
Russia are the only European side that qualified directly despite losing two games in their group, which they won by one point ahead of Portugal. The Russians’ two defeats came in Portugal and Northern Ireland, both by the scoreline of 1-0.
Two of Russia’s matches were postponed due to adverse weather conditions. The fixture against Northern Ireland in Belfast, which was originally scheduled for 22 March, was initially put back one day due to heavy snowfall before being called off and rescheduled to 14 August. The home tie against Luxembourg was delayed by an hour due to rain.
Russia v South Korea 17th June 8:00pm (BBC1)
Belgium v Russia 22nd June 5:00pm (BBC1)
Algeria v Russia 26th June 9:00pm (ITV1)
Squad List
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Lodygin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Sergey Ryzhikov (Rubin Kazan).
Defenders: Vasili Berezutskiy (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Granat (Dynamo Moscow), Andrey Eshchenko (Anzhi Makhachkala), Sergey Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexey Kozlov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Andrey Semenov (Terek Grozny), Georgi Schennikov (CSKA Moscow).
Midfielders: Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), Igor Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexey Ionov (Dynamo Moscow), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Victor Faizulin (Zenit St Petersburg), Oleg Shatov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Pavel Mogilevets.
Forwards: Maxim Kanunnikov (Amkar Perm), Alexander Kerzhakov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Dynamo Moscow).
Russia in the media
Fabio Capello has brought endurance and defensive stability to the Russian team, but doubts over captain Roman Shirokov’s form and fitness are a worry ahead of Brazil. The Guardian
Russia's football coach Fabio Capello has banned his squad members from using Twitter during the upcoming World Cup tournament in Brazil, but will allow them to send text messages, a news report said. The Moscow Times
What the bookies say
To win the tournament: 150/1
To get out of their group: 6/11
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Discover Over 200 Years of Incredible History at the Wayside Inn
Since 1750, many fascinating events and people have passed through the city of Elliott. The walls of the Wayside Inn itself whisper many stories of what they have seen since the early 18th century. In fact, some of its guests are rumored to be famous figures of American history.
If you’d like to experience the historical ambiance of The Wayside Inn for yourself, book your stay in one of our beautifully renovated rooms or suites today!
You may also discover more of Ellicott’s history sites and museums by taking a look at our Free Howard County, MD Vacation Guide!
History of the Wayside Inn
The Wayside Inn is located near an original portion of the Old Columbia Turnpike, which was established in the early 18th Century. This turnpike was intended to serve as a major link from the mill of Ellicott’s Lower Mills, later renamed Ellicott City, south to Georgetown in Washington, DC.
An original milepost still stands about 200 yards south of the Inn with the inscription “2M to E.C”. The book, “The Diary of George Cooke: Twenty-three Years On a Maryland Plantation, 1826-1849”, bespeaks the importance of this turnpike on the daily lives of the area plantation owners.
Local Historians indicate that the Wayside Inn was one of several Inns in what was at first Ann Arundel County, and later Howard County. While it is frustrating that no records have been found to verify this assertion, its proximity to the old turnpike makes it a likely candidate. A further indication would be the name, Wayside Inn. Nowhere are there records of that name as a commercial establishment, yet the name has been passed down through many generations of owners, leading one to believe that this was once an established Inn. Local lore has it that both General George Washington and John Quincy Adams were guests at the Inn and that could certainly have been the case, especially for Washington. We know for fact he was in the general vicinity. His name is on a ledger at a pub in nearby Elkridge.
Ownership records show that the tract of land on which the Inn now stands was first contained in a special warrant granted to a Henry Pierpoint by his Lordships Land Office (perhaps by The Lord Baltimore, himself?) in 1755. Shortly thereafter a formal survey of the land was completed and the tract was named “Search”. In subsequent years various parcels of land were added, bringing the total property to approximately 200 acres and the name was changed to “Search Enlarged” (real creative, this Pierpoint, eh?) In the ensuing three decades, Pierpoint sold off parts of the property to various parties including his daughter Elizabeth. A major portion was sold to a Michael Pue, a Baltimore physician, and his wife Mary in the Early 1780s. It is thought the house that is now the Inn and several other structures were a part of that sale for two main reasons:
The sale price was listed as 4 Pounds Sterling per acre, a huge increase over the nominal price for the property of 1 schilling per acre recorded in the years just prior. This would indicate that the property had been improved by adding buildings, etc.,
The deed listed not only the land, but also “premises and appurtenances,” which would seem to indicate that the house was already standing. We therefore date the time of the house to approximately 1780.
Portions of the original estate were sold to several prominent families of the time, among them the Hughes, several of the Pue family and one Edward Hill Dorsey. We are sure that it is no coincidence that the first village of the new town of Columbia that one arrives in when going south from the Inn is known as Dorsey’s Search. The estate was divided even further throughout the 19th century and the early 20th century where it passed to families such as the Shapiros, the Hodges and the Parletts. The property deteriorated until Robert and Charlotte Hartkopf, prominent Ellicott City restaurateurs, purchased it in 1963. They renovated the property and sought and received the first historical designation awarded to the house. Since the Hartkopfs, the house has known only three owners: the Gerards who purchased it in 1976, the Osantowskis, who purchased it in 1980 and were the couple who finally renovated the third floor and opened it as a bed and breakfast, and finally us, Susan and David Balderson, who purchased it in 1998 and reopened the Inn as it is now in 1999.
The History of the Candles
The Wayside Inn is known throughout this area as “that house with the candles in the windows.” Many myths have sprung up concerning those famous candles including but not limited to: 1.“They show the house is haunted!” 2. One of the owner’s sons went off to war and the mother put the candles in the windows as a tribute to her son. 3. In the same vain, one mother put the candles in the windows when here son went off to war and said they would stay there until he came home. He never did which is why they are still burning.
The truth is, the Hartkopfs revived what they understood to be an old English tradition of putting candles in every window to show that this was a public house and that weary travelers were welcome to stay here. A traveler could tell from the lighted candles in the bedroom windows that rooms were available (an early vacancy sign) and would come in for a meal and a room. The Hartkopfs put a candle, now electric of course, in all 35 windows of the house and kept them burning 24 hours a day. This fact has even been recorded in Ripley’s: Believe it or Not.” Today we carry on the tradition. While we do not have all 35 windows bedecked with candles, all of the bedrooms have candles lit to show you, the weary traveler, that there is a room available. And in the old tradition, as you check-in in the evening, we extinguish your candles to indicate that your room is no longer available.
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Galaxy Dance Festival Virtual Event
Andrea DiPalma Yansane
Polaris Dance Theatre held its 10th Annual Galaxy Dance Festival this weekend and in response to the social distancing regulations that are in place, went VIRTUAL! The festival which was aired on Facebook Live was filled with a diverse schedule of dance companies that included genres such as West African, Bollywood, Bharatanatyam and Odissi, Kathak and Afro-Brazilian, Contemporary, and more. The organizations that presented dance pieces hailed from Oregon, Washington, New York, Canada, and beyond! For the first time, participants were able to participate in a Q & A, listen to insight from the artists and their choreographers, and explore the rich diversity that dance has to offer the world, all from the comfort of their own home! WACAI kicked off the Virtual Festival at 11 am with two video clips; one of Alseny doing a solo to the rhythm Yamama at the Oregon Country Fair’s Gypsy Stage and one of Ballets Africains dancing Fere Koroba at the Centre Culturel Franco-Guineen in the capital city of Conakry. Because of a previous commitment, Alseny wasn’t able to attend the festival’s live stream, but conducted an interview a few days prior and the transcript was read instead at the time of the Q & A. To read the interview transcript translated into English from Susu, Alseny’s native language and learn more about Alseny’s former training and life in Guinea, read on!
Question: Can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself?
Alseny Yansane: My name is Alseny Yansane. I come from Guinea, West Africa and was born and raised in the capital city of Conakry. I am from the Susu people which is the third largest ethnic group in Guinea. I worked with the world-renowned Ballets Africains for fourteen years and have traveled to many places around the globe to represent traditional Guinean culture like you saw in the first video. I love the dance, music, and culture from my homeland and am passionate about sharing it with audiences and students who are receptive and respectful.
Question: Can you describe what your training in Guinea looked like?
Alseny Yansane: My training actually began as a drummer when I was around seven years old. In Guinea we say that the drumming and the dancing are married together so you cannot have one without the other. As a kid with very little means I learned to play the traditional rhythms on really big, empty tomato paste cans flipped upside down. Back then my older brother had a drum and dance group who played at folkloric events, that celebrated rites of passage like weddings and baby naming ceremonies which inspired me to form my own group with kids from my neighborhood. Our group would walk from neighborhood to neighborhood challenging the groups of kids we would find gathered outside to a drum and dance battle and always seemed to win. Shortly afterwards, my older brother invited me to join his group and I learned a lot through watching him drum and dance and by just getting out there to show what I had learned in local and regional competitions.
I am thankful to have come up as an artist in the time of Sekou Toure, Guinea’s first president. Historically, this was an era when art and cultural appreciation and cultivation were at an all-time high and the training that artists received was rigorous and systematic. We had to compete on a national level annually as a way of moving up to higher levels of artistic status. These competitions were held in the heart of downtown Conakry where I lived and attracted groups from all over Guinea who represented specific art and culture from various regions and ethnic groups. Over the years I worked with numerous “private ballets” before I was recruited to and passed the audition for entry into Ballets Africains, one of four national companies at the time.
Question: What would your average day look like?
Alseny Yansane: A typical day in a life for me would look something like this: I would get up in the morning and make my way by foot to rehearsal, sometimes walking over an hour to get there. Meeting up with other artists along the way en route to rehearsal and talking amongst ourselves made the long walk much shorter. Often times I would leave the house without eating any breakfast because my family didn’t have the means to provide too much more than the main, mid-day meal of rice and sauce. This is how it was for most of us artists in Guinea. We’d get by through sharing just about everything, especially food, so if I wasn’t able to eat at home or if I didn’t have any pocket money from a gig the night before, someone in the group would help me get something into my belly before it started to ache.
Our drum and dance rehearsals would be for 2-3 hours Monday-Friday, sometimes even on Saturday and were held in multi-purpose buildings whose cement or tile floors would be in various stages of disrepair. Even so, we always danced barefoot and did all kinds of acrobatics, like dive rolls and flips on that hard surface and there were no tumbling mats! After my morning rehearsal where I trained very intensely ended, I would have some time to make my way to the next rehearsal of the group where I was Artistic Director, stopping off at a friend’s house to eat some rice and sauce and possibly take a nap.
After the second rehearsal I would typically go home to regroup and get ready for my folkloric group’s evening gig. I was the General Director of my folkloric group which meant I was responsible for sub-contracting all of the artists who included traditional drummers, praise singers, guitarists, balafonists, keyboard players, and dancers. I also had to communicate and plan the event with the person who did the hiring and negotiate the price. I also had to find a sound system to rent and an available technician to do sound for the event as well as do the maintenance and repair on the outdoor lighting. This literally involved a lot of leg work leading up to the event due to the fact that home phones didn’t really exist and cell phones technology hadn’t made its way to Guinea yet. During the gig I would play drums, manage the artists and crowd energy. At the end of the gig I would count and divide up the money collected from the various guests putting tips into the platter during their praise song processions, pay the artists, and get all the equipment back home. The next day I’d wake up and do it all again!
Question: You had mentioned earlier your involvement in private ballets and national groups. Can you explain what a “private ballet” is and how it differs from a national company?
Alseny Yansane: Guinea has 2 types of traditional drumming and dancing: village style and ballet style. In the village style, drummers play the traditional rhythms at community celebrations where guests circle around and jump into the middle one-by-one or two-by-two to dance only one or two simple moves before yielding the dance space to someone else. The ballet style was developed in 1958 by Keita Fodeba a Guinean artist and scholar living in Paris, France. Soon after ballet style was adopted in Conakry, Guinea’s capital city where musical arrangements were created to embellish village rhythms and complex dance steps were created and strung together in long dance sequences to fill a stage with choreography and technical floor patterns.
In ballet style, there are “private ballets” which are also known as amateur groups that feed into the “national ballets” which are professional companies that are sponsored by the Guinean government and have national and international touring companies that are considered to be “cultural ambassadors”. Even though the national companies are sponsored by the government, unfortunately, only the administrative staff receives a small stipend and the artists remain for the most part, unpaid.
Question: How has recent events affected you as an artist or your work?
Alseny Yansane: The Corona virus has made it very difficult for me as an artist. Since the shut down in March I have had contracts for school residencies and performances cancelled and haven’t been able to teach my community classes in the same way as before. Our organization has offered several online options, but they just don’t seem to translate in the same way as in person and it has taken some trial and error to work through various technical difficulties. I really look forward to a time when folks can get together to drum and dance freely without the fear of getting sick!
Also, since the death of George Floyd and the others I have experienced both positive and negative changes. On the one hand it’s great to see an increase in support for Black Lives Matter, but I have also felt the effects of the backlash. I don’t always feel safe going outside to get the exercise I need to stay fit as a dancer because I have been harassed recently and I sometimes feel like a target because there aren’t many black folks in Oregon so I stand out. The studio where I teach my dance classes has been vandalized with racial slurs and that makes me nervous for myself and my 16-year-old son as well as our black students. As an African immigrant I have a different history of being black and it has been very sad and depressing to learn about the reality of race relations here in the US. Sometimes it just makes me want to leave and go back to Guinea.
On the positive side, there seems to be an increase in white communities and organizations to do better by us and make more of an effort to support and highlight our work. I really appreciate this a lot as it makes the severity of everything we are dealing with more manageable. I urge folks to continue to come through for us because we have a long road ahead and need justice in order to be truly free as artists and as people.
Oregon Black Artist Spotlight Series
Alseny & Papa Yansane-Oregon Black Artist Spotlight Series
LaRhonda Steele-Oregon Black Artist Spotlight Series
Wambui Machua-Oregon Black Artist Spotlight Series
West African Cultural Arts Institute
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Will World Cup Desert Qatar In 2022?
With previously unreleased documents being aired in Germany about the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, William Hill are offering just 11/8 that the tournament is held elsewhere (8/15 to still be held in Qatar).
“Since day one, the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar has been faced with heavy criticism and with more details being frequently released, it is touch and go as to whether the World Cup will take place in the Gulf State,” said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.
Where will the 2022 World Cup be held: 8/15 still in Qatar; 11/8 not to be held in Qatar
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Increasing War Worries Send Dollar Sharply Lower
A Wall Street Journal Online NEWS ROUNDUP
March 24, 2003 9:46 am ET
NEW YORK -- The dollar was sharply lower Monday, weighed down by worries about a prolonged war in Iraq.
In early trading, the dollar was at ¥120.70, down from ¥121.49 late Friday in New York. The euro was at $1.0633, up sharply from $1.0536 late Friday. Sterling was at $1.5723, up from $1.5633.
The Swiss franc, a classic refuge currency in times of military upheaval, showed significant strength. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was at 1.3866 francs, down from 1.4016 francs late Friday.
U.S.-led forces kept pushing toward Baghdad Monday, but clashes with Iraqi forces left more than 20 Americans dead or captured, feeding fears in the market that there is much tough fighting ahead. The dollar had gained strength since the start of the U.S.-led invasion on hopes that there would be a quick resolution to the conflict.
Saddam Hussein also appeared on the airwaves, addressing his people and trying to rally his forces. Mr. Hussein seemed relaxed and robust -- strikingly different from the way he looked in a speech aired Thursday after the first airstrikes on Baghdad. Speculation, nevertheless, remains rampant that Mr. Hussein was injured or even killed in those initial strikes.
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news, national, environment, mining, coal, national parks, Mudgee, The Drip, natural heritage, Indigenous
Dr Julia Imrie has the demeanor of a school-teacher and a tour guide rolled into one. About halfway along the track from the car park to The Drip Gorge, she takes us off the path, through the scrub, and onto the sandy riverbed. "Brett Whiteley came out here in the early 1970s looking for The Drip and was a bit of a showman. He was painting on canvases, then turned around, stripped off naked and decided he'd go a little bit natural and he painted these here." The murals Whiteley painted - birthing figures appropriated from Indigenous bark art from the Northern Territory - have lasted 50 years. Despite lichen replacing some of the acrylics he used, the paintings should last a long time yet. But the concern among the women I'm with - Aleshia Lonsdale from the Mudgee Aboriginal Land Council, Phyllis Setchell, Rosemary Hadaway, and Dr Imrie from the Mudgee District Environment Group - is that without their efforts, The Drip, the surrounding bushland, and the water table itself are in danger. "They've already got evidence their underground mining at the Ulan and Moolarben mines is having a drawdown effect on groundwater up to two kilometers away from the active face of the longwall," Dr Imrie says. Up until now, Phyllis says, mining has been far enough away that visible impacts on this stretch of The Goulburn River have been limited, although "the subtle impacts have been gradually increasing as it's come closer, and as the mining has become a larger enterprise than what it used to be I think the combined effect of the Ulan mine and the Moolarben mine on the river is obvious now." She says that river flows in times of extreme drought, particularly at the picnic area off the Ulan Road, are increasingly dependent on discharge from desalination plants at the nearby mine. Dr Imrie adds: "So even coming within 500 metres of here, you're going to have an impact on the on the groundwater that would normally make it to the river." The next stage of Moolarben's expansion will start in the next few years and will see underground mining brought within 500 metres of the stretch of river between the car-park and just west of The Drip. Yancoal, the Chinese company which owns the Moolarben mine, says all its plans have been rigorously assessed by relevant state and Commonwealth agencies, as well as the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel. Part of their planning approval includes a provision for "Nil Impacts" on The Drip itself. But Dr Imrie wonders how that can be ensured. The Drip relies on the surrounding water table and if that gets impacted, so will The Drip. She's also not convinced of the mine's modelling, telling me that predicting what will happen with groundwater is like throwing a fistful of confetti into the air and tracking a single piece. Save The Drip Campaign wants the whole area classified as National Park to create a protective buffer zone around the gorge. Currently some sections are State Conservation Areas. State Conservation only protects the surface and a short distance beneath it, while a National Park protects right to the centre of the earth. This distinction is particularly important when you consider the possibility of Yancoal putting tunnels underneath the State Conservation Area to facilitate mining on the north side of the Goulburn River, a possibility which these women fear could cause the cliffs to subside rendering the area too dangerous to visit. Yancoal says there is no application for, or approval to conduct mining underneath the Goulburn River in the area. We make it to The Drip. It hasn't rained much recently, but the tell-tale slap of water hitting the river as it slides down the sandstone cliff face fills the air. The Drip is safe for now, and that's thanks to the efforts of these women and others. But for them, the fight will continue. As will mining in the area, possibly for decades. But it won't go on forever, and Hugh Bateman - local businessman and philanthropist - is conscious of that fact. "I don't like it called a mining town at all. In fact, the mines have been incredibly good to Mudgee, incredibly good for employment, and incredibly good in putting back into the community," he says. Hugh says that mining in the area has a limited life-expectancy for two reasons: "because of the requirement of the Paris agreement and also the amount of coal that's out in the Ulan area. But I think that we have to be acutely aware of life after the mines." His vision for Mudgee going forward involves it becoming a diversified business and industry hub, benefitting from a potential reset of metropolitan priorities brought about by the COVID pandemic. "What we're seeing now is a lot of people are working from home and realising that they can do just as much in regional New South Wales as they can in Sydney. And of course, they've got a lovely big backyard instead of being locked up in a one or two-bedroom unit." In terms of The Drip's longevity, Hugh trusts that the mines know what they're doing and have the technology to make sure no damage is done to the area. I ask if there's a tension between the value of our natural heritage, and the economic benefits mining can bring. "I don't know if there's a tension. On the balance of money over heritage, personally, I think heritage comes first. But on the balance of things, I don't know if it'll ever get that far" Back at The Drip, I put that same question to Aleshia Lonsdale, chairperson of the Mudgee Aboriginal Land Council. "From our perspective, it shouldn't be the imbalance where the priority of economic benefits outweighs community benefits and cultural values. It's very skewed in favor of coal mining. What does it take to outweigh a coal mine? Because I haven't seen it. I'm 40 and I haven't seen that in my lifetime. So what does it actually take?" she says. On the surface The Drip is safe. The gorge itself is inside a national park, and the Aboriginal Land Council and National Parks and Wildlife are working hard to maintain the track and bush around it for all of us to enjoy. For the people who have fought to keep it safe, however, the threat of the mines still hangs heavy. Hugh is hoping for a bright future for Mudgee in a world less dependent on coal mining. And Julia, Phyllis, Aleisha and many others want to ensure The Drip is a part of that future. To find out more, listen to the latest episode of Voice of Real Australia on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/n6GkZFEkASmhbPu6QTBTrx/0fe9069a-189b-4888-9e9b-f9a31bd18131.jpg/r1_51_955_590_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
October 29 2020 - 1:00PM
The Campaign to Save The Drip Gorge in Mudgee has been running for years, but the women on the front line still aren't satisfied
Tom Melville
Some are concerned nearby mining could harm the iconic Drip Gorge. Photo supplied by the Mudgee District Environment Group.
Dr Julia Imrie has the demeanor of a school-teacher and a tour guide rolled into one. About halfway along the track from the car park to The Drip Gorge, she takes us off the path, through the scrub, and onto the sandy riverbed.
"Brett Whiteley came out here in the early 1970s looking for The Drip and was a bit of a showman. He was painting on canvases, then turned around, stripped off naked and decided he'd go a little bit natural and he painted these here."
The murals Whiteley painted - birthing figures appropriated from Indigenous bark art from the Northern Territory - have lasted 50 years. Despite lichen replacing some of the acrylics he used, the paintings should last a long time yet.
But the concern among the women I'm with - Aleshia Lonsdale from the Mudgee Aboriginal Land Council, Phyllis Setchell, Rosemary Hadaway, and Dr Imrie from the Mudgee District Environment Group - is that without their efforts, The Drip, the surrounding bushland, and the water table itself are in danger.
"They've already got evidence their underground mining at the Ulan and Moolarben mines is having a drawdown effect on groundwater up to two kilometers away from the active face of the longwall," Dr Imrie says.
Up until now, Phyllis says, mining has been far enough away that visible impacts on this stretch of The Goulburn River have been limited, although "the subtle impacts have been gradually increasing as it's come closer, and as the mining has become a larger enterprise than what it used to be I think the combined effect of the Ulan mine and the Moolarben mine on the river is obvious now."
She says that river flows in times of extreme drought, particularly at the picnic area off the Ulan Road, are increasingly dependent on discharge from desalination plants at the nearby mine. Dr Imrie adds: "So even coming within 500 metres of here, you're going to have an impact on the on the groundwater that would normally make it to the river."
"As the mining has become a larger enterprise than what it used to be I think the combined effect of the Ulan mine and the Moolarben mine on the river is obvious now." Photo supplied by the Mudgee District Environment Group.
The next stage of Moolarben's expansion will start in the next few years and will see underground mining brought within 500 metres of the stretch of river between the car-park and just west of The Drip. Yancoal, the Chinese company which owns the Moolarben mine, says all its plans have been rigorously assessed by relevant state and Commonwealth agencies, as well as the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel. Part of their planning approval includes a provision for "Nil Impacts" on The Drip itself.
But Dr Imrie wonders how that can be ensured. The Drip relies on the surrounding water table and if that gets impacted, so will The Drip. She's also not convinced of the mine's modelling, telling me that predicting what will happen with groundwater is like throwing a fistful of confetti into the air and tracking a single piece.
Save The Drip Campaign wants the whole area classified as National Park to create a protective buffer zone around the gorge. Currently some sections are State Conservation Areas. State Conservation only protects the surface and a short distance beneath it, while a National Park protects right to the centre of the earth.
This distinction is particularly important when you consider the possibility of Yancoal putting tunnels underneath the State Conservation Area to facilitate mining on the north side of the Goulburn River, a possibility which these women fear could cause the cliffs to subside rendering the area too dangerous to visit. Yancoal says there is no application for, or approval to conduct mining underneath the Goulburn River in the area.
We make it to The Drip. It hasn't rained much recently, but the tell-tale slap of water hitting the river as it slides down the sandstone cliff face fills the air. The Drip is safe for now, and that's thanks to the efforts of these women and others. But for them, the fight will continue.
"What does it take to outweigh a coal mine? Because I haven't seen it. I'm 40 and I haven't seen that in my lifetime." Photo supplied by the Mudgee District Environment Group.
As will mining in the area, possibly for decades. But it won't go on forever, and Hugh Bateman - local businessman and philanthropist - is conscious of that fact.
"I don't like it called a mining town at all. In fact, the mines have been incredibly good to Mudgee, incredibly good for employment, and incredibly good in putting back into the community," he says.
Hugh says that mining in the area has a limited life-expectancy for two reasons: "because of the requirement of the Paris agreement and also the amount of coal that's out in the Ulan area. But I think that we have to be acutely aware of life after the mines."
His vision for Mudgee going forward involves it becoming a diversified business and industry hub, benefitting from a potential reset of metropolitan priorities brought about by the COVID pandemic.
"What we're seeing now is a lot of people are working from home and realising that they can do just as much in regional New South Wales as they can in Sydney. And of course, they've got a lovely big backyard instead of being locked up in a one or two-bedroom unit."
In terms of The Drip's longevity, Hugh trusts that the mines know what they're doing and have the technology to make sure no damage is done to the area. I ask if there's a tension between the value of our natural heritage, and the economic benefits mining can bring.
"I don't know if there's a tension. On the balance of money over heritage, personally, I think heritage comes first. But on the balance of things, I don't know if it'll ever get that far"
Back at The Drip, I put that same question to Aleshia Lonsdale, chairperson of the Mudgee Aboriginal Land Council.
"From our perspective, it shouldn't be the imbalance where the priority of economic benefits outweighs community benefits and cultural values. It's very skewed in favor of coal mining. What does it take to outweigh a coal mine? Because I haven't seen it. I'm 40 and I haven't seen that in my lifetime. So what does it actually take?" she says.
On the surface The Drip is safe. The gorge itself is inside a national park, and the Aboriginal Land Council and National Parks and Wildlife are working hard to maintain the track and bush around it for all of us to enjoy. For the people who have fought to keep it safe, however, the threat of the mines still hangs heavy.
Hugh is hoping for a bright future for Mudgee in a world less dependent on coal mining. And Julia, Phyllis, Aleisha and many others want to ensure The Drip is a part of that future.
To find out more, listen to the latest episode of Voice of Real Australia on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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