pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 105
1.02M
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__wiki
| 0.80532
| 0.80532
|
Home » Americas » COVID-19: New variant discovered in UK reaches California
COVID-19: New variant discovered in UK reaches California
mediabest 12/31/2020 COVID-19discoverNEWvariant
The new highly infectious variant of COVID-19 first discovered in the UK has now been detected in southern California, according to the state’s governor.
Gavin Newsom declared that the more transmissible version of the coronavirus had reached the US western coast on Wednesday, a day after the first case was documented in Colorado.
Governor Newsom confirmed the finding at the start of an online discussion about the COVID-19 pandemic alongside Dr Anthony Fauci, one of the country’s leading experts.
Dr Fauci said he was “not surprised” that the new variant had been detected in America.
“I don’t think Californians should think that this is odd. It’s to be expected,” he said, before adding that he expected additional cases to surface in other states.
It follows the first variant case in the US being announced by Colorado Governor Jared Polis earlier this week.
Governor Polis said it affected a National Guard soldier in his 20s who had been assigned to help deal with a coronavirus outbreak at a nursing home in semi-rural area.
California’s governor did not give any details about whom the state’s case affected.
According to Dr Greg Armstrong, who directs genetic sequencing at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suspicious samples from the states of Massachusetts and Delaware are also being analysed.
Dr Armstrong said the CDC is working with a national lab that gets samples from around the country to broaden the search for the variant with its first results expected within days.
Scientists believe the variant, first discovered in the UK as a result of genomic sequencing, is 70% more contagious but not more severe in symptoms.
It has now been detected across Europe, as well as in Australia, Canada, India, and Japan, among other countries.
Although it is not expected to be any more resistant to vaccines, the increase in transmission means it could lead to a surge in patients in hospitals, potentially overwhelming healthcare services.
This is the case in the UK where there are rising numbers of people going into hospital with COVID-19, especially in the South East and London where the new variant is making up the majority of cases.
Previous Previous post: This New Year’s Eve, Times Square Will Be Filled With Hope. But Not People.
Next Next post: McDonald's warns of missing ingredients due to Brexit 'supply challenges'
Prince Harry heartbroken by rift with family, claims close friend
Prince Harry: Expert recalls ‘chilly scene’ with Prince William ITV news presenter Tom Bradby spoke about the tension within the household in an interview, and…
LONDON — All at once, the coronavirus seemed to change. For months, Dr. Steven Kemp, an infectious disease expert, had been scanning a global library…
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line301
|
__label__cc
| 0.579181
| 0.420819
|
Home » Print Edition » News Stories
On-site haircuts
By BizWest Staff — October 3, 2003
A basic system for supporting an organized, time-efficient life would surely include regular haircut appointments. It would eliminate the monthly task of trying to match free time with a stylist’s availability — a challenge that’s especially frustrating if you wake up one morning with hair that needed attention a week ago.
After more than 10 years in the hair industry, Vicki Nolting had consistently heard her clients say they meant to come in earlier, but their schedules conflicted with making the call. Not only did they have to set aside the time to get their hair cut, but also the time it took to get to the salon.
“People can get an oil change and their dry cleaning done at work; why not enable them to get their haircut at work as well?” she asked herself.
Hair on Wheels answered the question — a service company she launched in June 1999.
Nolting sells the concept of her mobile styling salon to corporations by pointing out the time and money they’ll save if they reduce the time commitment their employees make to keep their hair in shape.
“I tell them that the average time it takes is two hours — time to commute, time to wait and time to get back,” she said.
“It’s good for everyone,” she added. “Employees get their hair cut in about 15 minutes, employers save money and stylists are able to work optimum hours.”
She asks companies to provide a conference room for haircuts, and, within 20 minutes, she turns it into a salon. With a handful of large corporations as permanent clients, Nolting and her stylists cut about 1,400 heads of hair each month. The number of employees determines the schedule — she goes to some companies once a week and some once a month. Current customers include Maxtor, Level 3, Ball Aerospace and Storage Technology Corp.
“Maxtor even provides us with a permanent location,” Nolting said. “We have a logo on the door and leave permanent equipment there.” The space is rent-free.
Hair on Wheels charges $15 for haircuts and $5 for beard and bangs trims. Haircuts are the only service the company offers.
As the sole owner, Nolting invested about $50,000 in personal loans into starting her company. The money covered equipment — including mobile stations featuring back-to-back mirrors with countertops and hydraulic chairs — as well as three fully equipped vans.
Hair on Wheels maintains an online appointment book for each company it visits. Customers can set their appointments there, by phone or by just showing up during the hours Nolting maintains — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. She employs eight stylists, and sends two to each company. Customers can request specific stylists, and if appointments overflow the schedule, she sends an extra stylist.
“I have children, and employ women who can be with their family nights and weekends because of this schedule,” Nolting said. “Stylists generally have to work nights and weekends.
“Our customers appreciate the service because it frees up their nights and weekends as well.”
Nolting said Hair on Wheels is almost profitable.”We’re about ready to turn the corner. I’ve been able to cover our expenses and employ eight stylists so far, and I hope that when we add two new customers, we’ll be able to make a profit. I’d like to add two companies by the end of the year, and then the next year pick up four.”
Nolting’s marketing plan has been fairly modest to date. She doesn’t have to worry about competition. “As far as I know, we’re the only company that does this,” she said. So she relies on cold calls, referrals and knocking on doors to solicit new clients. In addition, she says, “Our logo on the vans is as big as possible, so we’re rolling billboards.
“My philosophy is to cut everyone’s hair — from the CEO to the janitor — and so far that’s happening.”
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line302
|
__label__cc
| 0.508891
| 0.491109
|
Renowned anthropologist speaks about Noble Savages
Napolean Chagnon spoke to a full house Tuesday in Monsanto Auditorium about his new book, Noble Savages. Chagnon joined MU’s Department of Anthropology as Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor’s Chair of Excellence in 2013. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, but is most known for contributions to his genealogical research, his contributions to evolutionary theory in cultural anthropology and his work in the study of warfare.
His new book is a retrospective look at his work as an anthropologist, where he most famously document the Amazonian Yanomamö tribe of Venezuela in the 1960s. His work caused controversy because it detailed a tribe violence within the tribe, an attribute at the time thought to be caused by the intrusion of modern societies on native people.
Read more about Chagnon and Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes—the Yanomamö and the Anthropologists from Mizzou Weekly.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line305
|
__label__wiki
| 0.683626
| 0.683626
|
Beyond the Vaccine
Lucas Woods from the Weisman lab watches lung cancer cells and oral epithelial cells grow. | photo by Lauren Hines, Bond LSC
By Lauren Hines | Bond LSC
Vaccine development remains a central goal to get the current COVID-19 pandemic under control. While vaccines are highly vital in the fight against the current pandemic, what if scientists could prevent the virus from entering cells altogether? Researchers at Bond Life Sciences Center are working to do just that and, so far, they’re the only ones at Mizzou on the case.
For the Gary Weisman lab, that starts with their study of a family of purinergic receptors which are found on the plasma membrane of cells. Molecules outside the cell bind to receptors and serve as signals to trigger an action, whether it’s transporting something into a cell, alerting its defenses or initiating programmed cell death. The specific receptors they study sound off one of the first alarms to alert host immune cells when a cell is damaged.
Weisman, Bond LSC principal investigator and Curators’ Distinguished Professor of biochemistry, noticed that the spike protein in the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, shares an amino acid sequence — arginylglycylaspartic acid or RGD — with one of the receptors his lab studies named, P2Y2.
“So, we had this one niche that no one I think has followed,” Weisman said. “Even though people understand RGD sequences are important for protein to protein interactions, and possibly viral entry, no one has looked at this with respect to coronaviruses.”
While ACE2, a plasma membrane receptor, serves as the primary cell-surface receptor for SARS-CoV-2 binding, a potential role for the RGD sequence in the spike protein is to bind to alternate receptors and subsequently enhance viral infectivity.
“We postulated that if there was a way to use our receptor, it might be to block the entry of the virus,” Weisman said. “The virus can’t replicate on its own. It has to get inside the cell to be replicated, so if we prevent the entry, we can potentially stop the infections.”
They found plasma membrane receptors like ACE2 and P2Y2 all share this sequence that binds to other cell-surface receptors called, integrins. The lab is currently exploring ways to block these pathways without blocking other functions.
Few other labs have made this connection because RGD is not known to be present on many of the membrane receptors. In addition, the Weisman lab already has the supplies and connections to study these receptors.
“We, as the lab, have been studying this receptor and this family of receptors for so long that if there is a lab that has the tools and the knowledge to answer this question, I definitely think that is us,” said Kevin Muñoz Forti, Ph.D. candidate for the department of biochemistry.
Kevin Muñoz Forti is doing cell culture work in “the hood,” which is a space used to prevent researchers and other outside factors from contaminating the cells. | photo by Lauren Hines, Bond LSC
The lab partners with Kamal Singh, assistant director of the Molecular Interactions Core at Mizzou and associate research professor in the department of veterinary pathobiology, who works with viruses in a way that won’t infect workers.
Singh achieves this by using look-alikes, or pseudovrises, of the spike protein on SARS-CoV-2. To the cell, this mimics the outer shell of SARS-CoV-2, but is not contagious.
Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expect a vaccine soon, this work is for the long run.
“I can guarantee you this isn’t the last coronavirus that will come up,” Singh said. “There will be many because it has been kind of periodic lately. Coronaviruses have been emerging, so the research done in collaboration with Gary’s lab will definitely be available for… future coronaviruses.”
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses which may cause respiratory illness in humans. The most recent diseases, before COVID-19, caused by previous coronaviruses were Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) from 2002 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) from 2012. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.
“This is the virus that causes COVID-19 or SARS-CoV2,” said Lucas Woods, Weisman research lab manager. “If this type of research were to have been investigated during the first coronavirus epidemic, there might have been some type of lead on the type of work we’re doing… so, absolutely this work will be useful after a vaccine or treatment is available.”
Looking ahead, the study has two years of funding from the American Lung Association in addition to grants from the National Institutes of Health. The Weisman lab hopes to eventually make it to clinical trials, but the road from basic research to clinical trials is long and arduous.
“What’s on our side, at least for the future, is that with some of these pathways we’re looking at, there are already available drugs that target these particular pathways,” Woods said.
These pathway-blocking drugs aren’t approved for humans yet, but this research could facilitate clinical scientists to test the safety of these or related drugs in humans.
The Weisman lab’s research of P2 receptors can be applied to many systems in the body and other diseases. This also allows for more ways to receive grants to fund studies longer. Along with the COVID-19 studies, they study P2 receptors in diseases that affect salivary glands.
Cheikh Seye, Mizzou professor of biochemistry, studies vascular diseases that relate to the receptors studied by the Weisman lab. Seye understands that one of the complications of COVID-19 in humans is vascular related.
“I mean there’s a lot of interaction between the vasculature and other systems, so it doesn’t stay with the salivary gland,” Seye said. “It’s all interconnected, so that’s why we need to have a multi-dimensional approach.”
In addition, the lab has found commonalities between oral and lung epithelial tissue that may contribute to COVID-19.
While this study has quite a bit of potential, it’s a long way away from seeing practical results.
“All the people in the lab have confidence because they have been successful on their own doing this before,” Weisman said. “So, it’s just another challenge, but we know how to get the answers, we have the tools and we’re optimistic that we’ll find out something.”
Researchers working on this study include Gary Weisman, Kamal Singh, Lucas Woods, Cheikh Seye, Jean Camden and Kevin Muñoz Forti.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line306
|
__label__cc
| 0.676357
| 0.323643
|
Tag Archives: I’n Not There
You should be listening to Mason Jennings!
Mason Jennings is a folksy, poppy, singer/songwriter who has the prose of a poet, the political bend of a protester, and the heart of a musician. He is renowned for his straightforward yet appealing melodies, intimate lyrics, and distinct vocal styling. These attributes are just a few of the many reasons that have earned him a sizeable fan base which allowed him to sell over 30,000 copies of his first two albums without the benefit of any major label PR.
Jennings produced his self-titled debut album in 1997 on an analog four-track in the basement of a rented home, completing all of the instrumentation himself. The album is raw yet familiar with an intimate sound due in large part to the above mentioned recording process.
His sophomore album Birds Flying Away is a lyrically darker departure from his debut with the focus on the sociopolitical aspects of the time. Century Springs finds him a little more upbeat and really showcases his songwriting talent. Use Your Voice is an intimate display of songwriting and warm folk sensibility with acoustic guitar, bass, drums, and the occasional harmonica.
His most recent release Blood of Man is Jennings first venture into the electric territory and like his debut, this album finds Jennings playing all the instruments.
Mason Jennings Discography:
Birds Flying Away
Living In the Moment (EP)
Century Springs
Bone Clouds
If You Ever Need a Reason (EP)
In The Ever
How Deep is the River
Blood of Man
Independent (EP)
Top 5 Mason Jennings Songs (In no particular order)
Be Here Now (Bone Clouds)
Fighter Girl (In the Ever)
The Light (Part 2) (Use Your Voice)
Big Sur (Mason Jennings)
Lonely Road (Blood of Man)
Jennings sang two Bob Dylan songs for the soundtrack of the movie “I’m Not There” He covered “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and “Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
Jennings is currently signed to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label and has released his last two albums on Brushfire.
Check out Mason Jennings at www.masonjennings.com.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DTiJHnF8tY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE8nJjogJZc
Mason Jennings’s music is available at iTunes, stores, and www.masonjennings.com
Leave a comment | tags: Be Here Now, Big Sur, Birds Flying Away, Blood of Man, Bob Dylan, Bone Clouds, Brushfire Records, Century Springs, Fighter Girl, How Deep is the River, I'n Not There, If You Ever Need a Reason, In the Ever, Independent, Jack Johnson, Living in the Moment, Lonely Road, Lonsome Death of Hattie Carroll, Mason Jennings, Music you should be listening to!, The Light Part 2, The Times They Are a-Changin, Use Your Voice, www.masonjennings.com | posted in Folk Music, Indie Music, Music, Pop Music, Rock Music
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line309
|
__label__wiki
| 0.868562
| 0.868562
|
Rob Gronkowski on Whether or Not He'll Return to the NFL
Rob Gronkowski Tears Up When Discussing NFL Exit: 'I Wasn't in a Good Place'
Sean Abrams
Rob Gronkowski couldn't help but get emotional during a press conference in New York where he discussed the next chapter of his life.
When asked if the former New England Patriots tight end would ever come out of retirement, Gronk used the opportunity to explain himself.
"I want to be clear to my fans ... I needed to recover," he says. "I wasn't in a good place. Pro football was bringing me down. I was losing that joy in life. I was fighting through it, and I knew what I signed up for, but I just had to fix myself."
RELATED: Former Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski Partnering with CBD Company
While he says those 9 years on and off the field have only brought him to this point now, noting how "satisfied" he is with life thus far, Gronk says he needed to leave the game in order to do what was best for himself at that moment.
"I needed to be selfish for once in my life," he says.
As for whether or not #87 will play again, don't get your hopes up. While Gronk doesn't shut down the idea entirely, it's clear that returning to the field won't be happening anytime soon.
"If I have the desire to play football again, if I feel passionate about football again, I will go back to football," he says. "But as of right now, that is not the case. It could be the case in 6 months, in 2 years or it could be the case in 3 months, but I don't see it in the foreseeable future. I want to do a different chapter of my life right now."
That chapter is a partnership with Abacus Health, makers of a line of products called CBDMEDIC. As Gronk recovers from the mental and physical pain he experienced while being a professional athlete, he hopes the work he does with the CBD-focused brand will help others with active lifestyles stay on track.
And although he won't be breaking more NFL records, Gronk is keen on reminding everyone that although he retired from football, he didn't "retire from life."
In other words, he's not going anywhere.
How to Use CBD in Your Daily Routine
Best CBD Skin Care Products for Men
How to Recover After a Tough Workout
Trending News: The Lawsuit Over Concussed Players That Could Cost The NFL $1 Billion
Trending News: After Another Bad Injury, Is RG3 Done For Good?
Missing Sports? Cheer Up With Free NBA, NFL and MLB Games Now Streaming
These 5 Words from Patrick Mahomes Saved the Chiefs' Season
Netflix Drops Chilling Teaser for Aaron Hernandez Murder Doc
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line311
|
__label__cc
| 0.627385
| 0.372615
|
Tag: Guardia Civil
This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Week 34: 5 – 12 March 1937
Published on March 5, 2017 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment
The Nationalists, fuelled with Spanish, Moorish and Italian soldiers, are preparing to attack Guadalajara, 60 kilometres north-east of Madrid. After all the failed attempts to take Madrid, and the collapse of battle at nearby Jarama, the Nationalists are keen to engage again. The Italians, fresh from taking Málaga, are ready to fight. The Nationalists have gathered 35,000 men, hundreds of artillery supplies over 100 tankettes, 32 armoured cars, 3,600 vehicles and 60 planes. Much of the tank, car and plane equipment comes from the Italians, as Mussolini strongly supports the offensive.
The Republicans are the 12th division of the Republican army with only 10,000 men, but only 5,900 rifles, 85 machine guns and 15 artillery pieces. They do have a few light tanks on their side. Guadalajara, until now has been peaceful, so no trenches, road blocks or defensive have been set up, but the Republicans know (assume), a Nationalist attack from the south is imminent. Meanwhile, the Nationalists are preparing to attack the 25 kilometre stretch of the Guadalajara-Alcalá de Henares road, south of Guadalajara, which will cut off the main road, and five other roads which stem from the area.
The Nationalists attack the front lines at Guadalajara at 7am with both air raids from 70 planes and artillery fire. They break the front lines within half an hour. The 50th Republican Brigade are broken by a barrage of 250 tankettes, extensive artillery, machine guns and trucks and heavy fire. The Italians take the towns of Alaminos, Catejon and Mirabueno on the first day. They capture 12 kilometres of ground, only slowed by heavy late winter fog, not yet at their planned locations of Brihuega and Guadalajara. They have taken the hills, and have a straight downhill roll towards Madrid, and the Republicans are overwhelmed and call for extra men and tanks.
Nationalist machine-gunners in Guadalajara
Italian tankettes with flame throwers continue the advance to Guadalajara, but the fog has not lifted, making visibility almost zero. The weather allows the surviving 5oth Republican Brigade members to escape the advancing Italians. By midday, the XI International Brigades arrives at the front – the Thaelamnn, André and Commune de Paris Brigades, all German, French and Balkans volunteers. But the Nationalists are using the Blitzkrieg technique of bombarding the enemy with short, sharp attacks on multiple fronts, which means the enemy slowly becomes surrounded. The Republicans have neither the manpower or firepower to fight this technique. By nightfall, the Nationalists have captured another 18 kilometres and the towns of Almadrones, Masegoso and Cogollor. The Nationalists are now outside the town of strategic Brihuega.
More Republican reinforcements start to arrive, with the arrivals of the Republican 49th and 12th Divisions. Between them and the XI International Brigades, they have 1850 men, 1600 rifles, five tanks and 34 machine guns. War hero General Lister arrives with the Republican 11th division at Torija, on the Madrid-Zaragoza road between the front and Guadalajara. He also places the 12th division to the west and 14th to the east of this main road to take on the Nationalists the next day.
Nationalist CV33 flame-thrower tankettes
The Republican forces have grown – 4350 men and 26 tanks when the XII International Brigades arrive – the Italian Garibaldi and the Polish Dabrowski battalions. The Nationalists start the day by bombarding the XI International Brigades on the ground and by air. They have no luck breaking the IB’s, despite having 26,000 men on the ground, 900 machine guns and 130 tankettes. They do capture the towns of Brihuega and Miralrio without any trouble.
Both the XI and XII International Brigades are bombarded by the Nationalists all day. The Italian Garibaldi battalion come up against Italian Nationalists at Torija, and the IB’s try to get their countrymen to defect away from the fascists. The fight stops for the day as both sides dig in, three kilometres north of Torija, and defend themselves as leaflet drops and loudspeakers try to convince Italians not to kill one another.
Republican General Lacalle of the 12th division is forced to resign and Nino Nanetti of the Italian Communists takes over. He cites health (possibly injury) reasons, but he has been clashing with General Jurado, which has been weakening the already overwhelmed Republican strength.
The Italian Nationalists attack the XI and XII International Brigades again outside Torija and break through, taking the town and main road as the IB’s have to retreat to survive. The Spanish Soria division break through and take both the towns of Hita and Torre del Burgo to the west. Italian planes are halted due to the bad weather, the sleet and fog jamming their planes in soaking airports.
Republican T26 tank
The Republicans are finally in a position to launch an offensive. A midday offensive sees 100 Soviet Rata and Chato fighter planes launched along with two squadrons of larger Katiuska bombers, which have arrived from Albacete. The Italian Nationalists have had their planes grounded due to the fog and sleet water-logging their aircraft. Albacete is 260 kilometres south and has not suffered weather troubles.
As the planes bomb the Nationalists, the Republican divisions are able to attack on the ground with light tanks. Nationalist tankettes get jammed in the mud and are destroyed, easy targets. The Republicans fight back all through the day and forced the Nationalists back to Trijueque, seven kilometres north of Torija. The Nationalists will never regain this ground, and most of the Nationalist XI Gruppo de Banderas are killed, including their commander.
Franco had promised to start a western offensive from Jarama, launching Spanish Nationalists to support the Italians, but this offensive has not appeared. This is allowing the Republicans to have a little breathing space as they fight. The stalemate and killing at Jarama is one possible reason for the lack of support, but another is Franco’s lack of enthusiasm. It is critical in how to battle will play out. Propaganda is also beginning, with the Spanish not pleased that the Italians are launching attacks in Spain, and the Republicans, calling the International Brigades all Jews and Communists (that’s a quote from Germans in Spain, not my opinion), could beat Italians. There is still another 11 days of this battle to play out, but both military and propaganda moves are being created and setting precedents, and numbers are swelling, with the Nationalists about to peak at 50,000 men and the Republicans at 20,000.
Republicans with a captured tankette
This is not a detailed analysis, just a highlight (lowlight?) of the week’s events. Things get lost in translation – Feel free to suggest an addition/clarification/correction below. The more the world remembers, the better. All photos and captions are auto-linked to source for credit, and to provide further information.
Gallery•Categories This Week in Spanish Civil War History, Writing Blog•Tags Alaminos, Brihuega, Catejon, Franco, Gruppo de Banderas, Guardia Civil, ITALIANS, Jarama, Mirabueno, Miralrio, Nationalists, Republicans, Second Spanish Republic, SORIA, Spain, TORJIA, Trijueque, XI INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES, XII INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES
This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Week 6: 22 – 28 August 1936
Published on August 22, 2016 January 22, 2017 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment
Week 6: 22 – 28 August 1936
With Republicans constantly attacking with multiple militias in different areas with different affiliations, the number fighting on their side is still unconfirmed. They have around 90,000 in total, with 33,000 paramilitary, and 7,000 officers, 22 generals and their 50,000 soldiers. Meanwhile, the Nationalists have around 130,000 men – 40,000 soldiers including the Moors from Morocco accompanying 50,000 metro army and Guardia Civil. They are commanded with 17 generals and 10,000 officers. They have 60% of all Guardia Civil guards and only 40% of the assault guards, meaning the Nationalists have far superior trained men, a situation making itself clear in fighting all over the country.
Italy and Germany join the Non-Intervention agreement officially, which means they can be part of the official blockade of arms and equipment into Spain, and to the Republicans. But because both the Germans an Italians have warships in Spanish waters, they can prevent anyone else from entering Spain and helping the Republicans, while the Nationalist still have them as allies.
The Catholic Church and the Pope are behind the Nationalist cause, despite their brutal killing. With the Republicans burning churches and killing priests (many priests are ‘second sons’ of wealthy families in their area, making them even more of a target), they are being cited by international media as barbarians. The unsubstantiated claims of nuns being raped has circulated to vilify the Republicans cause, though nothing was ever proven. Meanwhile, Nationalist troops are told via radio announcements that raping women is a perk or bonus and it should be done as often as the chance arises. The soldiers have not needed any encouragement.
The fifth regiment, based out of Madrid, is now at about 6,000 men. Set up by the Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias (MAOC), the regiment is the only one that is well organised and running efficiently, with the Communist leaders well trained. The fifth regiment is open to people other than Communists and is gaining popularity in Madrid fast, after beating back the Nationalist north of Madrid city earlier in the month.
This is not a detailed analysis, just a highlight (lowlight?) of the week’s events. Feel free to suggest an addition/clarification/correction below. All photos are linked to source for credit
Gallery•Categories AUGUST 1936, This Week in Spanish Civil War History•Tags 1984 and the Spanish Civil War, Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias (MAOC), Catholic Church, fifth regiment, Guardia Civil, Madrid, Nationalists, Republicans, Spain
SPAIN BOOK REVIEW: January – ‘The Exile’ by Mark Oldfield
Published on January 19, 2016 July 21, 2016 by Caroline Angus
1954: Comandante Guzmán is out of favour and in exile. Franco’s one-time favourite secret policeman has been posted to the Basque country, a desolate backwater – in his eyes – of simmering nationalism, unlikely alliances and ancient vendettas.
Guzmán was last here during the war, at the head of a platoon of bloodthirsty Moorish irregulars. Personally, he’d rather forget all that – but up in the hills, he’ll find that he hasn’t been forgotten at all.
2010, Madrid: Forensic Investigator Ana María Galindez has been sent to the Basque country where, sealed in the cellar of a ruined building are three skeletons, each bound to a chair, each savagely hacked to death. In the debris surrounding them, a scimitar, stamped with a name: Capitán Leopoldo Guzmán.
Guzmán is the key that will unlock Spain’s darkest secrets. Guzmán’s name, she’ll discover, is a death sentence.
cover art and blurb via amazon.co.uk
Here we are at last: The sequel to Mark Oldfield’s The Sentinel. If you are new, the Vengeance of Memory trilogy is based around Guzmán in the 1950’s, and Ana María Galindez in present day, with a few 1930’s war-time chapters for added plot twists. Sounds tricky? Keep up.
The Exile takes a slight leap forward from the end of The Sentinel which (potential spoilers ahead), left Ana María in a messy state, and Guzmán surrounded by dead bodies. In 2010, Ana María is reinstated in the Guardia Civil, to continue her work as a forensic investigator. Off to the Basque country in northern Spain, she has to examine a scene of a multiple slasher-type killing spree from the 1930’s. The murder weapon is found – and it’s Guzmán’s. Ana María finally feels as if she is getting close to the man. But the bones are quickly forgotten when Ana María is put in charge of an investigation into the stolen babies of the Franco era, which started during the civil war and outlived Franco until around 1991. All the while, she is still suffering from past injuries thanks to Guzmán’s chamber of secrets and not at all over the murder of her father by Basque terrorists, something her memory has blacked out. Ana María believes in science, and with her new assistant Isabel, they come up with statistics – not only were a large majority of babies stolen from private clinics, most of the parents who complained were then killed. When a mother claiming to have had a daughter stolen at birth winds up dead, Ana María finds this old and vicious crime is still going on. The corruption and cover-ups run deep, and has the ability to kill anyone who pokes into fascist business.
Meanwhile, Guzmán is tramping around the wilderness of the Basque country in 1954, with his sidekick Ochoa. Guzmán has freshly killed a terrorist cell, but more remain at large. El Lobo (The Wolf), a mysterious bandit is riding through the forests, killing people and robbing banks. Guzmán has to kill him in order to go home to Madrid. Flashback chapters to 1937 show Guzmán and Ochoa have been north before – and straight away, faces in the small town are very familiar. Everyone wants to be Basque, speak Basque, but it is illegal. No one can be trusted and traitors lurk everywhere. Guzmán has full powers over everyone. With insane killers in power in the region and running loose in the forest, Guzmán needs to fight for his career and his life if he is see through all the murders, terrorists, special informants, inept Guardia Civil men, stupid-hat wearing French smugglers, and traitors on both sides of the political divide. He meets Magdalena Torres, beautiful daughter of a general, and while she seems perfect for Guzmán, with lives on the line and missions to complete, literally no one is who they seem.
I have waited three years to read The Exile after the release of The Sentinel. The format, chapters alternating timelines is the same as I have written, as is the stolen babies of the Franco-era storyline, along with Brigada Especial men like Guzmán. I have finished my series and it is fun to see someone else taking the ideas down a very different path. There is only one side to Guzmán – perverse and savage. Whether he is thinking, talking or acting, he is cruel. He hates everyone, especially himself. So when he is taking a dinner break rather than murdering or intimidating, he hooks up with Magdalena, who is ready to jump into bed with this emotionless man. She too is cold and emotionless. The spark between them doesn’t exist, they instead gravitate toward one another, similar beings in a land of haters. Every speaking male character in this book (almost the entire cast) are perverts. They look every woman up and down with sexual ideas. Women are kept in cells, raped and tortured. Every woman is a whore. A general holds parties where local girls, keen to avoid jail time (for invisible crimes) attend parties naked, there for gratification, to be raped, tortured and/or murdered. One is there purely to be placed naked on a garrotte machine. Women as entertainment for the depraved and over-empowered. Guzmán spends little time on anything except thinking or discussing murder or what’s under a woman’s clothing. I kept telling myself that women where treated poorly under Franco and that was part of the story, but still, the level of violence to women is explosive. Women are only good for two things in Guzmán’s world. Sex and death. One character, a young Basque woman Nieves, someone Guzmán should respect, is still watched naked, and exists for gratification, for torture, beatings, sexual assault by the whole damn world. The constant leering by every male character at every woman is truly evil. Men are in power; women are only whores. There is no other way.
In the 2010 storyline, things are no better. Ana María, a lesbian (which is not made a big deal of in this book, covered in the first installment) is leered at by men everywhere she goes. Every step and a man seemed to be leering or making a sexual innuendo. Ana María attacks a man early on; she shouldn’t be popping painkillers (addiction in disguise), she should be in therapy and on antidepressants. The crime scene early on in the book gets forgotten as the stolen babies take priority, and it takes a long time for her storyline to run parallel with Guzmán’s – almost the end of the book, but it all makes sense over time. One thing Ana María is – BADASS! Going for babysitting and ending up in a gun battle is no problem for fearless Ana María. Her storyline suggests baby stealing continued well into the 1990’s and parents were murdered; let’s hope that part never turns out to be true!
The storylines move nice and quick – accidentally skip a paragraph in 1954 and Guzmán’s body count has risen or another person has turned traitor. In 2010, in a matter of 2-3 pages, Isabel is introduced, decides to be author, Ana María agrees to work with her, and both are hired by the government. Fast work for life-changing decisions I thought. People with little in common come together in brisk writing so the juicy details can emerge. There is a dam-full amount of juicyness, too. The first 200 pages set the scene, Guzmán being the book’s leader. After that, both 1954 and 2010 battle for supremacy. Guzmán’s end turned out just as I expected, but the twists and turns of Magdalena, Nieves and Bogeña left me feeling flat. In 2010, poor Ana María gets insanely accused, threatening her entire life, stumbles upon an old film reel laden with coincidence (and I mean insane levels) and yet, in the final sentences, ends as I expected – and (almost) hoped for (I had imagined her at least wearing undergarments and/or pants).
I would recommend this book to anyone. There is no detail on Spain’s situation in either periods, the book jumps straight in and readers get pulled along. Reading the first book would definitely be an advantage. I re-read it before picking up The Exile. The violence against women, the leering and innuendo, and the sexually frustrated losers of the book are hard to stomach, yet with all that, the twisting plot, the traitors and unlikable characters like Guzmán and Ana María, the author has produced a hell of a novel. While I liked The Sentinel, The Exile is so much better again, worth the wait for sure.
One tip – Don’t get attached to anyone (that’s easy, everyone’s horrible), because the body count is so high, the Game of Thrones writers should take notes. No one is safe. How the third book winds all the dangling storylines together will be a treat to read. I really don’t know how I want the series to end.
Read my review of the first installment – The Sentinel by Mark Oldfield
Categories 2016 SPAIN BOOK REVIEWS, CAB - Book Review•Tags Ana María Galindez, Basque, book review, Brigada Especial, Franco, Guardia Civil, Guzmán, Murder, Spain, Stolen babies
A LITTLE JAUNT TO SPAIN – REVIEW PART 7: Valle de los Caídos: A trip to Franco’s tomb to see a divided Spain
Published on June 28, 2013 July 22, 2013 by Caroline Angus5 Comments
You know how Germans dress in their best every Sunday and go to leave flowers and prayers at Hitler’s grave? Oh wait, they don’t, they opened up about their past, dealt with their issues and moved on as a people decades ago. So why are Spaniards having family picnics near the tomb of fascist dictator Francisco Franco? I packed my best possible neutral opinion and set off into the Madrid forests to find out.
“The moment you move the soil over shallow graves, the agony of Spain will pour out, like fresh blood from a wound. All that pain and hatred is covered by a thin layer. Don’t stir up something you can’t understand” – Blood in the Valencian Soil
I’m no ignorant tourist. I’m aware of the tensions that surround El Valle de los Caídos, the Valley of the Fallen. Some say it shouldn’t be open at all, and for a time when the PSOE was in power, it was closed to the public. It was one of the few places on my trip where I was the only foreigner, trying to quietly pass between families of all ages inside a macabre and eerie Basilica inside a mountain.
What is Valle de los Caídos? It is a giant memorial to those killed in the Spanish Civil War, but ended up as a monument to only the Nationalist side, headed by ultra-conservative war winner Franco, who is buried there. Even the history surrounding the place is murky. ‘Official’ records say it was built by approximately 2,600 workers, and a handful of them were Republican (left-wing anti-Franco) prisoners. (Long story short, Republican prisoners were basically anyone the new dictatorship didn’t like. Proof that ever committed any crime, against the public or the State was tough to find, unless being a Republican soldier counts as a crime, and it was back then). It was commissioned in 1940 and finished in 1959, but a more accurate report was of 20,000 Republican prisoners taking part, and the number killed in the process is unknown, some say dozens. You can get an idea of how touchy this subject really is.
Franco inspects the site of Valle de los Caídos in 1940
Republican prisoners building the cross
Remains of soldier killed in Toledo arrive to be reburied in 1959
Watching the opening of Valle de los Caídos in 1959
(click to enlarge the photos will launch an amazing slideshow of pics)
Franco created Valle de los Caidos in the Sierra de Guadarrama, the mountains outside Madrid city. Nearby is San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the once summer palace of the royal family (I visited, and the golden tomb is WELL worth the visit – for another post). The trouble is, Valle de los Caídos was filled with the bodies of killed men, Nationalist (Franco) soldiers and sympathisers. It was a civil war, Spaniard against Spaniard, but those who opposed the rebel army takeover of the Republic were simply forgotten. José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the fascist Falange party is buried there, and Franco was also placed inside a tomb under the basilica in 1975. The exact number of bodies laid to rest inside Valle de los Caídos is unknown, and could be anywhere from 30-35,000. In the last 10 to 15 years, a large number of Republican families and organisations have found the strength and courage to dig up their relatives who were murdered and thrown in mass graves around Spain. However, some have been removed from these graves and placed in Valle de los Caídos without family permission, which only serves to give this place an even more heartbreaking feel.
View while driving up the mountain
Political views aside, the sight of this location is incredible on its own. You can see it while driving along the motorway, sticking out of the otherwise peaceful mountains the surround the north side of the Madrid province. We went through an innocuous gate off the main road to El Escorial and made our way several kilometers up the mountainside on a bright and beautiful Sunday morning. You constantly catch glimpses of the behemoth through the trees, but until you are standing below the enormous cross built on the hillside (152 metres, the worlds’ tallest), you cannot grasp the size and scope of the this place.
The carpark was filled with cars and buses, and I suspected I was about to turn into another touristed location. Not so! Once at the arch doors to the entrance, the only people in sight were the Guardia Civil. The place itself is situated in a beautiful location and the quality of work done is exquisite. The place could have been built as a place to honour those lost in the war and the healing of a great nation. But given that the crypt is a basilica, and that the church oppressed the Spanish population and the Republican (or left-wing if you prefer) side didn’t support the church, there was never the possibility that the monument could honour both sides of the nation.
Entrance archway
View of the Sierra de Guadarrama
Statue over the entrance – The Pietá
I stepped inside, sadly unsurprised that there is gift shop (After all, what child doesn’t want a gift of a colouring book and pencils from a crypt, or a fan with Franco’s grave printed on it?) I put my camera in my satchel, as photos were forbidden, but I had my iPhone in my pocket, just in case. Then I entered the nave.
Ceiling over the altar
From the moment you go inside, the overwhelming and solemn feel of the cold and dark place takes you over. Giant gloomy and menacing angels brandishing swords bear down on you. The nave is filled with masterpieces of religious painting and tapestries. The attention to detail is second to none. I paused to take in them and the angel statues, but the foreboding sense of the place had already sunk into my bones. Mass was finishing up as I arrived at the altar, and I sat down quietly to listen to children sing in the choir. Children were singing in this place that spoke of death.
Altar angel
Mass ended and the faithful began to wander around the altar, me included. The first thing I noticed was not the menacing angels, or the elaborate golden Jesus, but the grave of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, which someone had left flowers. Now, can I judge those who come here? No, I can’t. I don’t know why they come. Perhaps their loves ones were buried here, as Nationalist believers to the Franco cause. It was a civil war and everyone lost one way or another. Can I, or anyone, look down on these people for coming to pray? No. Whether it’s for a loved one, to feel closer to the history of Spain, or even if they supported Franco, that’s their decision. But what about the people who came to leave flowers on the grave of the founding father of Spain’s fascist party? What was the motivation there? A grieving loved one, or someone with old evil ideas that haven’t been forgotten? It was shiver up the spine stuff.
As priests wandered about and nodded hello, I found what I had (kind of) came for – the tomb of Franco placed on the opposite side of the altar below the semi-circle of wooden stalls made for the monks and the choir. There lay flowers on the grave, and this time I saw no reason why anyone would place them there. There are many reasons why people continue to support Franco (and it’s a discussion too long for this post) and I don’t see the merit in any of them. Just to the right lay more floral tributes – dozens to be precise, which had been placed to one side presumably because of the sheer volume. A few people were taking photographs, under the watch of a guard. These people had laid the flowers and wanted to capture the moment, no mistaking their alliances in this case. I asked if I could also take a photo with these people and got permission. Why take it? I don’t know, it’s like watching a car crash, it’s awful but you can’t look away.
I was surprised by the state of the place. Perfection? No. Built into a mountain, they must fight their own war with damp, and you can see that in the granite stonework. Water seeps in here and there, which only gave the place a more unearthly and morbid feel. After all, we were all underground, surrounded by graves…
To the left and right are small rooms, with rows of seats and monuments to Spain’s fallen. People lit candles and families laughed and chatted with priests. What says family day out more than this? I sat in the right room, the entombment, which featured an alabaster Jesus statue. I sat and looked at the wall. Caídos – Por Dios y Por España. Fallen – For God and For Spain. All of Spain? Many disagree. Republicans denounce this place, and many here on this random Sunday wore Falange symbols on their lapels.
Inside the chapel of the emtombment
I will admit it – I silently cried as I sat there, which drew the attention of a priest who thought I needed comfort, and the ‘comforting’ hands of old ladies on my shoulder. Me, the young Catholic attending Mass here? Oh boy, that couldn’t be more untrue.
I headed back through the place, fairly certain I wouldn’t ever be back. I stopped by the gift shop to buy a book on the place, in Spanish, about how the place has reconciled Spain. Hmm. I also grabbed an excellent copy of a collection of civil war photographs. The crypt trinkets and religious adornments could stay where they were. After all, who would wear a Valle de los Caídos t-shirt? Why would you, and for what purpose?
The shining moment came as I left the crypt and stepped out in the sunlight. There stood a group of men, all aged 70 or more, hailing a fascist salute at the cross above the entrance. It was well and truly time to leave.
Panoramic view from the main entrance after the fascist saluters said hello and went inside
If there is one thing, it’s that this place is full of emotion. Good emotions? Not all of them. No good ever came from a fascist salute, but it would be too simple to label everyone who visits there, whether they’re crying at Franco’s tomb or having a picnic outside in the sunshine. I am not a religious person and I am not going to tell Catholics how to pray to their God in that Basilica. The books I bought there, their glossy pages gloss over Spain’s history entirely – after all this time, the war and the subsequent dictatorship is not talked about like it should be. Spain shouldn’t have to hide its past. It has been 74 years since the end of the war and yet its presence still lives in Spanish life, whether people say so or not. In 2011, it was decided that moving Franco’s body would be a way of restoring Valle de los Caídos’ image and making it a truly impartial monument to Spain’s fallen, however as the crypt was elevated to Basilica status, the church can decide, and their opinions are not so easy changed.
Franco’s burial in 1975 I wonder who the crying guy is on the left (click to enlarge and view slideshow)
My personal opinion? The place is worth the visit, despite being a pain to get to if you don’t have a car. I travelled alone, and would I want to take my young family there? I’m honestly not sure. It’s not something you will find in the Spain brochures during your Ryanair flight to the beach in Benidorm or Malaga. But if you’re into Spain history, or have a personal or familial connection to the civil war (as have I) you really should visit. Just leave your camera behind and hush your opinions while you’re there. I know what side I stand on, and I took the bus back to Madrid, convinced more than ever of my opinions. But they remain mine. The other people there were very polite, and believe in what they love – that Spain was better under Franco. Nothing I stumble out in Spanish will make the slightest bit of difference. Check out this photo of a wedding over Franco’s tomb though, that was a surprise find. Just goes to show how divided this place can make people.
Photos by abc.es – protesters waved Republican flags and supporters gave out fascist salutes when Valle de los Caídos reopened. The salute seems to be pretty popular
Want to visit for yourself? – Valle de los Caídos website
Up next, Part 8 of A Little Jaunt to Spain…. Learning to be a tourist in Spain
Click here for past editions of A Little Jaunt to Spain – Spain 2013 in Review
All photos are author’s own, or linked to original sources
Categories A Little Jaunt to Spain series, Blood in the Valencian Soil, Spain, Spanish Civil War•Tags Basilica, Catholic, El Escorial, El Valle de los Caídos, Falange, Francisco Franco, Guardia Civil, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, left-wing, Madrid, Nationalist, Republican, right-wing, Sierra de Guadarrama, Spanish Civil War, Valley of the Fallen
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line317
|
__label__cc
| 0.674736
| 0.325264
|
April 1, 2012 by carolinefarrell/author and screenwriter
Intellectual Property and the first ruling of copyright law…
Hosted by the excellent Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, I attended an interesting talk recently on an aspect of the history of copyright law, which casts an intriguing light on when and where copyright originated from.
And so it goes, that one thousand years before Queen Anne passed a copyright law in 1707, a 6th century Irish saint, Colmcille, copied a book of psalms from a psalter written by Saint Finian. Intending to keep the copy, Colmcille was of the opinion that the words of God belonged to everyone and therefore, could not be traded.
Finian, believing the work to be his intellectual property, was not impressed and a dispute between the two men ensued, resulting in Colmcille taking his case to the then High King of Tara, Diarmuid.
The king decreed the first ruling on copyright law with the following judgement:
“To every cow, its little cow, that is its calf, and to every book its little book (copy). Because of that, Colmcille, the book you copied is Finian’s”.
The ruling resulted in Colmcille going to battle with King Diarmuid at Cooldruman, Sligo on the slopes of Benbulbin. Popularly known as The Battle of the Books, Colmcille triumphed, but decided not to assume the role of High-King as he was entitled to do.
Instead, he left Ireland as an exile to do penance for the numbers of men killed in the battle and in 563, he settled in Iona, off the coast of Scotland.
T’is Interesting!
The talk was presented by novelist and solicitor, Ronan Sheehan. In the 1970’s, Ronan was co-founder of the Irish Writers Co-op with such luminaries as Neil Jordan, Peter Sheridan and Dermot Healy. You can read his paper on Colmcille and the Irish Tradition here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49461019/Colmcille-and-the-Irish-Copyright-Tradition
The image reproduced here is not the copyright of the author.
This entry was posted in On Writing, She blogs on... and tagged Cooldruman, Copyright law, High King of Tara, Intellectual Property, Ireland, Irish Copyright Law, Irish Writers Centre, King Diarmuid, Neil Jordan, Ronan Sheehan, Saint Colmcille, Saint Finian, Sligo, The Battle of the Books.
@Kittycathogan @JaneBabb @sineadgleeson I’m reading random and have missed some days, but sticking with it. Thanks… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 40 minutes ago
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line318
|
__label__wiki
| 0.817297
| 0.817297
|
About BCS
COVID-19 Advisory Section
Academic Elementary
Academic Junior High
Academic Senior High
Community Service Hours
About Brampton Christian School
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them”
Kennedy Road Tabernacle (“KRT”), affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (“PAOC”), had been serving the Brampton area since 1967, when its leadership team sensed the call of God to create the KRT Christian School ministry with a vision of establishing a strong, interdenominationally Christian presence in Brampton and Caledon for generations to come. Concurrently, KRT began the application process with the Ministry of Education to become an officially registered private school, and KRT Christian Schools was officially established in 1977 as a registered private board of education and school.
In 1977, under the direction of Pastor Ron Stevens, Mr. Mark Kennedy was installed as the founding Principal with eight teachers and 94 students in Grades JK to grade five. Classes began in the Sunday School classrooms and two portables at the Church, but the facility was quickly outgrown. In response to the incredible demand and burgeoning classrooms, Pastor Stevens and the KRT Church Board, in addition to a group of dedicated KRT students’ families, sacrificially committed to taking personal mortgages to buy the land upon which Brampton Christian School is situated today.
In the same year, KRT Christian School broke ground on the first phase of its development. It was completed in time for September, 1978. In that year, 265 students and 13 teachers under the leadership of Principal David J. Hardy, began a new chapter in the great story of KRT Christian Schools, whose story is still unfolding today as Brampton Christian School.
In 1982, Mr. Bob Boshart took the helm of the school and during his 26-year tenure, along with Vice-Principal Sharon Tannahill, stewarded the expansion of the school to provide accredited service up to Grade 12.
As God continued to bless the Brampton Christian School Ministry, Mr. Boshart facilitated the expansion of the original school to include a new high school facility in 1995, all the while judiciously saving to fund yet another expansion. Mr. Boshart's retirement in 2007 and Mrs. Tannahill's return to her first love— teaching art in the classroom—was accompanied by a strategic plan for further growth. Mr. Ralph Andrews was installed as Interim Principal, Mr. John Miller as the new Junior High Vice-Principal and Mr. Andy Cabral as the new High School Academy Vice-Principal. These three joined Mrs. Cathy Doggart, who had already been serving as the Elementary Vice-Principal since 1998, on the Administrative Team for the expansion project. With the support of Pastor Jamie Stewart and the active service of the KRT Board and School Management Team members, the massive $6 million high school addition was completed on time and under budget. In less than two years, this beautiful state-of-the-art high school was dedicated to the glory of God to house our growing school population, with the old high school becoming the new home of our Junior High division.
In August 2010, Mr. Alex Abdulnour succeeded Mr. Andrews as Principal of Brampton Christian School, bringing extensive experience in educational leadership from his years in administration at a Kindergarten school in China, in addition to his time as a teacher in the JH division at BCS. As a passionate visionary, Mr. Abdulnour led the school through a time of significant internal growth and during his four (4) years as Principal, the school’s infrastructure developed to include the Before and After School Club rams, and Kiss’ n’ Ride. In addition, BCS began to take on a notable role in the Association of Christian Schools International, hosting its yearly Eastern Canada Teacher Convention, Board and Administrator’s Conferences, as well as the World Concerns Conference.
With God’s continued grace, 2014 brought two significant changes to the BCS Admin team: Mr. Andy Cabral’s role at BCS was expanded as he succeeded Mr. Abdulnour as Principal and Mrs. Karen Davis exchanged the High School Guidance office for the Vice-Principal’s office, bringing years of strong school leadership experience to the position.
Brampton Christian School
12480 Hutchinson Farm Lane, Caledon, ON, L7C 2B6
Support BCS
No matter how you get involved, you’ll be makinga contribution that will change the world!
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line321
|
__label__wiki
| 0.877323
| 0.877323
|
The Separate Regimes DelusionNathan Thrall
Nathan Thrall on Israel’s apartheid
Last April , Haaretz ran a statement warning the Israeli government against formally annexing its settlements in the occupied West Bank. Opinion polls showed that the public didn’t care much about the issue, but political elites were debating it fiercely. Both proponents and opponents of annexation claimed that the future of Israel and Zionism was at stake. The statement argued that ‘annexation would mean a fatal blow to the possibility of peace and would be the establishment of an apartheid state.’ It was signed by 56 former members of the Knesset, among them former ministers of the interior, foreign affairs, finance and more than a dozen other departments, as well as former ambassadors, generals in the Israeli army, chairs of political parties, a head of the semi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel, a former speaker of the Knesset, and a winner of the Israel Prize. The signatories included not just members of Israeli left factions but two dozen from centrist and centre-left parties, and even a former justice minister, Meir Sheetrit, of the right-wing Likud Party.
The following week the two largest parties in the Knesset – Likud and the centrist Blue and White, which together commanded a parliamentary majority – signed an agreement to form a coalition government that could apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank no sooner than 1 July, after Israel and the United States had finalised annexation maps. These maps, detailed versions of the ones in Donald Trump’s ‘peace plan’, called for Israel to annex 30 per cent of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians a ‘state’ made up of several discontiguous cantons entirely surrounded by Israeli territory. The Trump plan also proposed rescinding the citizenship of around a quarter of a million Palestinian citizens of Israel by transferring ten Israeli towns to the jurisdiction of the future Palestinian state. By the end of the week, Israel’s Labor Party, the originator of the settlement enterprise, agreed to join the new government and vote in favour of annexation.
Much of the Israeli press misinterpreted the agreement between Likud and Blue and White. Reporters treated 1 July not as the earliest day that annexation could take place but as a deadline, creating a sense of urgency around the move. In the days after the coalition agreement was signed, liberal Zionist groups issued their battle cries. Their reasons for opposing annexation were telling. Concern for human rights was often secondary to the harm annexation might do to Israel. They warned that it would damage the perception of Israel as a democracy. They urged Israelis not to give impetus to campaigns promoting boycotts or the reduction of economic and military aid, and cautioned that annexation would only widen the divide between Israel and the Jewish diaspora. And they brandished the spectre most feared by the Zionist left: that Israel will eventually be forced to give citizenship to all Palestinians living under its control – there are nearly five million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, all without Israeli citizenship, and roughly 360,000 in annexed East Jerusalem, more than 90 per cent of whom have permanent residency but not citizenship or the right to vote in national elections – thereby ending Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, with all the privileges that entails for Jews. (In 2018, an Israeli army official reported that Palestinians outnumbered Jews in the territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean.) ‘Whether annexing one settlement or all of them,’ the liberal Zionist group Peace Now asserted, ‘such a move would constitute the foundation to an apartheid state. Annexation is bad for Israel.’ J Street, a Washington-based lobbying group aligned with the Democrats, stated: ‘As pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans, we believe that annexation would severely imperil Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people, along with the future of the US-Israel relationship.’
Many of the arguments against annexation conceded that the territory was already de facto annexed and would remain in Israel’s possession. Yair Lapid, the head of the opposition and chair of the centrist Yesh Atid party, contended that formal annexation wasn’t necessary because the largest area in question, the Jordan Valley, which makes up more than a quarter of the West Bank and ensures the full Israeli encirclement of the Palestinian population, ‘is now part of Israel. It’s not like somebody is threatening to take it away from us.’ Amos Gilad, until 2017 one of the most senior officials in the Ministry of Defence, said that Israel’s permanent control over the Jordan Valley would be better achieved by increasing Jewish settlement rather than a ‘purely declarative’ annexation: ‘The government could take measures to ensure that the Jordan Valley becomes home to tens of thousands of Israelis, and not just several thousand.’ The mainstream debate, then, was not whether but how to entrench Israel’s acquisition of West Bank territory.
Critics had trouble articulating a persuasive reason for Israel not to formalise an annexation that had, in practice, already taken place. A typically contorted attempt was a report published by Israel’s leading national security think tank, INSS, a centre-left institution that supports a two-state solution. The paper began by arguing that unilateral annexation was a terrible mistake. It concluded, however, that Israel should nevertheless proceed once annexation had won public support, which would come once the Palestinians rejected Trump’s peace plan. The danger of annexation, the INSS argued, was that it might
undermine [Israel’s] founding vision as a Jewish, democratic, secure and moral state that seeks peace with its neighbours. It is therefore recommended that the new government in Israel call on the Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table, with the Trump plan included in the terms of reference for negotiations. If the Palestinians continue to refuse to discuss the plan, then the government will be able to receive public support in Israel for steps toward unilateral separation from the Palestinians, including gradual annexation conducted in a way that ensures that Israel’s political, security, economic and social interests are met.
Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff of the army and current representative of Meretz, the most left-leaning Zionist party in Israel, said he would vote in favour of annexation ‘if the Israeli government declares that its supreme goal is to separate from the Palestinians’.
Palestinians were almost entirely absent from the debate on annexation. The questions of whether they would get a state, what territory and powers it would have, whether they would be granted citizenship, residency or some other status in the annexed territory, what rights they would or would not be given and which of them would be stripped of their Israeli citizenship were being decided solely by coalition negotiations between two Zionist parties. Yet even the fiercest critics of annexation – those who warned that it would turn Israel into an apartheid state – described Israel as a functioning democracy that was merely at risk of some day ceasing to be one. According to this logic, as long as Israel refrains from formalising annexation, it may indefinitely withhold civil rights from millions of Palestinians while offering every form of support to Israelis in the occupied territory: infrastructure for Israeli cities, towns and industrial zones in the West Bank; nature reserves; municipal buildings; police and fire stations; government schools and play areas; state medical facilities; cemeteries. As long as Israel declares that the absorption of the West Bank is temporary, it will continue to be considered a democracy. Israel will never become an apartheid state unless it declares itself to be one.
The premise that Israel is a democracy, maintained by Peace Now, Meretz, the editorial board of Haaretz and other critics of occupation, rests on the belief that one can separate the pre-1967 state from the rest of the territory under its control. A conceptual wall must be maintained between two regimes: (good) democratic Israel and its (bad) provisional occupation. This way of thinking is of a piece with the general liberal Zionist belief that it’s legitimate to condemn Israeli settlements – and even, for some, to boycott their products – but not to call for reducing support to the government that planned, established and maintains them. What seemed most troubling about annexation for these groups was that it would undermine their claims that the occupation is occurring somewhere outside the state and that it is temporary, a 53-year-long departure from what liberal Zionist groups like the New Israel Fund call Israel’s ‘liberal democratic founding values’.
It is not difficult to make the case that Israel’s actions in the West Bank amount to apartheid. Israelis and Palestinians in the same territory are subject to two different legal systems. They are tried in different courts, one military, one civilian, for the same crime committed on the same street. Jews in the West Bank, both Israeli citizens and non-citizens who are eligible as Jews to immigrate, enjoy most of the same rights and protections as Israelis in the rest of the country. Palestinians are subject to military rule and are denied freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement and even the right not to be detained indefinitely without trial. The discrimination is not just national – by Israelis against Palestinians who lack citizenship – but ethnic, by Jews against Palestinian subjects and citizens alike. While Jews in the West Bank, citizens or not, are tried in Israeli civil courts, Israeli citizens who are Palestinian can be sent to military courts. A 2014 report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the largest and oldest human rights group in the country, noted that ‘since the 1980s, all Israeli citizens brought to trial before the military courts were Arab citizens or residents of Israel … no judgment was found in which the request of an Arab citizen to transfer his case from a military court to a court in Israel was accepted.’
After the 1967 war, Israel applied military law to all of the occupied territories it didn’t formally annex. Israeli Jews who moved to government-planned settlements in the West Bank were placed under Israeli civil law, separating them from the legal regime governing the Palestinians on whose lands they resided. Israel couldn’t apply civil law to its citizens in the West Bank on a territorial basis without further and egregiously violating the international legal prohibition on annexation, so the Knesset amended its laws and regulations to apply to settlers as individuals, extra-territorially. In this way Israel extended to Jews in the West Bank most of the same rights as Israelis in the rest of the country regarding health insurance, national insurance, consumer protection, taxes (income, property and valued-added), higher education, entry to Israel, population registration, traffic ordinance and voting, making settlers the only Israeli citizens, aside from the small number stationed abroad, permitted to vote in a place of residence outside the official territory of the state. On election days, the Palestinians living alongside them are put under closure, further restricting their movement.
The application of Israeli law to settlers as individuals still left some gaps, particularly regarding land, building and planning. In order to close them, the Israeli military issued ordinances that distinguished the municipal areas of settlements – local councils and regional councils – from the rest of the occupied territory, so that Israel could use one set of regulations (copied and pasted from municipal legislation in pre-1967 Israel) to expand Jewish communities and another to constrict Palestinian ones. Over the past two decades, Israel has built tens of thousands of housing units for Israeli Jews in the West Bank while rejecting more than 96 per cent of Palestinian building applications and demolishing thousands of Palestinian homes. Of the public land that Israel has designated for any kind of use, 99.76 per cent went to Jewish settlements. Palestinians are forbidden from entering settlement areas except with special permits, usually given to day labourers. Similarly, in the so-called Seam Zone – the West Bank areas that were severed from the rest of the territory by Israel’s separation barrier – Palestinians can’t enter without permits, even to farm their own land, while the same area can be accessed freely by any tourist or ‘Israeli’, defined as a citizen, a permanent resident or a Jew entitled to immigrate to Israel.
The fact that some Israeli laws that apply to territory in the West Bank were introduced via military order – in most cases, by replicating Israeli legislation – has allowed Jewish organisations that consider themselves progressive to argue that there are two separate regimes in the area under Israel’s control: a military regime in the unannexed West Bank and a civil regime in annexed East Jerusalem and pre-1967 Israel. According to this theory, West Bank settlers and Palestinians are subjects of the same oppressive military administration, while Israeli citizens and residents in pre-1967 Israel and annexed East Jerusalem are governed by a democratic civil regime.
Neither Israeli settlers nor Palestinians experience life in the West Bank this way. In fact, the opposite is closer to the truth: it is not Israeli citizens in the West Bank and those within the pre-1967 lines who live under separate regimes, but Israeli settlers and the Palestinians living alongside them. Israelis from all over the country drive on major highways that cut in and out of the West Bank: no signs indicate that they have left Israel. New Jewish immigrants can move straight from London or Los Angeles to a West Bank settlement just as they would move to Tel Aviv, with the same financial benefits, language instruction and low-interest mortgages. Israelis living inside the pre-1967 lines work in settlement factories, study at a settlement university accredited by the Israeli Council of Higher Education, shop at settlement malls and visit national parks in the West Bank. The Israeli government is not separate from its institutions in the occupied territory. The Knesset has passed legislation applying specifically to the West Bank, and amended laws to apply specifically to Jews and Israeli citizens residing there. Israeli ministries spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on West Bank settlements and infrastructure. An executive branch ministerial committee approves the establishment of West Bank settlements. A legislative branch subcommittee is devoted to advancing their infrastructure and development. The state comptroller supervises government policy in the West Bank, overseeing everything from wastewater pollution to road safety. The attorney general enforces guidelines that direct the legislature to explain the applicability of every bill to the settlements. Israel’s High Court of Justice is the court of final appeal for all Israeli citizens and Palestinian subjects in the entire territory under Israel’s control. Officers of Israel’s national police force hand out traffic tickets to both Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank. Israel’s absorption of the West Bank is a joint undertaking of every branch of government – legislative, executive and judicial.
Whereas Israelis travel freely across Israel and its West Bank settlements, Palestinians within the occupied territory live under separate jurisdictions, requiring Israeli permits to cross from the unannexed parts of the West Bank to annexed Jerusalem, Gaza or the more than 30 per cent of the West Bank that is off limits to Palestinians: the Seam Zone, the jurisdictional areas of settlements, and so-called military training areas, more than three-quarters of which, the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot has found, are not actually used for military training but for such purposes as preventing Palestinian development and retaining Israeli control. A Palestinian in Ramallah ostensibly lives in one of the 165 Palestinian Authority-governed enclaves that together make up less than 40 per cent of the West Bank. But she, too, is subject to a single Israeli authority, not a separate West Bank regime. If she is a member of one of more than four hundred illegal organisations – the list is constantly expanding, and contains every major Palestinian political party, including Fatah – she can be arrested by Israeli forces in an autonomous Palestinian area, as happened in 2019 to the politician Khalida Jarrar, a high-ranking member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was taken by Israeli forces from her home near Ramallah at 3 a.m. Palestinian powers of autonomy are so limited that Israel controls all the roads leading in and out of PA-governed areas, invades homes within them every day and night and is permitted to enter even for reasons that have nothing to do with the security of Israeli citizens, such as arresting car thieves. Among those who make the arrests are members of Yamas and Yamam, two units of Israel’s national police.
The arrested Ramallah resident might be taken from her home to the Russian Compound in West Jerusalem and interrogated by members of the Israel Security Agency, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv but operates throughout the areas under Israel’s control. She could be held for six months without trial or charge, and her detention repeatedly extended, for another six months at a time, in perpetuity. If she is finally offered a trial, she might cross from the supposedly separate regime in West Jerusalem to the Ofer military court near Ramallah. Because almost everyone who appears before Israeli military courts is convicted, she would almost certainly go to prison. That prison would be one of 29 run by the Israel Prison Service, which operates across all Israeli-controlled territories. Without permits to visit prisons within the pre-1967 lines, her family would not be able to visit her. She might try to appeal against her conviction at the Israeli High Court but the odds are not good: the court has approved nearly every internationally prohibited policy Israel has carried out in the occupied territory, including deportations, assassinations, imprisonment without trial, demolitions, land confiscation, pillage of natural resources and collective punishments such as mass curfews, school closures and withholding electricity for an entire region. For her appeal, she might hire an Israeli human rights lawyer, who would argue her case against an attorney from the Ministry of Justice before a panel of High Court justices, two of whom live in the West Bank. According to the ‘separate regimes’ analysis, she and the two Israeli justices are not so different from one another. They are all subjects of a separate West Bank military regime.
The insistence on separate regimes derives from political rather than legal considerations. By asserting the existence of two regimes, liberal Zionist groups like J Street can tell donors, legislators and university students that they are ‘pro-Israel’, while criticising an occupation that allegedly exists somewhere beyond the state. But the attempt to separate Israel from the criticisms, and consequences, of its policies in the West Bank also leads to absurd and false assertions, such as J Street’s recent claim that ‘Israeli settlers’ are ‘demolishing [Palestinian] homes’. In fact, it is not ‘the settlers’ – one in ten Israeli Jews – but the government of Israel, which J Street supports, that destroys Palestinian homes in the West Bank. The government does so at the behest of elected ministers and legislators.
The fiction of separate regimes allows liberal Zionists to promote a politically correct two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, while avoiding the more equitable remedy demanded by the recognition that the Israeli state extends to all the land under its control. Such a remedy would require not only an end to occupation but also to ethnic discrimination throughout the territory. The Zionist left doesn’t call for Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel to have full equality within pre-1967 Israel. Instead, leading liberal Zionist organisations seek to ensure Israel remains a Jewish-majority state that can continue to provide to its Jewish citizens land and immigration rights that are denied to citizens from the indigenous Palestinian minority. The only way for the Zionist left to oppose ethnic domination in the West Bank while preserving ethnic privilege in pre-1967 Israel is to assert that there is an ‘apartheid regime’ in the West Bank separate from the Israeli state. For pre-1967 Israel to be part of an apartheid state would therefore require formal annexation of the West Bank, ‘amalgamating’ the two regimes. But this is a misunderstanding of the crime of apartheid as described in international law. Like torture, apartheid does not need to be applied uniformly or everywhere in a country to be criminal: in international law there is no such thing as an ‘apartheid regime’, just as there is no such thing as a ‘torture regime’. The word ‘regime’ doesn’t appear anywhere in the original 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. And, although the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court does use the word ‘regime’ in its definition (it was added to satisfy the US delegation, which was concerned about the possible prosecution of US citizens belonging to white supremacist groups), it was clearly not inserted to allow apartheid to be restricted to regions or units of a state.
Yet the notion that only formal annexation can turn Israel into an apartheid state has become intrinsic to left-wing Zionist ideology. In June last year, more than five hundred scholars of Jewish studies, many of them prominent supporters of Israel, such as the American Jewish philosopher Michael Walzer, signed a letter stating that ‘annexation of Palestinian territories will cement into place an anti-democratic system of separate and unequal law and systemic discrimination against the Palestinian population. Such discrimination on the basis of racial, ethnic, religious or national background is defined as “conditions of apartheid” and a “crime against humanity”.’
The same month, Zulat, a new think tank headed by the former chair of the liberal Zionist Meretz party, Zehava Gal-On, published a report entitled ‘Whitewashing Apartheid’. In a section on the consequences of de jure annexation it performed a whitewash of its own, arguing that apartheid in the West Bank is currently practised not by Israel but by a separate regime: ‘Even if we annex only one square metre, the state of Israel will be relinquishing its democratic pretensions and abandoning its 53-year declared intention to end the conflict, reach an agreed settlement with the Palestinians and cease ruling over them.’ Even annexation, however, ‘does not necessarily make Israel an apartheid state but rather preserves it as a state operating a regime with apartheid characteristics in the occupied territories’. By this standard, apartheid South Africa was a democracy – like all democracies, an imperfect one – operating a regime with apartheid characteristics in the townships and Bantustans. Those Bantustans, incidentally, had their own flags, anthems, civil servants, parliaments, elections and a limited degree of autonomy not unlike that of the Palestinian Authority.
Perhaps no organisation has promoted the idea of separate regimes more forcefully than Yesh Din, a human rights organisation that has conducted important legal advocacy on behalf of Palestinians subjected to settler violence, unlawful killing and destruction of property by Israeli security forces, Israeli land confiscation and Israeli restrictions on access to farmland. Last year, Yesh Din became the first Israeli organisation to publish a significant report accusing government officials of apartheid. At the same time, it is one of the staunchest defenders of the separate regimes theory. Yesh Din’s shifting, inconsistent answers to the question of at which point Israel would cease to be a democracy have been emblematic of the broader weaknesses in the separate regimes argument. The night Likud signed its coalition agreement with Blue and White, Yesh Din published a position paper on the potential impact of annexation. ‘The coming annexation,’ it concluded,
will pull the rug from under the argument, currently prevalent in many circles, that while apartheid, or at least an apartheid-like regime, is currently practised in the West Bank, the sovereign state of Israel is a democracy. Applying Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank would be tantamount to a declaration that there is one regime, rather than separate administrations. Annexation without full citizenship and equal rights for Palestinian residents of the annexed area would produce a veritable apartheid regime Israel would have difficulty denying. Such a regime would perpetuate human rights abuses against Palestinians, leaving them forever deprived of liberty and equality.
Israel could by this reasoning annex only the Jewish-inhabited areas of the West Bank, maintain its occupation of millions of Palestinians in the adjacent non-annexed areas, and remain democratic. Perhaps aware of the deficiencies of this argument, Yesh Din later amended the paper. The new version, issued without explanation or correction, stated that after annexation Israel would be an apartheid state unless it gave full and equal rights to Palestinians, not in ‘the annexed area’, as the original version had it, but in ‘the entire West Bank’.
This formulation still allows Israel to remain a democracy, at least in the eyes of Yesh Din and like-minded groups, even as it holds two million Palestinians in Gaza, the largest of its ethnic enclaves, without clean drinking water, functioning sewage, regular electricity or the right to enter and leave freely. Though Israel claims that it ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005, it still controls exports, imports, sea and airspace, and even the population registry, giving a unique ID number to all Palestinians in the territory, without which they may not exit, even across the border with Egypt. Conspicuously absent, too, from Yesh Din’s paper was any suggestion that Israel must grant full and equal rights to Palestinians in the areas formally annexed in 1967: East Jerusalem and 28 surrounding West Bank villages. Palestinian residents of these areas still do not have ‘full citizenship and equal rights’. Nor was any attempt made to explain why a partial West Bank annexation in 2020 would make Israel an apartheid state but the annexations of 1967 had not already done so.
In July , Yesh Din published a fifty-page legal opinion, written by the human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, which found Israeli officials guilty of apartheid, defined by the 1973 convention as ‘inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them’. Racial groups are recognised in international criminal law as social rather than biological: in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, invoked in the preamble of the 1973 Apartheid Convention, ‘racial discrimination’ is defined as ‘any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin’. Decades later, the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia held that the definition of a persecuted group was not a matter of heredity but stigmatisation and the subjective perceptions of the persecutors. International criminal law applies to individuals, not states, so it is not the Israeli government but its officials who could be prosecuted for committing apartheid. The human rights organisations B’Tselem and Adalah are the only major groups in Israel that have called on the ICC to launch an investigation into war crimes committed by Israeli officials. When B’Tselem’s executive director, Hagai El-Ad, spoke against the settlements at the UN Security Council in 2016, he was condemned by centrist and centre-left Israeli lawmakers. The coalition chairman from Likud threatened to strip him of his citizenship and a Labor Party activist filed a police complaint alleging he had committed treason.
Yesh Din’s legal opinion focused solely on whether apartheid is being committed, ‘not who is committing it’, and limited its scope to the unannexed areas of the West Bank (Yesh Din’s primary area of expertise), leaving out not only Gaza and Israel within its pre-1967 lines but also the lands annexed in 1967. This wasn’t because it was invalid to examine the subjugation of Palestinians in the entire territory under Israel’s control, Sfard claimed, but because it was still possible, despite ‘creeping legal annexation’, to look at the West Bank as governed by a separate ‘regime’ or at least a ‘subsidiary’ regime of Israel. One ‘difficulty’ in treating the West Bank as a separate regime, he acknowledged, is that part of the West Bank has already been formally annexed. The annexed area of East Jerusalem and its surrounding villages
shares many commonalities with the West Bank: its Palestinian residents are not Israeli citizens, and as such, do not vote and have no political representation. Additionally, Israel has implemented a number of policies in East Jerusalem that are analogous, and sometimes identical, to those it employs in the West Bank: massive colonisation through Israel-focused development, incentivising tens of thousands of Israeli citizens to settle in the area, mass expropriation and dispossession of Palestinian land and property, prevention of Palestinian development and diversion of resources to benefit Israelis who move to the city. All of these, and, chiefly, the unlawful annexation that must not be recognised, justify treating East Jerusalem and the West Bank as a single unit.
Yet Yesh Din’s legal opinion didn’t do so. Nor did it examine discriminatory policies within Israel, where tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens live in villages that Israel refuses to recognise or connect to water and electricity, and where hundreds of Jewish-only towns have admission committees that are permitted by law to reject Palestinians on the pretext of ‘social suitability’, thereby excluding applicants who haven’t served in the Israeli army, aren’t Zionist or don’t plan to send their children to Hebrew-language schools. Israel has seized more than three-quarters of the land of its Palestinian citizens. This expropriation is a continuous project, particularly in the Negev and Galilee, but most of it took place, as in the West Bank today, while Palestinians were under military rule. In the seven decades of Israel’s existence, there have been only six months, in 1966-67, when it did not place members of one ethnic group under military government while it confiscated their land. As the Israeli historian Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin has pointed out, ‘these six months, less than one per cent of Israel’s existence, are the point of reference for the whole discussion of Israel as a “Jewish democratic state”.’ And yet ‘the exception … becomes the rule, while the rule – the occupation – is presented as the exception.’
Apartheid couldn’t have been sustained for decades without many outside funders, protectors and co-conspirators. Foremost among them is the US, which has granted more than $110 billion to the occupying military force and spent hundreds of millions on upgrading the infrastructure of apartheid, refurbishing checkpoints and paving West Bank roads. The EU is the chief financier of the Palestinian autonomy cantons and a leading importer of settlement products. Together the US and its European allies have tirelessly attempted to stop the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court from holding Israel to account.
Even those who present themselves as champions of Palestinian freedom and human rights lend support to the status quo. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said of the Trump plan that ‘we recognise [its] merit’ and ‘it is maybe a starting point for negotiations.’ The office of the UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process regularly neglects the UN’s core mandates of protecting human rights and upholding international law, preferring to be a bit player in the US-led peace process. In October, after Israel advanced plans for nearly five thousand new houses in West Bank settlements, the outgoing UN envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, issued a typically bland statement, noting that most of the houses were in ‘outlying locations deep inside the occupied West Bank’ and that the ‘significant number and location of advancements is of great concern’ because they ‘undermine the prospect of achieving a viable two-state solution’. Is it the role of the UN envoy to distinguish between illegal settlements deep in the West Bank and illegal settlements closer to the pre-1967 lines? With the aid of the ‘peacemakers’, the definition of what constitutes ‘outlying’ pushes steadily eastward. The UN, like the US, Europe and liberal Zionist groups, has subordinated international law and human rights to the sanctification of a two-state solution, which it treats not as one possible means of achieving what should be the primary goal – ending the oppression of millions of people on the basis of their ethnicity – but as the goal itself.
Diplomats and well-meaning anti-occupation groups greet every new act of Israeli expansion with dire warnings that it will be a ‘fatal blow’ to the two-state solution, that ‘the window is closing’ for Palestinian statehood and that now, on the eve of this latest takeover, it is ‘five minutes to midnight’ for the prospect of peace. Countless alarms of this kind have been rung during the past two decades. Each was supposed to convince Israel, the US, Europe and the rest of the world of the need to stop or at least slow Israel’s de facto annexation. But they have had the opposite effect: demonstrating that it will always be five minutes to midnight. European and American policymakers, together with the liberal Zionist groups that lobby them, can thus maintain that the two-state solution isn’t dead but merely embattled – and, therefore, permanently ‘alive’. In the meantime, millions of Palestinians continue to be deprived of basic civil rights and subjected to military rule. With the exception of those six months in 1966-67, this has been the reality for the majority of Palestinians living under Israeli control for the entire history of the state. South Africa’s apartheid lasted 46 years. Israel’s is at 72, and counting.
Nathan Thrall is the Jerusalem-based author of The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine.
The Israelis were shooting from one direction, the Palestinians from the other: Life and Death in Palestine
Along the Divide: Israel’s Allies
More by Nathan Thrall
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line326
|
__label__cc
| 0.555248
| 0.444752
|
Want to Score a Job at Grab? Here Are 3 Tips to Get Hired
by Eugenia Liew on 17 October 2019
From the GrabCar decals and GrabFood riders on the road to the GrabPay wobblers at the cashier, Singapore is seeing bright green at every turn — and we’re not imagining it.
Grab is Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing company, and is literally what they call a “unicorn”, which is a tech start-up that’s valued at over $1 billion.
In less than 7 years, the company has expanded beyond their initial core business of ride-hailing, and broke into the food delivery, e-payments and FinTech space. They acquired their main competitor Uber Technologies (SEA) in Mar 2018, and secured US$4.5 billion of funding from investors like the SoftBank Vision Fund in their latest financing round.
With a growing team of over 3,000 employees in Singapore and 6,000 globally, Grab shows no signs of slowing down. According to a report by The Straits Times, they are aggressively expanding — opening up some 1,000 technology jobs across its research and development centres in the region.
TLDR; Grab is the hottest tech firm of the moment.
So what does it actually take to score a career at Grab?
As part of “What It Takes”, a podcast series by MoneySmart and Workforce Singapore (WSG), we chat with Grab’s Head of GrabPay, Gary Wong, for some insight on what goes on behind the scenes of the glamorous Grab.
Listen to the full podcast here:
Gary has led the GrabPay team for the past 1.5 years, and one of the his initial tasks was to hire the right team to take the Grab’s mobile payments arm to the next level. “We had so much ambition and opportunity, and we needed to hire well and hire fast,” he said.
Tapping on his vast experience in picking out talents, we ask Gary to dish the dirt on what makes an applicant stand out. In case you’re wondering — it’s not your outfit. Unlike at more traditional companies, at Grab, Gary doesn’t care so much about your shirt, tie or outward appearance at all. It’s more about your drive, attitude and values.
So if you’re pursuing a career at Grab, you better listen up: here are 3 key things to bear in mind.
1. Demonstrate your ability to work in a team instead of your “superstar” talent
It’s a very Singaporean thing to worry about our grades, qualifications, career highlights and all that other stuff we use to bedazzle our resumes. And while technical skills are no doubt important, it’s not the most important thing in the world.
Of course, if you have completely no relevant skills and aren’t at least qualified to apply for the job, then don’t say lah. But according to Gary, just because you might be the best on paper, doesn’t make you the best candidate.
Instead, the successful hires are the ones that are the best fit for the team culture and current business objectives. He likens this hiring approach to soccer, which is his off-duty passion:
“You can’t buy talent in every football team if they don’t work well together. You’ll only be successful if you manage to galvanise a group of players who can fight for each other and move together as a team.
Having the superstars doesn’t guarantee success, but having a team that is excellent together is a superstar team.”
Additionally, he adds that they want people whose core values align with the brands. So think carefully before you apply — don’t just do it because of the hype.
2. Develop these “4 Hs”
We all know how important making a good first impression is, but instead of fussing over what to wear, what’s more important is the attitude you come with. Gary keeps a lookout for those who carry themselves well, exemplifying what he calls “the 4 Hs”:
Humility: Being capable isn’t enough. You should also be humble, and have the humility to learn, which will get you very far at Grab. There are many different roles and sectors within the company, so if you’re hungry and humble enough to keep learning, you can. Gary adds that the only thing that may limit (your progress) is your learning pace.
Hunger: Grab is very fast-paced, so you’ll need to prove that you can be adaptable and sharp enough to come up with good, creative solutions to problems. You need to dare to test the boundaries and challenge norms.
Honour: To describe this quality, Gary explains, “It’s the ability to treat partners fairly, no matter big or small; to treat them with respect and do what’s best for them.” That is fundamental.
Heart to serve: Lastly, Grab is looking for people with a heart to serve and do good. You have to be motivated by how you can make an impact, and add value to what Grab provides.
“Your resume tells me your achievements, which is great. But it’s the right attitudes that make the superstar teams,” says Gary.
3. Be okay with failing, but never give up
In the same vein, Grab also values workers with grit. You can have the brightest mind and lots of talent, but without effort and perseverance, those will likely be left as wasted potential. You need to have drive and motivation, and be unafraid to fail.
This is especially critical at Grab, where they encourage cross-vertical learning. You could be in the transport team today, and be given the opportunity to work in the finance arm tomorrow. There are always new opportunities to be seized, you just need to “garang”.
“It is not how to prevent failing, because you will absolutely fail in your role. The question is how do you pick yourself up from there?” says Gary.
Grab wants people who know how to learn from their mistakes and “never say die”. Gary even goes so far as to say that failing — within a controlled environment, of course — is vital for growth. You must always shoot your shot, because if not, you don’t even give yourself the chance to succeed.
As a business, Grab does the same thing. “I think that that’s what makes Grab stand out (as an employer) as well; the way we keep coming back again and again to help solve problems even though we may fail the first time.
It gives our partners and employees confidence that we’re here to make a difference.”
Are you considering a career at tech unicorn Grab? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About GrabPay in Singapore
Best Cashback & Air Mile Credit Cards For Grab – Latest Promos in Singapore (2019)
GoJek vs Grab vs Comfort Taxis in Singapore – Which Is The Cheapest?
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line327
|
__label__cc
| 0.70353
| 0.29647
|
Update on Inland American Non-Traded REIT
Inland American Real Estate Trust, the largest non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT), has been the subject of intense scrutiny. In many ways, the criticism of Inland American has been representative of the issues endemic to non-traded REITs generally, such as poor dividend coverage, conflicts of interest, excessive payments to affiliates, stale or poorly updated share prices, and other issues we have discussed on this blog and in our research work (PDF). While these issues have been known for some time, there is still a lot happening in the non-traded REIT space, and with Inland American in particular.
According to the Direct Investments Spectrum, Inland American is still by far the largest non-traded REIT by total assets, with approximately $10.7 billion as of March 31, 2013. The next largest, Cole Credit Property Trust II, had only $7.3 billion, and Columbia Property Trust (formerly known as Wells REIT II) came in third with $5.6 billion.
Like most non-traded REITs, Inland American was originally sold at a fixed share price of $10 per share, even after the real estate collapse of 2007-8. Once FINRA began requiring updated per share net asset values, Inland American reported a value of $8.03, and which has most recently been reported at $6.93. However, this is not necessarily the price investors could obtain for selling their shares, as non-traded REITs are largely illiquid, and share repurchase programs often have restrictions and limits. The most recent tender offer on Inland American shares is for $5.00 per share.
Price History of Inland American Real Estate Trust
Inland American has been the subject of an SEC investigation since at least May 2012. While the details of that investigation remain unclear, it has been suggested that the SEC is focusing on the disclosure of property valuations and management fees. As we noted previously, Inland American uses a network of affiliated entities to provide services to the non-traded REIT, many of which collect significant fees on new funds raised, real estate operations, or distributions to investors.
Indeed, in March 2013 Inland American was sued by investors over payments to an affiliate, Inland American Business Manager & Advisor Inc.1 The affiliate collected a 5% fee on distributions to investors, and was able to collect $185 million in fees between 2005 and 2012. The suit alleges that those fees were inflated because the 'distributions' to investors were actually return of capital -- a common criticism of non-traded REITs. Even as of the first quarter of 2013, Inland American was paying higher distributions than its modified funds from operations, according to the Direct Investments Spectrum.
We will be watching these investigations closely. As many of these criticisms also apply to other non-traded REITs, these investigations may have important implications for the entire $87 billion non-traded REIT industry.
1 The case is William Trumbo et al. v. The Inland Group Inc., filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. You can find the complaint here (PDF).
Labels: Non-Traded REITs, Real Estate, REITs
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line331
|
__label__cc
| 0.660158
| 0.339842
|
Tag Archives: Chateau de Valencay
Talleyrand’s Chateau de Valencay
“We need grand houses for people who occupy grand positions.” This remark, by Napoleon Bonaparte, was aimed straight at his Foreign Minister, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord in 1803.
When Napoleon told his people to jump, they asked “How high?” Also, Napoleon, at the time First Consul of France, was ready to help finance the purchase of a suitable chateau. So the Renaissance chateau of Valencay became Talleyrand’s new home in short order. A bust of Napoleon graces a mantel in the chateau.
The “Seated Portrait of Talleyrand” was painted by Francois Gerard in 1808.
The original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but a very good copy presides over the Blue Salon in the chateau.
Talleyrand was an irrepressible ladies’ man, but his position required respectability, so Napoleon leaned on him to marry his mistress (who had once been a courtesan, but no matter). Catherine Verlée Grand had her portrait painted in 1783 by Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun. The chateau displays a copy; the original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The couple drifted apart by 1816, but Talleyrand gave her enough money to live comfortably in London for the rest of her life. I’m not sure what’s going on in the portrait. Is Catherine rolling her eyes because the letter she is holding just informed her of some new exploit of her husband? It’s tempting to think so.
Talleyrand was born into an aristocratic but not wealthy family. It appears he had a club foot, most likely congenital (although Talleyrand blamed it on a childhood injury). The foot brace he used as an adult is on display in the chateau. It seems that his limp never slowed him down for a minute.
Talleyrand carried himself with great dignity throughout his life. Today, we’d call it “attitude. The bust above is by the sculptor Despres, 1838.
And what a life he lived. His parents sent him to seminary, hoping he would have a church career as illustrious and lucrative as that of his uncle, the very wealthy and powerful Archbishop of Reims. He was ordained at age 25 and might have risen quickly through the ranks of the Catholic Church. In fact, he became a Bishop four years later. But the French Revolution changed everything. As a Bishop, Talleyrand represented the clergy, known as the First Estate, in the Estates-General of 1789. Soon he was an enthusiastic revolutionary, stopped practicing Catholicism, and was “laicized” by the Pope in 1801. (This seems pretty close to being excommunicated, but he had lost interest in Catholic distinctions by this time anyway).
Talleyrand somehow escaped the deadly twists and turns of the Revolution, even when there was a price on his head. He spent some time in America, a guest of Aaron Burr. Eventually, when the dust settled, he returned to France and settled on diplomacy as a career.
He soon made himself indispensable to Napoleon Bonaparte, holding high offices and cheerfully accepting the financial “diplomatic sweeteners” that came with power. He loved the perks of power, like fine ceremonial outfits. The blue-ribboned badge above is the emblem of the French Legion of Honor, the dove denoting the Holy Spirit.
The magnificent document case above went everywhere with the charming and wily diplomat. The bees were Napoleon’s emblem, and the sun hearkened back to the glory days of the Sun King himself.
As Napoleon lost power, Talleyrand nimbly shifted loyalties. He represented France at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and came home with a good deal for France and a fine table for his chateau.
By this time, Talleyrand had accumulated titles: Prince of Talleyrand and Prince of Benevento. He was still called back to public life at times, serving France’s restored monarchy. But he had plenty of time and money to lavish on the young woman who was probably the love of his life: his niece Dorothee, Duchess of Dino, who had divorced his nephew. Dorothee was devoted to Talleyrand, and he called her “my little porpoise.” Their relationship was scandalously “modern;” it seems they both had other lovers, but somehow it worked. The portrait above is by Francois Gerard, Public Domain.
The couple hosted legendary dinners at their table, which could seat 36.
Talleyrand reportedly spent at least an hour a day with his chef.
The rooms of the chateau have the faded elegance of a beloved home, meant to be lived in. Floors are creaky and some of the well-used upholstery is tattered.
In his old age, Talleyrand puttered around his vast estate and spent quality time reading and writing in his comfy study chair.
In spite of their sketchy living arrangement, Dorothee worked to persuade Talleyrand to return to the Church. On his deathbed, he summoned a priest to give him the last rites. When the priest tried to anoint his palms, he insisted on having the backs of his hands anointed instead: the prerogative of his long-ago rank as a Bishop. He also signed a statement admitting his error in leaving the Church, so all was forgiven.
Valencay is off the beaten path of the more famous Loire chateaux. In early spring, it was downright peaceful.
Just down the road, there’s a fascinating motor museum, entertaining even for people without much interest in cars.
Admission to the chateau includes a fine audioguide, which tells entertaining stories about the Prince.
But I always buy the little guidebooks too, for the details that escape me when I’m trying to lose myself in the history of a place.
Valencay is a fine place to spend even a rainy day. In sunshine, it would be even better.
Join me next time for more explorations–I’m just catching up on all the chateaux I was lucky enough to see a couple of months ago!
This entry was posted in Castles and Palaces, Explore Europe, France, Historic Homes, Historical Figures, Why I Love France and tagged Catherine Grand, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, Chateau de Valencay, Congress of Vienna, Dorothee Duchess of Dino, Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince of Talleyrand on July 16, 2018 by Claudia Suzan Carley.
If It’s Tuesday, That Must Be Talleyrand
Or, Why You Might Not Want to Travel With Me. I’m nearing the end of a 9-day trip to France, and for sure I know I married the right guy all those years ago. He cheerfully drives anywhere, this time from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Loire Valley and back, with at least two or three stops at sights every day. If you don’t like a slightly hectic travel pace, you might not want to tag along with us.
We based ourselves in tiny Chenonceaux, pretty central for the Loire Valley. (The town’s name ends with an X but the chateau’s name is Chenonceau).
And Chenonceau is the most beautiful and fascinating chateau anywhere, if you ask me. Plus Chenonceau always smells wonderful. Every single room always has fresh flowers, as no doubt they did in the days that Diane de Poitiers and later Catherine de Medici gazed out the leaded-glass windows at the River Cher.
Thanks to the wonders of our Garmin GPS to find places, and my trusty iPhone cellular data to double-check opening times, we covered a lot of ground on this trip. Also, we were seeing some of these places for the second or even the third time. (For us, history never gets old. It just gets more interesting).
Here are a few of my other favorite things from this trip:
Claude Monet’s Gardens and Home in Giverny.
Chateau Azay-le-Rideau: a jewel of a Renaissance castle, recently renovated and sparkling on its own pretty little island.
Chateau de Cheverny: owned by the same family for hundreds of years, plus they have about one hundred happy hunting dogs.
Chartres Cathedral, one of the greatest medieval pilgrimage sites, always spectacular (even though I don’t understand why the interior was recently whitewashed. I have mixed feelings about the very controversial recent “renovation”). I really love the mismatched towers, pretty unique in cathedrals. What were the builders thinking, as the second tower went up? Who gave them permission? Well, it works for me.
Chateau de Blois, layers of history plus a generous serving of murder and mayhem.
And as for Talleyrand? He was the right-hand diplomat of Napoleon Bonaparte, among many other things in his gleefully scandalous life. He pretty much did as he pleased and had a wonderful time. His Chateau de Valencay is lovely in a faded-elegance way, and very entertaining.
Just above, the fairy-tale towers and turrets of Chateau d’Usse.
I have lots more just to list, but I still have a couple of days to see as much as possible. Time to plan what else to see. I’ll finish my trip list later. Naturally, I took a ton of photos and picked up a ton of guidebooks. I’ll post much more about each of these sights and all the rest after I catch my breath. To be continued!
This entry was posted in Castles and Palaces, Cathedrals and Churches, Explore Europe, France, Why I Love France and tagged Azay-le-Rideau, Chartres Cathedral, Chateau d’Usse, Chateau de Blois, Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Cheverny, Chateau de Valencay, chateaux of the Loire on May 5, 2018 by Claudia Suzan Carley.
Check out archived posts
Check out archived posts Select Category Affordable Europe Albertina Museum Amsterdam Architecture Art Artists Austria Berlin Books British Isles Budapest Castles and Palaces Cathedrals and Churches Chateau d’Usse, Charles Perrault, Sleeping Beauty Czech Republic Denmark England Explore Europe Film and TV Film and TV locations Films set in Florence Finland Florence Florence Sights France Germany Haarlem Historic Homes Historical Figures History Hungary Innsbruck Ireland Italian History Italy Literature Ludwig’s Castles Munich Music Netherlands Norway Paris Paris Museums Paris Sights Portugal Prague Rome Rome Museums Salzburg Scandinavia Scotland Spain Sweden Travel Tips Uncategorized Venice Vienna Vienna at Christmas Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Museums Wales Why I Love Denmark Why I Love England Why I Love Finland Why I Love France Why I Love Italy Why I Love Norway Why I Love Sweden Why I Love Vienna Why I Love Wales Writers
C. S. Carley, castlesandcoffeehouses.com, 2013
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to C. S. Carley and castlesandcoffeehouses.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line333
|
__label__wiki
| 0.970996
| 0.970996
|
Celebrityml.com
LEGO Celebrates 10 Years of NINJAGO With 5865-Piece City Gardens Set
Julia Roberts Once Admitted She Doesn’t Really Care About Being Seen as 'America’s Sweetheart' — 'I’m Very Unemotional About Stuff Like That'
New Documentary Series Zooms Into Transgender Lives In The Trump Era
Home » TV & Movies » 'Cobra Kai': Do Ralph Macchio and William Zabka Hate Each Other?
'Cobra Kai': Do Ralph Macchio and William Zabka Hate Each Other?
In a world that’s craving nostalgia like few generations before it, few pieces of pop culture encapsulate this more than Cobra Kai. The series, which started on YouTube TV but moved to Netflix, tells the continuing story of The Karate Kid’s Danny LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. These characters, played by Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, respectively, make perfect rivals whose hatred for each other drives them. However, their offscreen relationship couldn’t be more different.
The slow burn
The Karate Kid was an unlikely hit in 1984. As Den of Geek recounted, the film told the story of a boy named Daniel LaRusso trying to make a name for himself in a new city. Ralph Macchio played Daniel from the get-go, and with the help of the movie’s breakout star, Pat Morita, audiences fell in love with the underdog kid. Daniel was a troubled youth with a heart of gold. On the other side was Johnny Lawrence, a troubled youth whose toxic sensei turned him into a monster.
This dynamic helped guide the franchise through three movies. Audiences watched as Daniel overcame obstacles and forged a bond with not only Morita’s Mr. Miyagi but also several other characters throughout the run. In many ways, Johnny was the antithesis of Daniel. However, save for an introduction in Part II, Johnny disappeared into the background.
Since then, the franchise has seen many makeovers. The first came in part four, which starred a young Hillary Swank in the title role after Macchio left the series. The original was reimagined in 2010, with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in the leading roles. However, it wasn’t until recently that fans got to see where Danny and Johnny’s relationship ended up. With ‘Cobra Kai,’ they got that answer.
What is ‘Cobra Kai’?
The Karate Kid gave Johnny a somewhat sympathetic tint, Nicki Swift reported, but the film never fully dove into his psyche. Thanks to Cobra Kai, fans were able to see the world through a perceived antagonist’s eyes. Johnny is still a heavily flawed character, but audiences get to see the problems that caused him to lash out 35 years earlier and his reconciliation of those issues in his 50s.
As luck would have it, he opens his own dojo — Cobra Kai — after losing his job and finds himself once again in Danny LaRusso’s sights. While the series helps the two characters form a less toxic relationship, they’re still rivals in every sense of the word. However, with such a complicated on-screen relationship, it’s easy to presume the actors dislike each other. That’s not the case.
Macchio and Zabka aren’t just friends, though. They’re good friends.
Art (not) imitating life
Ralph Macchio and William Zabka sparked the revival of their most famous roles. Though The Karate Kid is still beloved, it always showed Danny’s point of view. As the two actors grew older, they began discussing the possibility of reigniting the feud that made them famous.
“Ralph and I have become good friends over the years, and from the ground up, when we first got pitched this, we’ve been in close contact since,” Zabka told PopCulture.com. “We’re both very careful and respectful of The Karate Kid and we have that shared history together.”
However, while the creative desire to complete a story that defined both of their lives was a driving force, the chance to work together also made them closer.
“The two of us [share] something that only we can understand and relate to,” Zabka told the publication. “[T]o get the chance to work with them again is a sort of thrill, and to see [Macchio] turn into Daniel LaRusso, and when I step into Johnny, those guys still live in us, and it’s happening.”
According to Macchio, it didn’t take long for him to revert to hating Zabka on-screen again.
“It was the first scene we played in 30-something years, and it just instinctively had a chemistry about it that we didn’t even know we had,” Macchio told PopCulture.com. “It’s sort of like I say, lightning has struck twice [and] it’s sort of like, this project is blessed. The movie was, certainly, and so is this series.”
It can be easy to forget that life on-screen doesn’t reflect life off it, and Macchio and Zabka’s relationship shows this. Season 3 of Cobra Kai is set to premiere in January 2021 on Netflix. What new twists and turns will Danny’s and Johnny’s lives take?
Freida Pinto to Play Real-Life War Hero in New Series ‘Spy Princess’
The 'Slumdog Millionaire' actress is set to play the first female wireless operator in the upcoming television series about a...
Justin Hartley To Star In ‘The Never Game’ TV Adaptation In Works At 20th Television, Will EP With Ken Olin
'Galaxy Quest 2' is Still Happening And It's Got a "Fabulous Script," According to Tim Allen
Philip Smith, Former CEO of Broadway's Shubert Organization, Dies at 89 of COVID
What Rob Lowe and Melissa Gilbert Did Upon Turning 18 That Signaled They 'Were Moving Into the Fast Lane'
Workaholics at a greater risk of depression, study finds
Originally Published by: Delta adds new 'clean ambassadors' team to review US airports Georgia student who walked 7 miles to...
ANDREW NEIL: Why Britain must pray Biden can hold Fortress America
TikTok Executive on How the App Brought Communities Together in 2020
Reese Witherspoon adds new dog Major to her family
Copyright © 2021 Celebrityml.com
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line335
|
__label__cc
| 0.589199
| 0.410801
|
All posts tagged top reads
Posted in: Extras. Tagged: best of the year, book reviews, books, literature, Reading, top reads, top reads of 2020, writer. 27 Comments
It’s fair to say 2020 was… not a great year all round. However, as I write this, I’ve managed to read 120 books throughout all the madness (I may just about squeeze one or two more in before the year ends). As ever, I’m excited to count down my 10 favourites here. Aside from quickly listing a few honourable mentions – Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith, The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde, and Let Them Eat Chaos by Kae Tempest – let’s just jump right into it, shall we?
Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford
This was a bit of a sleeper hit in that it didn’t immediately stand out as a contender for this list when I read it, but it has stayed with me strongly ever since. We follow a not-quite-human father and daughter who use their strong ties to the earth to cure sickness and injury among their neighbours. Though things remain a little more elusive than I would have liked, the striking imagery, visceral prose, and otherworldly atmosphere kept me hooked. A startlingly singular read, it manages to balance several fascinating themes, including the language used to describe women’s bodies, the vilification of feminine power, the magic of the natural world, the cost of intimacy, and the folly of sacrificing our own desires in an attempt to please or change others.
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
This richly evocative historical fiction novel follows a black woman facing the death penalty for the supposed killing of her white master and mistress. Serving as her testimony, the book takes us all the way from her birth on a plantation in Jamaica to her incarceration in London, as she attempts to make sense of the life she has lived and prove her innocence.
Frannie is a phenomenally well-drawn character. Complex, intelligent, passionate, and unfalteringly human; it’s her flaws that make her so easy to root for. Collins’ visceral and immersive prose is equally fantastic, as she navigates the nuanced themes of culpability, gender, sexuality, and autonomy.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
This is proving the be a real marmite book, but fortunately for me, I’m one of the ones who loved it. A masterclass in delayed tension, it follows two families who must seek to overcome their differences and survive what may be the end of days. Though I can understand and appreciate the thematic implications behind both creative choices, the dense prose and ambiguous ending will definitely alienate some. Meticulously paced and punctuated by striking imagery throughout, however, Alam creates a singular atmosphere that is as discomfiting as the plot itself. Tense and anxiety-inducing, even the quietest moments simmer with an undercurrent of threat; the book asking critical questions about trust, race, family, and control.
Loyalties by Delphine de Vigan, tr. from the French by George Miller
Told from four perspectives that weave together towards an inevitably tragic conclusion, this is primarily a look at the concept of loyalty in its various forms, and the moral dilemma of breaching someone’s trust when it may be the best thing for them.
With each of the protagonists attempting to keep a secret on behalf of someone else, a sense of tension and claustrophobia builds throughout, as does some very clever commentary on sexism, abuse, and agency. The unassuming skill of its construction somehow heightens the book’s emotional impact, making this a real hidden gem I’d love to see more people pick up.
Grimoire by Robin Robertson
I picked up this collection of narrative poems on a whim and I’m so glad I did! From stories of ghosts, witches and doppelgängers, to tales of selkies and changelings, the poems draw on Scotland’s rich tradition of mythology and storytelling to explore themes of heartache, revenge, and transformation, often focussing on those who are vilified by society for their differences. I love Robertson’s use of language. It’s lyrical yet always so readable, with hauntingly macabre imagery that is perfectly suited to the dark nature of the subject matter. Simple yet haunting illustrations – provided by Robertson’s brother, Tim – are peppered throughout as well. Compared in the blurb to cave paintings, these striking images do indeed possess an eerie timelessness that enhances the impact of the book as a whole.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Set during the final months of WWI, just as the so-called Spanish Flu was hitting its peak, The Pull of the Stars chronicles three harrowing days on a makeshift maternity ward in Dublin. Donoghue succeeds in capturing the abject horror of a city blighted by the cumulative effects of war and disease. Though she never shies away from detailing the utter devastation racking people’s bodies, there’s a tenderness that grounds the narrative and stops it from tipping into gratuitous suffering. Thematic parallels with current events are impossible to ignore, and though it will resonate more strongly for some as a result, the book is good enough to stand on its own regardless. The narrative is gripping, and the characters endearing, but with an overall tone that is fiercely feminine, the book serves as a love letter to all the women who sacrifice themselves mind, body and soul in the name of caring for others.
Rest and Be Thankful by Emma Glass
For its relatively short length, this packs a hefty punch. We follow Laura, a paediatric nurse, as the physical and emotional demands of her job become increasingly all consuming. With exhaustion taking hold and her relationship falling apart, strange nightmares begin to bleed into her days. There’s such a gentleness to much of the book, but it is this distinctly quiet grace that lends several moments their devastating power.
Glass employs a lot of exaggerated metaphors, but there are beautiful passages that read like prose poetry. In this context, the almost cloying text mirrors the heavy atmosphere and the increasingly hypnotic, otherworldly tone of the narrative, with brilliantly employed flirtations with the supernatural used to explore the notions of unaddressed trauma, and deteriorating mental health as a result of a distinct lack of support for medical staff – a very real problem that hits home harder than ever following widespread devastation on hospital wards in 2020.
Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica, tr. from the Spanish by Sarah Moses
In this horrifying gem from Argentina, a virus has made all animal meat toxic to humans. In a frighteningly short span of time, the consumption of human flesh has been legalised, with breeding centres now commonplace, the ownership of “domestic” humans not unusual, and the public largely desensitized to everything that’s going on. The world-building and pacing throughout this speculative, all-too-plausible dystopian are handled brilliantly. There’s no clumsy exposition, and every detail we learn about the degradation of society is more disturbing than the last. It’s a book about what it means to be human, and what it means to have loved and lost. It’s also a book about power, complicity, family, and mankind’s unwavering instinct to both survive and dominate.
I found it (deliberately) repellent and utterly compelling in equal measure. Bazterrica repeatedly forces us to ask why we value some lives above others, but for all its boldness, there’s also a lot of nuance, with commentary on the likes of genetic modification, hunting for sport, human trafficking, class disparity, and the power of language, all woven in seamlessly.
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Set in 1850s London, this wonderfully evocative debut looks at art, autonomy, love, and obsession. We follow Iris, a young woman who agrees to model for an up-and-coming artist on the condition that he tutor her in painting. But Iris has an admirer; a mysterious, sinister figure who is watching from the shadows. Macneal’s writing is lush and intoxicating; the sights, scents and sounds of Victorian London practically leaping from the page. Equally, Iris is an excellent heroine: talented, ambitious, headstrong, and determined to succeed in a man’s world. Indeed, the book has great things to say about the limitations placed on women at the time.
I loved every moment I spent with this book. It completely absorbed me as both a richly layered piece of literary fiction and as a compelling story. It’s true I felt the denouement was a little abrupt, but with prose, atmosphere, themes, characters, and a setting that were all so vividly drawn, this was just the gothic romp I needed; a fantastic look at womanhood, freedom, and resilience in the face of madness.
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
The divide of gender, the dark side of religion, and the resilience of the human spirit are placed beneath the microscope in this evocative historical novel, inspired by real life tragedy. Following a devastating storm that claims the lives of nearly all their men, a remote community of women in 17th century Norway must learn to be self-sufficient. But whispers of witchcraft bring new men to their home; men who are not happy to find a group of women capable of such independence. With subtlety and tact, Hargrave explores the ingrained societal roles that define and separate us, with a particular focus on the trappings of gender and religion. Through the blossoming relationship between the two female leads (one of whom is new to the village), she also touches on the delicate task of bridging class divides, the pain of forbidden love, and the quiet heroism of following your heart when daring to be different is enough to get you killed.
In addition to presenting nuanced, multifaceted characters, she skilfully evokes a very particular time and place. Crystalline prose captures the raw power and awe-inspiring beauty of the landscape, the atmosphere vivid and transporting as a result. Emotional beats hit at all the right moments, culminating in a climax that is all the more thrilling and powerful for its avoidance of certain anticipated tropes. There have been a lot of witch trial inspired novels over the years. Despite that fact, and the responsibility of honouring true historical events, Hargrave has created a story that feels fresh and valuable.
There we have it! What was your top read of 2020?
Connect: Twitter | Goodreads | Ko-fi
Posted in: Reading. Tagged: book reviews, books, bookworm, Reading, top reads, top reads of 2018, wrap up, writer. 22 Comments
It’s that time again! In terms of reading, 2018 has been pretty solid, with many great reads amongst the 129 books I’ve managed to complete thus far. (I may finish another one or two before the year is out, but I’m pretty happy with this list, and so was eager to just share it now.) And since we all like to reflect on the cream of the crop, let’s jump right in.
I’m going to give an honourable mention to Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. I should probably just make this list a top 11, because the exact number is arbitrary, but I do like the neatness of a top 10. Written with eloquence and pin-sharp precision, it is a subtly powerful exploration of gender, class, nationalism, and violence, as we follow a small group taking part in an Iron Age re-enactment. By drawing on the past, Moss is able to say much about the present day, showing the cyclical nature of men using physical power as a means of oppression. Tension builds at an unsettlingly good pace, reaching its claustrophobic best in the shocking yet beautifully understated climax. Dark, though tinged with a hope for the future that lies in the notions of youth and sisterhood, I found it thought-provoking and surprisingly impactful. The only reason it didn’t technically make the cut for my top 10 is that I just read it this month, and so it hasn’t had to stand the test of time yet.
A quick shout out as well to The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan, and Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie; the other reads that were in contention for this list. But enough dallying; on with the actual countdown!
10. The Corset by Laura Purcell
This is an intricately plotted and thematically rich gothic chiller that follows the dual narrative of a 16-year-old seamstress accused of murder, and the wealthy young woman who takes to visiting her in prison, determined to prove or disprove her guilt through the use of phrenology. An undercurrent of mystery and threat bubbles throughout this page-turner, which beyond its bleak and immersive core, manages to explore the notions of poverty, trauma, the class system, and female autonomy. Equal parts poignant and horrifying, Purcell maintains the perfect amount of ambiguity regarding its flirtation with the supernatural, leaving the reader satisfied, without losing the sinister tone of the book at large. It was also exactly what I was in the mood for when I picked it up, and there’s a lot to be said for finding the right book at the right time.
9. A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin
This was the first read of the year to give me the elusive book tingles (that prickling feeling of excitement that a book could well become one of your new favourites), and for that, I still think back on it very fondly all these months later. We follow a decidedly menacing chap, whose plans to claim his fiancé’s inheritance are scuppered when she falls pregnant, and risks being disowned by her father. He resolves to get rid of the baby, and his fiancé too if necessary. Clever, masterfully plotted, and just damn thrilling to read, this is perhaps one of the best crime books I’ve encountered, with a deliciously sinister plot, and brilliantly executed twists.
8. The Last Witch by Rona Munro
I adored reading this play, and I subsequently saw an excellent adaptation on the stage. It’s a powerful and atmospheric dramatization of the story of Janet Horne, the last woman to be executed for witchcraft in Scotland, in 1727. Janet as a heroine is fascinating, complex, and skilfully constructed; the atmosphere both tense and melancholy. As we delve into why Janet seems so hesitant to either confirm or deny the accusations against her, the story becomes a rousing look at the struggle for power between the sexes; othering; and the inherent hypocrisy of misogyny. I also loved its nuanced look at sisterhood, the power of language, and the magic of nature.
7. Mary’s Monster by Lita Judge
This book completely defies categorisation. It is, essentially, a novelised graphic memoir written in verse. It presents itself as though it’s the diary of Mary Shelley, exploring the events in her life that led to the creation of her magnum opus, Frankenstein. The poetic prose is beautiful; the first-person perspective intimate and engrossing; the accompanying black-and-white artwork both haunting and transporting. It’s a fascinating, original, engaging, and enlightening insight into an iconic work of literature. Above all else, however, it is a stunning love letter to the genius of Mary Shelley, and how she channelled great suffering into great art.
6. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
It isn’t easy to pen a horror novel that is as unsettling as it is achingly sad, but that is exactly what Tremblay has done here. Plot-wise, we follow a family who fear their eldest daughter’s increasingly strange behaviour may be caused by some kind of demonic possession. When the church gets involved, and money gets tight, they agree to let cameras into their home to document the attempts to exorcise her. On the one hand, the book is a very meta, critical analysis of the horror genre at large, with many clever homages to the classics, but it also has much to say about the demonization of mental health; religious pushback against the advances of science and medicine; and the moral depravity of a society obsessed with exploitation as a means of entertainment. It’s well worth checking out if you want to be disturbed and have your heart broken at the same time.
5. Dracula by Bram Stoker
This is one of those classics that is so iconic I thought I knew it before I’d even picked it up. I got so much more from it than I anticipated, however, in terms of both reading enjoyment and literary merit. Its epistolary structure lends an air of realism that enhances the unsettling atmosphere, and as a lover of all things gothic-horror, I thoroughly enjoyed delving into the origin of many aspects we now consider conventions of the genre. From a thematic point of view, it was a rich treasure trove to pick apart: the primal fear of bodily and sexual corruption; gender dynamics; mistrust of the unknown; and fascinating queer coding being just a few of my favourite themes to mull over. It might not be perfect by modern standards with regards to pacing and climax, but I both appreciated and enjoyed the time I spent with this book.
4. Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
I found this book instantly absorbing, and utterly compelling throughout. An overlooked classic that focusses on the instinctual draw of paternal love, it follows one man’s attempts to track down his missing infant son, post-war. The emotional complexity of the hero is fantastic, as is the pacing, which sees the narrative unfold with real elegance and poignancy. The central themes of loss and healing are cleverly reflected in several aspects of the story; the backdrop of war-torn France attempting to reclaim its identity following decimation and liberation highly effective as a setting. Beautifully realised, I took its characters to heart, and they remain there to this day, despite having read it early in the year.
3. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
This was a gripping read with strikingly vivid world-building. As an early post-apocalyptic novel, it was also interesting and fun to read from the perspective of seeing where so many modern entries in the genre have subsequently drawn from. Beyond the enthralling tale of survival it presents at face value, there is also a surprising amount of depth and social commentary going on; with conflict between survivors, gender dynamics, and ensuing moral dilemmas proving more troublesome than the deadly, sentient plants that have devastated the population. The prose itself is very readable, with flashes of evocative beauty, and I loved its exploration of the illusion that humans have tamed nature and assumed ultimate power; making this, in many ways, a cautionary tale more relevant now than ever before.
2. Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
There is so much narrative and thematic depth to this book, which made it a read for which my admiration only grew the more time I took to reflect on it. A tinge of almost ethereal otherworldliness is befitting of the classic myths and fairy tales it so strongly feeds from, but it still maintains a bold, original identity all of its own, thanks to its intricate plot, and its complex, fascinating characters. Its tragically inevitable outcome, and its sense of pathos and quiet magic may not work for everyone, but I was swept up by its lush prose, clever structure, and its nuanced look at identity and gender fluidity; fate vs free will; the power of language; storytelling as a means of preserving memory; acceptance of the truth; and whether or not children have a duty to their parents.
1. The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni
In The Lightkeepers, we follow a nature photographer who secures a residency on a small cluster of remote, untouched islands, where the only other inhabitants are a group of scientists studying the indigenous animal species. Geni’s prose is utterly breathtaking, and she captures the raw beauty, daunting power, and savage menace of the natural world like no other writer I’ve ever encountered. When violence disrupts the group dynamic, the story becomes a fantastic meditation on the nature of storytelling as a means of coping with trauma. There are excellent parallels between Miranda’s work as a photographer and the ‘framing’ of a story to distort reality; between the cycle of the seasons and the process of grief; and a core of mystery with pleasing homages to Christie’s And Then There Were None. Rich, intricate, and expertly handled, I was utterly enthralled; by its narrative, its construction, and by its deceptive complexity. The Lightkeepers serves as a powerful and somehow timeless reminder that we too are just animals, doing what we have to do to get by – however ugly it may be.
There we have it! Here’s to lots of great reads for us all in 2019. Have you read any of these? What were your favourite reads of the year?
Posted in: Reading. Tagged: 2017, book reviews, books, bookworm, Reading, top reads, wrap up. 24 Comments
Firstly, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are continuing to enjoy the festivities. With the end of the year right around the corner, and little likelihood of finishing many more reads, I feel happy with my list of favourites, and simply can’t wait any longer to shout about how much I loved the following books. Having read at least 125 books this year, narrowing it down to just 10 was tough, and though I could easily have added a few more to this list, I must admit that I like the neatness of a top 10, and so in the spirit of singling out the real cream of the crop, I ended up with the following reads, some of which earned their place by blowing me away right from the off, and others which have ended up here because of how much they’ve stayed with me.
(Just to clarify, these are books I read for the first time in 2017, so they weren’t necessarily published then, and I didn’t include any re-reads.)
My favourite books of 2017, but now let’s work out the running order…
10. The Dig by Cynan Jones
With stark brutality yet quiet beauty and poeticism, this novella explores the way in which we as humans both use and abuse animals, as we follow the dual narrative of a young farmer lost to grief, whose sole motivation to carry on is the need his animals have of him, and a seemingly normal man who is party to the most callous hunting and torture of badgers. I love the way Jones mirrors yet contrasts the two characters. Both have darkness in their past and feel separate from society because of it, yet one responds with compassion and the other violence, effectively suggesting the existence of both within us all. The writing itself is razor sharp, where not a single word feels wasted, and the narrative has a sense of coming full circle, which works really well.
9. The Doll by Daphne du Maurier
In some respects, 2017 really was the year of my du Maurier awakening, in which I tried her work for the first time, fell in love with it, read five of her books, and came to consider her one of my favourite authors. In this collection of short stories, there were of course some that had more impact than others, as is always the case, but there was not a single dud or filler story in here, and my favourites have stayed with me so clearly ever since. The title story and one set on an island were particularly creepy and affecting, but it was the two stories narrated by a prostitute at different stages of her life, like dramatic monologues that recount her descent into a life of crime, and her eventual resignation to the future that awaits her, that were especially well executed, and with great subtlety, managed to say so much. These were some of her earliest stories, and to see what talent for sinister undertones and deftly handled themes she already had was a delight.
8. The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill
This book completely swept me up. I loved the vivid and immersive setting and thought the atmosphere of the era was captured so well, transporting readers to the dark yet magical underbelly of Montreal and New York during the Great Depression, with O’Neill never shying away from how brutal it could be. The strange, eccentric, flawed and enigmatic characters captured my heart, especially Rose, who is crafted beautifully. I haven’t become so quickly invested in a set of characters for a long time, nor rooted for them so strongly, feeling their anguish and relishing their fleeting moments of joy. It’s an enchanting and visceral experience, documenting the ways our two protagonists are broken by a cruel world, and the ways they do or don’t adapt in order to survive.
7. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Despite how much I enjoyed it, this book wasn’t necessarily an obvious frontrunner to be in my favourites list when I initially read it, but it is easily one of the reads that has most stayed with me. It’s a brilliantly creepy story that builds tension throughout at the perfect pace and seethes with a constant undercurrent of dread, getting right under your skin and refusing to leave. It’s about a young couple expecting their first child, who become concerned when their seemingly friendly older neighbours start taking a little too much interest in their unborn baby. I loved that the heroine was both an everywoman of the 60s and yet far more proactive and realistic in her responses to the unfolding events than many thriller/mystery/horror protagonists that came before or after her – and the ending is deliciously unsettling.
6. Shelter by Jung Yun
If you’re a fan of crime fiction or thrillers and are looking to make the move into more character driven literary fiction, or vice versa, I think this book would be an excellent bridge between the two. This family drama kicks off in the aftermath of a horrific crime, in which our protagonist’s parents are victim to a traumatising break-in and attack. His sense of duty to care for his mother and father sits in contrast with their formerly distant relationship and exposes the tensions between them all. A complex web of themes and ideas are touched on, including gender, the class divide, racism, Korean culture, religion and abuse, with both gut-punch moments and quietly brilliant revelations that will break your heart and flirt with the idea of mending it again; ultimately asking us if we owe respect to our family, even if they haven’t earned it.
5. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
To an extent, this is a placeholder for Agatha Christie in general, who I also read for the first time this year and now love. Having read five of her novels in 2017, it was tricky to single out a favourite, but I think And Then There Were None just edged it. It’s true ‘I-don’t-want-to-put-this-down’ fiction at its best, as we jump right into the gripping story with no faffing around, following a great cast of distinct characters, all harbouring dark secrets, as the body count rises and they increasingly turn on each other. The isolated setting, great pacing, clues and red herrings, and excellent use of foreshadowing all proved exactly why Christie’s stories have endured for so many years.
4. All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan
This book felt so real to me. The way Donal Ryan handled the plot and pacing was phenomenal. Time and time again he would create a sense of ease before hitting me in the gut with a one liner seemingly out of nowhere that pulled the rug out from under me, completely changing my whole perspective on a certain character or plot point. This ability to constantly catch the reader off-guard and call into question the morality and motives of his complex, flawed characters was incredibly impressive. I felt so instantly invested in the outcome of the characters’ lives, as they navigated themes of love, betrayal, forgiveness and the letting go of our own guilt.
3. The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley
At once a dark and quietly terrifying dystopian and a fascinating exploration of gender roles, this book asks us to question the importance we place on physical beauty in women, and the extent to which man is predisposed to revert to violence. It’s beautiful and disturbing in equal measure; one of my very favourite combinations in literature when it’s done well. It’s also very much a book all about the artform of storytelling itself; both its importance in preserving the past and providing hope for the future, told in rich and gorgeous prose that paints a fever dream of events that are astounding and revolting, and utterly unforgettable.
2. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Gothic fiction at its best, We Have Always Lived in the Castle features perhaps one of the most memorable and fascinating heroines I’ve ever encountered in literature. The aura of mystery and otherworldliness that surrounds the characters and the horror of the climax are brilliantly well handled, and the influence of fairy tales that becomes increasingly apparent by the end added a whole other dimension that I loved. At its core, it’s a quietly menacing story of madness, sisterhood, isolation, and a fear of ‘otherness’; I predicted at the time its story and characters would stay with me, and stay with me they most certainly have.
1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Yep, I wasn’t kidding when I said 2017 was all about du Maurier for me. In a lot of ways, I can’t believe I only read Rebecca this year; it feels as though I’ve loved it forever. Despite it being my first foray into du Maurier’s work, I’ve now read five of her books and as I said, I consider her one of my very favourite authors – with Rebecca itself easily one of my top reads of all time, let alone this year. Immersive and completely transporting, it’s a masterclass of tension and brooding atmosphere, with a wonderfully sinister undercurrent bubbling beneath the surface throughout, leading to shockingly brilliant twists and revelations. As with most of my all-time favourites, it’s one that is at mere surface level a damn good story (about a woman marrying a wealthy widowed man, only to discover that his deceased former wife still holds a strange grip over their household), but on deeper analysis, it reveals so many fantastic layers and nuances that just add to its brilliance.
There we have it! What were some of your top reads of 2017?
Posted in: Reading. Tagged: book reviews, books, bookworm, Reading, top reads, wrap up, writer. 13 Comments
My favourite reads of 2016, but which one will take the top spot?
As 2016 ends and we head into the New Year, the time has come to reflect on a year’s worth of reading and pick out the cream of the crop. Throughout the last 12 months, I read a total of 137 books, which makes singling out just 10 of them a fun if somewhat daunting task. Without further ado, let’s start the countdown.
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The first of Mitchell’s books I read, though I have since read another, this intricate and multi-layered fantastical epic features fleshed out, well developed characters throughout decades of their lives and it made me feel very excited to continue to explore his fascinating work.
The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
It seems no list of favourites is complete without an appearance from Mr Ness somewhere. One of his adult novels, this beautiful story is inspired by a Japanese folk tale. It is both a modern story about loneliness and the power of art, as well as a whimsical tale of love, longing and storytelling as a means of great beauty.
The Trees by Ali Shaw
Unsettling and deeply enchanting in tone, this is both a dark and gritty tale of survival and one for lovers of magical realism. Shaw beautifully paints with words a world reclaimed by mysterious, secret-bearing trees which erupt from the ground, plunging society into chaos and sparking a treacherous journey through new and dangerous terrain for our group of wonderfully realised characters.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Incredibly charming, this first book in the Fairyland series has a lot of Alice in Wonderland vibes, as a young girl is whisked away to a bonkers world, meeting many a quirky character throughout her stay, not least a dragon-like creature who believes his father is a library. The writing and imagery are gorgeous, and the dark undertones complete the fairy tale feel.
The Collector by John Fowles
This is one that didn’t necessarily stand out right away as a potential favourite for the year, but one that has really stayed with me and continued to haunt my thoughts – which is in itself the sign of a great book, I believe. We follow a disturbed young man as he kidnaps and imprisons the object of his affections, believing he can make her love him in time. His victim, however, is not as meek as she may at first seem.
Why God is a Woman by Nin Andrews
A series of prose poems, this wonderful collection tells the ongoing story of a fictional island where men are descendants of angels and women come from the sea. A type of social satire, Andrews shrewdly flips gender roles, presenting women as the dominant sex, as they objectify young men when their wings begin to sprout and browbeat their husbands to prepare them for a life of domesticity. Beautiful and poignant, this collection has a lot to say.
The Book Collector by Alice Thompson
Another tale heavily influenced by fairy tales (something I evidently love), this is a tale of obsession, madness and murder. It explores what it really means to be insane and the warped control of men over women in the world of fairy tales, as well as in our own world.
Peter and Alice by John Logan
Considering that I almost never read plays, the fact that this is my 3rd favourite read of the year speaks volumes for how much it impacted me. A fictionalised account of the real life meeting between the man and woman who inspired the protagonists of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland in their youth, it discusses the highs and lows of trying to live up to the legacies created by their fictional counterparts. It’s beautifully realised, expertly handled and will ultimately break your heart.
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Hugely atmospheric, the way this book toys with your senses is incredible. Set in a world in which there is something outside which drives anyone who sees it to insanity, our protagonist has lived in seclusion with her two young children for years, but she must blindfold them and set out in search of safety. It utterly gripped me, thrilled me far more than I could have expected, and though it was one of my first reads of the year, I still get chills when I think about the truly haunting and intense climax.
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
The settings in this rich tale include a brutal women’s asylum, the gritty streets of New York and an enchanting sideshow. Set at the turn of the century, we follow an eclectic cast of characters who seem completely separate at first, but whose lives slowly weave together, forming a complex tapestry of beautiful and heart breaking storytelling. Each character has their own distinct personalities, pasts, flaws and motivations, and I fell completely in love with them. Secrets big and small lead to an eventual revelation that changes both everything and nothing all at once, and I utterly adored it, as well as the breathless journey towards the bittersweet conclusion it began. I urge you to learn nothing else of this book; simply dive in and let it sweep you away.
There we have it! 2016 was quite the year and I am excited to see what books 2017 will bring my way. What were your favourite reads of the year?
Posted in: Extras. Tagged: 2015, author, books, Reading, top reads, wrap up, writer. 10 Comments
2015 has been quite the year for books, but which one has taken my top spot?
Yes, it’s the exciting (and slightly daunting) time in which I compile a countdown of my favourite reads from 2015. Considering I have read 125 books in total between January and December, choosing a top 10 has not been easy – there’s been a lot of chopping and changing, and I’m sure if you ask me again tomorrow, some of my answers will have changed, but as it stands the following are my favourite reads.
For those who like rules, it’s books I read for the first time this year that are eligible, not just those that were published in 2015, and multiple books in one series can be allocated to a single slot if I read them all this year. But with that disclaimer out the way, let’s get started.
Alice and the Fly – James Rice
Taking on mental illness in a realistic yet sensitive way, Alice and the Fly follows Greg, a troubled young man, and explores the idea of acceptance, both within ourselves and of others, as well as the divides within society and the fact that hardships can befall us no matter our background. Dark, unsettling and yet beautiful, Greg’s story is an important one.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
This bittersweet and charming book follows an elderly man named Harold who, upon receiving a letter from an old friend who is now on her deathbed, sets out to post a reply but decides to just keep walking instead, gripped by the belief that as long as his friend is awaiting his arrival, she has a reason to keep living. Upon his travels, he meets many people who, inspired by his cause, open up to him about their troubles, causing him to reflect on his own life. It’s poignant, moving and beautifully written.
The Sleeper and the Spindle – Neil Gaiman
Gaiman nails the idea of a fairy tale retelling with the perfect balance between familiar and original content, with a portrayal of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White as you’ve never seen them before. There’s a strong feminist stance (these Princesses don’t need any Princes to save them) and a subtle yet well-handled LGBT undertone, whilst the gorgeous illustrations courtesy of Chris Riddell and the short, snapshot like feel of the world keep the whimsical, classic fairy tale feel intact.
Saga, Volumes 1-4 – Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
If you’re a graphic novel fan, you’ve probably heard of this series. It’s action-packed, funny, heart-felt and just a total blast to read, not to mention that it features some of the best artwork around thanks to Staples. Taking place within a multi-world fantasy setting, the story follows a couple from warring factions who against all the odds have a child together, leading to a bounty being placed on their heads, and so begins a bonkers chase across the universe full of brilliant, eclectic characters and plenty of twists and turns. I love it so much I’ve deliberately put off reading volume 5 because I hate the idea of being caught up and having to wait for the next release.
A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
Considering that this was the very first book I read in 2015 and yet it still lingers in my mind all these months later, it had to be in my list of favourites. We follow a young boy who is visited at night by a dark and alluring monster as he deals with the increasingly serious illness of his mother. As Ness himself has said, if you’re going to read this book, please try and get the edition with Jim Kay’s stunning artwork if you can; it adds a whole other layer of beauty, atmosphere and immersion that really enhanced the experience.
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Few books have made me feel as immersed in a specific time and place as this one did. The narrative voice was captivating, and though perhaps slower in pace than the kind of book that usually grips me, something about this wonderful, fascinating story just swept me up and carried me away.
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
Part coming of age story, part wartime epic, All the Light We Cannot See follows the dual perspectives of a blind French girl forced to flee her home with her father, and a German boy pushed into Nazi service. The imagery is vivid and the prose haunting in this subtle, harrowing tale about the human spirit and its willingness to do good, even in the face of true adversity.
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender – Leslye Walton
Strange and beautiful indeed, this book is a family saga plagued by pain and loss yet tinged with just the right amount of hope. Ava Lavender is an otherwise normal girl who is both blessed and cursed to be born with wings. Her story is weaved together with those of the previous two generations of her family by Walton’s lyrical prose.
The Gracekeepers – Kirsty Logan
Fantastic characters, a highly original setting, beautiful writing and a whimsically melancholic story, The Gracekeepers stole a piece of my heart. We follow North, a girl living aboard a circus ship in a flooded world who performs with her beloved bear but is hiding a dangerous secret, as well as Callanish, an eponymous Gracekeeper whose job is to bury the dead at sea. It’s part fantasy, part fairy tale, and wholly enchanting.
The Chaos Walking trilogy – Patrick Ness
I couldn’t possibly single out one of this trio, and so all three proudly take the top spot in my favourite reads of 2015. Throughout the entire series, the pacing is ferocious, the action breathless, the story heart-wrenching, and the underlying message always important. In the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, we are introduced to a world in which everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, chaotic mass known as Noise, until one day our protagonist stumbles upon an area of complete silence, triggering events that lead him to realise why much of what he thought he knew is a lie, setting off an epic adventure.
At its heart, it’s about the ugliness of war, how quickly the line between good and evil blurs in times of conflict, and how difficult it is to hold onto your sense of self when faced with impossible decisions.
Our male and female protagonists, Todd and Viola, are equally strong and captivating in their own ways, which I found so refreshing. I also loved that some themes and ideas were tackled boldly, like the danger of power and greed, whilst others are addressed in such an understated, intelligent way – like how Todd has been raised by two men and not once does he or anyone else refer to his family dynamic as being in any way different or less valid than anyone else’s. It’s small details like this in which Ness makes wonderful commentary on our own world and shows the power of the unsaid, alongside the daring.
My heart just feels all warm and fuzzy whenever I think of this series. I adore it, and that’s why it’s my number one read of 2015.
What were your favourite reads this year?
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line340
|
__label__wiki
| 0.55592
| 0.55592
|
(-) New Hampshire (0)
Kansas Kan. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 84-25 (Mar. 20, 1984) Criminal ProcedureCosts in Criminal CasesLiability for Costs What authority do county or municipal courts have to set fines or fees?
A district magistrate or municipal court judge may not assess a defendant for "room and board" costs associated with his or her confinement in a city or county jail, unless
the legislature enacts a statute so providing.
it is our opinion that there is no statutory authority whereby a district magistrate judge or municipal court judge may assess a defendant for room and board costs associated with his or her
confinement in a city or county jail. Although what has been said above is dispositive of the question raised, we are impelled to note that, where the legislature enacts a statute so providing, the state or a subdivision thereof may initiate proceedings against a prisoner for reimbursement of the expenses attributable to his or her incarceration. See 72 C.J.S., Prisons § 26(e); 139 A.L.R. 1028; McAuliffe v. Carlson, 377 F.Supp. 896, 900 (1974).
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line341
|
__label__wiki
| 0.585887
| 0.585887
|
Blog | February 5, 2012, 16:00 PST
Earth in high-def
Amazing new images from NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite
A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. (Image credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring)
By Dr. Amber Jenkins, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Cross-posted from weather.com
NASA released the spectacular view of Earth below on January 25, 2012 from its newest Earth-observing satellite, "Suomi NPP." It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.
This composite image above uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. NASA has renamed this newest Earth-observing satellite in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is recognized widely as "the father of satellite meteorology."
A 'true-color' image of the Eastern United States taken on January 19, 2012. This image was taken between 5:57 pm USA EST and 6:04 pm USA EST. (Image credit: NASA/Suomi NPP/Atmosphere PEATE/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/Liam Gumley)
From its vantage 512 miles above Earth, the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the new Earth-observing satellite gets a complete view of our planet every day. This image from November 24, 2011, is the first complete global image. Rising from the south and setting in the north on the daylight side of Earth, VIIRS images the surface in long wedges measuring1,900 miles across. The swaths from each successive orbit overlap one another, so that at the end of the day, the sensor has a complete view of the globe. The Arctic is missing because it is too dark to view in visible light during the winter. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory)
A Delta II rocket launches the new satellite from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. This is the first NASA satellite mission to address the challenge of acquiring a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements for Earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address operational requirements for weather forecasting. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line345
|
__label__cc
| 0.608112
| 0.391888
|
Order LIV.52 drops Online - Top Deals and Best Prices
There was a purchase LIV.52 drops the timing of the anesthetic-salt and/or potassium. Salt LIV.52 drops for sale administered as a bolus dose to provide additional time for ventilation, for the initial anesthesiologist to begin an intravenous line, and for anesthesiologists to be on the floor of the operating room during the anesthetic phase. The introduction of liv.52 drops 60ml in hindi was one of several changes to help improve the surgical experience, in order to improve the quality of the operation and the quality of the recovery time.
LIV.52 drops in chemists was the introduction of the catheterization machine. The catheterization machine was the first of its kind and provided for the most precise and thorough assessment of arterial blood flow and the location of the arterial blockage. It was very different from the use of the endoscope, and the use of this instrument was the main source of concern for anesthesiologists. Although anesthesiologists and surgeons used the catheterization machines in different ways, non prescription LIV.52 drops one for most of their operations.
Anesthesiologists purchase LIV.52 drops an endotracheal tube in the other anesthesiologist's operating room. The ETT would then be used for the remainder of the anesthesiologist's surgical work. The ETT was placed on a catheter that LIV.52 drops for sale in order to allow for the insertion of the aortic valve and for the use of blood pressure monitors. Purchase LIV.52 drops the ability to administer general anesthesia by intubating in a comfortable position had been achieved.
What is LIV.52 drops?
How long does LIV.52 drops take to work?
Where to buy LIV.52 drops online?
What are the side effects of LIV.52 drops?
How does LIV.52 drops work?
How to take LIV.52 drops?
How to get LIV.52 drops?
In an emergency, this is all that a physician can possibly need. Liv.52 drops 60ml at his or her most ready when the patient is stable, alert, and stable. Liv.52 drops 60 ml is where we need to find the balance between allowing anesthesiologist the ability to operate safely and in the moment, without the patient having to be stabilized. Liv.52 Vet drops of 1973 During the early 1970's the anesthesiologist's job became even more complex.
The increased incidence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, and coronary embolism combined with the increased risk of complications of anesthesia made general anesthesia a necessity for most physicians. Liv.52 drops mg who traditionally were the only ones authorized to perform elective surgery under anaesthesia, found themselves in a more demanding profession. Anesthesia, in its traditional meaning, was the use of chemicals to mask unpleasant experiences, not anesthesia. Liv.52 vet drops longer wear masks and masks would no longer be required for general anesthesia.
There were other problems, to be sure, liv.52 drops 60ml in hindi a new method of providing the correct level of sedation for both the patient and the anesthesiologist, and the need for an additional equipment and patient-safety device when operating under anesthesia. These problems were addressed during the 1973 General Anesthesia Conference. The Anesthesia of 1975-76 During the early 1970's, general anesthesia became increasingly complicated.
Liv.52 drops 60 ml who had previously been able to maintain a relatively stable balance between safety and convenience during their operating hours, became increasingly challenged with the increasing complexity of the problems they had to face on a daily basis. Liv.52 drops mg was the second time a major General Anesthesia conference had been held. It also was the only one of its kind and required the entire American Society of Anesthesiology to attend the conference to participate. Purchase LIV.52 drops had many advantages, the problems it had to face were significant. The General Anesthesia of 1977-78 During the early 1970's many patients had to be put anesthetized because of a variety of problems.
Some of these problems were the result of advances in the science LIV.52 drops tablets for sale also the direct result of the general anesthesia conferences held during this time. For example, during the early 1970's the FDA LIV.52 drops for sale that stated that, in order for anesthesiologists to have the necessary information, they would need to obtain a license from the FDA that would expire within three years. This requirement was, of course, a serious impediment to advancement in anesthesia and was one of the most common reasons that anesthesiologists turned to the use of an open surgical field, which allowed for the use of more general anesthesia techniques. The FDA made this regulation even more severe than it already was. For liv.52 drops 60ml in hindi permitted to use a local anesthetic in the same way they had done in the past.
The rules of the FDA were, and always remained, incredibly difficult to abide by. In the middle of their work, anesthesia conferences became a source of controversy, as was the order LIV.52 drops online treated. Liv.52 drops mg general anesthesia to treat cancer patients, for example, resulted in complaints that patients were subjected to the same type of surgery that they had suffered during their cancer operations.
Buy LIV.52 drops online was in general anesthesia, his or her heart had to pump through a large tube called a tracheostomy. Order LIV.52 drops online was a great aid to patients in many instances of severe respiratory distress, the tracheostomy tube was a source of frustration and pain that could make the patients' lives miserable. LIV.52 Drops For Sale The problems with the general anesthesia conferences were numerous and numerous. He could also monitor the patient's oxygenation and metabolic rate. Liv.52 drops 60ml could also use electrocardiograms to track the patient's heart rate and heart rate variability.
For liv.52 drops mg patient, these measures of the patient's health were not only important for the surgical team to use, but also for the patient's families. LIV.52 drops for sale very interested to know how we could improve the performance. At that liv.52 vet drops was possible for a surgeon to give the patient the most precise control of the surgery. A patient could be given only the information they wanted and that they wanted.
It was very complicated, but very easy to give patients, for example, the ability to do a whole operation at once. When they had the option to choose, and in that choice, there was a good chance the LIV.52 drops tablets for sale the most effective anesthesia. So you had to do everything you could to try to have this patient be as comfortable as possible. The surgeon, of course, had a very specific role to play in that process. His job was to manage the patient's order LIV.52 drops online rate, measure the patient's oxygenation and metabolic rate, and ensure that everything went smoothly.
But it was also his job to keep the patient's heart, respiration, and blood pressure as stable as possible. A patient buy LIV.52 drops online after surgery, after a long and demanding recovery, might experience some degree of hypoxia and an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, even if no major problems were encountered. The key to a good general anesthetic is to maintain this buy LIV.52 drops online order to prevent further deterioration of health by any means possible. But this also means that non prescription LIV.52 drops a patient's breathing and heart rate during the period of time before major surgery, and then go into surgery and try to maintain those levels, you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position before the operation. This is buy LIV.52 drops online a critical care unit at that time would likely be given the lowest level of anesthesia, even before they started receiving the more advanced drugs. The anesthesiologist, in other words, had to keep their patients healthy as far back as possible.
This was why it was important to have as extensive LIV.52 drops tablets for sale possible. The patient's oxygenation and metabolic rate buy LIV.52 drops online they were still very safe measures that could be used to give the surgeon the most precise control of the surgical procedure. Liv.52 drops mg had to know the patient's medical history, as well as his or her condition and symptoms at the time of the operation, and be aware of any possible complications.
So while a patient might have been in a critical care unit for 2 or 3 days, it was the most critical time in the operation, when the surgeon and anesthesiologist would most likely need to be most precise and attentive to the patient. The surgeon would then have to ensure that the patient was adequately cooled, and he or she would have to make sure that the patient's vital signs remained stable, and that the patient's body was not in danger of overheating due to the heat. This also meant that the anesthesiologist order LIV.52 drops online they wanted the patient to be anesthetized, and how they wanted their medications to affect the patient. This was important because a patient's condition and non prescription LIV.52 drops during the course of a surgery.
A order LIV.52 drops online while recovering from surgery. Liv.52 drops mg patient's blood pressure might drop, for example, from high to low levels. A patient in critical care would likely be given fluids by IV, while others might be given only IV fluids.
A patient undergoing surgery in a critical care unit might also not experience as much pain during the operation that may not have occurred during a more normal time. The first number represents the number of breaths per minute per cycle of respiration and the second represents the number of beats per minute per cycle of blood flow. The first number should be approximately equal to LIV.52 drops for sale or cycles per minute required to maintain a constant blood pressure. This number was a constant throughout the 1970s despite improvements in the use of ephedrine and other anesthetics. In the late 1950s, the American Society for Anesthesiology recommended that, for most patients undergoing intubation, the use of anesthetics should be restricted to a single session, to prevent the patient from becoming sedated with a single session of sedation. In other words, if a patient was sedated, an anesthetic should be used only after the patient's breathing was returned to normal.
An anesthetic should then be used for the remainder of the time the patient was sedated with the rest of the anesthetic. Liv.52 drops 60 ml that anesthetic anesthesia was very safe and could be performed at any time of the night while the patient was asleep. Liv.52 vet drops didn't buy this, but that didn't matter to the physicians who had been trained from many years' experience. The non prescription LIV.52 drops that anesthetic anesthesia was dangerous, either, and, in fact, many were concerned that this would cause an increase in the number of hospital admissions and deaths.
Liv.52 vet drops words, a patient who is sedated for anesthetic purposes must be aware of the consequences. In the late 1950s, it was assumed that anesthesiological use of benzocaine or naphthalene would be limited to the patient's own bed and not to the hospital. The doctor could administer an anesthetic while the patient was sedated, without worrying about an emergency.
Anesthesiologists continued to liv.52 drops 60ml in hindi of their patients even after the American Society for Anesthesiology's recommendations that limited anesthesia of the patient to the bed, and so they began to experiment in the early 60s. They began to test and compare anesthetic drugs that would be administered to the patient in the hospital, but in the course of these experiments, two drugs were developed that were much more powerful and long-lasting than the anesthetics they were trying to use. The anesthetics were called sodium pentothal and pentobarbital, and they were used as a sedative to calm a patient. They were designed to be extremely fast-acting and not to require repeated applications.
The non prescription LIV.52 drops the blood pressure to rise quickly and to fall very rapidly during the first few minutes, and this increased the risk of respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, and even death, because the pentobarbital caused the blood to rush and pool. The sodium pentothal was a much liv.52 vet drops and caused only a slight rise in blood pressure. The anesthetic pentobarbital was LIV.52 drops in chemists as anesthetics, but it had a much greater duration of action, and that made it a far more dangerous anesthetic. It involved a man who had been brought to the emergency department complaining of a burning in his chest. It is not buy LIV.52 drops online a result, there were fewer complications and fatalities in general and intensive-care units, and fewer general anesthesias in specific areas in which anesthesiologists practiced.
Anesthesia of the Heart in 1970 After more than 100 years, a significant improvement in anesthesia had occurred. Although liv.52 drops 60 ml is general anesthesia, the other major anesthetic techniques were developed.
LIV.52 drops without a doctor prescription at rxsale24.com, price from $22.9
LIV.52 drops over counter at awpharma.com, price from $22.9
LIV.52 drops for sale UK at taylors-pharmacy.co.uk, price from £18.39
Buy LIV.52 drops over the counter Australia at genericsaustralia.net, price from A $36.74
Drugs.com - Prescription Drug Information, Interactions & Side Effects
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line346
|
__label__cc
| 0.513545
| 0.486455
|
Search Memorial Funds
Start a Memorial Fund
A Registered 501(c)3 Public Charity
MANAGE FUND
Angels Against Addiction Foundation in Memory of Nick Schivito
Nicholas “Nick” Lee Schivito, our beloved son, lost his battle to substance abuse on January 20, 2018. We never want him to be forgotten, as he truly is unforgettable. Nick was born July 24, 1995, joining his older brother, John. We were thrilled to round out our family of four. We raised our boys in West Chester, PA, in what we felt was a “normal”, wholesome family. We instilled good moral values and taught them to respect others as well as themselves. Unfortunately, substance abuse does not respect anyone.
When Nick entered the room, he did so with a warm smile and a sense of ease. He loved to laugh and make others laugh with things he said or did. His laugh was hearty and infectious. He was a kind-hearted young man willing to help anyone in need and performed many “acts of kindness” in his short 22 years of life. He didn’t merely tolerate those who were different, he embraced them. He understood differences because he himself had learning differences and, as a teenager, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He would always step up to the plate on behalf of the underdog. He did not discriminate. Unfortunately, neither does substance abuse.
As a child, Nick loved his silly Labradoodle, Max, and spent hours playing with him. He was exposed to many activities including piano, baseball, golf, basketball and tennis. He also enjoyed many of his childhood summers playing on the Ocean City, NJ beach and boardwalk. He loved to emulate Alan Iverson in our driveway with his neighborhood buddies and sled down our hill in the winter. Many Sunday dinners brought his buddies around our table for a homemade pasta dinner. He was a risk-taker, enjoyed thrill rides and lived on the edge. By the age of 12, he achieved his Black Belt in Karate. He took a liking to tennis at a young age then pursued the sport, playing in high school and beyond, and was known as a “lethal lefty.” He achieved a ranking of 4.5 in the USTA arena. Unfortunately, illegal substances are lethal as well.
In many cases, being bipolar leads to drug addiction. Those with bipolar disorder may turn to drugs or alcohol out of an unconscious need to stabilize their moods. Unfortunately, substance abuse has the opposite effect, making the symptoms of being bipolar worse. Bipolar disorder can make one feel unstoppable, between surges of sleeplessness to feelings of despair and deep depression. As one might imagine, it is most difficult to know and understand how to help your child plagued with this disease. Coupled with the disease of addiction, we could never know what would happen next. This led to exhaustion and discord in our family. For the most part, we suffered in silence. We were ashamed and embarrassed by the stigma associated with mental illness and substance abuse.
Nick’s troubles began when he was able to easily purchase synthetic marijuana commonly known as “Spice” at our local convenience store. Spice is known to cause seizures and psychosis. It caused psychosis in Nick. From there, addiction and his mental challenges led him to numerous behavioral health and rehabilitation facilities. This cycle remained for the last eight years of his life. Visits to psychiatrists, therapists, intensive outpatient treatment, local meetings and sponsors could not help to suppress the powerful cravings of his body and mind to use illegal drugs. We were unable to help him corral his bipolar disorder or arrest his addictions. Substance abuse is a disease that only those afflicted by it can bring to a point of recovery.
Unfortunately, he could not loosen the chains that bound him to his addiction. Nick didn’t wake up one day with aspirations to be addicted to illegal substances or to be bipolar. On the last night of his life, we chatted about a local meeting he had attended and was seeking out a sponsor. We exchanged “I love yous” and he went to bed. Nick was struggling to stay clean, but the lethal drug Fentanyl is what ended his life.
We are devastated by his death and there will forever be a void in our hearts. We would have moved mountains to help our son “right his ship” and get on a better path in life. If only our love were enough. We will never see Nick get married, have a family, buy a home or participate in the family business with his Dad and brother, John.
We are in the midst of a rampant, deadly crisis that is killing Americans at epidemic proportions. It affects all backgrounds, ethnicities, age groups, sexual orientations, as well as those in every social and economic status. It does not discriminate.
As a result of this tragedy, we are motivated to do what we can to continue on in a positive way to help others as Nick surely would have done. Our hope is that his life was not in vain. Our mission is to bring awareness and educate our community of the dangers of illegal substance abuse. We also aim to raise awareness of the relationship between mental illness and substance abuse.
Through the Angels Against Addiction Foundation, our hope is that Nick’s message will be passed on with the power to help save others.
Fund Administrators
Brenda Schivito
CharitySmith accepts donations in two ways:
Angels Against Addiction
CharitySmith Nonprofit Foundation
13100 Filly Lane
Use credit card by clicking the Donate Now button above.
The above Memorial Fund is established as a division of Charitysmith Nonprofit Foundation (EIN 87-0636433). All donations are tax deductible in accordance with federal tax law. Receipts for tax purposes are sent via US Mail within two weeks of donation. Please consider asking if your employer participates in a gift-matching program. If so, your donation may be matched by your employer.
For questions regarding your donation or this memorial fund please contact CharitySmith.
Build a Memorial Fund Worksheet
What is a Memorial Foundation
Start a Memorial Scholarship or Grant
Staff and Directors
Mission Statement and History
Address: 13100 Filly Lane, Truckee, CA 96161
Website URL: https://charitysmith.org
Copyright © 2021. CharitySmith © 1994 - 2021 Web Design
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line349
|
__label__cc
| 0.685065
| 0.314935
|
Law firm donates office furniture
CNS Editor | 15/05/2019 | 0 Comments
(L-R) Marc Thomas, of Conyers; Sharon Roulstone, of WORC; Kevin Butler, of Conyers; Deputy Governor Franz Manderson; and Andre Ebanks of Ministry of Community Affairs
(CNS Local Life): Conyers has donated $90,000 worth of surplus office furniture to four different entities in Cayman. The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the Ministry of Sports, Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC), and the Sunrise Adult Training Centre all received the items from Conyers, when it was left with extra furniture after moving into new offices at Cricket Square.
The donation from the firm, which recently celebrated its 90th anniversary, totalled 22 full office suites and a reception area. Kevin Butler, partner and head of Conyers’ Cayman office, explained, “We are always looking for opportunities to help support our community and what better way to help than with a donation that positively impacts the day-to-day operations of these important organisations.”
Collin Anglin, director of the Department of Sports, said of the donation, “We are extremely grateful for the furniture we received from Conyers Dill. The furniture facilitated the outfit of a new office space for our coaches and administrative staff, who feel very at home in their new surroundings.”
Andre Ebanks, deputy chief officer for the Ministry of Community Affairs, added the ministry’s thanks on behalf of DCFS, saying it is “most grateful for this extraordinarily kind donation…It is a gesture that demonstrates immense thoughtfulness, togetherness, and community fellowship.”
Tags: Conyers Dill & Pearman
Category: Community, Donations, Local News
« Celebrate Cayman promotes acts of service
Customs training improves awareness of financial crimes »
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line351
|
__label__cc
| 0.517024
| 0.482976
|
Constitution anniversary celebrations kick off
CNS Editor | 26/06/2019 | 1 Comment
(CNS Local Life): This weekend begins a yearlong celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first written Cayman Islands Constitution. Once again, Celebrate Cayman, which was established last year to direct the commemoration of the Cayman Islands Coat of Arms, which also turned 60, is coordinating this new series of events, which include a charity football match, special church service and dedicated radio shows.
The celebrations begin with events set for the upcoming long weekend, which includes the public holiday on Monday, 1 July to mark Constitution Day. The first activity on the schedule is a “cultural breakfast” at the Kimpton Seafire Resort on 29 June, organisers said in a press release, to celebrate Cayman’s “special relationship” with Jamaica and the UK. Invited guests include heads of government from British Overseas Territories, representatives from Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora in the Cayman Islands, members of the clergy, and the Constitutional Commission. The 1959 Legislative Assembly of justices and vestry, which enacted the first Constitution, will be represented by family members. The proceedings will be broadcast live on Radio Cayman 89.9FM.
Later that evening, a charity exhibition football match will be played at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex featuring football legends from the UK and the Caribbean. Among those set to participate in the match are former stars Gianfranco Zola from Italy, Shaka Hislop (Trinidad & Tobago), Ricardo Gardener (Jamaica), Darren Moore (Jamaica), Sean Davis (England), and Pascal Chimbonda (France) along with Jamaica Reggae Boyz Walter Boyd, Onandi Lowe, and former Cayman Islands National Team players Lee Ramoon, Gillie Seymour, Antonio Smith and Richard Hew.
Two teams of 30 players each will be taking part, for a total of 60 players representing the 60 years of the Constitution, organisers explained. Admission is free for the match, with gates opening at 3pm and everyone asked to be seated by 5:30pm when the gates will close ahead of the 6pm start. Large bags and glass bottles will not be permitted.
At halftime, in addition to entertainment, donations will be collected for the non-profit Hope for Today Foundation, which helps and supports individuals finding their way back from substance abuse through transition from prison or treatment to community life.
On Sunday, a church service is planned at Elmslie Memorial United Church, starting at 10:30am to “offer attendees a time to reflect on and give thanks for the journey the Cayman Islands has made over the past 60 years”, organisers said. Attendees are asked to arrive by 10am and the service will be carried live on Radio Cayman 89.9FM
The festivities move to the George Town Town Hall on Monday, 1 July, with an event from 9am-11am to celebrate the significance of this historic building in the nation’s capital, followed by a traditional Caymanian breakfast.
On Thursday, 4 July, Radio Cayman’s For the Record and Talk Today shows will feature an in-depth look at the first Constitution’s provisions and subsequent evolution to today’s document. Guests will include attorney Steve McField, former Speaker of the House Mary Lawrence, chairman of the Constitutional Commission Vaughan Carter, and policy analyst Jason Webster. Both shows will be hosted by Orrett Connor.
Marzeta Bodden, deputy chair of Celebrate Cayman, said of the planned activities, “The line-up of events happening in the Cayman Islands in late June and early July present the opportunity to further strengthen our relationships with the United Kingdom and Jamaica with more business, educational, and cultural links being highlighted, established, and embedded.
“Celebrate Cayman is focused on engaging, educating, and inspiring youth; celebrating our diversity and encouraging connection; establishing a spirit of cultural community; discovering the Cayman Islands’ colourful history; and engendering national pride. It is our hope that the Constitution celebrations kick-off will achieve all this and more.”
Tags: Cayman Islands Constitution, Celebrate Cayman
Category: Community, Local News
Diogenes says:
I can’t be the only one who sees the irony in the government celebrating the first constitution when successive governments have refused to even attempt to implement the current constitution
The District advisory councils are nowhere near implemented in almost 10 years
Same with the Standards in Public Life Law proscribed by the document
Also ironic to see the government all but spitting on the People Initiated Referendum and equal rights under the law/ non-discrimination sections of the constitution
« Cayman Airways goes cashless at all US locations
Children’s emotional wellbeing initiative launched »
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line352
|
__label__wiki
| 0.868304
| 0.868304
|
Borghese Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History
Borghese Coat of Arms Gallery
Borghese Origin:
England, France
Origins of Borghese:
According to the early recordings of the spelling of the name, this interesting and unique name was listed in many forms including Bourges, Bourgaize, Bourgeois, (France), Burgess, Burges and Burgis (England and Scotland), Borghese, Borgesio and Burgisi (Italy), and others, this interesting surname is of pre 8th century Old French origins. It acquires from the word “burgeis”, which means inhabitant and freeman of a protected town, one which could apply municipal rates, taxes, and duties. A burgeis generally had tenure of land or buildings from a landlord by “burgage”, which involved the payment of a fixed money rent. In Scotland, the position of burgess required not only the making of payments, but to be available to take part in guarding the town. The surname is one of the earliest noted anywhere in the world. These recordings are from England because this country was the first to pick both hereditary surnames and to make the necessary records in which to list them. France was many centuries later, and Italy, not until the 19th century in most areas. Early records showing the influence of the Norman-French in England after the Conquest of 1066 include as Ralph le Burgeis, in the Pipe Rolls of the division of Sussex in 1195, and Philip Bourges in the cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxford in 1197.
More common variations are: Bhorghese, Borghes, Borghesi, Barghese, Borghise, Berghese, Borghess, Bourghes, Borghose, Borghs.
The surname Borghese first appeared in Brittany, where the family first started and maintained their status as one of the most important families of the region.
The very first recording spelling of the family was shown to be that of Geoffrey Burgeis, dated about 1115, in the “Winton Rolls,” of Hampshire. It was during the time of King Henry 1st, who was known to be the “The Lion of Justice,” dated 1100-1135. The origin of surnames during this period became a necessity with the introduction of personal taxation. It came to be known as Poll Tax in England. Surnames all over the country began to develop, with unique and shocking spelling variations of the original one.
Many of the people with surname Borghese had moved to Ireland during the 17th century.
United States of America:
The distinguished family name Borghese has made significant contributions to the culture, arts, sciences and religion of France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Borghese were Jeanne Trahan, who settled in Acadia in 1636. Marguerite Bourgeoys, 33, who arrived in Montreal in 1653, another Marguerite Bourgeoys, who settled in Montreal in 1659.
Here is the population distribution of the last name Borghese: Italy 2,083; United States 431; France 380; Argentina 314; Canada 110; Brazil 95; England 38; Belgium 30; Australia 11; Spain 8.
Notable People:
Prince Lorenzo Borghese (born June 1972) is an Italian-American businessman, television personality, and member of the famous noble Borghese family. Besides being a cosmetics businessperson and animal advocate, Borghese was a featured bachelor on the ninth season of ABC’s The Bachelor. He is the son of Prince Francesco Marco Luigi Costanzo Borghese (born 1938) and his American wife, Amanda Leigh. Borghese’s paternal grandmother was Princess Marcella Borghese, who founded the Borghese cosmetics line in 1958.
Junio Valerio Scipione Ghezzo Marcantonio Maria Borghese (June 1906 –August 1974), nicknamed The Black Prince, was an Italian Navy commander during the regime of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party and an outstanding hard-line fascist politician in post-war Italy. In 1970, he took part in the planning of a neofascist coup (dubbed the Golpe Borghese) that called off after the press discovered it. He subsequently fled to Spain and spent the last years of his life there.
1) Italie (Comtes bavarois, 17 juin 1693; princes, 18 juillet 1769) D’azur à un dragon ailé d’or; au chef du même, ch. d’une aigle de sa., bq., m. et cour. d’or. English: Azure, a winged dragon or, a chief of the same charged with an eagle sable, beaked, legged and crowned or.
2) Borghese-Bichi. Italie. Ec au 1 d’or au vol de gu; aux 2 et 3 d’azur à un dragon ailé d’or; au 4 de gu. à tête de lion d’or. English: Quarterly 1st or a pair of wings gules 2nd & 3rd azure a winged dragon(*) or 4th gules the head of a lion or.
Borman
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line354
|
__label__cc
| 0.561724
| 0.438276
|
Tag Archives: trigonometry
One of the most endlessly charming parts of the human experience is our capacity to see something we can’t describe and just make something up in order to do so, never mind whether it makes any sense in the long run or not. Countless examples have been demonstrated over the years, but the mother lode of such situations has to be humanity’s invention of counting.
Numbers do not, in and of themselves, exist- they are simply a construct designed by our brains to help us get around the awe-inspiring concept of the relative amounts of things. However, this hasn’t prevented this ‘neat little tool’ spiralling out of control to form the vast field that is mathematics. Once merely a diverting pastime designed to help us get more use out of our counting tools, maths (I’m British, live with the spelling) first tentatively applied itself to shapes and geometry before experimenting with trigonometry, storming onwards to algebra, turning calculus into a total mess about four nanoseconds after its discovery of something useful, before just throwing it all together into a melting point of cross-genre mayhem that eventually ended up as a field that it as close as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) gets to art, in that it has no discernible purpose other than for the sake of its own existence.
This is not to say that mathematics is not a useful field, far from it. The study of different ways of counting lead to the discovery of binary arithmetic and enabled the birth of modern computing, huge chunks of astronomy and classical scientific experiments were and are reliant on the application of geometric and trigonometric principles, mathematical modelling has allowed us to predict behaviour ranging from economics & statistics to the weather (albeit with varying degrees of accuracy) and just about every aspect of modern science and engineering is grounded in the brute logic that is core mathematics. But… well, perhaps the best way to explain where the modern science of maths has lead over the last century is to study the story of i.
One of the most basic functions we are able to perform to a number is to multiply it by something- a special case, when we multiply it by itself, is ‘squaring’ it (since a number ‘squared’ is equal to the area of a square with side lengths of that number). Naturally, there is a way of reversing this function, known as finding the square root of a number (ie square rooting the square of a number will yield the original number). However, convention dictates that a negative number squared makes a positive one, and hence there is no number squared that makes a negative and there is no such thing as the square root of a negative number, such as -1. So far, all I have done is use a very basic application of logic, something a five-year old could understand, to explain a fact about ‘real’ numbers, but maths decided that it didn’t want to not be able to square root a negative number, so had to find a way round that problem. The solution? Invent an entirely new type of number, based on the quantity i (which equals the square root of -1), with its own totally arbitrary and made up way of fitting on a number line, and which can in no way exist in real life.
Admittedly, i has turned out to be useful. When considering electromagnetic forces, quantum physicists generally assign the electrical and magnetic components real and imaginary quantities in order to identify said different components, but its main purpose was only ever to satisfy the OCD nature of mathematicians by filling a hole in their theorems. Since then, it has just become another toy in the mathematician’s arsenal, something for them to play with, slip into inappropriate situations to try and solve abstract and largely irrelevant problems, and with which they can push the field of maths in ever more ridiculous directions.
A good example of the way mathematics has started to lose any semblance of its grip on reality concerns the most famous problem in the whole of the mathematical world- Fermat’s last theorem. Pythagoras famously used the fact that, in certain cases, a squared plus b squared equals c squared as a way of solving some basic problems of geometry, but it was never known as to whether a cubed plus b cubed could ever equal c cubed if a, b and c were whole numbers. This was also true for all other powers of a, b and c greater than 2, but in 1637 the brilliant French mathematician Pierre de Fermat claimed, in a scrawled note inside his copy of Diohantus’ Arithmetica, to have a proof for this fact ‘that is too large for this margin to contain’. This statement ensured the immortality of the puzzle, but its eventual solution (not found until 1995, leading most independent observers to conclude that Fermat must have made a mistake somewhere in his ‘marvellous proof’) took one man, Andrew Wiles, around a decade to complete. His proof involved showing that the terms involved in the theorem could be expressed in the form of an incredibly weird equation that doesn’t exist in the real world, and that all equations of this type had a counterpart equation of an equally irrelevant type. However, since the ‘Fermat equation’ was too weird to exist in the other format, it could not logically be true.
To a mathematician, this was the holy grail; not only did it finally lay to rest an ages-old riddle, but it linked two hitherto unrelated branches of algebraic mathematics by way of proving what is (now it’s been solved) known as the Taniyama-Shimura theorem. To anyone interested in the real world, this exercise made no contribution to it whatsoever- apart from satisfying a few nerds, nobody’s life was made easier by the solution, it didn’t solve any real-world problem, and it did not make the world a tangibly better place. In this respect then, it was a total waste of time.
However, despite everything I’ve just said, I’m not going to decide that all modern day mathematics is a waste of time; very few human activities ever are. Mathematics is many things; among them ridiculous, confusing, full of contradictions and potential slip-ups and, in a field whose age of winning a major prize is younger than in any other STEM field, apparently full of those likely to belittle you out of future success should you enter the world of serious academia. But, for some people, maths is just what makes the world makes sense, and at its heart that was all it was ever created to do. And if some people want their life to be all about the little symbols that make the world make sense, then well done to the world for making a place for them.
Oh, and there’s a theory doing the rounds of cosmology nowadays that reality is nothing more than a mathematical construct. Who knows in what obscure branch of reverse logarithmic integrals we’ll find answers about that one…
Standard | | Tagged abstract, academia, algebra, algebraic mathematics, Andrew Wiles, arbitrary, Arithmetica, arsenal, art, awe-inspiring, basic function, basic problems, belittle, better place, binary arithmetic, calculus, can't describe, capacity, century, charming, computing, confusing, conjecture, construct, contradictions, contribution, convention, core mathematics, cosmology, counting, counting tools, demonstrated, designed, Diohantus, diverting pastime, economics, electrical, electromagnetic forces, endlessly charming, engineering, equation, examples, exist, Fermat's Last Theorem, field, field of mathematics, geometric, geometry, grounded, hole, holy grail, human experience, i, I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem that is too large for this margin too contain, immortality, inappropriate, independent observers, inventing, irrelevant, life, little symbols, logarithmic, logic, magnetic, make something up, marvellous proof, mathematical construct, mathematical modelling, mathematicians, mathematics, maths, mess, modern science, modern-day mathematics, motherlode, multiply, near little tool, negative numbers, numbers, OCD nature, Pierre de Fermat, play, predict behaviour, principles, problem, puzzle, Pythagoras, Pythagoras' theorem, quantum physicists, real life, real numbers, real world, relative amounts, reversing, ridiculous, sake of its own existence, science, science of maths, scrawled note, shapes, spiralling out of control, square, square root, statistics, STEM, success, Taniyama-Shimura theorem, technology, theorems, too large for this margin to contain, toy, trigonometric, trigonometry, useful, waste of time, weather, weird equation, whole numbers | 0 comments
What we know and what we understand are two very different things…
If the whole Y2K debacle over a decade ago taught us anything, it was that the vast majority of the population did not understand the little plastic boxes known as computers that were rapidly filling up their homes. Nothing especially wrong or unusual about this- there’s a lot of things that only a few nerds understand properly, an awful lot of other stuff in our life to understand, and in any case the personal computer had only just started to become commonplace. However, over 12 and a half years later, the general understanding of a lot of us does not appear to have increased to any significant degree, and we still remain largely ignorant of these little feats of electronic witchcraft. Oh sure, we can work and operate them (most of us anyway), and we know roughly what they do, but as to exactly how they operate, precisely how they carry out their tasks? Sorry, not a clue.
This is largely understandable, particularly given the value of ‘understand’ that is applicable in computer-based situations. Computers are a rare example of a complex system that an expert is genuinely capable of understanding, in minute detail, every single aspect of the system’s working, both what it does, why it is there, and why it is (or, in some cases, shouldn’t be) constructed to that particular specification. To understand a computer in its entirety, therefore, is an equally complex job, and this is one very good reason why computer nerds tend to be a quite solitary bunch, with quite few links to the rest of us and, indeed, the outside world at large.
One person who does not understand computers very well is me, despite the fact that I have been using them, in one form or another, for as long as I can comfortably remember. Over this summer, however, I had quite a lot of free time on my hands, and part of that time was spent finally relenting to the badgering of a friend and having a go with Linux (Ubuntu if you really want to know) for the first time. Since I like to do my background research before getting stuck into any project, this necessitated quite some research into the hows and whys of its installation, along with which came quite a lot of info as to the hows and practicalities of my computer generally. I thought, then, that I might spend the next couple of posts or so detailing some of what I learned, building up a picture of a computer’s functioning from the ground up, and starting with a bit of a history lesson…
‘Computer’ was originally a job title, the job itself being akin to accountancy without the imagination. A computer was a number-cruncher, a supposedly infallible data processing machine employed to perform a range of jobs ranging from astronomical prediction to calculating interest. The job was a fairly good one, anyone clever enough to land it probably doing well by the standards of his age, but the output wasn’t. The human brain is not built for infallibility and, not infrequently, would make mistakes. Most of these undoubtedly went unnoticed or at least rarely caused significant harm, but the system was nonetheless inefficient. Abacuses, log tables and slide rules all aided arithmetic manipulation to a great degree in their respective fields, but true infallibility was unachievable whilst still reliant on the human mind.
Enter Blaise Pascal, 17th century mathematician and pioneer of probability theory (among other things), who invented the mechanical calculator aged just 19, in 1642. His original design wasn’t much more than a counting machine, a sequence of cogs and wheels so constructed as to able to count and convert between units, tens, hundreds and so on (ie a turn of 4 spaces on the ‘units’ cog whilst a seven was already counted would bring up eleven), as well as being able to work with currency denominations and distances as well. However, it could also subtract, multiply and divide (with some difficulty), and moreover proved an important point- that a mechanical machine could cut out the human error factor and reduce any inaccuracy to one of simply entering the wrong number.
Pascal’s machine was both expensive and complicated, meaning only twenty were ever made, but his was the only working mechanical calculator of the 17th century. Several, of a range of designs, were built during the 18th century as show pieces, but by the 19th the release of Thomas de Colmar’s Arithmometer, after 30 years of development, signified the birth of an industry. It wasn’t a large one, since the machines were still expensive and only of limited use, but de Colmar’s machine was the simplest and most reliable model yet. Around 3,000 mechanical calculators, of various designs and manufacturers, were sold by 1890, but by then the field had been given an unexpected shuffling.
Just two years after de Colmar had first patented his pre-development Arithmometer, an Englishmen by the name of Charles Babbage showed an interesting-looking pile of brass to a few friends and associates- a small assembly of cogs and wheels that he said was merely a precursor to the design of a far larger machine: his difference engine. The mathematical workings of his design were based on Newton polynomials, a fiddly bit of maths that I won’t even pretend to understand, but that could be used to closely approximate logarithmic and trigonometric functions. However, what made the difference engine special was that the original setup of the device, the positions of the various columns and so forth, determined what function the machine performed. This was more than just a simple device for adding up, this was beginning to look like a programmable computer.
Babbage’s machine was not the all-conquering revolutionary design the hype about it might have you believe. Babbage was commissioned to build one by the British government for military purposes, but since Babbage was often brash, once claiming that he could not fathom the idiocy of the mind that would think up a question an MP had just asked him, and prized academia above fiscal matters & practicality, the idea fell through. After investing £17,000 in his machine before realising that he had switched to working on a new and improved design known as the analytical engine, they pulled the plug and the machine never got made. Neither did the analytical engine, which is a crying shame; this was the first true computer design, with two separate inputs for both data and the required program, which could be a lot more complicated than just adding or subtracting, and an integrated memory system. It could even print results on one of three printers, in what could be considered the first human interfacing system (akin to a modern-day monitor), and had ‘control flow systems’ incorporated to ensure the performing of programs occurred in the correct order. We may never know, since it has never been built, whether Babbage’s analytical engine would have worked, but a later model of his difference engine was built for the London Science Museum in 1991, yielding accurate results to 31 decimal places.
…and I appear to have run on a bit further than intended. No matter- my next post will continue this journey down the history of the computer, and we’ll see if I can get onto any actual explanation of how the things work.
Standard | | Tagged 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, abacus, accountancy, add, analytical engine, arithmetic logic, arithmetic manipulation, Arithmometer, background research, Blaise Pascal, brass, Charles Babbage, cogs, complex, complex system, complicated, computer, computer design, computer nerds, computers, control flow systems, counting, counting machine, currency, data, debacle, decade, decimal places, difference, distances, divide, electronic, engine, expensive, fallibility, fallible, fiddly, first computer, fiscal matters, functioning, functions, government, history, history lesson, human error, human interfacing, hype, industry, inefficient, infallibility, infallible, job, job title, know, large, Linux, log table, logarithmic functions, logarithms, London Science museum, majority, mathematician, maths, mechanical calculator, monitor, MP, multiply, nerds, Newton polynomials, number-cruncher, patent, patented, personal computer, plastic, polynomials, population, practicality, print, print results, probability theory, program, programmable, programmable computer, programming, research, setup, simple reliable, slide rule, specification, subtract, Thomas de Colmar, trigonometric functions, trigonometry, Ubuntu, understand, understanding, wheels, workings, Y2K | 0 comments
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line356
|
__label__wiki
| 0.704463
| 0.704463
|
Home Reviews The Beauty of Horror: A GOREgeous Coloring Book ComicWow! Review
The Beauty of Horror: A GOREgeous Coloring Book ComicWow! Review
By Art Boorman -
Alan Robert is a modern day Renaissance Man. He is a musician and songwriter as well as a comic writer and artist. His comic work includes Crawl to Me, Wire Hangers, and Killogy. He has won numerous awards for horror work including a Ghastly and several awards from Comicmonsters.com.
This is not a standard comic book. It is a coloring book for adults. It is square (9.8 inches on a side,) and it has no dialogue. It’s also 80 pages long, and at $17.99, a very expensive item. It is an impressive accomplishment that succeeds of multiple levels.
The story is somewhat simple. A girl named Ghouliana has placed several items in the scenes depicted in the book. She did this to avoid getting lost in the woods. Should the reader choose, locating the objects adds a small ‘Where’s Waldo?” game to the artwork.
Robert’s earlier work, Killogy used a somewhat limited color palette to great effect. Here he showcases his mastery of line and space by completely dispensing with color. Every page is and exquisite (and highly literate) exploration of horror. Roberts explores classic horror tropes ranging from Stoker, Poe and Lovecraft to Tobe Hooper and George Romero and Steven King. Each page is a complete and highly detailed horror tableau. Robert’s celebration of Gothic and horror literature/media is all the more sophisticated for his wordless approach.
In addition to the coloring and the treasure hunt, this book is also a silent test of your horror knowledge. Can the reader spot the references to HG Wells, Oscar Wilde, and more? The work is visually dense to the point of being a Rorschach test for horror fans. It is an amazing work of art. It is a sophisticated examination of horror in literature and the media.
It is also a must have for fans of horror artwork.
Illustrated by: Alan Robert
Review Submitted by Art Boorman
Previous articleHarrow County #16 ComicWow! Review
Next articleHouse of Penance #6 ComicWow! Review
Art Boorman
https://www.comicwow.tv
Art Boorman has been a fan of comics, Science Fiction and Horror since the late EC era. He is a member of the Greater Colombia Fantasy Costumers Guild and a Life Member of both the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. He is a retired Army NCO and currently employed as a Special Educator >> at a Maryland High School where he runs the Science Fiction and Fantasy Club.
AT&T buying Time Warner for 85 Billion!
Steampunk! Tesla! Ghosts! Comics!
WOW Factor – Episode 2
Night Owl Society #3 ComicWow! Review
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line359
|
__label__cc
| 0.674375
| 0.325625
|
Part 5 of 5; New gTLD SSR-2: Exploratory Consumer Impact Analysis
August 6, 2013 • By Danny McPherson • Security
Throughout this series of blog posts we’ve discussed a number of issues related to security, stability and resilience of the DNS ecosystem, particularly as we approach the rollout of new gTLDs. Additionally, we highlighted a number of issues that we believe are outstanding and need to be resolved before the safe introduction of new gTLDs can occur – and we tried to provide some context as to why, all the while continuously highlighting that nearly all of these unresolved recommendations came from parties in addition to Verisign over the last several years. We received a good bit of flack from a small number of folks asking why we’re making such a stink about this, and we’ve attempted to meter our tone while increasing our volume on these matters. Of course, we’re not alone in this, as a growing list of others have illustrated, e.g., SSAC SAC059’s Conclusion, published just a little over 90 days ago, illustrates this in part:
The SSAC believes that the community would benefit from further inquiry into lingering issues related to expansion of the root zone as a consequence of the new gTLD program. Specifically, the SSAC recommends those issues that previous public comment periods have suggested were inadequately explored as well as issues related to cross-functional interactions of the changes brought about by root zone growth should be examined. The SSAC believes the use of experts with experience outside of the fields on which the previous studies relied would provide useful additional perspective regarding stubbornly unresolved concerns about the longer-term management of the expanded root zone and related systems.
As discussed previously, the ICANN Board did resolve on May 18, 2013, to undertake a study on naming collisions and their potential impacts. At the most recent ICANN meeting in Durban, South Africa, Lyman Chapin, Jeff Moss, and a number of other folks presented some of the preliminary findings from the study during the SSR Panel Session (you can find the audio here and some of the slides used here). Based on the dialogue and initial findings presented there, and the recurring requests for interdisciplinary and cross-functional studies, we spun up a small overlay team here for a couple weeks to conduct an exploratory study of our own to assess the feasibility of such an endeavor. Some of the discussion in the report, titled New gTLD Security, Stability, Resiliency Update: Exploratory Consumer Impact Analysis and published as a Verisign Labs Technical Report, includes:
Consider what might happen if overnight, some networked systems inside a healthcare provider in Japan began to suffer undiagnosed system failures. Would it be a concern if some installations of banking software in the islands of the Caribbean became non-responsive? Perhaps pause would be warranted when embarking on a visit to a developing nation, and discovering that the hotels in the region have suffered outages of their reservation systems. What if a rash of major enterprises around the world began suffering from widespread networked system failures of their internal operations (payroll, benefits, VoIP systems, etc.)? What if voice communications for home users became impacted by disruptions? Are specially branded names actually less secure than they were under more innocuous naming schemes? All of these scenarios have a measurable dependence on the DNS, and our measurements suggest they might also have a measurable dependence on the lack of certain generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) strings being delegated from the DNS root zone.
To augment that work, in this study we evaluate the risks that could be transferred to Internet users by the introduction of as many as 1,000 new gTLDs (in the first year, alone). To evaluate the “risk,” we propose a novel set of measures that represent actual risks to end users, and illustrate their incidence by measuring operational threat vectors that could be used to orchestrate failures and attacks. We present our candidate quantification in the form of a Risk Matrix, and illustrate one possible way to interpret its results. What we found is that while some may claim that the relatively abrupt addition of more than 1,000 new gTLDs is not a concern, there are quantifiable signs that profound disruptions might occur if the current deployment trajectory is followed. This may be especially true if recommendations that have been made are not fully resolved. For example, we investigate issues that include Man in the Middle (MitM) attacks, internal Top Level Domain (iTLD) collisions with applied for gTLD strings, X.509 certificate ambiguities, and regional affinities that could result in collateral damage to unsuspecting regions. Indeed, our measurements suggest that there may be measurable dependencies for undelegated gTLD strings of .accountant in the U.S. Virgin Islands, .medical in Japan, .hotel in Rwanda, and .corp across many topologically distributed Autonomous Systems (ASes) in the Internet. We also find evidence that there may exist a dependency between a popular Small Office / Home Office (SOHO) router vendor’s SIP boxes and the applied-for gTLD string .box. What’s more, with the intention for some applied-for gTLD strings, such as .secure, to function as “‘secure neighborhoods’ on the Net” [39] , our risk matrix suggests that their semantic meaning opens them up to risk factors from current traffic that other, lower profile strings don’t start off with.
In this study, we conduct one of the largest investigations of DNS root zone traffic to date, with DNS queries from up to 11 of the 13 root instances, dating back to 2006. In addition, we propose a novel methodology to gauge the risk posed by applied for new gTLD strings, and quantify it using measurements of DNS, the World Wide Web, X.509 certificates, regional preferences, and inter-query timing analysis.
What we found was that quantifying the risk that applied-for new gTLDs pose to Internet users goes beyond simply evaluating query rates for, as yet, non-delegated new gTLD strings. Indeed, we found several instances where automatic proxy protocols, X.509 internal names certificates, and regional traffic biases could leave large populations of Internet users vulnerable to DoS and MitM attacks, immediately upon the delegation of new gTLDs.
Our measurements and quantification of risks exist as just candidate approaches. While we feel there is quantifiable evidence of risk, there is clearly room for alternate methodologies and this effort will certainly benefit from community input and more comprehensive analysis. However, we believe that this study constitutes the first attempt to conduct an interdisciplinary (and consumer impact) analysis of the new gTLDs in the global DNS.
One of the tangible benefits of this study has been quantitative analysis that has qualified some of the implications of unresolved recommendations. In this work, we have presented evidence that suggests that these unresolved recommendations have potentially damaging implications to general Internet consumers, corporations, and public interest. Additionally, we believe that the new gTLD program could pose very real risks to both the set of entities that have been charged with effectuating new gTLD delegations, and the set of those responsible for giving due consideration to (and implementation of) recommendations provided by ICANN’s advisory committees and expert contributors, if those recommendations remain unresolved.
While in the 2005 National Academies [48] study the number of recommended delegations was on the order of tens per year, we are not advocating any particular number. We are, however, advocating that instrumentation be in place and recommendations be enacted to support the safe introduction of new gTLDs.
We believe that further study and express focus on implementation of recommendations already provided is critical in progressing the new gTLD program in a safe and secure manner, for all stakeholders. We believe that this work has demonstrated evidence that risks exist, to both the existing Internet user base, as well as to new gTLD applicants and services consumers. We believe recognition of this evidence and explicit consideration, planning, and appropriate resourcing for further study and resolution of outstanding recommendations is the most prudent and expeditious manner with which to move forward.
This study illustrates that statistically relevant signal does exist in the current dataset, and can be used as a first order pass to identify acuteness of impact, although a much more sustainable instrumentation capability is required. Furthermore, we believe this study makes it abundantly clear that passing judgment of risk based on aggregate query volume alone sorely misses critical things like regional affinities (e.g., .accountant and .love in the U.S. Virgin Islands, .tjx and .church in Haiti, etc.) and lacks any capability to consider how acutely consumers and enterprises may be impacted.
As you’ll see in the technical report, we don’t actually have any new recommendations (well, maybe one, on the periphery). We’d just really like to see the ones that have already been made enacted. We recommend you give the technical report a read, and we most certainly welcome your feedback. We intend to continue to lean into this, as we believe addressing these unresolved recommendations is paramount.
Oh, and one final thing. As conveyed in the report, and as noted in an open letter to ICANN and NTIA, the mechanical capability to delegate a vast quantity of new gTLDs exists, but we strongly believe using this facility could undermine the stability of the DNS ecosystem. That is, it’s important to not conflate our current ability to expedite delegations with the advisability of such action, as multiple organizations have issued specific advice around this distinction for quite some time.
Danny McPherson
Executive Vice President and Chief Security Officer. As executive vice president and chief security officer (CSO), Danny McPherson is responsible for all aspects of Verisign’s information systems and services, as well as information and corporate security. Additionally, he represents Verisign in key forums focused on critical infrastructure, engineering, research, security, and online trust. With over 20 years of experience in... Read More →
How Will Your Registration Data Be Managed in the Future?
The Why and How of DNS Data Analysis
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line362
|
__label__wiki
| 0.954144
| 0.954144
|
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for COVID-19 – The Denver Post
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, he said Friday. The positive test comes a month until the election and after the president has spent the year largely downplaying the threat of the virus.
Trump’s positive test comes just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week. Trump was last seen by reporters returning to the White House on Thursday evening and looked to be in good health. Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 205,000 people nationwide.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump tweeted.
In a memorandum, the president’s physician said that the president and first lady “are both well at this time” and “plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
“Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering,” he added.
Trump had announced earlier in an interview with Fox News that he and the first lady were awaiting their results.
The diagnosis marks a major blow for a president who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them even as cases continue to rise just weeks before the Nov. 3 election. And it stands as the most serious known public health scare encountered by any sitting American president in recent history.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough and breathing trouble. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday, Trump said he was awaiting results of a COVID-19 test. “Whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don’t know,” he said, adding that first lady Melania Trump was also awaiting results.
Hicks traveled with the president multiple times this week, including aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and on Air Force One to a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday, and aboard Air Force One to Tuesday night’s first presidential debate in Cleveland.
Trump had consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, even after White House staff and allies were exposed and sickened.
“I felt no vulnerability whatsoever,” he said told reporters back in May.
He has instead encouraged governors to reopen their states and tried to focus the nation’s attention on efforts to revive the economy — not a growing death toll — as he seeks another four-year term.
The news was sure to rattle an already shaken nation still grappling with how to safely reopen while avoiding further spikes. The White House has access to near-unlimited resources, including a constant supply of quick-result tests, and still failed to keep the president safe, raising questions about how the rest of the country will be able to protect its workers, students and the public as businesses and schools reopen.
Senior staff have been tested for COVID-19 daily since two people who work at the White House complex tested positive in early May, prompting the White House to step up precautions. Everyone who comes into contact with the president also receives a quick-result test.
Yet since the early days of the pandemic, experts have questioned the health and safety protocols at the White House and asked why more wasn’t being done to protect the commander in chief. Trump continued to shake hands with visitors long after public health officials were warning against it and he initially resisted being tested. He has been reluctant to practice his own administration’s social distancing guidelines for fear of looking weak, including refusing under almost all circumstances to wear a mask in public.
Trump is not the only major world leader known to have contracted the virus. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in intensive care, where he was given oxygen and watched around the clock by medical workers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel self-isolated after a doctor who gave her a vaccination tested positive for the virus, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked from home after his wife fell ill.
The White House got its first COVID-19 scare in early March when at least three people who later tested positive came in close proximity to the president at his private Florida club. That included members of the Brazilian president’s delegation, including the Brazilian chargé d’affaires, who sat at Trump’s dinner table.
In mid-March, as the virus continued to spread across the country, the White House began taking the temperature of everyone entering the White House complex, and in April, it began administering rapid COVID-19 tests to all those in close proximity to the president, with staffers being tested about once a week. The frequent tests gave some staff the false impression the complex was safe from the virus, and few, as a result, followed recommended safety protocols, including wearing masks.
But then the bubble broke.
On May 7, the White House announced that a member of the military serving as one of the president’s personal valets tested positive for the virus, followed a day later by a positive diagnosis for Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary.
Even then, Trump said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. But officials again stepped up safety protocols for the complex, directing everyone entering the West Wing to wear a mask.
“I think it’s very well contained, actually,” Trump told reporters on May 11.
But by June, concerns at the White House had dissipated once again, with few staffers bothering with masks even as more and more people tested positive for the virus, including campaign staffers preparing for a Tulsa rally and Secret Service agents.
On July 3rd, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is dating Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., tested positive in South Dakota before an Independence Day fireworks show at Mount Rushmore. Guilfoyle, a former Fox News personality who works for Trump’s campaign, had not flown on Air Force One and had not been in direct contact with the president, though she had had contact with numerous top GOP officials.
In July, Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, tested positive.
While there is currently no evidence that Trump is seriously ill, the positive test also raises questions about what would happen if he were to become incapacitated due to illness. The Constitution’s 25th Amendment spells out the procedures under which a president can declare themselves “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the presidency. If he were to make that call, Trump would transmit a written note to the Senate president pro tempore, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pence would serve as acting president until Trump transmitted “a written declaration to the contrary.”
The vice president and a majority of either the Cabinet or another body established by law, can also declare the president unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, in which case Pence would “immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President” until Trump could provide a written declaration to the contrary.
Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
Tags and first LADY PRESIDENT TRUMP
The ‘I Voted’ Sticker: An Election Tradition, Even in a Pandemic
Farage pledges to stand against SNP as new party ‘brings back’ debate against Sturgeon
‘We can live with that’ Andrew Bridgen hints ERG set to back Boris’ historic Brexit deal
Bill passed to pave way for Singapore GE during pandemic if Covid-19 persists
Federal agents pull out of Seattle, mayor says
Ralph & Russo, La Perla to Launch Co-Designed Capsules
Trump tests positive for coronavirus
Kate Middleton and Prince William accused of breaking Covid restrictions on tour
Trump’s claims about disinfectant and sunlight fact-checked
Up to one in 10 residents of Moscow may have had coronavirus infections: laboratory
Coronavirus latest: Millions of Britons could be stuck on waiting lists until Christmas
Scoop: Oscar Health preps 2021 IPO
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line363
|
__label__wiki
| 0.581512
| 0.581512
|
FindLaw Blotter
Johannes Mehserle Protestors Sue Oakland Police
A Johannes Mehserle protest lawsuit has been filed. The class action litigation has been filed against the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Oakland Police Department. The class action was filed on behalf of about 150 protestors who claim their rights were violated by the law enforcement agencies.
Johannes Mehserle is the ex-BART police officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant in 2009, reports KTVU-TV. Grant, 22, was unarmed at the time. Mehserle maintains that he thought he was reaching for his stun gun, but accidentally fired his service weapon and killed Grant.
Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and was released Monday, reports KTVU-TV.
The new suit was filed on behalf of about 150 who protested Mehserle's sentencing last November, reports KTVU-TV. They thought his sentence was too short.
Police violated their own crowd control policies by arresting the 150 protestors, according to the protestors' attorneys. They refused to give the protestors the opportunity to leave, and instead surrounded them and arrested them en masse, reports KTVU-TV.
The arrested protestors were detained for up to 28 hours and were not given access to restrooms or to food for lengthy periods of time. No actual crimes were charged against the arrested protestors, reports KTVU-TV.
The new lawsuit is asking for an injunction that would make the police department comply with their crowd control policies and is also asking for monetary damages, according to KTVU-TV.
The class action is likely also a strategic move. Class actions are usually filed on behalf of a large group of plaintiffs who have suffered similar injuries that might be relatively minor if you look at each particular injury. But, in aggregating all the cases together, the litigation becomes much larger, with greater damages amounts.
Still, it's probably too early to tell what will happen with the lawsuit. The Johannes Mehserle protest lawsuit has only recently been filed against the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Oakland Police Department. The class action was filed several hours after Mehserle was released from prison, according to KTVU-TV.
After Arrests, Mehserle Rioters/Protestors Sue (NBC Bay Area)
Class Action Cases (FindLaw)
Johannes Mehserle Sentenced to 2 Years (FindLaw's Blotter)
Mehserle Verdict and Reaction in Oakland (FindLaw's Blotter)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line364
|
__label__cc
| 0.582721
| 0.417279
|
Using multiple agreement methods for continuous repeated measures data: a tutorial for practitioners
Richard A. Parker1,
Charles Scott2,
Vanda Inácio3 &
Nathaniel T. Stevens ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6149-57974
BMC Medical Research Methodology volume 20, Article number: 154 (2020) Cite this article
Studies of agreement examine the distance between readings made by different devices or observers measuring the same quantity. If the values generated by each device are close together most of the time then we conclude that the devices agree. Several different agreement methods have been described in the literature, in the linear mixed modelling framework, for use when there are time-matched repeated measurements within subjects.
We provide a tutorial to help guide practitioners when choosing among different methods of assessing agreement based on a linear mixed model assumption. We illustrate the use of five methods in a head-to-head comparison using real data from a study involving Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients and matched repeated respiratory rate observations. The methods used were the concordance correlation coefficient, limits of agreement, total deviation index, coverage probability, and coefficient of individual agreement.
The five methods generated similar conclusions about the agreement between devices in the COPD example; however, some methods emphasized different aspects of the between-device comparison, and the interpretation was clearer for some methods compared to others.
Five different methods used to assess agreement have been compared in the same setting to facilitate understanding and encourage the use of multiple agreement methods in practice. Although there are similarities between the methods, each method has its own strengths and weaknesses which are important for researchers to be aware of. We suggest that researchers consider using the coverage probability method alongside a graphical display of the raw data in method comparison studies. In the case of disagreement between devices, it is important to look beyond the overall summary agreement indices and consider the underlying causes. Summarising the data graphically and examining model parameters can both help with this.
Studies of agreement examine the distance between readings made by different devices or observers measuring the same quantity. If the values generated by each device are close together most of the time such that it makes no practical difference which device is used, then we conclude that the devices agree. An example of an agreement study is when we are interested in determining the extent to which two observers using the same instrument generate similar readings. A second example is determining whether the mode of delivery of a questionnaire matters when given to the same set of participants on the same day. For example, Chen and colleagues investigated whether two different versions of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (electronic and paper) generated the same scores when both were given to patients with obstructive sleep apnoea on the same day [1]. Since the differences between electronic and paper versions were within ± 4 most of the time, this was deemed to constitute acceptable agreement in this case [1]. Agreement has both accuracy and precision components: disagreement between devices could be due to a systematic bias of one device relative to the other, or if at least one of the devices is imprecise [2].
Several different methods for assessing the agreement of continuous data have been proposed in the literature, of which the concordance correlation coefficient [3, 4], and limits of agreement [5] methods are the most widely used. The coverage probability [6], total deviation index [6, 7], and coefficient of individual agreement methods [8, 9] have also been described. All five methods can be computed via linear mixed effects models. With an emphasis on practical application and interpretation, the aim of this study is to show how these five approaches can be applied to the same agreement problem and showcase the strengths and weaknesses of each method so that researchers can decide which methods to use in their own studies. Reviews of agreement indices have already been presented in the literature by Barnhart et al. (2007) [2], Obuchowski et al. (2015) [10], Barnhart et al. (2016) [11], and Barnhart (2018) [12]; with the latter three papers including real life examples to compare between agreement indices. However, the examples provided were almost exclusively sourced from the fields of quantitative imaging and core laboratory research. In this article we extend the methodological work already accomplished to the area of analysing clustered unbalanced data in applied clinical research, specifically in the area of measuring respiratory rate in patients with COPD. Furthermore, we focus specifically on the linear mixed effects model implementation of the methods rather than the more general approach used in the aforementioned papers. For limits of agreement in particular, this implementation of the method is not considered in previous reviews. The justification of this focus is because mixed effects modelling is increasingly used in clinical research and has advantages over fixed effects methods (e.g. Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA)) for several reasons outlined in Brown (2015) [13]. In particular, (i) missing or unbalanced data poses fewer problems for analysis, and (ii) inference can be made based on a wider population of patients [13]. We also focus on agreement problems with repeated observations because these are recommended when assessing agreement [14]. Finally, to help practitioners of agreement methods, we have also provided the R code needed to implement the methods in a Supplementary Materials file.
The agreement problem investigated in this paper originates from a study in COPD patients which we describe in more detail below. As such, our focus is on clustered and unbalanced designs: that is, repeated measures data for which the number of observations per cluster may not be the same, and for which there may be multiple levels of clustering. Here we treat subjects as clusters. Such data structures are common in medical research due to necessary observational designs and missing data. Most of the methods rely on parametric assumptions, although other approaches are possible which do not require these assumptions and are mentioned briefly below.
By means of an illustrative example, we compare and contrast the five different agreement methods mentioned before and provide guidance for selecting among them. Our example consists of respiratory rate measurements (in breaths per minute) from 21 subjects with COPD, which were measured simultaneously by six devices (including a gold standard device) worn at the same time. This was the dataset used in the study by Parker and colleagues [15], and has been made publicly available via data sharing [15]. Multiple time-matched respiratory rate measurements were taken on each patient, so there was clustering of repeated observations by participant. Eleven different activities were performed by participants during a laboratory-based protocol that was 57 min in duration. These were sitting, lying, standing, slow walking, fast walking, sweeping, lifting objects, standing and walking, climbing stairs, treadmill (flat walking), and treadmill (4% slope). The balance of activities was chosen to be representative of the activities encountered in daily life [16]. Not everyone performed exactly the same number of activities because some tasks were too difficult for some participants (e.g. the treadmill), and so this is an example of an unbalanced study design. Most activities had just one respiratory rate reading per participant, but “sitting” and “standing and walking” had 6–7 and 1–3 observations per participant, respectively (see Figure 1 in the Supplementary File), and therefore there was clustering of observations within activities as well as within participants. Eight of the participants (38%) were female, with an overall mean age of 69 (Standard Deviation (SD) 8) and mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of 26 (SD 6). Full details about the study are given elsewhere [16]. For simplicity, in this article, we only consider the comparison of one of the devices (chest-band) with the gold standard device (Oxycon mobile, Carefusion). Among the six devices used in the study, the chest-band device and the gold standard were the only two devices which had no missing data. The chest-band device was also one of the devices which showed the best agreement with the gold standard.
In what follows, the five statistical methods for assessing agreement with repeated measures data are described in turn with corresponding model formulae. As described above, linear mixed effect models are particularly appropriate for analysing data from clustered and unbalanced designs because they incorporate random effect terms. The basic linear mixed model is of the form:
$$ {y}_{ijlt}=\mu +{\alpha}_i+{\beta}_j+{\gamma}_l+{\varepsilon}_{ijlt} $$
where yijlt represents the respiratory rate reading/measurement made on subject i by device j when performing activity l at time t; μ is the overall mean; \( {\alpha}_i\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\alpha}^2\right) \) is the random subject effect; βj is the fixed effect of the device which, for identifiability reasons, we require β1 + β2 = 0; \( {\gamma}_l\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2\right) \) denotes the random activity effect, and \( {\varepsilon}_{ijlt}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2\right) \) is the residual error. We extend and modify this basic model for each of the specific agreement methods below. In other settings, “device” may refer to “systems”, “raters”, “methods”, “instruments” or “observers”. Likewise, “subject” may refer to “participant”, “patient”, “site”, “experiment”, “mode” in other settings. In the COPD example, the yijlt are time-matched repeated measurements collected by each device on each subject. For the limits of agreement method, the linear mixed model is instead fitted to “paired differences” denoting the between-device differences measured at exactly the same time in each subject.
Model assumptions
In what follows, the five statistical methods for assessing agreement with repeated measures data are described in turn. The five main methods are all based on linear mixed effects models, and so they rely on similar (if not identical) model assumptions. Logically if the mixed model assumptions are not valid, then neither is the agreement index calculated on the basis of this model. See Table 1 for a list of common model assumptions and techniques that may be used to evaluate them.
Table 1 Standard agreement model assumptions (with suggested procedures to check their validity in brackets)
Concordance correlation coefficient for repeated measures
The concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) method was developed by Lin in 1989 [3], with the longitudinal repeated measures version of the CCC developed by King et al. [4], Carrasco et al. [17] and Carrasco and Jover [18]. The CCC is a standardized coefficient taking values from − 1 to 1, where 1 indicates perfect agreement and − 1 indicates perfect disagreement. For the CCC model, the individual readings are modelled using a combination of random effects and fixed effects. Interaction terms are often also included. In particular, in the context of our COPD example, we assume the following linear mixed effects model
$$ {y}_{ij lt}=\mu +{\alpha}_i+{\beta}_j+{\gamma}_l+{\left(\alpha \beta \right)}_{ij}+{\left(\alpha \gamma \right)}_{il}+{\left(\beta \gamma \right)}_{jl}+{\varepsilon}_{ij lt} $$
where yijlt represents the respiratory rate reading/measurement made on subject i by device j when performing activity l at time t; μ is the overall mean; \( {\alpha}_i\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\alpha}^2\right) \) is the random subject effect; βj is the fixed effect of the device (as before, we assume that β1 + β2 = 0); and \( {\gamma}_l\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2\right) \) denotes the random activity effect. Further, (αβ)ij, (αγ)il, and (βγ)jl denote, respectively, the random interaction between subject and device, between subject and activity, and between device and activity and we follow the usual assumption that they are normally distributed with mean zero and with variance \( {\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2,{\sigma}_{\alpha \gamma}^2, \) and \( {\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2 \), respectively. Finally, \( {\varepsilon}_{ijlt}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2\right) \) is the error. All random effects are assumed to be independent.
We justify these modelling choices as follows. In line with Parker et al. [15] we regard subjects as random effects, therefore implicitly assuming they are a sample from a wider population of COPD patients (rather than treating them as consisting of the entire population of interest); this maximises generalisability of the results to the true population of interest (i.e. all COPD patients). We regard activity as a random effect as well, mainly so that we can generalize the results to any activity from a wider “population” of activities performed by participants in daily life, but also so that activities with small numbers of respiratory rate readings are not weighted too highly in the model (i.e. shrinkage causes the effect of individual activities to be drawn towards the population-averaged effect). All possible two-way interactions were included in the model and they take into account the variability in subjects across devices, in subjects across activities, and in devices across activities. In this example, it was not expected that the respiratory rate measured under the same device, activity and subject would change at different measurement times, and so the time ordering of measurements was not deemed to be relevant. We therefore treat all measurements taken under the same device, activity and subject as replications, and assume yijlt to be identically and independently distributed given subject, device and activity.
Under the assumption of a fixed device effect, Carrasco et al. [17] showed that the CCC for repeated measurements coincides with the Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and as such it can be written as
$$ {\rho}_{CCC}=\frac{Cov\left({y}_{i1 lt},{y}_{i2 lt}\right)}{Var\left({y}_{ijlt}\right)}=\frac{\sigma_{\alpha}^2+{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \gamma}^2}{\sigma_{\alpha}^2+{\phi}_{\beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2} $$
Note that the variance due to the random part is \( {\sigma}_{\alpha}^2+{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2 \) and the variance due to the fixed factor (device) is \( {\phi}_{\beta}^2={\sum}_{j=1}^2{\beta}_j^2 \), which accounts for the systematic differences between the two devices. If this latter term is not included, one is measuring consistency between devices rather than their agreement. The total variance is then \( {\sigma}_{\alpha}^2+{\phi}_{\beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2. \)
The CCC, in this particular case, thus reflects the proportion of the total overall variability explained by the subject and activity effects (and their interaction) and a CCC of 1 implies that there is no variability in the device across subjects and activities.
Mixed effects limits of agreement
Bland and Altman first proposed the limits of agreement (LoA) method over 30 years ago in their 1986 paper [5] as an alternative to correlation-based methods which they believed did not accurately characterize agreement [19]. The 95% limits of agreement are simply calculated as m ± 2 *SD, where m is the mean of the paired differences in readings (e.g. differences in respiratory rate measured at the same time in the same participant using two different devices) and SD is the standard deviation of the paired differences. The limits of agreement are meant to quantify dispersion among the paired differences. The wider the limits of agreement, the more dissimilar the devices’ readings are expected to be, suggesting a lack of agreement between devices. To formally judge this level of agreement, the limits are compared to a clinically acceptable difference (CAD): a range within which differences are considered practically negligible. If the limits are contained within the range of the CAD then it is concluded that the devices agree and could be used interchangeably. The CAD should be decided before data analysis to avoid any bias in the decision, though strictly speaking the statistical validity of the method does not require this. The limits of agreement are typically shown overlaid on a Bland-Altman plot of the paired differences against the averages of the paired readings.
In the repeated measures case, applying the standard limits of agreement to the data will result in limits that are too narrow because they do not take into account the reduction in variability that arises when working with averages of readings. In this case we need to use a specially adapted version of the limits of agreement, for which there are several methods available. Bland and Altman first described a fixed effects ANOVA method to extend the LoA method to account for repeated measures [20] and this method is succinctly described in the Supplementary Materials.
There have also been a diverse range of mixed effects models proposed that vary in complexity as a means to quantify dispersion in differences and hence calculate limits of agreement. Some of these models are similar to the CCC in that they model the raw outcome data and include interaction terms; while other authors suggest modelling the differences directly [15, 21,22,23,24]. The relatively simple methodology that Parker et al. [15] recommend, and that we adopt here (see Eq. (3)), directly models the differences through a linear mixed effects model, and is highly adaptable to different data structures. Indeed, the methodology has the flexibility and versatility to accommodate complex variability structures [25, 26].
For our COPD motivating example, and letting Dilt be the difference between the readings made by the two devices when subject i is performing activity l at time t, i.e., Dilt = Yi2lt − Yi1lt, we model these paired differences through the following linear mixed effects model
$$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}{D}_{ilt}={\mu}^{\ast }+{\alpha_i}^{\ast }+{\gamma_l}^{\ast }+{\varepsilon}_{ilt}^{\ast}\\ {}{\alpha_i}^{\ast}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\alpha^{\ast}}^2\right),{\gamma_i}^{\ast}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\gamma^{\ast}}^2\right),{\varepsilon}_{ilt}^{\ast}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\varepsilon^{\ast}}^2\right)\end{array}} $$
where μ∗ is the overall mean of the between-device differences, αi∗ is the random effect of the ith subject, γl∗ is the random effect of the lth activity, and \( {\varepsilon}_{0 ilt}^{\ast } \) is the error term. We use asterisks to distinguish these quantities from their counterparts in model (1) which is defined in terms device readings directly (as opposed to their differences). In order to generate an appropriately weighted estimate of the mean bias, Parker et al. [15] proposed to fit a separate regression model only including a constant term and a random effect for subjects (i.e., without considering activity), that is
$$ {D}_{ilt}={\mu}_0^{\ast }+{\alpha}_{0i}^{\ast }+{\varepsilon}_{0 ilt}^{\ast } $$
$$ {\alpha}_{0i}^{\ast}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\alpha_0^{\ast}}^2\right),{\varepsilon}_{0 ilt}^{\ast}\sim N\left(0,{\sigma}_{\varepsilon_0^{\ast}}^2\right) $$
where \( {\mu}_0^{\ast } \) is the mean bias of interest. The limits of agreement are then calculated as
$$ {\mu}_0^{\ast}\pm 1.96\sqrt{\sigma_{\alpha^{\ast}}^2+{\sigma}_{\gamma^{\ast}}^2+{\sigma}_{\varepsilon^{\ast}}^2} $$
with the square root of the total variance giving an estimate of the standard deviation for use in the conventional Bland-Altman limits of agreement formula.
It is worth remarking that the limits of agreement can also be calculated from the model in Eq. (2), which leads to the following expression for the paired differences
$$ {D}_{ilt}^{\ast }={y}_{i2 lt}-{y}_{i1 lt}=\left({\beta}_2-{\beta}_1\right)+\left[{\left(\alpha \beta \right)}_{i2}-{\left(\alpha \beta \right)}_{i1}\right]+\left[{\left(\beta \gamma \right)}_{2l}-{\left(\beta \gamma \right)}_{1l}\right]+\left({\varepsilon}_{i2 lt}-{\varepsilon}_{i1 lt}\right) $$
The mean bias is then quantified by (β2 − β1) and further \( Var\left({D}_{ilt}^{\ast}\right)=2{\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+2{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+2{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2 \) and, therefore, the limits of agreement are computed as
$$ {\beta}_2-{\beta}_1\pm 1.96\sqrt{2{\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+2{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+2{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2} $$
The benefit of using model (3) is that the normality assumption is more likely to be valid if it is based on the differences. In particular, it is possible that the differences follow a normal distribution even if the raw measurements do not, but the converse is not true.
Coverage probability
The limits of agreement approach seeks to determine whether the differences between devices are small enough, on average, to be considered clinically acceptable. This is determined by evaluating whether their limits of variation are contained within the interval of clinically acceptable differences. The coverage probability (CP) proposed by Lin et al. [6] answers this same question more directly by calculating the probability that the between-device differences themselves lie within the boundary of some tolerance interval – what Bland and Altman refer to as the range of clinically acceptable differences. Clearly, larger probabilities indicate closer agreement. In practice the researcher must decide whether the CP value is large enough to use the two devices interchangeably.
To calculate the CP in practice for our COPD example we first use the linear mixed effects model in (2) to calculate the mean squared deviation which is the expected squared difference between readings by two different devices on the same individual performing the same activity at the same time:
$$ MSD\left({Y}_1,{Y}_2\right)=E\left\{{\left({Y}_{i1 lt}-{Y}_{i2 lt}\right)}^2\right\}={\left({\beta}_1-{\beta}_2\right)}^2+2\left({\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2\right) $$
Second, the CP is computed as
$$ CP\left(\delta \right)=1-2\left\{1-\varPhi \right(\delta /\sqrt{MSD\left({Y}_1,{Y}_2\right)}\Big\} $$
where ±δ is the range of clinically acceptable differences and Φ(·) is the standard normal cumulative distribution function.
Total deviation index
The total deviation index (TDI) [6, 7] is closely related to the coverage probability. For the CP, one must pre-specify the range of clinically acceptable differences and then the probability of containment is calculated. The TDI, on the other hand, reverses this process; for a given containment probability p the TDI calculation provides the boundary within which the differences will be contained p × 100% of the time. This approach is useful in situations when specifying a CAD is difficult or impossible. The practitioner must then decide whether the calculated boundary is narrow enough for the devices to be used interchangeably. For our COPD example, under the assumptions of model (2), the TDI can be written as
$$ TDI(p)={\varPhi}^{-1}\left(\left(1+p\right)/2\right)\sqrt{MSD\left({Y}_1,{Y}_2\right)} $$
where p is the pre-specified proportion of between-device differences that we hope to be contained within the interval ±δ.
Coefficient of individual agreement
The Coefficient of Individual Agreement (CIA) was developed by Haber and Barnhart [8] and Barnhart et al. [9]. It is a scaled coefficient which directly compares the disagreement between-devices to the disagreement within-devices within subjects [27, 28]. Essentially, the CIA attempts to quantify by what magnitude the variability between different devices increases when compared to the replication variability within devices. The value of the CIA ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating that using different devices makes no difference to the variability of repeated measurements taken under the same conditions within the same subject. The residual error variance \( {\sigma}_e^2 \) represents the variability of repeated measurements taken under the same conditions within the same subject and therefore it is important that this is a reliable benchmark for comparison. As recommended by others [27, 28], we check that this value is reasonable by calculating the repeatability coefficient of Bland and Altman, which is \( 1.96\sqrt{2{\sigma}_e^2} \). There are different variants of the CIA, but we follow others in using the mean squared deviation as the disagreement metric [27, 28]. In particular, we follow the approach for matched repeated measures outlined in Haber et al. [28], which suggests that calculation of the CIA should be based on
$$ CIA=\frac{MSD\left({Y}_j,{Y}_j^{\prime}\right)}{MSD\left({Y}_1,{Y}_2\right)} $$
The term \( MSD\left({Y}_j,{Y}_j^{\prime}\right) \) denotes the mean squared deviation between two (hypothetical) replicated readings, Yj and \( {Y}_j^{\prime } \), that could be made by device j on the same subject under the same activity at the same time. In our COPD context, and assuming model (2) for the respiratory rate measurements, we have
$$ CIA=\frac{2{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2}{{\left({\beta}_1-{\beta}_2\right)}^2+2\left({\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2+{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2+{\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2\right)} $$
Alternative methods
Stevens et al. [14, 29] developed the probability of agreement (PoA) method as an alternative to the limits of agreement approach, which has the advantage of taking into account two different types of bias and unequal precisions across devices. Proportional bias, where the magnitude of disagreement depends on the true value in each subject, is considered in addition to additive bias, and this information can be used to elucidate the different sources of disagreement if the devices do not agree. The PoA method provides a flexible and informative summary of agreement, but at present the methodology does not adjust for confounders (e.g. activity in our COPD study) and so it is not yet as widely applicable as other alternatives. Further details about this method are provided in the Supplementary File.
If the assumptions described above are not valid, then non-parametric methods should be considered. For example, Perez-Jaume and Carrasco suggest a non-parametric alternative to calculate the TDI which is more stable and reliable than the parametric method when working with skewed data [30]. It is also relatively simple to calculate and less influenced by outliers or extreme values than the parametric approach. The method involves simply calculating quantiles of an ordered list of paired differences to calculate the TDI. A bootstrap method can then be used to calculate the upper bound by resampling at the patient level and then recalculating the TDI for each bootstrap resample. This appears to be the same as a percentile method first described by Bland and Altman [5], except that in the repeated measures case we use bootstrap resampling to obtain the upper bound. Although it does not assume a normal distribution, we still need to assume that the paired differences are independent and identically distributed. Other non-parametric methods are available [31, 32]. Stevens [33] has also developed a generalization of the probability of agreement based on the method of moments that does not require any distributional assumption for the true values. Fully Bayesian versions of the limits of agreement method have also been proposed, for example Schluter’s Bayesian agreement method [34]. Additionally, Barnhart [12] and Barnhart et al. [11] describe an interesting method involving the use of generalised estimating equations to provide a non-parametric estimate of the CP. Recently Jang et al. [35] have proposed a new set of agreement indices suitable for contexts in which there are multiple raters and heterogeneous variances.
Besides the methods mentioned above, other methods have been used to assess agreement, although some of these are inappropriate. A systematic review [36] of agreement studies that were reported between 2007 and 2009 found that around 10% of studies were using inappropriate methods to assess agreement including standard correlation coefficients, the coefficient of determination from a regression analysis (R-squared), and comparison of means methods (e.g. t-tests to detect mean differences).
In the repeated measures case, aggregation methods have been used whereby summary statistics are computed at the subject level in order to reduce the dependence in the data. Although aggregating data to the patient level works in some studies with repeated measures, it is usually not appropriate in the agreement context because the variability within subjects is often of primary interest and we would be losing important information by aggregating.
Another method seen in the literature involved first performing a statistical test to determine if the clustering was important and then if not, carrying out an analysis without adjusting for clustering [37]. This method is not recommended because even if the test for clustering is statistically non-significant, the clustering in the data may still be sufficient to bias the agreement index.
Twenty-one patients with COPD each provided a mean of 18 paired readings on the chest-band and gold-standard devices (median 19, range 15–19), with 16 patients recording the maximum of 19 readings across the different experimental activities. As already reported elsewhere [16], the participants had a mean age of 69 (SD 8), with mean BMI of 26 (SD 6), and 13 (62%) were men. The median respiratory rate was 20 breaths per minute (interquartile range (IQR), 16 to 24) using the gold standard device and 18 breaths per minute (IQR 14 to 23) for the chest-band. To supplement these descriptive statistics, we provide a few exploratory plots that summarize the data in the Supplementary Material. In this supplement, Figure 1 shows the frequency of each of the 11 activities over the 21 participants, whereas Figure 2 displays a boxplot of the respiratory rate measurements for each activity, when measured by the gold standard and chest-band devices, respectively.
For the comparison of respiratory rates between the chest-band and gold standard devices, naïve estimates of agreement (which do not take clustering into account) were computed to provide simple and quick summaries of agreement: Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.74 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69 to 0.78), the concordance correlation coefficient was 0.72 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.76), and simple limits of agreement were from − 6.40 to 3.19 with a mean bias of − 1.61.
When taking into account repeated measures per subject, we began by fitting model (2) to the COPD data with the aid of the lmer function from the R package lme4 [38, 39]. Diagnostic plots are presented in Figures 3 and 4 of the Supplementary Material. The variance component estimates are as follows: \( {\sigma}_{\alpha}^2=11.4,{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2=16.6,{\sigma}_{\alpha \beta}^2=0.4,{\sigma}_{\alpha \gamma}^2=6.0,{\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2=3.7 \), and \( {\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2=10.5. \) Activity and subject do explain a considerable proportion of the overall variance, and therefore are the main sources of disagreement. The subject-device interaction is negligible, indicating no evidence of a difference in the device effect across subjects.
The concordance correlation coefficient was estimated to be 0.68 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.72). All confidence intervals were obtained through a bootstrap procedure (at the individual level). The CCC is positive and the confidence interval does not include zero or negative values, indicating that the chest band device is in slight agreement with the gold-standard device. A value of the CCC of 0.68 may constitute acceptable agreement, but investigators would have to agree beforehand what CCC value is required to conclude that the devices can be used interchangeably. Note that although this CCC does not differ much from the one that ignores the repeated measured nature of the data, the 95% confidence intervals, as expected, do differ by a considerable extent. Although the CCC is not a graphical method, certain graphs can complement the numerical results. For example, a scatterplot of the observations from each device plotted against each other, with a line superimposed on the plot showing the line of perfect agreement (i.e. with intercept 0 and slope 1) (see Fig. 1). Or a Bland-Altman plot could be used which involves plotting the between-method differences against the average (Fig. 2).
Scatterplot comparing the chest-band and gold standard measurement devices. Each point corresponds to individual measurements made on a subject. The solid diagonal line is the line of equality
Bland-Altman plot showing the paired difference between the devices against the average of the pairs of devices. Points shown correspond to individual pairs of observations rather than individual patients. Dashed line shows the mean bias (red) and limits of agreement (blue). Dotted lines are 95% bootstrap confidence intervals
When applying the mixed effects limits of agreement method to the COPD data via model (3), we calculated a mean bias of − 1.60 (95% LoA − 11.57 to 8.38). The results when using model (2) are − 1.28 (95% LoA − 11.86 to 9.30). The results when using only fixed effects were: mean bias of − 1.61 (95% LoA − 9.99 to 6.78) [15]. Note that these limits of agreement are all much wider than the naïve estimates which ignored clustering. This may be because within-subject variability is treated as between-subject variability in estimating naïve LOAs, which leads to biased intervals, and illustrates the importance of taking clustering into account. Note also that the raw mean bias is very similar to the random effects mean bias in our case, and simply calculating the raw mean bias with 95% LoA calculated from mixed effects model is an acceptable alternative [15]. The CAD was set to be ± 5 based on investigators’ clinical judgement; any differences less than 5 breaths per minute were regarded as clinically unimportant. Since the limits of agreement lie outside the CAD we conclude that the two devices do not show the desired level of agreement. Figure 2 shows the corresponding Bland-Altman plot with LoA overlain. Based on the LoA model, the between-subject variance of the differences was only 0.96 compared to 7.57 for the between-activity variance of the difference. The residual variance of the LoA model (within-subject and activity variance) was 17.37.
Regarding the coverage probability, if we take δ= 5 to be the pre-specified boundary (CAD =± 5), the coverage probability is only 0.63 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.70), indicating relatively poor agreement between methods. This is well below the 0.95 threshold we were using to denote satisfactory agreement.
Based on a pre-specified proportion of p = 0.95 for containing the between-device differences, the 95% TDI was calculated to be 10.9 (95% CI 9.4 to 12.7), based on a mean-squared deviation of 30.8 (95% CI 23.0 to 41.7). This suggests that differences between the chest band and the gold-standard readings are expected to lie within ± 10.9 95% of the time. In general, whether this interval is narrow enough to signify agreement must be determined by the researcher. For these data (where the CAD is ± 5) it is clear that the TDI is too large to conclude that the two devices should be used interchangeably. Note that the TDI limits are similar to those implied by the LoA.
Before applying the Coefficient of Individual Agreement method to the COPD data, we check that the residual error variance is reasonable by calculating the repeatability coefficient of Bland and Altman, which is \( 1.96\sqrt{2{\sigma}_e^2} \) =8.98 when applied to the COPD data. This tells us that there is approximately 95% probability that the repeated respiratory rate values are within 9 breaths per minute of each other. In the study context, below 5 is ideal, so the repeatability coefficient is unacceptably high in this context. This means we should be cautious about over interpretation of the CIA results because they are compared against a high benchmark. The CIA was calculated to be 0.68 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.70). It has been suggested that agreement is only considered “acceptable” if the CIA exceeds 0.8 [8, 27, 28]; or in other words, if the disagreement between devices is within 25% of the level of disagreement of the repeated measurements within devices and within patients. Therefore, the CIA results suggest poor agreement between the devices, in keeping with results from the other methods. From the variance component estimates of model (2) we can elucidate the main sources of disagreement. There is substantial variability due to subjects and activities (\( {\sigma}_{\alpha}^2=11.4,{\sigma}_{\gamma}^2=16.6 \)) which may be the reason why in the CCC we have concluded that the chest-band device is in slight agreement with the gold standard device. Importantly however, the within-subject residual is high (\( {\sigma}_{\varepsilon}^2=10.5\Big) \) and the device-activity interaction is moderate \( \left({\sigma}_{\beta \gamma}^2=3.7\right) \), which have contributed to our conclusion that the agreement between the two devices is not satisfactory for the CP, TDI, and CIA methods. The relatively large variability of activity and subject does not play a role in the calculation of the CP, TDI and CIA, and so this may explain the difference in conclusion compared to the CCC.
On the basis of the investigations described above, each of the five statistical approaches is summarised in Table 2. Further statistical details associated with these methods, additional diagnostic plots, and the R code used to produce the results are all provided in the Supplementary Material.
Table 2 Summary of the different statistical approaches
There is a plethora of methods available to assess continuous agreement in the literature which vary in complexity and in their underlying assumptions. In this article we have surveyed five different methods to analyse the same agreement problem involving clustered and unbalanced data; including some which are well known and frequently applied in the literature, and others which encompass recent advances in agreement research.
As applied to an example in COPD, we showed how all five of the agreement indices can be derived from the same linear mixed effects model (although for the LoA method we favoured a slightly different linear mixed effects model based on the paired differences). It was not surprising therefore that all five methods provided similar results, although the lack of acceptable agreement was clearer with some methods than others due to the way the variance components entered into the expression of the different agreement indices. The 95% LoA ranged from − 12 to 8 breaths per minute, and the TDI was estimated to be 11 breaths per minute, which were all well outside the clinically acceptable difference (CAD) of 5 breaths per minute. The CP was also low at 0.63 based on a CAD of 5. By examining the variance components of the LoA model (3), we observe that the between-subject variability of the paired differences was very low, but the within-subject variability and variability due to activities were both relatively high and these were the driving force behind the disagreement. Similarly, based on the variance components of model (2), we observe that the residual error variability and activity-device interaction were both reasonably high. We can infer therefore that the chest-band device may be less able to accurately capture changes in breathing rate as it varies across different activities compared to the gold standard.
One of the main ways of classifying the different methods is to divide them into those that produce standardized agreement indices that are scaled to be within a certain range (e.g. the CCC is scaled to be between − 1 and 1 and the CIA between 0 and 1), and those that allow direct comparison to the original scale of the data and require the specification of a clinically acceptable difference (e.g. the LoA, CP and TDI methods). These groups of methods are commonly referred to as scaled and unscaled agreement methods respectively [2], and the latter set of methods are sometimes known as “pure agreement indices” [40]. Indeed, the CCC can be more accurately described as assessing distinguishability rather than agreement, since it is designed to calculate the proportion of the variance of a system explained by the subject/activity effect, and does not require a CAD to be specified [41]. It is therefore not a “pure agreement index” [41]. The CCC has the disadvantage of being heavily dependent on the between-subject variability (and in our case also on the between-activity variability) and would therefore attain a high value for a population with substantial heterogeneity between subjects or activities even though the agreement within subjects might be low [2, 11, 12]. Similarly, if both the between subject and between-activity variances are very low, then the CCC is unlikely to attain a high value even if agreement within devices is reasonable. Moreover, as for the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), it is not related to the actual scale of measurement or to the size of error which might be clinically allowable, which makes interpretation difficult [41]. As outlined in other papers [11, 12, 40], it is very easy to obtain an artificially high value of CCC and manipulation of the dataset can change the estimate of the CCC drastically. Nevertheless, the variance components are automatically generated in R which helps one to interpret the overall summary indices.
Barnhart et al. [42] discuss how the CIA compares to the CCC in assessing agreement. They recommend using the CIA if the within-subject variability is acceptably low, particularly if the between-subject variability is large relative to the within-subject variability [42]. This is because the CIA has the distinct advantage of being less dependent on the between-subject variability than the CCC, and so is preferable to the CCC in many cases. Moreover, the CIA is expressed conditional on any confounders (e.g. the effect of time or activity) as well as being conditional on the subject effect and therefore has intuitive appeal. However, interpretation of the CIA may be challenging because it is not based on the original unit of measurement.
In contrast, the limits of agreement and TDI methods have the advantage of being based on the original unit of measurement and can be compared against a clinically acceptable difference [43]. In reviews by Barnhart et al. [11] and Barnhart [12], the authors highlight that for the LoA, it is possible to have 95% of the differences within the clinically acceptable difference but yet not conclude agreement (if, for example, one of the limits is outside the CAD). This can happen with skewed data or because of some other failure of the normality assumption. We agree that this may be an issue when seeking to interpret the LoA and that checking of assumptions when performing LoA is particularly important. However, we think the ability of the methodology (and the Bland-Altman plot in particular) to reveal relative mean biases, patterns in the data and hence sources of disagreement is valuable; and that simply calculating a TDI or CP summary index may hide this detail. Therefore, if the TDI or CP is computed, we recommend that a Bland-Altman style plot of the between-device paired differences against the average is also constructed showing the raw mean bias and CAD, and we propose that this provides a sound way to assess agreement. In particular, any outliers or skewness in the data can be easily examined with respect to the CAD.
For both the limits of agreement and TDI methods it is important to remember that the calculated limits are only estimates (just as the CCC is a point estimate) and so uncertainty in the true values of these limits does exist [44]. Different samples from the overall population may produce different limits and a different TDI. In particular, when sample sizes are small the observed limits of agreement may be far away from the “true” limits of agreement due to finite sampling bias. This is why for statistical inference purposes, calculation of confidence bounds around the limits is often recommended or indeed calculation of separate prediction intervals [44, 45].
As a probability, the CP provides an intuitive measure of agreement that may be easily interpreted by users with almost any level of statistical sophistication. It also requires a clinically acceptable difference (CAD) to be pre-specified before it can be used, and so the resulting interpretation is directly related to the original measurement scale.
When applying the LoA, TDI, or CP methods, specification of the acceptable difference is required. It is important to note that this is a context-dependent decision that should be made by an expert that knows what it means for the devices to be practically equivalent. Whether differences between the devices tend to fall within the CAD or not depends on both the relative bias between them and their precisions. If the bias and imprecision is sufficiently small (as determined by the CAD) then for practical purposes the devices can be used interchangeably. This is an important decision, because an incorrectly specified CAD will lead to incorrect conclusions about the level of agreement.
Although the five agreement methods considered can be computed on the basis of similar linear modelling approaches, they deviate from one another according to: (i) which outcome is being measured (the differences or the raw observations), (ii) the main focus of the method (on comparison with the CAD or variance components), and (iii) how the variance components are used in the expressions of the indices. All methods may mask individual areas of disagreement in data and make implicit assumptions about aspects of the variability or modelled relationships. It is therefore important to look beyond the agreement indices themselves and examine the values and assumptions used to compute them. For example, it is easy to compute limits of agreement without adequately considering the variance components that were used to derive them or without considering the possibility of the devices having inherently different precisions. We recommend that researchers pre-specify the precise form of the statistical model they will use in a statistical analysis plan, since different models will lead to different agreement indices. For example we found that the results for some indices (e.g. CIA) changed depending on whether a device-activity interaction was assumed in the COPD example. The advantage of including this interaction is to be able to check if the agreement between the two devices varies from activity to activity or not. But this comes at the price of making the assumption of an extra additive term in the model that may or may not hold.
The need for confidence intervals alongside agreement limits is strongly indicated in the literature, and rightly so. However, we think it is equally – if not more – important to report the individual variance components (e.g. between-subject variance and within-subject variance) and bias estimates alongside agreement indices, because these will elucidate the source of disagreement. Additionally, it is important to be aware that disagreement between devices as observed in agreement indices may hide differences in the level of precisions and measurement error between the devices, and also reflect underlying mean biases that cannot be adequately modelled by absolute mean differences. This is why looking beyond the disagreement to the underlying causes is crucial in helping one to critically appraise agreement results.
All five methods rely on parametric assumptions. Non-parametric approaches to assessing agreement, such as the method by Perez-Jaume and Carrasco [30], are not often seen in the literature but should be considered; especially in cases where data is skewed or otherwise non-normal.
In our assessment of the agreement methods we implicitly assume that the sample size available is sufficient to achieve model convergence. In cases where the number of patients or repeated measurements is small, the methods may not perform well, and this is an avenue for future research.
The time at which measurements were taken was not considered to be clinically important in this study conditional on the other covariates, and so we did not adjust for time of measurement in the models. In other studies and settings however, time of measurement may be influential and will need to be accounted for in the models.
Barnhart et al. (2016) provided pros and cons of several different agreement indices for both continuous and categorical data in a core lab setting and concluded that coverage probability is the preferred choice of assessing agreement in a core lab setting [11]. We agree that the coverage probability is an ideal choice to provide an easily interpretable summary index of agreement. However, we would not recommend providing just the coverage probability index, if there is any disagreement, because it may hide important nuances in the data, particularly relating to the source of the disagreement in applied clinical studies. We therefore recommend that researchers also construct a Bland-Altman plot (which also depicts the raw mean bias and clinically acceptable difference) to provide a helpful visual examination of the data [12] (see Fig. 3). The CCC should not be used as a sole agreement metric due to its potential to give biased results when the between-subject variability is high. Regardless of which agreement index one uses, we recommend summarizing the data graphically to provide preliminary insight into the agreement between the devices and to evaluate model assumptions.
Bland-Altman style plot corresponding to the calculation of the coverage probability showing the raw data, raw mean bias (red), and clinically acceptable difference of 5 (green)
The dataset analysed in this study has already been made publically available by means of inclusion in a supplementary file in a previous publication [15]. There is no restriction for access, and it is available for download via: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168321.s003
ANOVA:
BMI:
Clinically acceptable difference
CCC:
Concordance correlation coefficient
CI:
CIA:
COPD:
ICC:
Intra-class correlation coefficient
IQR:
Limits of agreement
MSD:
Mean squared deviation
PoA:
Probability of agreement
Q-Q plot:
Quantile-quantile plot
SD:
TDI:
Chen L, Chapman JL, Yee BJ, Wong KK, Grunstein RR, Marshall NS, Miller CB. Agreement between electronic and paper Epworth sleepiness scale responses in obstructive sleep apnoea: secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial undertaken in a specialised tertiary care clinic. BMJ Open. 2018;8(3):e019255.
Barnhart HX, Haber MJ, Lin LI. An overview on assessing agreement with continuous measurements. J Biopharm Stat. 2007;17(4):529–69.
Lin LI. A concordance correlation coefficient to evaluate reproducibility. Biometrics. 1989;45:255–68.
King TS, Chinchilli VM, Carrasco JL. A repeated measures concordance correlation coefficient. Stat Med. 2007;26(16):3095–113.
Bland JM, Altman DG. Statistical methods for assessing agreement between to methods of clinical measurement. Lancet. 1986;327:307–10.
Lin L, Hedayat AS, Sinha B, Yang M. Statistical methods in assessing agreement: models, issues, and tools. J Am Stat Assoc. 2002;97(457):257–70.
Lin LI. Total deviation index for measuring individual agreement with applications in laboratory performance and bioequivalence. Stat Med. 2000;19:255–70.
Haber M, Barnhart HX. A general approach to evaluating agreement between two observers or methods of measurement. Stat Methods Med Res. 2008;17:151–69.
Barnhart HX, Haber M, Kosinski AS. Assessing individual agreement. J Biopharm Stat. 2007;17:697–719.
Obuchowski NA, Barnhart HX, Buckler AJ. Pennello G, Wang XF, Kalpathy-Cramer J, Kim HJ, reeves AP, and for the case example working group. Statistical issues in the comparison of quantitative imaging biomarker algorithms using pulmonary nodule volume as an example. Stat Methods Med Res. 2015;24:107–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/0962280214537392.
Barnhart HX, Yow E, Crowley AL, Daubert MA, Rabineau D, Bigelow R, Pencina M, Douglas PS. Choice of agreement indices for assessing and improving measurement reproducibility in a core laboratory setting. Stat Methods Med Res. 2016;25(6):2939–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0962280214534651.
Barnhart HX. A review on assessing agreement. Wiley StatsRef: Statistics Reference Online; 2018. p. 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118445112.stat01671.pub2.
Brown H, Prescott R. In: 3rd Edition, editor. Applied mixed models in medicine. Chichester: Wiley; 2015.
Stevens NT, Steiner SH, MacKay RJ. Assessing agreement between two measurement systems: an alternative to the limits of agreement approach. Stat Methods Med Res. 2017;26(6):2487–504.
Parker RA, Weir CJ, Rubio N, Rabinovich R, Pinnock H, Hanley J, et al. Application of mixed effects limits of agreement in the presence of multiple sources of variability: exemplar from the comparison of several devices to measure respiratory rate in COPD patients. PLoS One. 2016;11(12):e0168321.
Rubio N, Parker RA, Drost EM, Pinnock H, Weir CJ, Hanley J, et al. Home monitoring of breathing rate in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: observational study of feasibility, acceptability, and change after exacerbation. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2017;12:1221.
Carrasco JL, King TS, Chinchilli VM. The concordance correlation coefficient for repeated measures estimated by variance components. J Biopharm Stat. 2009;19(1):90–105.
Carrasco JL, Jover L. Estimating the generalized concordance correlation coefficient through variance components. Biometrics. 2003;59(4):849–58.
Bland JM, Altman DG. A note on the use of the intraclass correlation coefficient in the evaluation of agreement between two methods of measurement. Comput Biol Med. 1990;20(5):307–10.
Bland JM, Altman DG. Agreement between methods of measurement with multiple observations per individual. J Biopharm Stat. 2007;17(4):571–82.
Roy A. An application of linear mixed effects model to assess the agreement between two methods with replicated observations. J Biopharm Stat. 2009;19(1):150–73.
Myles PS, Cui J. Using the Bland-Altman method to measure agreement with repeated measures. Br J Anaesth. 2007;99(3):309–11.
Carstensen B, Simpson J, Gurrin LC. Statistical models for assessing agreement in method comparison studies with replicate measurements. Int J Biostat. 2008;4(1):16.
Zou GY. Confidence interval estimation for the Bland-Altman limits of agreement with multiple observations per individual. Stat Methods Med Res. 2013;22:630.
Moss AJ, Doris MK, Andrews JP, Bing R, Daghem M, van Beek EJ, et al. Molecular coronary plaque imaging using 18F-fluoride. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2019;12(8):e008574. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.118.008574.
Parker RA. Agreement analysis in the arena of complex variability: agreement of 18F-fluoride uptake measurements. SAGE Res Methods Cases. 2020. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529731712.
Pan Y, Gao J, Haber M, Barnhart HX. Estimation of coefficients of individual agreement (CIAs) for quantitative and binary data using SAS and R. Comput Methods Prog Biomed. 2010;98(2):214–9.
Haber M, Gao J, Barnhart HX. Evaluation of agreement between measurement methods from data with matched repeated measurements via the coefficient of individual agreement. J Data Sci. 2010;8(3):457.
Stevens NT, Steiner SH, MacKay RJ. Comparing heteroscedastic measurement systems with the probability of agreement. Stat Methods Med Res. 2018;27(11):3420–35.
Perez-Jaume S, Carrasco JL. A non-parametric approach to estimate the total deviation index for non-normal data. Stat Med. 2015;34(25):3318–35.
Lin L, Pan Y, Hedayat AS, Banhart HX, Haber M. A simulation study of nonparametric total deviation index as a measure of agreement based on quantile regression. J Biopharm Stat. 2016;26(5):937–50.
Choudhary PK. A unified approach for nonparametric evaluation of agreement in method comparison studies. Int J Biostat. 2010;6(1). Article 19.
Stevens NT. Assessment and comparison of continuous measurement systems. Waterloo: PhD thesis, University of Waterloo; 2014.
Schluter PJ. A multivariate hierarchical Bayesian approach to measuring agreement in repeated measurement method comparison studies. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2009;9(1):6.
Jang JH, Manatunga AK, Taylor AT, Long Q. Overall indices for assessing agreement among multiple raters. Stat Med. 2018;37(28):4200–15.
Zaki R, Bulgiba A, Ismail R, Ismail NA. Statistical methods used to test for agreement of medical instruments measuring continuous variables in method comparison studies: a systematic review. PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e37908.
Arch BN, Blair J, McKay A, Gregory JW, Newland P, Gamble C. Measurement of HbA1c in multicentre diabetes trials–should blood samples be tested locally or sent to a central laboratory: an agreement analysis. Trials. 2016;17(1):517.
Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S. Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4. J Stat Softw. 2015;67(1):1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01.
R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2019. https://www.R-project.org/.
Carrasco JL, Caceres A, Escaramis G, Jover L. Distinguishability and agreement with continuous data. Stat Med. 2014;33(1):117–28.
Atkinson G, Nevill A. Comment on the use of concordance correlation to assess the agreement between two variables. Biometrics. 1997;53:775–7.
Barnhart HX, Lokhnygina Y, Kosinski AS, Haber M. Comparison of concordance correlation coefficient and coefficient of individual agreement in assessing agreement. J Biopharm Stat. 2007;17(4):721–38.
Escaramís G, Ascaso C, Carrasco JL. The total deviation index estimated by tolerance intervals to evaluate the concordance of measurement devices. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2010;10(1):31.
Hamilton C, Stamey J. Using Bland− Altman to assess agreement between two medical devices–Don’t forget the confidence intervals! J Clin Monit Comput. 2007;21(6):331–3.
Hamilton C, Stamey JD. Using a prediction approach to assess agreement between two continuous measurements. J Clin Monit Comput. 2009;23(5):311–4.
RAP is supported in this work by NHS Lothian via the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit. We would like to thank Professor Michael Haber (Emory University) for supplying us with example R and SAS program code from one of his publications [27], which we modified and adapted to apply the Coefficient of Individual Agreement method to our COPD example in a previous draft of this paper.
This specific project was not funded. The original COPD respiratory rate project which generated the data was funded by the Chief Scientist Office (Scotland) [reference number CZH/4/826]. VI acknowledges funding from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Potugal) through the projects CID/MAT/00006/2013 and PTDC/MAT-STA/28649/2017.
Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Richard A. Parker
Diabetes Trials Unit, Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Charles Scott
School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Vanda Inácio
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
Nathaniel T. Stevens
RAP, CS, VI, and NTS made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work. RAP wrote the first draft based on an earlier draft of a CCC and LoA comparison paper written by CS. RAP, CS, VI, and NTS performed the statistical analysis. All authors revised and commented on the manuscript. The authors read and approved the final manuscript.
RAP is Senior Statistician at the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit, University of Edinburgh. CS is a Medical Affairs Statistician at Bayer PLC, Reading, UK. VI is Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Edinburgh. NTS is Assistant Professor of Statistics at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Correspondence to Nathaniel T. Stevens.
Not applicable. The dataset used in this study has already been made publically accessible via data sharing from a previous study [15] and has been anonymised. The original study which generated the data (the COPD Respiratory Rate study) was approved by the South East Scotland Research Ethics Committee (references: 13/SS/0114, 13/SS/0206 and 14/SS/0043). Participants gave written informed consent to take part in the original study.
RAP has previously written a paper on the LoA method recommending its use. NTS has promoted the use of the PA method in previous publications. CS has written his MSc dissertation on the CCC method. The authors declare no other competing interests.
Parker, R.A., Scott, C., Inácio, V. et al. Using multiple agreement methods for continuous repeated measures data: a tutorial for practitioners. BMC Med Res Methodol 20, 154 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-01022-x
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-01022-x
Method comparison studies
Repeated measures
Data analysis, statistics and modelling
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line367
|
__label__wiki
| 0.685691
| 0.685691
|
Tag Archives: Toilet Bowl
Friday Night Lights – “Toilet Bowl”
Friday Night Lights is a show that, despite various dips in quality, has not fundamentally changed since its first season. It has always been a show about the people in a football-crazy town, revealing both the problems which complicate their lives and the people (and the sport) that helps them keep grounded.
The show’s problem has been those moments (primarily isolated in the second season, but cropping up in the first season as well) where it feels as if the problems are the only thing that’s working about the show. The second season didn’t just struggle because a character murdered someone, but rather because the show simultaneously retreated from the football culture that was its heart: I don’t believe the murder would have ever been a good idea regardless, but it could have been handled much more efficiently if it had been folded into the community rather than remaining a distraction.
While the fourth season started as an homage to Season Three, with Matt Saracen’s farewell arc echoing Smash and Street’s exits, it has quickly evolved into an extended test of whether the show better understands the mistakes it has made in the past. The show has never been beyond having people make mistakes, and delaying the consequences of those mistakes, but the show is stepping into familiar stories, and not in a good way. “Toilet Bowl” is filled with red flags, characters taking actions that come from a somewhat logical place but which for the sake of narrative expediency are coming faster than they probably should.
It’s adding up to a show that I’m not quite as excited as watching, even if (relative to the second season) there are more reminders of the show and the community that elevate that drama to another level.
Filed under Friday Night Lights
Tagged as Aimee Teegarden, Becky, Buddy Garrity, Chop Shop, Connie Britton, DirecTV, Episode 8, FNL, Jess, Julie Taylor, Land, Landry, Luke Cafferty, NBC, Season 4, Taylor Kitsch, Tim Riggins, Toilet Bowl, Vince Howard
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line369
|
__label__wiki
| 0.820519
| 0.820519
|
Federal judge grants Yemeni Gitmo detainee’s habeas petition
July 23, 2010 Jurist
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on July 21 granted the habeas corpus petition of Yemeni citizen Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif and ordered his immediate release from the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. Latif, who has been in custody for over eight years, contends that he was in Pakistan for medical treatment when he was arrested and turned over to US forces. According to a lawyer for Latif, he suffers from mental illness and depression, and he remains suicidal. The judge ordered the Obama administration to take all necessary steps to ensure that Latif is released.
In a separate decision announced Wednesday, a federal judge denied the habeas petition of Guantánamo detainee Abdul-Rahman Sulayman, ruling that he can continue to be held in custody indefinitely. Sulayman has also been in custody for over eight years. The rulings in both cases remain under seal as they are examined for possible security issues. The US Department of Justice is considering whether to appeal the ruling in Latif’s case.
The district court has ruled in favor of the government in 15 habeas corpus cases, while Guantánamo detainees have prevailed in 38 cases. Earlier this month, a court of appeals overturned a decision granting habeas relief to detainee Mohammed al-Adahi, ruling that the evidence, viewed as a whole, supported the conclusion that al-Adahi was part of al-Qaeda.
Also this month, the appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling denying habeas corpus relief to Guantánamo detainee Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad al-Odah, ruling there was sufficient evidence to consider him part of al-Qaeda.
In May, the district court ordered the release of Yemeni Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohammed Hassen. Hassen had been initially detained in March 2002 following a raid in Faisalabad by Pakistani security forces. He has maintained throughout his detention that he had traveled to Pakistan to study the Koran at Salafi University and had no knowledge of al-Qaeda prior to his detention.
From Jurist, July 22. Used with permission.
The Obama administration has an official ban on the repatriation of detainees to Yemen.
Watching the Shadows
Nebraska city immigration law challenged
Yemen: al-Qaeda, Shi’ite rebels attack
WW4 Report says:
DC Circuit overturns release of Gitmo detainee
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Nov. 9 released a partially redacted opinion in Latif v. Obama, overturning the release order for Yemeni Guantánamo detainee Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif. The redaction at times covers entire sections, but reveals strong divisions between the deciding judges. The unredacted portion of the majority opinion largely focuses on the lower court’s failure to afford the evidence of the government—in the form of intelligence reports—a “presumption of regularity.” (Jurist, Nov. 11)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line372
|
__label__wiki
| 0.833974
| 0.833974
|
Energy - page 2
Gordon Releases Study Showing Benefits Of Coal Plant Retrofit
Published on September 3, 2020 September 3, 2020 in Energy/News
By Jim Angell, Cowboy State Daily
Equipping some Rocky Mountain Power coal-fired generating plants with carbon capture technology would provide greater benefits than simply retiring the plants as the company plans, according to a study released Thursday.
However, the power company questioned the conclusion reached by Leonardo Technologies in its study unveiled by Gov. Mark Gordon and officials from the U.S. Department of Energy during a news conference Thursday.
During the news conference, Gordon and the others said the study showed how Wyoming can take the lead in carbon capture technology.
“Aggressive (carbon capture, utilization and storage) initiatives could establish Wyoming as a world leader in that technology,” said Steve Winberg, assistant secretary of Fossil Energy for the DOE. “That effort would pay large and increasing dividends to the state as (carbon capture, utilization and storage) becomes one of the dominant economic and energy technologies of the 21st century.”
Rocky Mountain Power, in its 2019 integrated resource plan, announced that it would retire nine power units at its coal-fired plants in Wyoming by 2028. One unit, at the Naughton plant in Kemmerer, was retired in 2019.
The company said by moving toward natural gas and renewable energy, it would be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and power costs for its customers.
In response, Gordon asked the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct a study to determine whether putting carbon capture, utilization and storage technology the plants would reduce carbon emissions while allowing for the continued use of Wyoming coal and the related employment.
In addition, Wyoming’s Legislature adopted a bill in 2020 prohibiting utilities such as Rocky Mountain Power from recovering the costs of retiring plants through rate increases and allowing the utilities to collect a surcharge from customers to pay for the retrofitting of plants with carbon capture technology.
Leonardo Technologies, in its study of power units at the the Jim Bridger plant in Rock Springs, Naughton plant in Kemmerer and Dave Johnston plant near Glenrock, said the retrofitting of the plants would result in lower carbon emissions, lower power costs and a lower loss of jobs than if Rocky Mountain Power followed through with its plans to retire the plants. The study also concluded that local and state revenue from coal taxes and royalties would be higher if the plants were equipped with carbon capture technology.
But Rocky Mountain Power, in a reaction to the study’s release, said the study failed to take several factors into account, such as the cost of extending the lives of the power plants long enough to make the investment in carbon capture technology worthwhile.
“PacifiCorp (Rocky Mountain Power’s parent company) continues to examine the study’s assumptions and calculations to properly evaluate its conclusions, but the list of items missed by the study’s analysis is very long,” the company said. “This type of calculation ignores so many elements (all but capital), and should not be relied upon for making the kinds of decisions required of a regulated utility.”
Among the missed costs, according to the statement, were “everything associated with how a utility’s costs flows into rates,” including fuel costs, costs from market purchases, property taxes and net power costs.
The statement said Rocky Mountain Power considered retrofitting the plants before making the decision to retire them.
“Given the current high capital costs of implementing carbon capture on coal-fired generations, as well as other barriers, carbon capture has not been considered a viable option to date, which is why it has only been installed at a single facility nationwide,” it said.
That one facility was mothballed earlier this year because of economic concerns, the company said.
Gordon: Wyoming Will Fight Feds To Save Energy Industry
Gov. Mark Gordon on Tuesday said Wyoming would pursue every available option to protect its energy interests from the federal
Wyoming Bars, Restaurants Back To Normal Hours Saturday
The public health order issued in December requiring restaurants and bars to be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Capitol Invasion Dishonors American Legacy, Gordon Says
The storming of the U.S. Capitol by people unhappy with the outcome of November’s presidential election dishonors the legacy of
Cheney Pleased With Interior Decision to Open Arctic To Oil & Gas Development
Published on August 17, 2020 August 17, 2020 in Energy/News
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney welcomed Monday’s news that energy development would be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The Department of Interior announced on Monday its intention to allow oil and gas development in roughly 10% of the area.
Predictably, the announcement caused a schism between both parties with Cheney signaling her support by tweeting the Wall Street Journal article which had the story first.
“Today’s announcement by Secretary Bernhardt approving drilling in ANWR is another promise kept by President Trump that will boost our country’s domestic energy production while also returning power to state and local officials where it belongs,” Cheney said on Twitter.
Although Democrats predicted environmental doom if the area was developed, the handwringing may be premature.
The issue has been a political football for more than 30 years, and as the New York Times reported on Monday “any oil production within the refuge would still be at least a decade in the future” if it ever happens.
Already one group is ready to sue the administration over it.
“The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We’ll see them in court,” said a statement from Lena Moffitt, the Sierra Club’s senior director of its Our Wild America campaign.
Plus, with energy prices so low, the business climate for development could be an obstacle.
“Current market forces weigh against the industry trying to sink new wells in such an expensive and inhospitable place, and that consumer pressure against such moves will be considerable,” wrote Scott Martelle of the Los Angeles Times.
Oddly, President Trump didn’t tweet anything about the news on Monday but told FOX News that he would “take a look” at the Dept of Interior’s decision.
“ANWR is a big deal that Ronald Reagan couldn’t get done and nobody could get done,” Trump said.
Wyoming Republican Party Condemns Liz Cheney’s Impeachment Vote
The Wyoming Republican Party on Wednesday condemned Rep. Cheney's vote to impeach President Trump.
Liz Cheney: Impeachment Vote Was Of Conscience, Not Politics
Congresswoman Liz Cheney on Wednesday said her vote to impeach President Trump had nothing to do with politics and everything
Liz Cheney On Calls For Her to Resign: “I’m Not Going Anywhere”
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney told reporters that despite a petition for her to resign she "wasn't going anywhere."
Wyoming Teams Up With MIT to Explore Energy and Climate Solutions
Published on August 4, 2020 August 4, 2020 in Energy/News
Representatives from the Wyoming Governor’s Office, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, and Wyoming Energy Authority are exploring future avenues for collaboration with faculty and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to strengthen Wyoming’s energy economy while lowering CO2 emissions
“This moment in time presents us with an opportunity to seize: creating a strong economic future for the people of Wyoming while protecting something we all care about—the climate,” said Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. “Wyoming has tremendous natural resources that create thousands of high-paying jobs. This conversation with MIT allows us to consider how we use our strengths and adapt to the changes that are happening nationally and globally.”
The two dozen participants from Wyoming and MIT discussed pathways for long-term economic growth in Wyoming, given the global need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The wide-ranging and detailed conversation covered topics such as the future of carbon capture technology, hydrogen, and renewable energy; using coal for materials and advanced manufacturing; climate policy; and how communities can adapt and thrive in a changing energy marketplace.
The discussion paired MIT’s global leadership in technology development, economic modeling and low-carbon energy research, with Wyoming’s unique competitive advantages: its geology that provides vast underground storage potential for CO2; its existing energy and pipeline infrastructure; and the tight bonds between business, government and academia.
“Wyoming’s small population and statewide support of energy technology development is an advantage,” says Holly Krutka, executive director of the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources. “Government, academia and industry work very closely together here to scale up technologies that will benefit the state and beyond. We know each other, so we can get things done and get them done quickly.”
“There’s strong potential for MIT to work with the state of Wyoming on technologies that could not only benefit the state, but also the country and rest of the world as we combat the urgent crisis of climate change,” says Bob Armstrong, director of the MIT Energy Initiative, who attended the forum. “It’s a very exciting conversation.”
The event was convened by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as part of its Here & Real project, which works with regions in the U.S. to help further initiatives that are both climate-friendly and economically just.
“At MIT, we are focusing our attention on technologies that combat the challenge of climate change—but also, with an eye toward not leaving people behind,” says Prof. Maria Zuber, MIT Vice President for Research.
“It is inspiring to see Wyoming’s state leadership seriously committed to finding solutions for adapting the energy industry, given what we know about the risks of climate change,” says Laur Hesse Fisher, director of the Here & Real project. “Their determination to build an economically and environmentally sound future for the people of Wyoming has been evident in our discussions, and I am excited to see this conversation continue and deepen.”
Campbell County Man Believes In Second Life For Powder River Basin Coal Ash
Published on July 31, 2020 July 31, 2020 in Energy/News
By Jennifer Kocher, County 17
Good news is hard to come by today with regard to Wyoming’s lagging energy industry, particularly in the Powder River Basin, but at least one man is optimistic about the county’s future.
Where there’s a bust, Phil Christopherson believes, there’s a boom to follow, which may come as early as 2022.
His glass half-full mentality stems in part from his work as CEO of Energy Capital Economic Development (ECED), where the crux of his job is to attract new businesses to Campbell County, and ignite and revive local industries.
He looks to the long-term with regard to driving economic diversity to keep the economy robust, regardless of downturns in energy.
Generally speaking, he noted, the county has a lot going for it. Lots of space, for one, as well as easy access to Interstate 90, rail and commercial jet transportation, business-friendly regulations and taxes as well as top-notch recreation and business incubator facilities.
He sees several promising opportunities on the horizon, including a pretty hefty investment on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources (SER), ECED as well as funding from both city and county governments among other developments currently in the works.
Moreover, as a Wyoming native, Christopherson wholeheartedly believes in the tenacity, grit and resourcefulness of its people, particularly those in Campbell County.
He points to its long history as the nation’s leading energy provider and reveres it as home to several world-class companies like Liebherr, Cyclone Drilling and L&H Industrial. Yes, times are a little hard, he admitted, but there are equally lucrative days to follow.
The future site of Atlas Carbon near the new Highway 59 buildout (left).
The future site of WyIC, near HWY 59 buildout.
Sitting at a table in his corner office of the Energy Capital Building in south Gillette last Tuesday, Christopherson slid a press release across the laminated surface, detailing news about a new pilot-scale production facility currently in the design phase at Energy Capital Economic Development’s Wyoming Innovation Center (WyIC).
It’s scheduled to open next year as part of the exploratory project, where scientists will attempt to extract rare earth elements from coal ash.
The $1.62 million project is funded through a partnership between the city, county, university and federal agencies including a federal grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund earmarked for helping to develop promising energy technologies.
The three-year project entails a partnership between the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in conjunction with UW’s SER and will entail identifying and extracting rare earth elements and other critical metals from feedstocks in the PRB to test efficacies and economic value.
Currently, Christopherson’s ECED team is in the process of finalizing the designs for the facility, which they hope to have nailed down in August or early September.
“This project is an important step forward in diversifying and expanding Wyoming’s economy through value-added coal projects,” he said.
The project has already garnered the sign-off from Gillette Mayor Louise Carter-King, who touted both the partnership as well as the potential for the project.
“We always knew that this was the perfect site, and it is gratifying to know that others recognize the potential of the Powder River Basin to assist our nation,” Carter-King said in an ECED release announcing the project.
Quoting studies that have shown the PRB coal has had high extractable REE content compared to other coal ash sources in other parts of the country, Christopherson also touted the high volume of available coal ash stocks with up to 270 to 690 tons produced by a single power station per day.
“This project is an important step forward in diversifying and expanding Wyoming’s economy through value-added coal projects,” he said. “We are proud to host the NETL rare earth elements project at our WyIC facility.”
Securing energy independence
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a part of a group of 17 metal elements that occur naturally and are typically found in varying proportions in the same ore deposits, according to the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS), and are used in a variety of products from nuclear reactors, cell phones, magnets and camera lenses among several other products. They’re also key to renewable technologies such as wind turbines and electric cars.
For the past two decades, China has dominated the REEs market, accounting for about 95 – 97% of the world’s supply.
Currently, the United States is wholly dependent on imports for 21 of these critical materials, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and 50% dependent on imports for an additional 28 more.
In recent days, as the Trump Administration ratchets up tensions with China surrounding trade and national security issues, including closing down the Chinese Embassy in Houston over accusations that the communist nation is pirating U.S. intellectual property and stealing research and industry secrets, many in government like Wyoming Senators John Barrasso and Mike Enzi see the country’s critical minerals dependency as a matter of national security as well as an opportunity to revive the fledgling coal sector.
In May, both senators sent letters to the secretaries of defense and the interior asking for them to invest in national efforts to build our own REE stockpile. Last week, Sen. Barrasso further sent a letter to the DOE, urging the agency to set up a satellite office in Wyoming to build on efforts to bolster statewide energy research, development and commercialization.
Given the country’s and world’s reliance on these REEs, demand for them only continues to rise. The global rare earth market is estimated to grow in value from $8.1 billion in 2018 to more than $14.4 billion by 2025, according to Zion Market Research, a company specializing in cutting-edge informative reports.
“Right now,” Christopherson said, “we’re relying on China for our Rare Earth Elements. This project is an important step forward in the United States developing our own sources of REE, while diversifying and expanding Wyoming’s economy through value-added coal projects.”
Many in the county and state are interested in tapping into PRB coal ash as the next panacea.
Regaining ground
At one point, the United States was a leader in REEs. Between the 1960s and 80s, the country had the largest market share, mostly mined at Molycorp’s Mountain Pass Mine in California, according to a 2017 DOE report. The open-pit REE mine of the Mojave declared bankruptcy in 2015. In Wyoming, Bear Lodge outside of Upton, had held promise in past years but fell flat under poor market conditions and also closed in 2015.
Meanwhile, China, which has the world’s largest known REE deposit, the Bayan Obo deposit, continues to dominate the market after beginning REE production in the 1980s, per the report.
Currently, the DOE is hoping to find new pockets of minerals with its sights set on two predominant coal-producing areas of the country – the West and Appalachia – where DOE and NETL assessments estimate a potential REE reserve of 6 million metric tons (MT) of potentially recoverable minerals from coal and coal byproducts in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona with another estimated 4.9 MT from four eastern states, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.
In Campbell County, the three-year joint project between NETL and UW’s SER will focus on extracting REEs from coal ash from nearby utility companies.
Scott Quillinan, director of research at the UW’s SER, is also optimistic about the potential of the DOE/NETL project in the PRB.
PRB coal collected from the University of Wyoming coring program for REE analysis.
PRB coal collected from the University of Wyoming coring program for REE analysis. (H/t UW SER)
The first year-and-a-half will consist of onsite lab work between researchers at UW and NETL, who will collaborate from their Pittsburgh lab to fine tune extraction technologies. Once the WyIC facility is up and running, Quillinan said, the entities will join forces in-house for the remaining 18 months.
In terms of REEs, researchers at SER are particularly excited about the high concentrations of two critical, middle and heavy elements, Dysposium and Neodymium, in the PRB’s sub-bituminous coal.
“Neodymium in particular is a very important element,” Davin Bagdonas, research scientist at SER’s Center for Economic Geology Research and SER’s principal investigator on the REE pilot project, said.
“PRB coal/fly ash is a great potential resource for it in high volume,” he said.
The light REE, Neodymium, is used to make hard drives in laptop computers, headphones and hybrid engines among other uses. Dysposium, which is a heavy rare earth, is used primarily to make permanent magnets and hybrid engines.
The area also has high concentrations of Praseodymium, a critical mineral used for magnets and hybrid engines, Bagdonas added, as well as Cesium, a soft, silvery, extremely reactive metal.
Though the PRB is rich in these elements, Quillinan noted, the tricky part is extracting them both safely and economically, which entails digesting the coal with acid to differentiate the elements from the coal ash.
A second snag is that currently further processing of the minerals once extracted generally occurs overseas. This is also true of manufacturing. Most of the products that require rare earth elements in the process are made elsewhere, he said.
Regardless, Quillinan remains optimistic about the quality of the feedstocks as well as the technology, which if proved economically viable, may spur private investment into building an extraction and processing facility in Wyoming or elsewhere where the US might regain its prominent spot as the leader of REEs.
“It looks promising,” he said, noting the volume of available coal ash at the ready as well as the high calcium content, which makes coal ash more easily to digest with acid.
That said, the project is for naught if it’s not economically feasible. The techno-economics will be evaluated per DOE-approved economic models as part of the project.
“We know we have high-potential feedstocks and promising technology and know the demand is there,” Quillinan said, “but we have to figure out if it makes sense economically. If it doesn’t pencil, private investment will never come.”
However, he noted, if the United States continues to trend toward renewable energy sources, these rare earth minerals are imperative, and he’d like to see Wyoming take the lead.
How A Biden Presidency Could Impact Wyoming Energy
Biden has promised executive action that will ban oil and gas leasing on federal lands in addition to implementing “aggressive
Losing coal could cost Wyoming dearly, take decades to recalibrate labor force
Wyoming’s coal market has suffered devastating layoffs and mine closures in recent years, and by all accounts, the industry is
Converse County Oil, Gas Project One Step Closer To Approval
Published on July 31, 2020 August 3, 2020 in Energy/News
A proposed major oil and gas development project in Converse County moved one step closer to federal approval with a release of the final environmental impact statement on the project.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday, in its final impact statement on the project that could see more than 5,000 new wells drilled in the next 10 years, continued to select the full development option as its preferred alternative for the project.
The release of the statement triggered a 30-day protest period, after which the BLM will issue a record of decision on the project.
Five energy companies have proposed drilling on about 1.5 million acres of land in Converse County: Occidental Petroleum, Chesapeake Energy Corp., Devon Energy, EOG Resources Inc. and Northwoods Energy. Plans call for about 500 wells to be drilled each year over 10-years.
Other options for the project considered by the BLM included allowing no development and allowing the development of all the new wells, but limiting the number of well pads that could be built in the area.
Gov. Mark Gordon, in a prepared statement, said he welcomed the release of the report and noted Wyoming officials had worked extensively with federal officials to make sure the development followed certain measures to protect wildlife and the environment in the area.
“The State of Wyoming worked long and hard to weigh in on issues such as year-round drilling that would still provide appropriate measures to protect wildlife, including raptors as well as Greater sage-grouse,” he said.
He noted the project will involve the use of new drilling technologies that will reduce surface disturbances.
“It reflects what can be accomplished when ingenuity, science, technology and common sense management policies are used to promote energy development and preserve our wildlife,” he said.
After being hit by both a downturn in the energy industry and economic restrictions imposed by the coronavirus, Wyoming lost
Wyoming Congressional Delegation Pleased With Soda Ash Royalty Reduction
A reduction in soda ash royalties expected to save producers up to $5 million over the next 10 years is
Wyo State Senator Predicts Energy Industry Won’t Recover
Sen. Dave Kinskey said the domestic and international sentiment against fossil fuels coupled with a Democratic president will likely spell
Gordon Pleased That Ruling Allows Flaring Litigation to Resume
By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily
Gov. Mark Gordon said Tuesday he is pleased about a federal district court ruling that will soon allow the state to resume its legal challenge of a rule that would force energy companies to capture and use natural gas rather than vent or flare it.
Last week, a California federal district court set aside the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s current rule governing venting and flaring of natural gas on public lands, allowing the Obama-era rule to be reimposed in 90 days. As a result, a federal court in Cheyenne lifted a stay on legal action the state of Wyoming and other states had taken against rules on flaring and venting adopted by the Obama Administration.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, flaring is the controlled burning of natural gas and is a common practice in oil and gas exploration, production and processing operations. Flares generate heat and noise. Venting is the direct release of natural gas into the atmosphere.
The Obama Administration rule required oil and gas companies operating on public lands to capture more of that natural gas and use to to produce energy. Energy producers argued that it was cheaper to flare or vent the gas than to process it for energy production.
The Trump Administration worked to nullify those rules with its own, but the California district court rejected those rules.
“In a thorough, but thoroughly incorrect ruling, the judge rejected the Trump Administration’s commonsense approach to the management of waste gas,” Gordon said in a news release. “The Trump Administration recognized and respected Wyoming’s longstanding and effective regulations, while the Obama administration sought to impose a one-size-fits-all mandate that imposes tremendous costs on oil and gas producers to save small amounts of natural gas.”
Before the Trump Administration rules took effect, Wyoming and other energy states were in the process of challenging the validity of the Obama-era rule in federal court in Wyoming. Those proceedings were paused when the Trump administration replaced the rule.
The Wyoming court lifted a stay on the case on Tuesday, allowing Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and Texas to proceed with their challenge to the Obama rule before it goes into effect and causes substantial harm.
“Wyoming will be reviewing its options to appeal the California decision, but in the meantime we will do all we can to avoid the harm that the Obama-era rule will cause in this particularly difficult time for Wyoming’s energy industry,” Governor Gordon said.
Laramie Protest Over Wind Energy Regulations Slated For Wednesday Morning
Published on July 7, 2020 July 7, 2020 in Energy/News
A group of Albany County residents seeking a change to the county’s rules for wind energy projects plans to hold a peaceful protest rally at the county courthouse at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The protest is set to take place one hour before a special Albany County Planning Commission meeting where members will discuss the need to change current county regulations.
The rally is a response to plans to build two industrial wind plants in the county. Organizer Paul Montoya described the development of such projects as an “onslaught…that have engulfed neighboring counties such as Laramie County and Carbon County.”
Montoya told Cowboy State Daily that the Roundhouse project outside of Cheyenne was a major factor behind the rally, noting that it’s an eyesore that can be seen from as far away as Albany County. Construction on the project, which will consist of up to 120 turbines, began in 2019 and is expected to be completed at the end of this year.
A project proposed for Albany County that is being opposed by Montoya and others is the Rail Tie Wind Project, which is to be built around Highway 287 near Tie Siding.
Montoya is quick to clarify that he’s not against wind projects, but is more frustrated with the current regulations in place and the three county commissioners’ “lip-service” regarding the raised concerns.
“We just want some updated regulations and mapping of where these plants should go,” Montoya said. “We’re really wanting them to look at what Sweetwater County has done regarding its regulations for wind and solar projects, because they’ve done a fantastic job. We don’t want to be like Teton County and not allow any sort of project like this, but we want to ensure it doesn’t impact the quality of life of the people of this community.”
Black Hills Energy Gives Back to Wyoming Communities
Black Hills Energy is much more than an energy company. The company believes in investing in local economies, helping families in need, and supporting the communities employees work and live in.
In 2019, the direct economic impact of Black Hills Energy in Wyoming totaled $144 million. This included compensation for employees, charitable giving, payments to suppliers, and property, sales and use taxes paid to communities.
As part of this, charitable impact totaled $345 thousand dollars, including financial support for nonprofits, economic development, low-income energy assistance, investments in trees, and support for United Ways – all making a positive impact in the hometowns of employees and customers in Wyoming.
Giving back is more than just writing checks. Black Hills Energy also supported communities in 2019 in other ways, including:
More than 2,400 customers participated in energy efficiency programs; saving energy costs.
More than 65 families received energy assistance funds as part of the Black Hills Cares program.
More than 50 community organizations benefitted from volunteer time shared by 40 employees.
Over 25 first responders learned emergency response techniques around natural gas and electrical lines.
“At Black Hills Energy we believe strong communities help make for strong companies. If our communities are not strong, we won’t be either,” said Linn Evans, president and chief executive officer at Black Hills Energy. “Our hearts go out to all those impacted by COVID-19, whether physically or economically. In addition to our community impact initiatives, as the pandemic became a reality in our hometowns this spring, we partnered with our communities to help fill basic needs by designating $375,000 for immediate relief efforts. And, we stand ready to partner with our communities as they emerge from the impact of coronavirus.”
“Seeing our company and its employees give back to so many communities and organizations, exhibits the Black Hills Energy’s culture at its finest, and it is something I am glad to represent every day,” said Mark Stege, Wyoming’s vice president of operations.
To learn more about all the ways Black Hills Energy is supporting communities please visit: www.blackhillsenergy.com/community and click on the Community section.
About Black Hills Energy
Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) is a customer focused, growth-oriented utility company with a tradition of improving life with energy and a vision to be the energy partner of choice. Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, the company serves 1.28 million natural gas and electric utility customers in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. More information is available at www.blackhillscorp.com and www.blackhillsenergy.com.
Wyoming Technicians Return Home After Restoring Natural Gas Service in Aspen
On Sunday, December 27, 3,500 customers lost service following vandalism to Black Hills Energy’s system. Law enforcement agencies, including the
Black Hills Energy: Four Tips To Keep Your Gas Fireplace Running Safely And Efficiency All Season Long
Whether you’re curling up at the end of the day to read a good book, finish a puzzle, or watch
Black Hills Energy Raises Nearly $760,000 for United Way
Black Hills Energy on Thursday announced support of nearly $760,000 from its annual corporate United Way fundraising campaign to support
Jonah Energy VP: Despite Hurdles, Natural Gas Industry Can Stabilize and Grow
Published on June 23, 2020 June 23, 2020 in Energy/News
A cleaner energy product could provide the ladder needed by Wyoming’s natural gas industry to climb out of a hole dug by years of low prices, high regulatory fees, and finally, the pandemic, an industry leader said.
“The challenges for natural gas producers have been growing for a number of years,” said Paul Ulrich, vice president of government and regulatory affairs at Jonah Energy LLC. “And, what we are facing today is clearly a perfect storm.”
With only two natural gas rigs operating in the state, Ulrich said Wyoming hasn’t seen natural gas rig counts this low since the 1940s.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. natural gas market was flooded with cheap product. Oil producers in the Permian Basin, an oil field covering parts of Texas and New Mexico, drew up an abundance of natural gas as a byproduct of oil drilling.
“There was a glut of natural gas on the market,” Ulrich explained. “The price differential (to extract natural gas in Wyoming) puts us at a disadvantage in the marketplace.”
In Wyoming, natural gas producers drill for gas and pull up a small portion of oil as a byproduct, Ulrich explained.
Because Wyoming’s producers focus on natural gas production, their operating costs are higher, making it difficult to compete against oil producers, he said.
But when oil production slowed to a crawl in the U.S. as a result of a price war between Russia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earlier this year, Ulrich said an opportunity opened for natural gas producers.
“I strongly believe that if we as a state collectively make smart and major decisions that remove financial and regulatory hurdles, we have the opportunity to not only stabilize, but grow the industry back to pre-2019 production rates,” he said.
A key factor in regrowing Wyoming’s natural gas sector would be the willingness of producers to adapt to cleaner energy demands.
“The market is extremely interested in consuming more responsibly produced energy,” Ulrich said.
Taking part in a program designed to encourage the responsible production of natural gas, Ulrich said Jonah Energy qualified its product as low emissions and also reduced surface disturbances by working with state agencies and researchers on best practices.
The company earned a gold TrustWell rating, a score developed by the Independent Energy Standards Inc. to rank natural gas producers based on responsibility metrics across a range of risks and impacts. Jonah is also the first producer in the nation to receive TrustWell’s Verified Attribute for Low-Methane.
“From our standpoint, the whims of the market are one thing,” Ulrich said. “But if we can provide a cleaner source of natural gas, a more responsibly produced natural gas, we believe there’s a place in the market for it.”
Jonah is exploring options for opening another rig in July, which could bring the state’s count up to three, he added.
As the Wyoming Energy Authority’s vice chairman, Ulrich said he was working with the state to help position Wyoming once again as a competitive market for natural gas producers.
“The authority is envisioned as a one-stop shop for developers, who want more information and help finding opportunities in Wyoming,” he explained. “Natural gas is a tremendous feed stock for a myriad of manufacturing processes, and could be a tremendous opportunity to diversify our economy.”
Both the Legislature and Governor Mark Gordon’s office have been supportive of the industry, he said, but the state has some work to do before natural gas can return to its former glory.
“Our best path forward — as a state and energy producers — is working together toward a shared goal,” Ulrich said. “The most important thing we can do as a state is remove any and all barriers to capital investment as well encourage and incentivize Wyoming operators, whether drilling for natural gas or oil.”
Wyoming Oil Production Decline ‘Catastrophic,’ Recovery Unlikely
Published on June 12, 2020 in Coronavirus/Energy/News
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two part series detailing the struggles of Wyoming’s energy sector in a post-pandemic economy.
Before COVID-19, Wyoming officials were hopeful the potential for increased oil demand could offset declining natural gas and coal revenues, but a foreign price war dashed those hopes this spring, a University of Wyoming economist said.
“In April, there was a price war between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia,” said Rob Godby, UW’s Energy Economics and Public Policies Center director. “Prices fell through the floor.”
Oil prices plummeted to less than zero — at a negative $37.63 per barrel — near the end of April. As of Thursday, the price per barrel rebounded to a positive figure of $35.60 per barrel, according to U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate, but prices are again trending downward as markets anticipate a second wave of COVID-19 cases.
“Worldwide demand for oil collapsed by about 30 percent,” Godby said.
Supply, demand
Before the pandemic, the world produced about 100 million barrels of oil a day, but international demand only called for about 70 million, he explained.
“It got to the point there was too much oil coming out of the ground and people didn’t have a place to put it,” Godby said. “They were paying people to take it off their hands.”
The U.S. was the world’s largest oil producer before COVID-19, but American producers struggle to make profits when the price per barrel is below $40. Diminishing income forced many producers in Wyoming and throughout the U.S. to cap wells.
“Capping wells is drastic, because it can damage (oil) reservoirs,” Godby said.
When producers re-start capped wells, the damage done to reservoirs can reduce the wells’ output.
“It’s not great,” Godby said. “But, it’s all you can do to stop the bleeding.”
Prior to 2020, Wyoming’s oil production never fell by more than 10% in a single year.
“We have very little data, but we expect oil production to decline in Wyoming in our baseline forecast by 45%,” Godby said, explaining the prediction was presented to the state in the latest Consensus Revenue Estimating Group report. “This is catastrophic.”
During the next five years, according to the report, Wyoming’s oil production rates are not expected to return to the levels seen in 2019, Godby added.
Will energy recover?
Given the unprecedented nature of COVID-19’s impact on the global economy, predicting post-pandemic energy demands is a lot of guesswork, Godby said.
But, few believe Wyoming’s energy sector will return to pre-pandemic production rates — which were on the decline — any time soon, he added.
“Some of the most rosy projections predict oil could come back, but the problem is the U.S. is a high-cost producer,” Godby said. “Where we think oil will come back is in newer fields, not in places like Wyoming.”
Most experts agree coal production will continue to decline, but determining the rate of decline is still up for debate.
Natural gas is poised for a rebound as oil production slows, decreasing the surplus gas flooding the market, but Godby said experts question whether Wyoming would be considered a prime location for new wells in the future.
“We don’t expect the increases in natural gas through 2024 to bring us back to where we were in 2019,” he said. “In the short term, there may be a price spike, drawing renewed interest. But it’s possible oil and gas development will occur elsewhere outside of Wyoming.”
345 New Coronavirus Cases in Wyoming on Thursday; 2,052 Active
An increase of more than 300 in new confirmed coronavirus cases pushed the state’s number of active cases back up
167 New Coronavirus Cases in Wyoming on Wednesday; 2,327 Active
The number of active coronavirus cases in Wyoming fell back under 2,000 on Wednesday as the reported recoveries from the
Previous 1 2 3 4 … 7 Next »
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line373
|
__label__wiki
| 0.898809
| 0.898809
|
Last modified: 2013-11-21 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: saint lucia | beach | volcano | america | santa lucia | st. lucia |
by Željko Heimer, 4 January 2003
Official Name: Saint Lucia
Capital: Castries
Location: Caribbean
Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy (Queen Elizabeth II)
Flag adopted: 22 February 1979
Designer: Dunstan St Omer
Coat of arms adopted: 1 March 1967
ISO Code: LC
The New Flag
The Flag - Overview
1967 Flag
Construction Sheet
National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics
Storm Warning Signals
Saint Lucia - Governor-General's Flag
Saint Lucia - Naval Flags
Saint Lucia - Colonial Flags
Saint Lucia - Subdivisions
The Coat of Arms of Saint Lucia
At <www.stlucia.gov.lc> is the official flag of Saint Lucia. The colours has been changed in the last time, because at sites before November last year the colours was as known (dark blue and yellow). Did anybody knows when the colours was officially changed (22.02.2002(?)) ? "
Falko Schmidt, 15 April 2002
Did you notice that in the quoted website the flag behind the photo of St Lucia Prime Minister is still dark blue ?
Armand Noel du Payrat, 17 April 2002
Note that the present PM is in office since 1997 so that his photo might be quite old. It's interesting that both image and description are compatible - they both describe the flag as "cerulean".
Jan Zrzavy, 17 April 2002
The most intriguing fact is that the flag description says cerulean (sky) blue since its design, but has always been render a darker blue. I have been in St. Lucia, but many years ago, and it was a darker blue then.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 17 April 2002
The light blue flag is a new flag. Confirmed by the UN office of St. Lucia, who wrote me that the flag was adopted after their website had been completed, and so they show the old design in dark blue. The adoption date lies between December 2001 and March 2002. The office promised me complete infos.
Ralf Stelter, 13 May 2002
The web mentions that the flag was designed by Dunstan St. Omer. I believe he is a designer of the first national flag.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 31 May 2002
St. Lucia is probably returning to the original flag colors. Some older sources, at least the Czech vexillological book written by Ludvik Mucha, did show the light blue flags in 1970's and early 1980's. I think that the color change took part in about 1979, together with changes of the flag geometry.
Jan Zrzavy, 1 June 2002
In use since 1 March 1967, officially adopted 22 February 1979. Used as civil, state and war flag and ensign. Proportions 1:2.
Mark Sensen, 29 January 1996 and Željko Heimer, 13 March 1997
St. Lucia was first settled by France in 1650. During French rule, it used the same flag as Martinique, its neighbouring island to the north. It became British in 1814 - so the first ensign could date at least to this time. Afterwards, the two rulers were changed several times, but it finally remained a British dependency into the 'modern era'. In 1939 the arms were granted. Internal self-government was granted in 1967 (when it became an Associated State of Great Britain). Full independence in 1979.
Željko Heimer, 18 March 1997
The flag represents the island surrounded by the sea - two triangular shapes on the flag represent two volcanic hills, the Pitons, which are recognized by the people of St. Lucia and by the world as the symbol of this island. Please refer here, for an illustrative photo of the Pitons.
Joseph Sexton, 14 August 1998
From Dorling-Kindersley Pocket Book [udk97]:
"It [the flag] was designed by a local artist, Dunstan St Omer. The blue field represents the sea, from which arise the twin peaks of the Pitons said to be 'rising sheer out of the sea and looking skyward - a symbol of hope'. The yellow triangle stands for sunshine and the black arrowhead on white, for the twin cultures of the island. [...] A new form of the arms was also adopted, symbolizing the national motto 'The Land, the People, the Light'.Apart from the Governor-General's flag and that of the capital Castries, no other flags are known."
Ivan Sache, 31 January 2000
From <www.stlucia.gov.lc>:
Saint Lucian artist Dunstan St. Omer, designer of the National Flag, has described it as follows:
On a plain blue field, a device consisting of a white and black triangular shape, at the base of which a golden triangle occupies a central position.
The triangles are superimposed on one another the black on the white, and the gold on the black. The black ends as a three-pointed star in the centre of the flag.
The width of the white part of the triangle is one-and-a-half inches on both sides of the black. The distance between the peaks of the black and white triangles is four inches.
The triangles share a common base the length of which is one-third of the full length of the flag.
Dimensions of the National Flag
The dimensions of the National Flag shall be in the following proportions: 6'x3' and 9"x4.5"
Meaning of the Flag
Cerulean Blue represents fidelity. This blue reflects our tropical sky and also our emerald surrounding waters: the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Gold represents the prevailing sunshine in the Caribbean and prosperity
Black and white stand for the cultural influences - the white part, the white culture; the black part, the black culture -the two races living and working in unity.
The design impresses the dominance of the Negro culture vis-�-vis that of Europe, against a background of sun�shine and ever-blue sea. This is represented by the three triangles in the centre of the flag, symbolising three pitons.
The Triangle, the shape of which is an isosceles triangle, is reminiscent of the island’s famous twin Pitons at Soufriere, rising sheer out of the sea, towards the sky -themselves, a symbol of the hope and aspirations of the people."
According to Album 2000 [pay00] - National Flag (CSW/C-- 1:2) - The Album 2000 has medium blue field, while corr. 2 has it much lighter, after the recent reports.
Željko Heimer, 2 January 2003
by Željko Heimer, 18 March 1997
In use 1-MAR-1967 to 1979: same as current flag, but the golden triangle was lower. The blue background was lighter than today. Proportions about 5:8. Used as civil and state flag and state ensign. Reference: [smi80].
Corr. 2 to Album 2002 [pay02] also include some basic construction details (i.e. flag length is shown as 2+2+2, height 6; though exact measuring of the image there proves that the image was not made according to the numbers, the base of the triangle being some 30% longer then the distances to the edges). Above we have quote from the government site, quoting the flag designer, so we know that the width of the visible white stripes is 1.5" and the distance between the tops of the white and black triangles is 4", however we don't know exactly on how big flag this is measured. But, I think that we may safely assume that one of the two official sizes of the flag might be a safe choice. The same site mentioned above continues with flag description, but now not quoting the author any more: "Dimensions of the National Flag The dimensions of the National Flag shall be in the following proportions: 6'x3' and 9"x4.5". We may safely assume that Dunstan talks about the 3'x6' flag (i.e. 1x2m), and not about 4.5"x9" (which is ca. 10x20cm, presumably the table flag. Apparently, now the Dunstan's description is enough to construct the whole flag, with few assumptions that I'll point out on the way.
Knowing the dimension 1.5" and 4" as described above and knowing that the base of the triangles is 1/3 of the flag length 2' = 24", it is fairly easy to show using basic geometry that the length of the sides of the white isosceles triangle are 32". If we interpret the description rightly, the top of the yellow trangle is in the midpoint of the flag.
For those who like to know measures, even approximately along the main axes, it is fairly simple to compute that the height of the emblem is ca. 29.6". Rounding this to 30, one may easily show the construction details as: (3~+30~+3~):(24+24+24) or rationed as (1~+10~+1~):(8+8+8).
Admittedly, this produces the triangle somewhat taller that I am used to see in vex-books, but it may well be so.
All this assuming that Dunstan is talking about 1:2 flag. As we have shown, the original 1967 Flag might have been 5:8~. However, the story about the flag ratio change, just as the reports on the different blue shades sound quite fishy to me, and while these may well be true reports of the flags seen in use, it may well be that the official flag specification (if there was one) was never changed since 1967 actually.
I have today received official specs for the flag of St Lucia via Jos Poels, and the details are as follows:
"Notice.
Saint Lucia National Flag and Coat of Arms.
Due to concern over the various representations of the National Flag on souvenir items and other memorabilia, and the need for standardization of such items, permission should be sought from the Office of the Prime Minister before the importation of all souvenir items bearing the Coat of Arms and Flag of Saint Lucia.
This request is in accordance with Clause 15 of the Third Schedule Part II (Restricted Imports) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act No. 23 of 1990.
The official colours, proportions and dimensions of the Saint Lucia National Flag are given as follows: Colours of the Saint Lucia National Flag: Cerulean Blue (Process Cyan 100%), Light Chrome Yellow, Black, White.
Proportions of the Saint Lucia National Flag: Width of the white part of triangle - 1 � inches on both sides of the black; Distance between peaks of black and white triangles - 4 inches; Length of common base shared by triangles - 1/3 of the length of the Flag.
Dimensions of Saint Lucia National Flag: Pole Flag - 6 feet x 3 feet; Hand Flag - 9 inches x 4 � inches; Desk Flag - 6 inches x 3 inches; Casket Flag - 11 feet x 5 � feet.
It is also recommended that the Coat of Arms, as the Official Seal of Government, should not be reproduced for commercial use or sale."
Source: Saint Lucia Nationwide, a publication of the Department of Information Services, No. 29, Saturday 25 October 2003, p. 8.
I calculate (based on the above and a flag of 72 x 144 units) that the white triangle has a height of 54 units and a width of 48 units, while the black triangle (allowing for a 3 unit border at each side) has a height of 46 units and a width of 48, with the white being centred on the flag. The height of the yellow triangle is not officially specified, but I have put its apex at the centre-point of the flag as being the logical place for it to be.
The details are taken from Saint Lucia Nationwide, a publication of the Department of Information Services, No. 29, Saturday 25 October 2003, p. 8. It was, however, issued in accordance with Clause 15 of the Third Schedule Part II (Restricted Imports) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act No. 23 of 1990 (with no date or month given).
Christopher Southworth, 28 April and 4 May 2005
I took upon calculating the measures that Christopher Southworth sent and I reached to exactly the same conclusions as I gave above. Calculating trigonometrically from what dimensions are provided yield the length of the edge of the white triangle as 32". This again provided vertical division as approximately 3+30+3, that is not like Christopher give! (in Christopher measures "my triangle" is 59.33 while his is 46+8=54).
That the side is 32 is easily shown using basic geometry: since the right-angled triangles A and B are similar; A of sides 1.5 and 4 and B of sides 12 and x, where x is the length of the "white edge", x must be equal to 4*(12/1.5)=4*8=32.
Željko Heimer, 2 May 2005
"Chrome" can mean several different colours, but usually refers to yellow. In this case, it would mean that the yellow has a slightly amber tinge rather than being lemon yellow.
James Dignan, 3 May 2005
The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
For St Lucia: PMS 3005 blue, 109 yellow and black. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012
There is an anecdotal but exotic story involving the Caribbean island of Saint-Lucia and the French national flag.
In the south of the island, there is a city called Choiseul, whose history is the following:
"Many old maps of Saint Lucia show a place called Anse Citron where you would expect to see Choiseul. In English that means 'Lime Bay'. Perhaps the sailors who went ashore for food and water found limes growing there. This would have been an important discovery. Lime juice was a protection against scurvy, a disease caused by being too long at sea without fresh fruits or vegetables to eat. Until 1763, the village near the river mouth was also called Anse Citron. In February of that year, the English and the French signed a pact called the treaty of Paris. It made Saint Lucia a French possession. They celebrated by remaining the village Anse Choiseul in honor of the Duke of Choiseul, French Minister for Foreign Affairs. This was later shortened to 'Choiseul'. During the French Revolution, the Republican General Richard was sent to govern Saint Lucia. He gave all towns and villages new names. Choiseul was now called 'Le Tricolore', like the French flag with its bands of red, white and blue. In 1796, the British defeated the French and Le Tricolore became Choiseul once again." [Source: <aboutstlucia.sluhoo.com>].
Choiseul (1719-1785) signed on 10 February 1763 the treaty of Paris, by which France lost Canada, India and Louisiana (then much bigger than the today's state of Louisiana). During the French Revolution, all emblems of the Ancient Regime, including the administrative divisions and the coats-of-arms, were suppressed. The most zealous revolutionaries also changed the place names which alluded to the Ancient Regime. Although Choiseul had been fairly progressive, a good minister and close to the Encyclopedists, his name could not remain attached to a village, even in a very remote possession of the French Republic.
Ivan Sache, 26 February 2004
According to this WMO page, Saint Lucia use the US signal set:
- 40a (red pierced black): "Winds 49-63 kt".
- 41a (double set of red pierced black): "Winds above 63 kt".
- 39a (double set of red pennants): "Winds 34-48 kt".
- 56a (red pennant): "Winds 28-33 kt".
Jan Mertens, 30 March 2008
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line375
|
__label__cc
| 0.532675
| 0.467325
|
Goodwin uses Spanish speaking skills to assist local voters on Election Day
Angelina Liu
Coppell High School senior Emily Goodwin stands in front of CHS with her ‘I Voted in Dallas County’ sticker on. Goodwin was a student election clerk at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church in Farmers Branch on Election Day.
From 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, CHS senior Emily Goodwin was a student election clerk at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church in Farmers Branch. Due to the shortage in poll workers because of the coronavirus pandemic, Goodwin decided to become an elections clerk to both help people vote and understand the election process.
What was it like to run the polls on Election Day?
It was a pretty long day. We had to get there at 6 a.m. and I didn’t get out until 7:30 p.m. I could have ended up being there until 9 p.m. if it was a busier day. It was actually very different than I expected. I expected it to be very crowded, with long lines, but almost the entire time I was working there were zero people in line. We had a total of 150 voters at our location in the 12 hours that I was working the polls, but it was a pretty relaxing day for the most part. I think that the push to get people to vote during early voting created this impact.
Election Day stirring speculation about delayed results in evolving political climate
Conducting local elections during pandemic
What were your tasks?
I was rotating positions with the other clerks. Because we were there for such a long duration, it would have been boring to keep at the same jobs, so we switched out what jobs we did. In the morning, I cleaned the voting booth after people would enter their information. There were other roles like standing by the box that counted ballots, and assisting people with inputting their ballot into the counting box. Another role that I did for a lot of hours was checking people in using their ID to put them into the system and see if they were eligible to vote.
What was the most memorable moment running the polls?
I got to help somebody through the polling process by speaking in Spanish to them. I’ve been taking Spanish from eighth grade to my junior year, so it was really nice to use my Spanish skills in helping with the election, because a lot of people that came out to vote did not speak English very well. I was the only person at my location that knew enough Spanish to help people that way.
What did you take away from the experience?
I’m used to volunteering for school, but actually being hired in a setting and working with a bunch of adults has given me confidence in my ability to enter the real world. Even though there’s an age divide between myself and most adults in the workforce, I feel like I can still relate to them and have a good time with people who are much older than me. So I feel confident for when I enter the workforce, whether that be a part time job or with a career in college, that I will be able to feel comfortable in a job position in the future.
Follow @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.
student election clerk
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line377
|
__label__cc
| 0.631251
| 0.368749
|
Ron Paul has two problems: one is his, the other is ours.
Ron Paul has two problems. One is his and the larger conservative movement of which he is a part. The other is ours—by which I mean a left that is committed to both economic democracy and anti-imperialism.
Ron Paul’s problem is not merely the racist newsletters, the close ties with Lew Rockwell, his views on abortion, or even his stance on the 1964 Civil Rights Act—though these automatically disqualify him from my support. His real problem is his fundamentalist commitment to federalism, which would make any notion of human progress in this country impossible.
Federalism has a long and problematic history in this country—it lies at the core of the maintenance of slavery and white supremacy; it was consistently invoked as the basis for opposition to the welfare state; it has been, contrary to many of its defenders, one of the cornerstones of some of the most repressive moments in our nation’s history[pdf]—and though liberals used to be clear about its regressive tendencies, they’ve grown soft on it in recent years. As the liberal Yale constitutional law scholar Akhil Reed Amar put it not so long ago:
Once again, populism and federalism—liberty and localism—work together; We the People conquer government power by dividing it between the two rival governments, state and federal.
As I’ve argued repeatedly on this blog and elsewhere, the path forward for the left lies in the alliance between active social movements on the ground and a strong national state. There is simply no other way, at least not that I am aware of, to break the back of the private autocracies that oppress us all.
Even people, no, especially people who focus on Paul’s position on the drug war should think about the perils of his federalism. There are 2 million people in prison in this country. At most 10 percent of them are in federal prisons; the rest are in state and local prisons. If Paul ended the drug war, maybe 1/2 of those in federal prison would be released. Definitely a step, but it has to be weighed against his radical embrace of whatever it is that states and local governments do.
Paul is a distinctively American type of libertarian: one that doesn’t have a critique of the state so much as a critique of the federal government. That’s a very different kettle of fish. I think libertarianism is problematic enough—in that it ignores the whole realm of social domination (or thinks that realm is entirely dependent upon or a function of the existence of the state or thinks that it can be remedied by the persuasive and individual actions of a few good souls)—but a states-rights-based libertarianism is a social disaster.
So that’s his problem.
Our problem—and again by “our” I mean a left that’s social democratic (or welfare state liberal or economically progressive or whatever the hell you want to call it) and anti-imperial—is that we don’t really have a vigorous national spokesperson for the issues of war and peace, an end to empire, a challenge to Israel, and so forth, that Paul has in fact been articulating. The source of Paul’s positions on these issues are not the same as ours (again more reason not to give him our support). But he is talking about these issues, often in surprisingly blunt and challenging terms. Would that we had someone on our side who could make the case against an American empire, or American supremacy, in such a pungent way.
This, it’s clear, is why people like Glenn Greenwald say that Paul’s voice needs to be heard. Not, Greenwald makes clear, because he supports Paul, but because it is a terrible comment—a shanda for the left—that we don’t have anyone on our side of comparable visibility launching an attack on American imperialism and warfare. (Recalling what I said in the context of the death of Christopher Hitchens, I suspect this has something to do with our normalization and acceptance of war as a way of life.) In other words, we need to listen to Paul, not because he’s worthy of our support, and certainly not because the reasons that underlie his positions on foreign policy are ours, but because he reveals what’s not being said, or not being said enough, on our side.
There is a long history in this country of the left not paying too much attention to the ways in which our leaders do things that set the stage for worse things to come. J. Edgar Hoover got a tremendous amount of traction under FDR and the New Deal because he was perceived to be a spit-and-polish, professional crime fighter. So trusted and hailed was he by liberals and progressives—when he worked for their leaders—that it was none other than Arthur Schlesinger, in The Vital Center (1949), who urged Americans to put their trust in Hoover rather than in the Red hunters of the far right:
All Americans must bear in mind J. Edgar Hoover’s warning that counter-espionage is no field for amateurs. We need the best professional counterespionage agency we can get to protect our national security.
In 1950, William Keller reports in his essential The Liberals and J. Edgar Hoover, while Truman was still president, Hubert Humphrey took to the floor of the Senate to declare:
If the FBI does not have enough trained manpower to do this job, then, for goodness sake, let us give the FBI the necessary funds for recruiting the manpower it needs….This is a job that must be done by experts.
Yet, as Ellen Schrecker rightly argued in Many Are the Crimes, her definitive account of McCarthyism:
Had observers known in the 1950s what they have learned since the 1970s, when the Freedom of Information Act opened the Bureau’s files, “McCarthyism” would probably be called “Hooverism.” For the FBI was the bureaucratic heart of the McCarthy era.
In the last week, liberals and progressives have been arguing about these issues; Digby has been especially cogent and worth listening to. The only thing I have to add to that debate is this: both sides are right. Not in a the-truth-lies-somewhere-in-between sort of way. Nor in a can’t-we-all-get-along sort of way. No, both sides are right in the sense that I laid out above: Ron Paul is unacceptable, and it’s unacceptable that we don’t have someone on the left who is raising the issues of imperialism, war and peace, and civil liberties in as visible and forceful a way.
Categories Economies, Media, The Left, The Right
Tags Akhil Reed Amar, Arthur Schlesinger, Digby, Ellen Schrecker, federalism, Glenn Greenwald, imperialism, J. Edgar Hoover, McCarthyism, Ron Paul, William Keller
Still Batshit Crazy After All These Years: A Reply to Ta-Nehisi Coates
A Trotsky for Our Time
John Emerson January 3, 2012 at 6:58 pm | #
Humphrey got his start purging the DFL Party of its left, i.e., of most of its FL (Farmer-Labor) members. He was the first Democratic Senator elected in Minnesota; just when the Confederate stigma had started to run down, the Farmer Labor Party came into being. The Democrats were a third party much of the time 1920-1940.
I trace the decline of the Democratic Party to the 1948 purges. The dominant Democratic ideologues (Schlesinger, Bell, Hofstadter, Galbraith, Shils, et al) were anti-conflict, anti-left, anti-populist, pro-corporate, and pro-war.
That tendency has had absolute dominance since then. Eugene McCarthy, Jesse Jackson, and a few others challenged the consensus, but unsuccessfully.
I have enormous trouble convincing people that that’s the way it is. Almost all left Democrats believe that the party is basically OK, but that it’s been temporarily usurped. It’s only temporary in cosmic time. It’s been 63 years.
Wellstone said he was from the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, but actually he was from the FL wing of the DFL Party, and he knew that.
CK MacLeod January 3, 2012 at 6:58 pm | #
What’s “imperialism”? What does it mean to “raise it as an issue”? To what end?
I’m confident that the blogger is very well aware of the long and complicated history of that term. Seems to me that a lot of people are using it, and variations, without a lot of consideration. Could be that what we mean when we use it, or what we expect others to understand by it, or what we are consciously or not implying by it, would say quite a bit about where the left and Paul diverge, but also where one leftist, liberal, left-liberal differs from another.
Rick Desper January 3, 2012 at 7:07 pm | #
“No, both sides are right in the sense that I laid out above: Ron Paul is unacceptable, and it’s unacceptable that we don’t have someone on the left who is raising the issues of imperialism, war and peace, and civil liberties in as visible and forceful a way.”
I agree completely. Sadly, when Glenn Greenwald raises these issues, he’s subjected to endless personal attacks by people who think that criticism of the President must not be tolerated.
Bart January 6, 2012 at 1:49 pm | #
Especially troubling were the authors and comments at LGM.
T. Paine January 6, 2012 at 10:58 pm | #
I look forward to someone quoting these “personal attacks” that are so perfidious.
Bijan Parsia January 9, 2012 at 5:26 pm | #
How so? (Speaking as one.)
I agree with McLeod. Let’s establish a Left Commission on Imperialism and have them report back in 2021.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – – that’s all.”
(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 6)
Ron Paul not perfect but better than the rest January 3, 2012 at 7:56 pm | #
The Left is a ineffective joke, holding hands and singing kumbaya isnt going to stop the war machine,
i’m been very unimpressed ever since these so-called progressives refused to push for a real investigation into 911 and giving warpig banker Obama a pass for continuing Bush policys and protecting his administration from prosecution.
Ron Paul has the support of many black people including the head of the NAACP in Texas so i’m not buying the racism smears, its unfortunate that he continues to run as a republican and not an independent or libertarian.
Although far from perfect, Ron Paul is the best candidate and the only one not bought and paid for.
John Henry Mackay January 3, 2012 at 8:26 pm | #
“Paul is a distinctively American type of libertarian: one that doesn’t have a critique of the state so much as a critique of the federal government.”
That’s just not true. Paul had and has deep connections Rothbardian anarchists. The ones who produce analyses of the state like this: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard62.html
Paul just takes the paleo position, which I think is correct, that further centralization of State power is inherently more dangerous than decentralized power. But that does not mean that Paul is not critical of all governmental power itself, whether state or federal.
Corey Robin January 3, 2012 at 9:43 pm | #
“States’ rights simply means the individual states should retain authority over all matters not expressly delegated to the federal government in Article I of the Constitution.” Those are Paul’s words, not Murray Rothbard’s. That means that Section 5 of the 14th Amendment is essentially null and void. Which basically means that the 14th Amendment is null and void. That’s a dramatic restriction on federal power — over vital questions of racial and and other forms of equality — in favor of the states. Not to mention that he would beat back most twentieth-century interpretations of the Commerce Clause, which is the basis upon which workers were granted the right to organize, segregation in private establishments was brought to an end, and much more. So, sorry, I stand by what I wrote.
Anarias Mendt (@heinrich66) June 6, 2012 at 5:51 am | #
The more I examine this, the more it appears to me that after the Civil War what was called for was a whole new Constitution. It’s a scandal in a way that one amendment — more specifically, one section of one amendment — has been relied on to totally recast the vision of ‘federalism’ that the framers had. But it has interesting implications. On the one hand, it makes all appeals to original intent totally moot: the system we have today is totally different than what they envisioned and intended. On the other hand, it does rather bolster the argument that the Civil War was fought over states’ rights since perhaps even more than the abolition of slavery, the largest consequence of the Civil War was the dramatic transformation from one kind of federalism into another. From a moral or cultural point of view, slavery is the overwhelming issue. But from a legal or constitutional point of view, the states’ rights issue was clearly the most relevant since this is where the most decisive change took place.
Suddenly, also, the comments of Ginsburg and Scalia about how the constitutions of Russia, Canada, et al., are better than the U.S. Constitution appear in a new light. Rather than being the nihilistic comments of a dispirited political elite, they might (gasp!) reflect some actual knowledge and understanding: since 1868 the U.S. constitutional system has been without organic unity. It is like a broken mirror glued back together thanks only to judicial activism.
Zoe January 3, 2012 at 8:35 pm | #
Mr. Robin, I just think you have a problem in your logic. These are the same people–those that want to grow government welfare and those that want to grow government warfare. There is no separation. Some may call what they see in this country ‘socialism,’ but it’s really fascism. We have two fascistic regimes that swap places for power, but never really leave power. They feed the banks, the military contractors, big unions, big ag, pharmaceutical corporations, ect. This is true of both Democrats and Republicans. It’s all a big funnel of money and favors from regular people to well connected people. Libertarians don’t want everyone to be uneducated poor survivalists. We just believe our economic system is much better than anything the government could direct (socialism) and better than keeping huge corporations at the troth of the government for big contracts, juicy legislation, whatever K street happens to want that day (fascism).
So I’m voting for Ron Paul. Not everyone believes in Keynesianism and stimulus.
There’s a long tradition in America that says otherwise. Martin Luther King opposed the warfare state but believed in the welfare state. Eugene Debs wanted a socialist state that wouldn’t make war. And I think fascism entails something more than “keeping huge corporations at the troth of the government.”
Timothy Shortell January 4, 2012 at 11:00 am | #
A problem in Corey’s logic? How about this, Zoe: Replacing the domination of the 1% via a corrupt political system with direct corporate domination is hardly a step forward for human liberty.
miles January 3, 2012 at 8:37 pm | #
Well said, although it should be noted that the newsletter incident has hardly reflected his public stance on race to date. His opinion on the 1964 Civil Rights Act is less about race than an extreme upholding of his stance that such restrictions violate the constitutional rights of individuals (an absurd upholding of his principle and an unnecessarily antagonistic statement yet it does deserve a bit of qualifying). And Christopher Hitchens had deep reservations about abortion, so if he was, as you infer, the liberal version of Paul, he may not have necessarily satisfied that aspect of your preferences either.
You do know that slaveholders also defended their position on the grounds that abolition would violated constitutional rights of both individuals and states, yes? I don’t know what’s in Paul’s heart or what motivates him to take the positions he takes; I do know that the history of federalism and states rights in this country is inseparable from the history of slavery and white supremacy.
d January 4, 2012 at 12:28 am | #
federalism and states rights is also inseparable from wage-slavery and it’s distant cousin, globalism.
H.D. Lynn January 6, 2012 at 6:13 pm | #
Thanks for pointing this out. I can see the appeal with Ron Paul because he’s anti-war. Those of us, the young people of American under 30, have carried the decade of warfare and the economic collapse. My friends have gone to war, and those of us who haven’t can’t get jobs, and if we do have jobs, they don’t pay nearly enough or pay what we expected. But the state’s right argument is the same one use to justify slavery, and with the current group of politicians, Paul would only have success implementing social conservative and regressive policies. Presidents aren’t kings. They can’t just do whatever they please.
Tyler Watts January 3, 2012 at 8:39 pm | #
In reference to the “our problem” section, you state that “The source of Paul’s positions on these issues are not the same as ours.”
I’m wondering if you could clarify what the substantial differences between Ron Paul’s sources and progressive sources are?
As a follow-up, I’m wondering if it is all that important regarding said sources if the final position achieved is the same? If you and Ron Paul both disagree fundamentally on why war should be ended in Afghanistan (for example), but both vehemently agree that it should indeed be ended, is there a problem?
Progressives are internationalists, believe in open orders, support international institutions (though we push for their being more democratic), and international social movements, and generally seek to bring US laws and practices in line with what we deem to be more progressive norms elsewhere. We see war as destroying that kind of order. Paul does not come from that position.
Dan McCleary (@dan_mccleary) January 3, 2012 at 9:08 pm | #
I think this is a solid and fair essay, but no implications are drawn. From what I can see, Ron Paul, a retiring 76-year-old Congressman making a final quixotic tilt at the windmills, will be effectively gone after 2012. So, “his” problem solved! But “our” problem only become more deeply entrenched by a 2012 Obama victory. In other words, the first of these is a short-term problem that solves itself, and the second is a long term rapidly getting worse. It seems like progressives are expending an awful lot of energy on the easy short-term problem (Ron Paul) simply because they don’t know what to do about hard long-term problem (no anti-war, pro-civil-liberties, anti-drug war voice on the left).
Paul’s position on economics and relation of national and state power is only a more extreme version of the GOP mainstream position. So his problem is not peculiar to him.
Yes, it will be a sad day if Obama wins a second term and does nothing to roll back what Greenwald has enumerated about civil liberties, etc.
karrsic January 3, 2012 at 9:14 pm | #
I fear progressives are looking for a messiah. Kucinich? Feingold? Is that they’re not the leaders we seek the left’s fault? Seems reasonable to me to attempt and predict where Paul might have impact and where not. Dismantling the imperial presidency requires a non-imperial president. Actually implementing full-blown federalism can’t be done by any president alone. Also, do anti-racist, pro-abortion, anti-federalism mean anything in a imperial President who can lock up indefinitely or assassinate US citizens? The left will never be able to agree on priorities. But in my view, Paul’s downside is irrelevant in the face of an abandoned US Constitution anyway. Seems to me top priority should be to save that. Ergo, I’d take Paul over Obama for the next 4 yrs.
I’m not sure where you’re coming from, but Paul doesn’t want to restore the Constitution as I understand it. He wants to restore a Constitution that was favored by a lot of unsavory people ca. 1900.
karrsic January 3, 2012 at 10:25 pm | #
w/r/t imperial presidency…
meegan January 3, 2012 at 10:12 pm | #
The thing is, Paul can’t actually dismantle the imperial presidency. The best argument I’ve seen for real positive impacts he could make is that he could pull us out of the wars we’re in now, but without institutional changes any future president can and will bring us right back to where we are now. Ron Paul is at best a temporary fix. The larger problem is that congress is not providing the check on presidential power that the founders envisioned (case in point: NDAA passed with a veto proof majority). No individual president is going to change that.
An abandoned constitution can only happen if the courts allow it (which is why I tend to put the type of justices a candidate is likely to put on the supreme court pretty high on my list when considering the options). I’m not sure what the solution to these problems would be (a constitutional amendment with new limits on presidential power?), but if you’re going to weigh Paul’s potential impact it’s important to be clear that Paul choosing not to exercise certain presidential powers isn’t the same as preventing future presidents form exercising them.
While what you say is true, the tilt turned toward the imperial presidency happened w/o Congress and was led by an executive-branch-charge via the MSM. The courts are the last resort. The first resort, it seems to me, is to change direction and the discussion, led by the same branch. That was the hope w/ Obama, after all. Because he failed us, we should give up that approach?
Pete Guither (@DrugWarRant) January 3, 2012 at 9:21 pm | #
The Drug War comment is baffling. In what possible way has the federal government provided any protection from the states “radical” drug war enforcement?
And how does a strong federal government lead us out of the drug war? All the strong federal government has done is obstructed any and all efforts for serious reform from any direction. Congress has even directed the ONDCP specifically to oppose any efforts for reform.
Assuming that any Congress or President actually grew a spine to do something about this international crisis (something that seems wildly unlikely), what could they do except get out of the way and let us start working on the long and grueling process of getting this problem out of the states and countries one at a time.
But you’re absolutely right: it’s unacceptable that we don’t have someone on the left who is raising the issues of imperialism, war and peace, and civil liberties in as visible and forceful a way. Unfortunately, until we do, many of us will have no choice but to support a wildly unattractive candidate rather than give tacit acceptance to such continued outrage to our basic principles.
Corey Robin January 3, 2012 at 10:07 pm | #
My point re the drug war and the prison industrial complex is that so many people focus on it as a reason to support Paul. But if you look at the statistics, the vast number of prisoners are in state and local jails. Our crime and punishment mania is not primarily a federal problem, though the feds obviously contribute to it. It’s a state and local problem — not only are 90 percent of the prisoners in state and local prisons, but, I believe, something like 75 percent of all expenditures on crime and punishment stuff are by states and local governments.
Pete Guither (@DrugWarRant) January 4, 2012 at 10:31 am | #
True, and the federal government keeps interfering in our efforts to try reform at the state level. If someone could get the federal government to stop meddling, then a state could actually try legalized regulation and we could learn from it.
The federal government also coerces the states and municipalities through grants and profit-sharing schemes (forfeiture) to play the game with them (regardless of the will of the people).
It may be primarily a state and local problem, but its being fueled and sustained by federal policy and dollars.
Richard Fantin (@RichardFantin) January 7, 2012 at 10:44 am | #
Michael C. Ruppert has exposed the fact that the drugs are being run by the CIA. Thats federal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNvSX3A7pc
I’m sure Paul can do something about that as he is fully aware of it.
Nonny January 3, 2012 at 9:33 pm | #
Not really sure what you mean here. I also have a problem like CK MacLeod except it’s with “economic democracy.” It should be clear that “progressives” (a label as meaningless as liberal and conservative) don’t support economic democracy–whatever you mean by that–which would be a lot different than what a DLCer supports or even those pitiful fools called the Progressive Caucus who are merely tools used for dispersing opposition. (Go Bernie Sanders! You won’t do anything but we can feel good when you talk about it.)
I’d say imperialism can be more easily defined as the US’ expectation that the world will cow to their standards and demands and will use economic, social and military methods to enforce those demands. It’s not a reciprocal relationship. However, the end of imperialism would also mean the extrication of war profit from the moneyed class.
JustinP January 3, 2012 at 10:21 pm | #
Corey,
After condemning federalism for its clear link to the most toxic forms of racism, you say that “the path forward for the left lies in the alliance between active social movements on the ground and a strong national state.”
This claim strikes me as problematic for two inter-related reasons.
First, it suggests the link between racism and federalism necessarily renders federalism invalid as a political principle. While it is certainly true that the “states rights” philosophy empowered white supremacists through much of American history, there is nothing to prevent liberals from turning it to their own ends. Indeed, Stephen Skowronek’s fantastic article in the August 2006 American Political Science Review makes clear that “shifting the context of an idea can alter substantially its political associations and practical appeal.” What if, for example, liberal environmentalists used federalist arguments to make clear the benefits of a “decentralized energy policy” as described by environmentalist and activist Bill McKibben? What if liberals organized for the passage of state laws – similar to the one just restored by the Montana Supreme Court – which ban direct spending by corporations on political campaigns instead of waiting on the “strong national state” to do this? These are obviously just two examples but they seem to cut against your claim that federalism necessarily means “conservative outcome.” There is nothing inherently conservative or reactionary about federalism.
The flip-side of this point is your claim that a strong national state and active social movements stand the best chance of bringing about liberal policy. Policy outcomes over the last 30 years seem to belie this claim. We have watched as the “strong national state” (strong enough even to withstand 8 years of Reagan) has aided in redistribution of wealth upwards, enabled and then protected the largest financial institutions after they destroyed the economy, built a national security complex responsible for warrantless eavesdropping, torture, etc. There is simply no reason to believe that a “strong national state” will ensure liberal outcomes. This is especially true when that national state is run by the rich and powerful.
Finally, it’s worth noting that those issues that you believe the left is derelict for not discussing more – “imperialism, war and peace, and civil liberties” – are all matters directly related to the strength of the national state. How, other than through a small government/federalist/states rights position, can liberals make a cogent argument against the erosion of civil liberties, the capacity for the president to send troops wherever he chooses, etc.?
It’s not just the alliance with slavery and white supremacy that render federalism suspect — though if you’re a political scientist (I assume you are if you’re reading Steve Skowronek, perhaps even an APD-ish political scientist), you’ll know that slavery and white supremacy are hardly incidental issues in American state development; they’re foundational — but, as I say in my post, a whole range of fundamental coercions: from the workplace (as Karen Orren argues in Belated Feudalism, it’s not till you get the Wagner Act and NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel that you overturn the massive coercion of the American workplace) to episodes of repression like McCarthyism (federalism actually augments rather than diminishes the repression there) and more. So while it’s true that some state experiments further the causes about which I care, on balance, I’d have to say it’s been a disaster. As for the last 30 years — where’s the strong social movement that I was talking about? I’m not in favor of a strong national state but a strong national state in alliance with a democratic social movements. My models here are the movements for black freedom, workers’ rights, and women’s rights.
Yes, it is clear that slavery and white supremacy have played a central role in the development of American political institutions. Your points about labor, McCarthyism, etc. are also well-taken. I just don’t think that rules out federalism as a potential political idea that can serve the interests of liberals who, like me, have come to see a strong national state as the primary mechanism of defense for those who pursue policies opposed by most liberals. My point is that federalism is just a vehicle for promoting particular policies. The policies themselves – not federalism – are either racist or not, anti-labor or not, etc. Also, when considering the persuasive power of public appeals to “small government,” liberals might do well to consider how they can harness its power to pursue their own ends.
Yes, I forgot to address your point about social movements. I think that this is an important point but it’s one that I think needs to be considered carefully. Your claim suggests the potential for a cooperative relationship between the national state and emancipatory political movements. There is certainly substantial evidence to suggest that this is possible. At the same time, it seems clear that the reforms pushed by many emancipatory social movements are often substantially narrowed when they rise to the level of the “national state” in order to make them through the various veto points built into national state apparatus. “Narrowed” reform movements (described by Risa Goluboff in The Lost Promise of Civil Rights, for example) are certainly better than no reform movements. That said, it’s worth considering how localized movement activity fighting for “liberal” state laws might stand a chance of preventing this kind of narrowing.
Also, I am an APD-ish political science grad student so I’m hoping to one day become a APD-ish political scientist. It’s nice to see political scientists playing a role in contemporary political debate. I don’t always agree with you but I do appreciate the work you are doing.
ceti January 3, 2012 at 10:44 pm | #
It’s also worth noting that other countries have different models. Right now, it is the provinces of Canada standing up to the draconian right-wing policies of the federal government, and the Canadian health system began and remains at the provincial level, a model Vermont could be following to get single-payer health care.
Also a strong national state is the prerequisite for the modern war machine as well as a fascism and the oppression of national minorities. It can go the other way as well.
Rosa Luxembourgeoise January 4, 2012 at 12:20 am | #
Canadian health care–introduced by the efforts of Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas (of the CCF–the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, farmer-labor-socialist–predecessor of the NDP, the New Democratic Party, social democrat)–though started and indeed to an important extent “remaining at the provincial level” is fully framed, guided and guaranteed by federal law. Provinces and territories must respect federally established conditions and criteria to receive the transfer payments required to fund their social programs (beyond just health), pursuant to the Canada Health Act, a federal law.
If you haven’t read it yet, Ta-Nehisi has a great piece up today that speaks to some of the same issues you bring up here.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/the-messenger/250685/
d January 3, 2012 at 11:33 pm | #
dont forget Nader!!!!!!!!!!!
Jim January 3, 2012 at 11:36 pm | #
Actually Libertarians are the opposite of Federalist. Washington, Hamilton, Adams were Federalists. Jefferson lead the Democratic Republicans who were for state rights and slavery.
That’s why I didn’t use the capital “F” in federalist.
Justin: I agree re the veto points at national level. That’s the price that’s paid for achieving equity throughout the country. It’s also of course the fate of almost any social movement once it seeks to implement its goals as policy, at whatever level. At least in a democratic society. Don’t see any way around it. But I think federalism is more than a tool that takes on its cast depending on the ends it serves. In this post here, I get at why I think any hope for an emancipatory movement has to be national in scope (and ultimately international). Particularly any movement hoping to tame capital. You just cannot create an island of progress and expect it to remain intact for long without creating a pattern around it. If it’s a genuinely emancipatory movement, the forces opposing it will seek to crush it for fear that it will spread. It’s a Trotskyist insight, but it actually applies with remarkable force in the US. That’s why every social movement worth its salt has ultimately realized it has to look beyond the confines of the local or the state. Here’s the piece: https://coreyrobin.com/2011/09/19/shitstorming-the-bastille/
Anarias Mendt (@heinrich66) January 4, 2012 at 9:07 am | #
There is something fundamentally wrong with this article. It is in its own way nonsensical.
The reason is two-fold: for one, the “states’ rights” concept — or “federalism” as the author calls it is simply the basis for a constitutional system. Period. We have a “federal” government and a “federal” system — not a “national” government. To continue to ignore this fact leads to a view according to which our Constitution is not really important to our realpolitik. It is symbolic only. In which case, why not torture?
Second, the states’ rights concept that Ron Paul promotes is FULLY CONSISTENT with the progressive principle of localized democracy. All the “buy local” campaigns and the visions of decentralized power and citizen democracy that progressives promote — the states’ rights concept is one and the same with all this, and is in fact only the first step toward this.
The joke here is that this article — and so many others with it — actually pretend there’s a reality to the libertarian/progressive distinction. When instead, if you simply take the thinking that went into the Constitution and our country’s founding as axiomatic, a political ideology appears that is perfectly appropriate for our times: constitutionalism. It reconciles personal liberty with social progress when social progress is defined as ever-increasing personal liberty.
Corey Robin January 4, 2012 at 9:22 am | #
You might want to read some history. I suggest Jack Rakove’s Original Meanings as a starting point. The leading figures at the Constitutional Convention — Madison, Hamilton, Wilson — wanted a much stronger national government (for a variety of reasons). Madison’s Virginia Plan so sought to empower a national government that many thought it effectively eliminated the states altogether. And in many ways the Framers got that national government (the supremacy clause, for example). What ultimately stopped it from becoming what Madison and Hamilton and Wilson wanted was the slowly dawning awareness, especially on Madison’s and other Southerners’ part, that if the national government were truly empowered in the way they wanted — i.e., by strengthening the position of the big states at the expense of the little states, on the assumption, as Madison put it very clearly, that states have no real interest, only individuals and classes do (Franklin also was very strong on this point) — it could lead to the abolition of slavery. That awareness is what ultimately leads those like Madison to support the Connecticut Compromise, which empowered states at the expense of the national government. That’s the founding. Then, of course, with the Civil War and Reconstruction, there’s a completely new conception of the power of the national government, which is embodied in the Reconstruction amendments. The nationalist dimensions of those amendments was ultimately beaten back, again by the interests of the South, i.e., the ex-slaveholders. And so on. The push toward more national power is a constant in US history — as is the resistance to it. And the resistance to it, when it’s most successful, is always b/c of the alliance between localism/states and slavery/white supremacy.
The more I read this article, the more fundamentally confused it seems. Especially as regards American federalism.
The author seems to take the examples of the civil rights movement and other social progress events as proof that a “federal” system is inadequate when it comes to social justice. But what we saw with the repeal of slavery during the Civil War, and the civil rights struggle in the 1960s especially, are instances of federalism working as it should.
A *federal* system in both cases, authorized by the Constitution to safeguard and protect agreed upon freedoms, i.e. the Bill of Rights, took action to see that those rights were not infringed by state governments. The idea, of course, here is a quid pro quo: as condition of your joining the Union, you must agree to the legimacy of certain rights that are to be universally accepted within that Union (e.g. right to free speech, etc.) When you deny or interfere with those axiomatic principles and contractually agreed upon rights, it is up to the federal government to step in.
So understood, the federal government’s primary role is to enforce the terms of an agreement to which the states pledged themselves: the states, of course, ratified the Constitution. And those terms are primarily about personal liberty: in exchange for, say, a common defense, you must agree to protect the right to free speech or the press. So, Alabama, if you insist on depriving certain of your citizens their constitutional rights, the federal government is entitled to take action.
The problem comes when the federal government gains powers not strictly accorded to it by the Constitution. When it gains those powers, it becomes the target for powerful interests that, of course, want to leverage those powers. This is the genesis of imperialism. American imperialism is not simply some nationalist redneck outward expression — that is simply the ideological cover given to it. As nearly everyone knows, American imperialism today is about big money more than anything else.
Well, if power (and therefore wealth) were sufficiently decentralized to the states and to localities — the awful machinery for imperalism and for a host of other crimes would be lacking. And a federal system would still remain that could step in and guarantee personal liberties when the states fail to keep their part of the bargain and protect them themselves. Of course, the great fear is that the states would be unable to govern themselves, that there is only one national spotlight by which to expose injustice, not 50, etc. But at some point you have to let people govern themselves in a democracy. Liberalism (such as the kind apparently motivating the author of this article) that is reluctant to trust the people with their own self-governing power is by definition anti-democratic.
I don’t mean to be sharp, but you really need to read some American history. I can’t tell if you’re simply projecting a theory of federalism, perhaps drawn from the experience of another country onto the US, or you’re actually trying to provide a rendition of federalism in the US and how it has historically worked. In either event, you’ve got it all wrong. The original Constitution was actually not as you describe: “A *federal* system in both cases, authorized by the Constitution to safeguard and protect agreed upon freedoms, i.e. the Bill of Rights, took action to see that those rights were not infringed by state governments.” If you’ve actually read the Bill of Rights, you’ll see that they are restrictions on the national government. Originally, they did not apply to the states at all. That came much much later through something called the “incorporation” doctrine. And it was a function of having fought a Civil War, attempted a Reconstruction, adopted the Reconstruction amendments, which absolutely changed the meaning of the original Constitution. For the better. But it required a major struggle — more than one social movement, a cataclysmic war, an equally cataclysmic occupation that ultimately failed to achieve its ends — and more. The rosy picture you describe was the product of more than a century of very militant and violent social struggle. And always it was beaten back by the forces of white supremacy. That is why those of us who have some knowledge of American history, and some concern for these issues, are very very skeptical of the claims of states rights, which is actually what “federalism” has often meant in practice in this country. Again, before you start making grand pronouncements about the meaning of federalism and its virtues, I really suggest you read some American history. And, again, my apologies for being sharp, but I get impatient with abstract theorizing and proclamation that is so divorced from the facts of US history.
Anarias Mendt (@heinrich66) January 4, 2012 at 10:14 am | #
Your comment is very cute. But there is a clear difference between the thinking behind both the Constitution and the federal system — that is, the historical AND logical context in which its key ideas actually make sense — and their implementation, which has always lagged behind. Slavery is conclusive proof of this. The incorporation doctrine to which you refer — the need for it — shows how much states’ rights as a nationalist ideology permeated the popular understanding of federalism, penetrating even into the judiciary. But show me where — in the Federalist Papers, for example, or in correspondence somewhere — that the original thinking behind the Constitution actually conceived of the right to free speech existing only on an abstract federal level but nowhere in actual fact. After all, the “United States of America” minus the physical territory of the states is exactly nowhere.
One final blast. The author of the above piece, Corey Robin, seems to me to be more an ideologue than an earnest political thinker. Consider the following:
1. ““States’ rights simply means the individual states should retain authority over all matters not expressly delegated to the federal government in Article I of the Constitution.” Those are Paul’s words, not Murray Rothbard’s. That means that Section 5 of the 14th Amendment is essentially null and void. Which basically means that the 14th Amendment is null and void. That’s a dramatic restriction on federal power — over vital questions of racial and and other forms of equality — in favor of the states. Not to mention that he would beat back most twentieth-century interpretations of the Commerce Clause, which is the basis upon which workers were granted the right to organize, segregation in private establishments was brought to an end, and much more. So, sorry, I stand by what I wrote.”
A few points. He has rather breathtakingly misunderstood the “not expressly delegated” language above and the only sensible way in which it could operate. In short, the phrase quoted is an echo of the Tenth Amendment:
The idea here is obvious: Of central concern to those helping shape the document was leaving as much freedom as possible to the people. Knowing that the Constitution could not be exhaustive of every possible issue, and knowing that new issues would emerge over time, the language of the Tenth Amendment establishes a vector along which the rest of the document could be read: Rather than no rights existing for the people beyond those stated in the document, any or all rights could be *assumed* since the nature of the document was as much restrictive (of government power in general) as prescriptive (positive rights granted by compact).
Neither Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, nor the 14th Amendment as a whole, are in any way threatened by a states’ rights concept. In fact, Section 1 and Section 5 are to some extent redundant. The meaning in Section 1 overlaps with the language of other rights elsewhere; Section 5 simply re-iterates the capacity and the duty of the federal government to enforce its side of the contract between it and the states.
As for the commerce clause, it simply has been abused. Whether for good or ill makes no difference. In fact, abuse of the commerce clause has (as the author indirectly notes) been the basis of the quasi-national government we have now. But the fact that this tiny clause has been so leveraged — the fact that it alone provides the bare shred of basis for the federal government excesses we have today — proves that the spirit and the thinking behind the Consitution were not “national” but “federal”.
2. “There’s a long tradition in America that says otherwise. Martin Luther King opposed the warfare state but believed in the welfare state. Eugene Debs wanted a socialist state that wouldn’t make war. And I think fascism entails something more than “keeping huge corporations at the troth of the government.”
The fact that MLK or Eugene Debs were champions of social justice does not make them authorities on federalism. At issue is whether or not (as the commenter suggested) the warfare state and the welfare state go hand-in-hand. One could argue from a constitutionalist perspective that both stem from the sort of national government concept C. Robin seems to advocate. As soon as you begin thinking of the federal government AS IF it were a national government, all sorts of things become possible — even reasonable for it to do. For example, creating social programs with a national scope. Or waging unprovoked wars in the name of democracy overseas.
3. “You do know that slaveholders also defended their position on the grounds that abolition would violated constitutional rights of both individuals and states, yes?” Again, the appeal to authority argument but in reverse. Slavery meant the denial of constitutional rights to people called “slaves”. Therefore it was unconstitutional whether or not the short-sighted politicians of the time saw that. There is no stipulation in the Bill of Rights that those rights are only guaranteed for a certain few. So the fact that evil and misguided people argued for a superficially similar position is not convincing.
Corey Robin January 4, 2012 at 10:14 am | #
Okay, I’m going to take one last crack at this b/c I can’t spend all day teaching you the basic facts of American constitutional history. You write, “Slavery meant the denial of constitutional rights to people called ‘slaves’. Therefore it was unconstitutional whether or not the short-sighted politicians of the time saw that. There is no stipulation in the Bill of Rights that those rights are only guaranteed for a certain few.” A few things. The actual language of the original Constitution establishes that slavery is constitutional. There are several clauses that stipulate that. So it’s not just a question of a few “short-sighted politicians” — which happened to include such nobodies as James Madison — thinking slavery is constitutional; even abolitionists believed it was constitutional (that’s why they burned the Constitution). It wasn’t until the 13th Amendment that slavery actually became unconstitutional. As for the Bill of Rights, here’s a radical suggestion: read them. You tell me if there is anything in the First Amendment that protects the rights of individuals. There isn’t. It’s a prohibition placed on Congress on things IT cannot do. It says nothing about whether states can’t do that. And until the incorporation doctrine was adopted — i.e., more than a century after the Constitution was ratified — it was understood by everyone — not just a few shortsighted politicians — that the Bill of Rights in fact did in fact not apply to the states and thus did not guarantee everyone’s rights. Okay, that’s it, I’m done. Feel free to keep commenting and debating with other folks.
Sorry you feel impatient! But if you must, take your ball and go home. At issue here, it seems to me, is whether there is a concept of federalism that is consistent with both a constitutional system of decentralized power and the goal of social progress. Your own thinking on the matter, to the extent that I glean it from the article, seems opposed to the principle of decentralized power. Liberal-progressive thinking is vulnerable to charges of elitism to the extent that it is so opposed. Yes, historically speaking, the federal government has been used against recalcitrant states, and yes, for the cause of good. But there are costs to that. To the extent that the Constitution is the basis of the social contract in the U.S., every time realpolitik stretches a few points and abuses a few powers, that contract is broken.
I happily concede your point about the original constitutional legitimacy of slavery, and am intrigued by the notion that the Bill of Rights did not apply originally to the states. Again, I wonder how — if this is strictly speaking the whole story — a Constitution could have been promoted or accepted at all when its provisions need not ever exist anywhere in actual fact.
I’ve been researching the matter of “incorporation” — and it is quite fascinating. I also think I understand your point better now, taking the Bill of Rights specifically as a set of limitations upon Congress. It still remains (for me to discover) whether the non-applicability of these principles to the states was simply an artifact of their implementation, i.e. the quasi-nationalism of the states OR was intrinsic to the thinking behind the Constitution. But that’s a matter for more research.
Anyway, I owe you a debt of gratitude for bringing this dimension of the U.S. Constitution to light. I think it is not so simple a matter as “Read a little American history”. I have read a good deal of American history and never encountered the notion that the Bill of Rights never applied (necessarily) to the states. Indeed, even the name “Bill of Rights” rather suggests that what is at issue are “rights”. Without a universally binding dimension, the U.S. Constitution suddenly seems to have been little more than a kind of absurd compromise, the federal government being almost a sub-department of the collective states.
I’m sorry for being so short with you before. These are fair questions, and I recognize it’s not knowledge that’s universally known. I’m happy, to the extent that I’m able, to continue the discussion. For now, though, I’m afraid I really can’t; just have too much on my plate. I appreciate your taking the time to read the blog and do the follow-up research. Like I said in one of my earlier comments, Rakove’s book is a very good place to start. You should also check out Rogers Smith’s massive *Civic Ideals*.
Anarias Mendt (@heinrich66) January 4, 2012 at 12:47 pm | #
No, the heads-up on this (substantial) aspect of Consitutional law and history is quite enough. You should consider doing a piece on precisely this point because it renders all arguments that we should “return to the Founders’ intent” quite preposterous and even moot.
The more I read on this, the more it appears that what was called for after the Civil War was quite simply another Constitution. The process of “incorporating” rights against the states seems to me quite dubious. The 14th Amendment — one would think — would be enough to universalize the Bill of Rights among citizens no matter the State. However, if as you say, the Bill of Rights was simply a set of limitations upon Congress primarily, then the 14th Amendment and the incorporations that followed for decades after seem quite clearly contrary to the “Founders’ intent”. The whole nature of the system was changed.
I think this change mid-stream in the underlying concept of organization — while still retaining the language of the Constitution and its institutions — has resulted in a constitutional system and legal tradition that is quite byzantine. It is far from the new system from scratch based on philosophical principles that I had imagined. It now more resembles (perhaps appropriately) the ad hoc character of English law and earlier historical legal frameworks.
People today read or “project”, to use your term, a certain basic understanding of the Constitution back into the past. In this respect, the Constitution is treated perhaps too much as a philosophical document, instead of as a legal document with all the limitations that implies. If the Bill of Rights was never intended to apply universally and necessarily to all American citizens, then it is not a set of first principles. It is an ancillary document that has only been given its importance by legal construals in later years.
[This is a general comment, and is not asking for a reply. However, anyone may feel free.]
I am quite happy to beat my virtual sword into a plowshare when circumstances demand it. In this case, the possibility that the Bill of Rights was not a statement of first principles is strong enough that I feel flattened. I can’t take the destruction of any more historical myths.
The Bill of Rights and the Constitution are routinely presented as examples of human achievement. We are encouraged to believe that they are statements of first principles — established de novo — and that they can be viewed as having a dual legal and philosophical dimension.
The fact that the “rights” guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are not guaranteed at all suggests that the “rights” dimension of the Bill of Rights belongs more to the level of rhetorical flourish, and that the document as a whole is merely a procedural and legal limitation on the workings of the “federal” government.
In that regard, the federal government is even less of a national government in its original implementation than commonly thought. It is almost an agency, an appendage. It might be better called a “common” government for only those cases when the states have something “in common”. Even the supremacy clause — which an ordinary person might read and take as proof that the Bill of Rights extends to all people universally within the United States — really only appears to be a statement to the effect that when state law conflicts with federal law within its very narrowly prescribed purview (e.g. treaty law), the federal law necessarily wins out.
How does all this relate to the article above? Two points:
1. I believe that a number of Ron Paul supporters advocate for the “states’ rights” concept only to the extent that it suggests a structural remedy for imperialism. With more money and more power going to the states, the federal government is robbed of the massive resources needed to maintain the ever-emerging high-tech police state. Moreover, by bringing power to the states, it comes one step closer to the people. This is consistent with, in my opinion, the progressive concept of citizen democracy. For a democratic republic to be democratic, it simply must retain the dimension of “experiment”. The people must be allowed to learn how to govern themselves. Take that power away and what you are left with is a political class — a separate governing sub-culture — that over time develops motives and interests contrary to those of the multitude. And incidentally, when you disempower people and take away their control of their own affairs, they return to purely mindless pursuits as in today’s American Idol culture.
2. Second, to the extent that social agitation has been responsible for securing rights for groups in the American system (as the Bill of Rights apparently did), I think the argument for a place for progressive movements in our constitutional system can be made even MORE strongly and forcefully than the author has done above. The fact becomes irrefutable that if the Bill of Rights never had a universal scope, and that even up to today through the legal act of “incorporation” those rights are only retroactively given to the people (ultimately not by any act of legislature or “will of the people” but by judicial fiat), then the procurement of rights has only ever been done in the context of political struggle. The Consitution goes from being a document whose first principles guarantee individual liberty (the right-leaning fantasy) to a framework whose very inadequacies and even gross structural defects (courtesy of the great turning inside-out post-14th Amendment) CALL FOR a progressive movement since rights are never laid down, but achieved mainly through legal contest.
These are challenging times, and I hope that self-styled “libertarians” and “progressives” continue to challenge each other to find common ground.
Nigel January 4, 2012 at 3:59 pm | #
“…both sides are right in the sense that I laid out above: Ron Paul is unacceptable, and it’s unacceptable that we don’t have someone on the left who is raising the issues of imperialism, war and peace, and civil liberties in as visible and forceful a way…”
Nicely put – the only bit I would argue with is “on the left”, though I guess that’s because I’m from the UK, and a goodly percentage of those who describe themselves as ‘Conservative” over here would be called socialists by today’s GOP.
Couple more books to recommend for Anarias:
Robert Whitaker’s “On the Laps of Gods”, and Robert Caro’s “Master of the Senate”.
Both give a fascinating instruction on the interplay between US constitutional law, raw politics, and history.
George January 4, 2012 at 7:40 pm | #
Some criticisms I hope are constructive:
1) Does it really matter what side of an event like the 1964 civil rights act you are on 50 years after it made any difference what side you were on?
2) “At most 10 percent of them are in federal prisons; the rest are in state and local prisons… ”
This is nonsense. Prohibition was a federal initiative and it was ended when the federal government stopped enforcing it. Sure there are still dry counties, in places heavy handed regulation of alcohol, and the ‘revenuers’ are still hunting down the Dukes of Hazard for selling alcohol without a stamp on the cap. But the fact is without federal support the local police will not have the resources or the political back up to arrest millions for contraband crimes.
3) “a challenge to Israel” You are repeating a slander. Ron Paul is not challenging Israel. His views are mainstream Israeli opinions if by main stream you mean the newspaper of record Ha’aretz. The hysteria is coming from the US not Israel.
4) Even if through some fluke Ron Paul were elected President it is unlikely he would be able to accomplish much more as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive than end the wars. Everything else would require the consent of the congress and the bureaucracy, which he will not get. But guess what, that would free up piles of resources for other projects, perhaps even your left progressive whatever projects.
Scotty Reid January 5, 2012 at 10:47 am | #
mmmm…I’m wondering who the writer suggests we should support? What good has the 14 Amendment done for us when we have more black men and women in prison than their were African enslaved in America due to the drug war? What good has the 1964 Civil Rights legislation, passed by a racist from Texas, done when employment and housing discrimination runs rampant in this country and made legal due to the New Jim Crow implemented through the Drug War? I could go on but do not want to write an article in the comments section. Some politician once said all politics are local. The fact is we are impacted negatively more at the state and county level than we are at the federal level. We can blame Democrats for not really addressing our issues in a meaningful way or we can blame Republicans for legislation meant to impact negatively but when it is all said and done, we suffer because we fail to understand how the political machine works and the vast majority of us are apathetic.
Take for example that in NC Democrats passed the Racial Justice Act meant to address the racist way the death penalty is handed down to blacks and allows to have their sentences commuted to life instead of death. Now the Racial Justice Act may be eliminated in NC or severely watered down if conservative democrats work with the Republicans in our state. How is this coming about, because Black people in the state did not pay attention to what the Republicans were campaigning on and failed to turn out to vote in 2010 when in 2008 they turned out in record numbers for Obama. We in NC can blame no one but ourselves for what is happening in our state which was making progress towards racial justice. BTW, only Ron Paul, not Obama, has said he no longer believes in the death penalty because of DNA evidence showing innocent people on death row and how it is racially handed out.
So please tell me why Blacks are again going to sit on their hands when they have a chance to influence the GOP primaries by hijacking the party by registering if only temporarily as Republicans in the states that require it to vote on who their nominee is going to be. Perhaps secretly they wish for Obama to not be challenged on his support for these wars, Bush era policies that destroyed civil liberties and even those he just recently passed, the assassination with out charges of American citizens including a 16 yr old boy, his destruction of Libya and his blind support of Israel, his lack of addressing any issues at all that impact our communities the most. I’ve already written to much so I will stop here.
Anyone who would claim — in the second sentence of his comment, no less – that there are more black men and women imprisoned in America today, due to the Drug War (or frankly anything), than there were enslaved in America, well, all I can say is, first get your facts straight, and then maybe we can have a conversation.
My information comes from Michelle Alexander,who did extensive research on the Drug War and its impact but perhaps I am misquoting her. There have been estimates of 4 million to 12 million Africans enslaved in America, I wonder how many millions have been incarcerated since the Emancipation Proclamation? I will not nit pick with you on this point but over 1 million people locked up today for non-violent drug crimes is no small thing not to mention the life long impact once you have a felony drug conviction which allows employers and landlords to legally discriminate against you. I am still want to know who we should support or why we should not be influencing who wins the GOP nomination. I do not expect an honest answer or conversation on any of these issues I have raised from people who will support Obama no matter what and want him to have the easiest path to re-election. I will never vote for man responsible for helping to destroy the Bill of Rights, destroying the most developed country in Africa plunging it into civil war, and directed the CIA to kill people with no regard for the loss of innocent lifes including children and in one case directly targeting a teenager. Obama is the perfect Manchurian candidate. He is all style and no substance but have at him if that is who you suggest we support.
George February 29, 2012 at 2:39 pm | #
The experts at Wikipedia claim the Confederate States of America had 9 million people and 3.5 million slaves or say 40%. In the Statistics of incarcerated African-American males article the experts at Wikipedia claim that in 1991:
A black male born in 1991 has a 29% chance of spending time in prison at some point in his life.
Nearly 33% African American males aged 20–29 are under some form of criminal justice supervision whether imprisoned, jailed, on parole or probation.
11% of African American men will be incarcerated between the ages of 20 and 34.
So it would appear that for black males % wise comparing the CSA to the USA is not unreasonable. Overall the US prison population (everybody) is like 2.5 million (and 70 million Afghanis, kidding just kidding) so again USA and CSA have similar numbers.
I agree in advance that slavery and incarceration are not the same and cannot be easily compared and contrasted using simple arithmetic. But is clear the incidence of slavery and incarceration are large numbers.
dan karan January 5, 2012 at 11:20 am | #
Mr. Robin, i just wanted to thank you for your piece on Ron Paul which i saw on the AlJazerra English site. A friend of mine recently responded to a piece in counterpunch saying how progressives should support Paul. My friend (and I) disagree strongly and have been at the very least frustrated with those on “the left” that have taken this “support Paul” position. I think you are right on when you say that “we” should say that we agree with Paul’s “anti-militarist” (or however you want to put it) and to be raising issues such as the need for 900 US military bases in 130+ countries but that doesn’t mean we have to support the guy (at the very least we also need to provide an analysis that shows that while we may agree with some of Paul’s conclusions on some issues it is often, if not always, for very different reasons and based on a very different sort of analysis). If we are going to convince those in the Paul or american libertarian (or Tea Party for that matter) or at least be able to reach out to them (instead of simply handing them all over to the right wing which is what unfortunately has happened i think in part because progressives have not known how to reach out to these folks and make common cause around issues where, in theory, we should be on the same side) then we need to provide analysis and not simply say we agree with his position/conclusion. Your piece was a real breath of fresh air and i wanted to thank and commend you for it. I had not heard of you before but after this piece i will sign up for your blog so that i can see your pieces in the future. Sincerely, Dan Karan
anon January 5, 2012 at 12:28 pm | #
Not, Greenwald makes clear, because he supports Paul, but because it is a terrible comment—a shanda for the left—that we don’t have anyone on our side of comparable visibility launching an attack on American imperialism and warfare.
I came here via Greenwald, and I have really nothing to say, except, based on what I believe is my correct interpretation of your beliefs and this sentence, shouldn’t it be a shanda for the right?
The only time I have heard shanda used is the Yiddish phrase, a shanda fur die goy” meaning, something a Jew might do that is embarrassing to Jews should non-Jews can observe it. Jack Abramoff, Bernard Madoff might be examples.
Greg January 5, 2012 at 12:35 pm | #
Corey, great article, and I basically agree, although a rebuttal suggests itself along the following lines. One could argue that the “left” (if such a thing makes sense to talk about) has no access to the media. Ron Paul only has access because, on everything else, he’s uber-pro-business. Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, and a handful of others (in the House) DO actually make such critiques (well, perhaps not about Israel). Nader did, as well. Ron Paul has only sneaked through the filter because he’s the odd, and very rare, specimen who holds a combination of far-right, pro-business, and (ostensibly) anti-imperialist views. It’s a fluke, in other words, that doesn’t have much to do with the left’s weakness or unwillingness to articulate these issues but, rather, its purposeful exclusion.
Anarias Mendt (@heinrich66) January 5, 2012 at 2:29 pm | #
I think this reply is a little too self-serving — a little too pat. It’s far more honest to say that in the US there *is* no Left than it is to say the Left is “excluded”. It’s by now almost conventional wisdom that the Left/Right contest is practically speaking just theater and the “center” — insofar as it occupies positions of power — is broadly corporatist and statist and not materially concerned with either leftist or rightist goals.
Ron Paul has only slipped through the “filter” thanks to the fact that overt American statism (including a police state at home) has been shown because of Obama not to have been simply a one-off or a fluke of G. W. Bush’s. Ron Paul has run on the same ideas several times. This time he has gained notoriety in part because the Republican field is so fractured; in part because people are dimly beginning to sense that the country is changing into something morbidly authoritarian.
It’s something I’d like to hear more progressive opinions on — the value or importance of individual liberty, so conceived. In the article above, Corey Robin makes a good case for a role for a progressive movement spanning a national government and social movements “on the ground”. But as with all leftist political thinking, the locus of political agency is the “group” or the “movement” and individual liberty is not a strong priority. (Or if the individual has liberty in a progressive-oriented system it is as if by accident, not because there is anything special about being an individual.)
So as much as social agitation and movement politics have played a historical role in gaining rights in the U.S., progressive politics are nonetheless viewed with suspicion in this center-right country, in part because progressivism has never successfully reconciled itself with so-called American individualism.
Eduard Grebe January 5, 2012 at 6:58 pm | #
Reblogged this on Eduard Grebe and commented:
Excellent as usual.
Vitold January 6, 2012 at 12:05 am | #
I apologise for my English, I hope you will forgive me since this is not my first language. This left/right paradigm is an absurdity developed by ruling elites to control and enslaved all of us including such intelligent individuals like the author. Long time ago, it seems to me in a different universe, I realized that such distinctions like “liberal”, “conservative”… “republican”, “democrat”… are simply ways for people who have no relation to reality to express their ideas under the umbrella of their representative groups of associations. I can assure you that “real” people (that is striking workers, fighting insurgence, demonstrating students) do not subscribe to such terminology until someone, usually someone like you, enforces that on them.
Going back to the article, first of all an observation. If you write something that you would like to be taken seriously, try to do your research honestly. It really bothers me to see such intelligent person simply glancing through few “progressive” media reports on Ron Paul and base on that writing a socio-political review of the person. At least try honestly evaluate your points.
So let’s start with “Federalism”… well explain to me Mr. Robin how is the “federalism” good when we help split USSR in to separate republics and it’s awfully wrong when we are talking about , not really splitting, but rather “emancipating” states of the union? Would you suggest that we will be better of helping USSR to maintain their hold on all its dominions and provide better social progress for all its inhabitants?
You also suggesting the federalism was a corner stone of all “evil” things that US had gone through in its history, white supremacy, slavery, etc. Well, I can assure you Sir. that collectivism, and “strong” government usually turns out to be …not the best thing for it’s won people, and I have been on the receiving end of that side of the coin for half of my life, and it does not matter if such government is from the “left” or “right”, “liberal” or “conservative”, “communist” or “capitalistic”…it ALWAYES ends up in the WRONG.
And I think that is where Ron Paul is coming from, he may be a bit too American in his views but he certainly understands the danger that US is facing right now, just take a look at your …”yes we can”/progressive president…I bet you did vote for him I wonder how you feel about that now.
The other thing that is really so dishonest in your article, that bothers me the most is the fact that simply glance over the political platform that Ron Paul is proposing, without properly evaluating it and just stating that “his reasons for all of that are different that …yours and all progressives”:
Ending the Federal Reserve ( that was so clear to your left wing forefathers in the 30’s) that is instrumental in control process that big business and banking elite use for control of the economic process in USA, ending ALL the imperialistic wars (which even the 6 years old “Trocki” would understand is a good idea), stopping the fascist/communist state (Patriot Act, NDAA) from becoming unstoppable, and finally … (whatever the reasons you could think are different for you) stopping TORTURES!
If you disregard a good idea just because it’s coming from the opposite campus, it tells me that you really do not care for that idea you only care for your ideology, and I have seen with my own eyes what people like you , ideologist, can do to the nation:
Ron Paul platform, is the only one on the left or right or even …”progressive”…that I have heard clearly articulated, and if you can explained to me and your readers why that is, without crying over lack of leadership (which is basically saying we don’t have a guts to fight for these principles)…I would gladly listen, other than that it should be clear for you and your readers that this article is nothing but just empty indulgence over the your bankrupt ideology. As for the readings that your suggest freely to everybody on your blog let me suggest one book for you that you may over looked …. Chris Hedges “ death of the liberal class”…worth reading. Regards.
Leeleann January 6, 2012 at 12:53 am | #
When & where was the meeting-defining-“progressive” held & who appointed CR or GG or anyone else Chief-linguist or ProgPrez?
Your definitions-& solutions- seem at best smug & at worst either disingenuous or Utopian.
These are some of the very same problems that I have, & that you actually delineate quite well, with Paul.
Words need definitions and movements need direction, but “internationalists” with “open borders” is where I get off the bus- since it’s about to roll right over me anyway.
You seem well-versed on the problems of racial supremacy, but blase or unconcerned about the “women problem” that tends to crop up wherever “tolerance” (of sex-fascist religious or tribal rule for example) of “globalism” is touted.
lberns1 January 6, 2012 at 6:21 am | #
Sure there is another way. Stop legitimizing a broken system by trying to use it as the fix. Drop out, completely. Focus on the local. Quit thinking like a flag waving nationalist toad.
I stopped participating in this farce you call a democracy, which is nothing more than two wolves and a sheep discussing lunch, a long time ago. It is time to try something different, because replacing one corporate shill with another sure as hell hasn’t been working.
Chris January 6, 2012 at 8:21 am | #
I think you might be miscalculating here. I’d be afraid that you’ll get the strong national government part, but not the social democratic part. At least in a decentralized system, liberalism might win somewhere.
Look at education policy. The federal government now largely dictates the goals and measures of education to the states and local school boards. It was made into a winner-take-all federal battle, and liberals then utterly and completely lost that battle. I live in a county that is supposedly very liberal and votes heavily Democratic, yet my kids’ public school looks like it was designed by the most authoritarian elements of the right wing. (Arguably, it was.) Wouldn’t my kids be better off with genuine local control of education?
Isn’t it cheaper and easier to buy 535 Congresspeople than to buy 1500 local school boards?
st.just January 6, 2012 at 2:27 pm | #
The degeneration of the American labor movement has proceeded in parallel with the decline of American capitalism. This is no accident. In no other country has the labor bureaucracy so directly and completely tied the fortunes of the organizations of the working class to the strategic and economic successes of the ruling class. If one were to compare the downward trajectory of union membership and strike activity with the decline of American industry, one would find a striking correspondence. It is as if history had conducted a vast-and, for the working class, tragic-experiment in the viability of labor organizations based on the defense of capitalist property and nationalism. The historical verdict is contained in the decline of union membership as a percentage of the private sector workforce to single digits, below the levels attained nearly a century ago by the old craft-dominated American Federation of Labor, and the devastating fall in the living standards and social position of the working class.
The mass industrial unions that arose from the upsurge of the working class during the Great Depression against social misery and industrial despotism embodied a huge contradiction-between the militancy and solidarity of the powerful American working class and the conservatism and servility of the leadership, which subordinated the new organizations to the Democratic Party and the capitalist state. Less than two years after the Flint sit-down strike, Trotsky warned of the inevitable degeneration of the CIO on the basis of the bureaucracy’s political perspective. In The Transitional Program, he wrote: “The unprecedented wave of sit-down strikes and the amazingly rapid growth of industrial unionism in the United States (the CIO) is the most indisputable expression of the instinctive striving of the American workers to raise themselves to the level of the tasks posed on them by history. But here, too, the leading political organizations, including the newly created CIO, do everything possible to keep in check and paralyze the revolutionary pressure of the masses.”
http://wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/bgr2-o14.shtml
Burticus January 6, 2012 at 5:43 pm | #
“On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.” – Thomas Jefferson
The concept of federalism (the balance of power between federal and state governments) is as important as the separation of powers between the branches of government. Just read the Federalist Papers and maybe Jefferson’s Resolutions on the Alien and Sedition Act. They also make it clear that firearms are the ultimate protection against domestic tyranny, led by clueless far left statists like the author. Maybe also read George Washington’s farewell address warning about usurpations. To really get an quick education, try watching “Overview of America” on YouTube to learn about “Americanism”, the political spectrum, political and economic systems and how they interact.
It is easy to understand why Ron Paul is unacceptable by your standards, since he is the only presidential candidate who even believes in our founding documents and principles any more.
Fortunately for us dumbed-down sheeple, our university professors living off the government-financed education Ponzi (and politicians-for-life they advise) know better than our founding fathers. Just add “and anything else we want to do” to the powers enumerated Article 1, Section 8, delete the 10th amendment and burn the Federalist Papers. Heck, why bother – CONgress already shreds and wipes with that antiquated relic every day with everything they do. The political and economic destruction of America observed all around us is the result. Congratulations!
This used to match my way of thinking. But read the exchange I had with the author of the piece above.
The fact is the Founding Fathers didn’t give you any rights. The prescriptions in the Bill of Rights applied exactly nowhere geographically speaking — except perhaps the District of Columbia.
The Bill of Rights is a set of interdictions on the powers of the federal government included in order to assuage the fears of the states. They were not as they are now portrayed a set of first principles that formed a social contract and the basis of American society. Rights — to the extent that individuals had ‘rights’ — were given by the states in their respective state constitutions when it happened at all.
Only after the Civil War — and more specifically, the 14th Amendment — did the federal government start the job of granting individuals any rights at all. And it has done so primarily through “judicial activism”. As recently as 2010 when the Supreme Court “incorporated” the 2nd Amendment against the states, rights from the Bill of Rights have been apportioned out — piecemeal — to individuals almost entirely through judicial fiat.
Now let me tell you how I agree with you, and how I am wary of arguments like those of Prof. Robin above.
There is a set of warnings given by the Founding Fathers as regards tyranny. These warnings amount to (in more academic language) a narrative or a problematic that is fairly unique to the American perspective. Whether you call it a tradition or a mythology does not matter. The American political experiment, if it is to have any continuity in concept, always takes place against a backdrop of “tyranny” and the fear of tyranny.
This really isn’t so bad a yardstick for government since as Ron Paul points out, for most of human history “government” has been synonymous with “tyranny”.
Calls for alliances between social movements and powerful national government, such as in the article above, pretty clearly run the risk of flying in the face of that tradition of thought in which tyranny is the chief danger that comes of having governments. And in this, I think you are absolutely right. There is a good deal of reason to believe that given enough time and without continued effort, governments themselves become not just a cause of social injustice, but the *main* cause. This is easy to see in country after country — today and in the past — when government is just a cover, a smokescreen for organized criminality. And in today’s America, thanks to its pretensions of empire, that criminality is extremely forceful and is even leading to a perception in government that the people are the enemy.
From this point of view (within the problematic of tyranny), an exhortation like Prof. Robin’s is extremely dangerous, and some can be excused for seeing it as a call for a certain social agenda (called “progress” by some) to be introduced and enacted by force (using the mechanisms of the same corrupt government).
This is a weakness of the progressive movement — it is practical as much as it is conceptual. As Prof. Robin points out, progressive movements are “internationalist”. But for progressive movements to make headway, they must situate themselves within concrete national traditions. There *is* a concrete national tradition in the U.S., a concept of “liberty vs. tyranny”, A faceless, machine-like progressive movement that agitates for agitation’s sake always toward a goal of “progress” has no position within that debate and even ignores it. This is in part why some people assess today’s liberalism and progressivism as broadly anti-American: because the same movement could exist in any country, whatever the traditions, viewing the legal framework as only that, a means towards the empowerment and social recognition of groups (“progress”).
This is all the more telling when you consider that in American history, very few achievements that could be called “progress” have actually been the work of the so-called progressive movement. The agitation against slavery was not performed by “progressives”; it was done primarily by abolitionists and religious radicals. The women’s suffrage movement had a very different sociological makeup than that of today’s “progressive” movement. The civil rights movement was not populated by today’s progressives either. Rights for groups have primarily been fought for by members of those groups and people with overlapping beliefs from concrete traditions (e.g. religious).
The only achievement that can be tallied under today’s “progressive” movement arguably is the recent repeal of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell”. Even so, the idea of “progress” for progressive as an abstract distillation of all these past accomplishments done by concrete political actors with narrow political goals — is just that: recent, abstract, and rooted only in those traditions it claims for itself.
Nonetheless, Prof. Robin’s piece above signals a kind of way out — and a way for social progress movements to be seen as rooted in our constitutional (and national) tradition.
Because individual rights were not granted by our Founding Fathers via the federal government, the social and political contest for individual rights can VERY APPROPRIATELY be seen as integral to our American — and constitutional — tradition. The national and historical basis for social progress movements is thus given greater weight and substance. Rather than social agitation being a lamentable accidental artifact of politicians’ and officials’ failure to recognize rights already granted by the Constitution, these movements have in fact been the only vessel by which rights we now consider American have been achieved.
Ed January 7, 2012 at 8:39 am | #
“Our problem—………….is that we don’t really have a vigorous national spokesperson for the issues of war and peace, an end to empire, a challenge to Israel, and so forth, that Paul has in fact been articulating.”
That’s because you’re mostly frauds. If enough of you really cared about it, the problem would have been solved long ago.
Ms. Daisy Cutter January 11, 2012 at 7:18 pm | #
I agree with one of the comments on this feminist blogpost:
I feel no affinity to anarchists, libertarians and leftists like Greenwald who view centralized government as a problem, preferring local and less control over citizens. For women, this has meant piecemeal justice over the years. I’ve spent my life in the South. Offhand, I can’t think of any federal law that restricted my life more than a local or state law would have.
Bertha January 18, 2012 at 11:07 pm | #
So, you support abortion? Do you realize that more babies have been killed through abortion than any number of people through the holocaust and the world war? We need to help ourselves before we ultimately destroy our race. Supporting something that involves killing innocent babies is participating in it whether you have had an abortion or not. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Mak January 21, 2012 at 1:35 am | #
I am not sure what you mean by anti-imperialism, when we have a democrat president and the war in Afghanistan wages on. Cheap mining labor…
Also, you did not state a source for saying “His real problem is his fundamentalist commitment to federalism…” I did not want to continue reading because you’re stating everything on opinion and provided no supporting evidence to your argument.
Also, I was entirely confused by this statement, “As I’ve argued repeatedly on this blog and elsewhere, the path forward for the left lies in the alliance between active social movements on the ground and a strong national state.” Noting that strong national state implies a strong centralized government. Strong centralized government is the founding concept of federalism.
This is from Webster.com:
Definition of FEDERALISM
a often capitalized : the distribution of power in an organization (as a government) between a central authority and the constituent units
So what do you mean by strong national state? Does this mean do away with state governments? Or does this mean increase power to the central government?
Because if that is the case then you are a federalist too…
There is a good reason for separating powers between the state and federal systems, it is part of the checks and balances that is incorporated throughout our system.
There are different forms of libertarianism, they are all a little weird and some seem crazy but none of the ideas of libertarianism have actually been implemented within our country. At least I am not aware of any.
Strip away a lot of aspects of libertarianism and what you have left is small government, strong military, fiscal soundness and personal responsibility.
Whoever wins this next election democrat or republican, it doesn’t matter, because we will end up in Iran, killing more people but not for imperialist reason, of course.
Ron Paul if elected would prevent this and the only way he would go to war is if something like 911 happened all over again.
This country was founded on war and in the last 30 years more than I have been alive, we have been at war for over half of those years.
War brings peace? or war brings more war?
So keep arguing right or left, it doesn’t matter, war is inevitable…
Eben April 5, 2012 at 12:59 pm | #
The argument in this article is a little odd. We already have a strong national state that’s getting stronger by the day. The author suggests the only problem with such a centralized power structure is that it’s being used for bad purposes and that if it were just taken over by nicer more progressive folks that everything would be right with the world. Many of the commenters have expressed support for a more decentralized system of power, the author’s position seems to be that a big powerful national gov’t is the only thing that can counteract major corporate power. I would suggest the the power centralized in DC in a nice small easily corrupted and cheaply bribed central gov’t is exactly what’s caused corporate power to grow. If power were decentralized the cost of corporate friendly legislation would become too high to afford. The individual citizen whose vote counts for no more than a fart in a windstorm at the national level might find that they have much more power over local issues that effect the quality of their lives. The federal gov’t has prevented states from enacting changes that are very much wanted by local citizens. Just think of all the pressure from the Feds to keep state Attourney Generals from bringing cases against big banks over mortgage fraud. There is a nearly endless list of such tampering. The author of this article seems to niavely argue that immense centralized power is a good thing and he wants a shot at having his ideology pull the power levers instead of the ideology currently in place. I think what I’d like to see is for that power structure dismantled and decentralized because while having it exist can magnify the positive gains to society (benevolent dictation) it also magnifies the evils (police state, increasing wealth disparity, endless war machine)
kathy April 22, 2012 at 9:25 pm | #
One thing this author does not mention is it was Republicans that abolished slavery. Democrats and their elitist attitude enslaved people again by taking their tax money and redistrubting it to them as they as all knowing see fit.
Obama has increased the wars, Johnson a democrat increased the Vietnam war. It is the Democrats belief that only the really smart (rich) democrats have the answer and they must take care of their serfs.
Give the people back their money and they will take care of their families and the poor without discouraging people from advancing.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line378
|
__label__cc
| 0.659199
| 0.340801
|
Patriots place WR Welker on IR with knee injury
admin Contributor
January 06, 2010 3:41 PM ET
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Wes Welker’s season is officially over now that he’s been placed on injured reserve.
The New England Patriots made the move Wednesday, three days after Welker suffered a serious left knee injury in the first quarter of their 34-27 loss at the Houston Texans. Welker led the NFL with 123 receptions, a club record.
The Patriots also have signed linebacker Thomas Williams from the practice squad, added wide receivers Nick Moore and Robert Ortiz to the practice squad, and placed wide receiver Darnell Jenkins on the practice squad/injured list with an ankle injury.
New England plays at home Sunday in a playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Tags : athlete health athlete injuries fbn nfl united states wes welker
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line379
|
__label__wiki
| 0.664892
| 0.664892
|
Dan Nott
comics and illustration
The Revolution Will Not Be On Facebook
Domestic, International
Facebook is proving that it cares more about expanding internationally than protecting users’ rights to privacy and expression.
On Jan. 9, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a firm and emotional statement on the importance of free speech to Facebook, signing off with the ubiquitous hashtag, “Je Suis Charlie.”
A few weeks later, Facebook complied with an order from the Turkish government to remove images of the Prophet Mohammed, the latest in a series of moves from the social network that give into government influence. The decision reflects the lucrative market that Turkey represents for the American tech company.
In late December, Facebook acquiesced to the Russian government’s order to block access to a page calling for a protest in support of Alexei Navalny. Navalny is Russian President Vladamir Putin’s most vocal critic and is currently under house arrest in Moscow.
It’s also no secret that Zuckerberg has been actively seeking to have Facebook operate in the Chinese market, hosting the Chinese minister of Cyberspace Administration at Facebook’s headquarters, and sucking up to the Chinese President Xi Jinping. If Facebook did receive permission to operate in China, where it is currently blocked, it would certainly have to cooperate with censorship orders from the Chinese government.
Facebook argues that it is simply complying with local laws in the countries that it operates and touts reports it releases with aggregated government requests for data and censorship. Turkey’s government threatened to block access to the entire site if Facebook did not cooperate with its censorship orders.
Facebook is not a “public square.” It is a corporation, and it will do whatever it can to increase market share. However, if Facebook truly wanted to be the force for freedom of expression it claims to be, it could use its considerable influence and visibility to stand up against and refuse to be complicit in repressive government policies.
February 1, 2015 February 1, 2015 Dan Nott Tagged cartoon, Censorship, editorial, facebook, NSA, political cartoon, Russia, Turkey, Zuckerberg
← The Greatest Threat to Freedom of the Press
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia: An Affair to Remember →
All content © 2019 Daniel Nott
Spy Blimp
Trump Vs. The Swamp
Presidential Portrait ft. Steve Bannon
Resist!
Trump’s Therapist
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line383
|
__label__wiki
| 0.678998
| 0.678998
|
The Hobbit of Soho
At 72 Wardour Street in Soho, there’s a newsagent which goes by the unusual name of The Hobbit.
Or, at least, there used to be.
For the last twelve months, the shop has been empty and it’s only since it’s closed down that everyone seems to have noticed the odd name (if you google ‘Hobbit’ and ‘Soho’, you’ll see the sign has caught the eye of almost everyone with a camera.)
The newsagent was given the name in the early 1970s, simply because the owner Ray Grant was a fan of the book (his name can be seen on the right of the sign.) Run by manager Victor for most of its lifespan, the shop was an old-fashioned newsagent in the heart of Soho, and when I recall its dusty, faded, strangely East German-looking interior, I could kick myself for never taking photos.
The largely unmodernised shop was sold to new owners in 2007, who gutted, refurbished and turned it into something closer to a late-night mini-mart. They retained a later sign which had been erected by Ray Grant, but while the new owners diligently chiselled his name off the front, they left The Hobbit.
The name looks even odder when you see it on the modern sign – it seems to bear absolutely no relation to the other words, or the building its on, or any sort of possible business.
The shop closed down in late 2011 and after being empty for six months, the modern sign was removed to reveal the original 1970s frontage in all of its handpainted glory.
I think part of the joy of seeing the sign again is that it’s a reminder of how shop fronts used to look. Inviting, quietly attractive examples of the human sign-writer’s art. They’re not like the majority of newsagent’s signs today, which are uniformly awful: looming, back-lit slabs which people with no design experience have drawn up on a PC, squashed into shape and had printed on sheets of neon plastic.
So far the 1970s sign has enjoyed six unexpected months in the open air – but how much longer it will stay there is anyone’s guess.
Filed in Soho, West End ·Tags: 72, closed, Hobbit, JRR Tolkein, london, newsagent, ray grant, soho, victor, Wardour Street, west end
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line384
|
__label__wiki
| 0.684419
| 0.684419
|
Home Reviews Capital Fringe Review: “The D.C. State Players Present Agamemnon” by Andrew L....
Capital Fringe Review: “The D.C. State Players Present Agamemnon” by Andrew L. Baughman
Andrew L. Baughman
There is a new titan in the DC Theatre community, and his name is Tonee Bollocks. Bollocks is the Artistic Director of The D.C. State Players, and together with his dashing Producer Gabriel Sweetbottom, the team is poised to redefine our very notion of “good theatre” with their cutting edge production of Agamemnon.
The magic element that makes DCSP’s Agamemnon a masterpiece is the struggle of this company, and I’m not just talking about the common Fringe struggles of minimal set storage, limited tech rehearsal, and strict timekeeping. I dare say so many things went wrong at tonight’s performance that the D.C. State Players transcended total disaster to a state of Artistic Nirvana.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, Bollocks and Sweetbottom themselves stepped into the performance, which turned out to be an unexpected delight as the pair have undeniable chemistry and rapport. A.J. Calbert brings urban realism to the title role of Agamemnon. As Clytemnestra, Ashley San bares her soul and leaves a piece of it on the GALA Theatre Stage. Briana Manente and Brianna Meriweather make more of their Chorus roles than any actor has ever achieved in this work.
It would be foolish to credit the actors for these magnificent performances, however, because every aspect of the piece has Bollocks written all over it (including script adaptation, direction, choreography, lighting, sound, marketing, scenic design, construction, and “blessing”). Mr. Bollocks gives us an Agamemnon for today, deftly fusing Greek tragedy with the finer aesthetics of WWF and Showgirls.
Do not miss the opportunity to see the D.C. State Players in their debut production. Mark my words, within three years you will come to recognize that all DC Theatre is Bollocks. For me, it already is.
The DC State Players Present Agamemnon plays through July 20, 2013 at GALA Hispanic Theatre at Tivoli – 3333 14th Street NW, in Washington, DC. For performance times and to purchase tickets, visit the show’s Capital Fringe page.
Capital Fringe Show Preview: ‘The DC State Players Present Agamemnon’ by Gabriel Swee.
Previous articleCapital Fringe Review: ‘The Clocks’ by Grace Kim
Next articleCapital Fringe Review: ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ by Nicole Cusick
Andrew Lloyd Baughman is the Producing Artistic Director of Landess Theatre Company (landlesstheatrecompany.org) and an Associate Artist with Maryland Ensemble Theatre (marylandensemble.org). He works regionally as an actor, director, playwright, composer and teacher. His original musical DIAMOND DEAD (with Emmy-winning composer Richard Hartley) won the 2008 Best Musical Pick of the Capital Fringe Festival, and two of his original shows have been selected participants of the New York International Fringe Festival. Baughman earned his B.A, in Humanities at University of Maryland, and studied Musical Theatre at Philadelphia's University of the Arts.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line390
|
__label__wiki
| 0.996561
| 0.996561
|
Bong Joon Ho makes history at 2021 Venice Film Festival DOJ leaves decades-old music industry decrees unchanged Who is the favorite to be hired as the Chargers’ new coach? COVID-19: After months at home, Angelenos forgot how to drive Friendly fire: It’s Rams’ Sean McVay vs. Packers’ Matt LaFleur
Disney flexes its streaming prowess with big content plans
Walt Disney Co. on Thursday unveiled its plan to supercharge its streaming services, including a robust slate of shows from its “Star Wars” and Marvel franchises, original movies and a new international service to expand its reach beyond family audiences.
In a more than four-hour presentation for investors, analysts and the media, Chief Executive Bob Chapek, Executive Chairman Bob Iger and a full bench of executives laid out an aggressive plan to grow Disney+ and other streaming businesses, including Hulu and ESPN+ to as many as 350 million combined subscribers in the next few years.
The company said it plans to bring more than 100 new titles a year to Disney+, representing a massive ramp-up from its initial schedule.
Disney said it has 10 Marvel series, 10 “Star Wars” shows and 15 live action, animated and Pixar shows in the works for Disney+. It teased upcoming series about “Star Wars” fan-favorite Lando Calrissian, a live-action “Pinocchio” feature, a “Moana” show and a “Guardians of the Galaxy” holiday special.
In another display of confidence, Disney said its would raise its price for Disney+ in the U.S. by $1 to $7.99 a month, starting in March.
The company said it will also make some of its big films available for streaming next year, previewing a future when more of Disney’s movies premiere in the home. Disney also touted upcoming original series for Hulu, ESPN+ and its new international Star brand.
Among the splashy announcements: a new Stephen A. Smith sports show for ESPN+, a series based on the “Alien” movie, a Rolling Stones series from FX, and the Kardashians bringing their reality TV shenanigans to Hulu.
The lineup comes as Disney+ and its sibling streamers need fresh content to continue to drive subscriptions, particularly after the pandemic slowed productions.
The Disney presentation amounted to a powerful statement showing how serious the Burbank entertainment giant is about growing its direct-to-consumer prowess. Disney and other companies — including AT&T’s WarnerMedia, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS are trying to boost their streaming ambitions as the COVID-19 crisis accelerates the public’s move from in-person entertainment options (such as movie theaters) to phone apps and internet-connected TVs.
Iger, in remarks filmed on a soundstage at Disney’s Burbank studio lot, said the success of Disney+ so far encouraged the company to create a production lineup “much more robust than initially anticipated.”
“We’ve clearly positioned ourselves as the leader in the direct-to-consumer space, and the truth is, we’re just getting started,” said Iger, who oversees content efforts across Disney.
But despite the daunting schedule, Iger said the company is focused on quality, not quantity. “Quality holds its value, and that has been our mantra since we began telling stories,” Iger said.
The latest flex of muscle by Disney comes a little more than a year after then-CEO Iger launched Disney+ in a bold plan to adapt the company’s legacy entertainment brands for the streaming age. Tens of millions of subscribers, one pandemic and countless Baby Yoda memes later, Disney looks well on its way to a successful transition to a company that brings its movies and TV shows directly to fans online.
Disney on Thursday said Disney+ had 86.8 million subscribers as of Dec. 2, up from the 73.7 million it had Oct. 3.
Disney previously targeted 60 million to 90 million Disney+ subscribers, as well as profitability for the service by the end of fiscal 2024.
Thanks to hits such as “The Mandalorian” and the filmed version of “Hamilton,” a deep library of animated classics and families being stuck at home, Disney+ is well ahead of schedule. The company’s broader streaming business has 137 million subscriptions, including 38.8 million at Hulu and 11.5 million at ESPN+.
The company told analysts it now projects Disney+ subscribers to reach 230 million to 260 million through fiscal 2024. The company’s total subscriber base for all its services is expected to reach 300 million to 350 million in that time.
With all that additional growth and content comes bigger costs. Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said annual content expenses for Disney+ will hit $8 billion to $9 billion in fiscal 2024.
Netflix, currently the leading streaming service, counts 195 million global paying members.
Streaming has been a bright spot for Disney during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, which have done severe damage to other parts of its business. Disneyland in Anaheim has been shut down since March, and the movie studio has pushed films that were supposed to come out this year into 2021, including Marvel’s “Black Widow.”
The company last month said it suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion for the 2020 fiscal year, plummeting from a profit of $10.4 billion a year earlier. The pandemic led to a $7.4-billion reduction in operating income during the year, the company said. Disney last month said it planned to lay off 32,000 workers by the end of the first half of fiscal 2021.
While flaunting its content slate, Disney detailed plans for a flexible film distribution strategy that allows it to choose whether to put films in theaters or send them directly to living rooms.
Many of Disney’s biggest movies will continue to go to theaters, including “Black Widow” starring Scarlett Johansson, a Buzz Lightyear origin story from Pixar and an animated feature, “Encanto,” with music by Lin-Manuel Miranda. In a major reveal, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy announced that “Rogue Squadron,” the next “Star Wars” feature, is set to be directed by Patty Jenkins.
Other films will go straight to Disney+ at no additional cost. Disney was already planning to put Pixar’s “Soul” on Disney+ on Dec. 25. Also slated for the platform are features such as “Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers,” an “Enchanted” sequel starring Amy Adams, “Peter Pan & Wendy” starring Jude Law, and “Pinocchio” starring Tom Hanks.
Disney+ additionally plans to continue its “Premier Access” strategy, in which certain movies are made available to streaming subscribers for an additional fee. The computer-animated “Raya and the Last Dragon” will be released through Premier Access for $30.
The company previously experimented with the new model by offering the live action redo of “Mulan” for $30 to Disney+ subscribers. Disney never released sales figures for the title, which was hobbled by controversy because of shots taken in a region of China accused of human rights abuses.
The plan is less extreme than the one WarnerMedia announced last week to launch all of Warner Bros.’s 2021 movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. The strategy, which starts Christmas Day with the release of Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 1984,” shook the film business as a tacit recognition that the studio does not expect the theatrical experience to return in a significant way for most of next year.
“Flexibility is going to be a big dynamic going forward for us,” Chapek said, noting that 80% of the titles Disney announced Thursday are going direct to consumer.
Key to Disney’s streaming strategy outside the U.S. is its Star brand, which will encompass content from Disney-owned channels and studios that don’t fit Disney+’s family focused vibe, such as Disney Television Studios, FX and 20th Century Studios. The offering will launch outside the U.S. in markets such as Europe and Canada as an additional “tile” within Disney+, with added parental controls. In Latin America, the company will offer a standalone service, Star+, which will include live sports.
Previous What’s playing at the drive-in: ‘The Stand In,’ ‘Die Hard’
Next ‘Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness’ review: Reality TV, Iranian-style
COVID-19: After months at home, Angelenos forgot how to drive
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line391
|
__label__wiki
| 0.640463
| 0.640463
|
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2115 (November 21, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-41)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90, No. 2079 (February 8, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-5)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2117 (December 5, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-43)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90, No. 2098 (June 20, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-24)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2103 (August 15-22, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-29)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2106 (September 19, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-32)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90, No. 2077 (January 25, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-3)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2119 (December 19-26, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-45)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2108 (October 3, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-34)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90 , No. 2089 (April 18, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-15)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2101 (July 18-25, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-27)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2112 (October 31, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-38)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 107, No. 3 (August 5-12, 1988) (ddr-pc-60-28)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 106, No. 3 (January 22, 1988) (ddr-pc-60-3)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 107, No. 1 (July 8-15, 1988) (ddr-pc-60-26)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 111, No. 12 (October 19, 1990) (ddr-pc-62-37)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 110, No. 4 (February 2, 1990) (ddr-pc-62-4)
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 80, No. 3 (January 24, 1975) (ddr-pc-47-3)
Series of articles submitted by Paul Ito to Pacific Citizen, Rocky Shimpo and other news outlets (ddr-densho-122-508)
Resolution submitted by San Francisco Chapter JACL (ddr-densho-122-572)
Clipping from front page of Rocky Shimpo (ddr-densho-122-780)
Letter from Takashi Hoshizaki Gonzales to Caroline Aoyagi (ddr-densho-122-505)
FBI memos from Dies Sub-Committee hearings on Japanese Americans (ddr-densho-122-581)
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2115 (November 21, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-41)
Selected article titles: "Demons in Hawaii prevail, bd. Of ed new" (p. 1), "Asian American immigration issues to be explored" (p. 3), "Talking up 'East to America' " (p. 5).
http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-52-41/
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90, No. 2079 (February 8, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-5)
Selected article titles: "Redress, higher dues for '80s budget studied by EXECOM" (p. 1), "Carter budget 'disappoints' Mineta as 79% 'uncontrollable' " (p. 1 and 5), "Ethnic Identity: an Individual Matter" (p. 4)
http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-52-5/
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2117 (December 5, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-43)
Selected article titles: "Wendy Tokuda shows & tells how the news hits your TV tube" (p. 1 and 6), "Affirmation and Reaffirmation" (p. 8).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90, No. 2098 (June 20, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-24)
Selected article titles: "Putting parents and kids back together" (p. 1 and 8), MDC's Mixed Marriage Workshop" (p. 6).
Selected article titles: "Education foremost push on redress" (p. 1), "New Political Nikkei Questions" (p. 5), "National JACL Constitution and Bylaws" (p. 6, 7, 10, and 11).
Selected article titles: "Affirmative action hiring by State of Calif. Upheld" (p. 1), "Presidential pointers on JACL Constitution" (p. 5), "For one George Shima, there're 1,000 Issei hands" (p. 8)
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2103 (August 15-22, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-29)
Selected article titles: "Carter signs S1647 commission bill" (p. 1 and 2), "Tsujimura to lead JACL in this biennium" (p. 1 and 3), "No Hill..." (p. 4).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2106 (September 19, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-32)
Selected article titles: "1000 Club logo may switch to 'Shogun' " (p. 1), "JARP set to honor pledge to $100 donors" (p. 3 and 10), "On the eve of East West Players' 16th year" (p. 6 and 7).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90, No. 2077 (January 25, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-3)
Selected article titles: "All 5 Nikkei in Congress to be feted in L.A. Mar. 22" (p. 1), "One Thousand Club Honor Roll" (p. 2 and 3), "The New Koreans in Our Midst" (p. 5)
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2119 (December 19-26, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-45)
Selected article titles: "The 'Koryu' Narrative: Saga of (the real) William Adams" (p. 1, 49, 51-54, 92, and 95), "Biography of Kyutaro Abiko: Issei Pioneer with a Dream" (p. 1, 61, and 63-66), "Identity Crisis of the Sansei and the American Concentration Camp" (p. 41, 42, 50, and 55). The holiday issue included advertisements bought by …
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2108 (October 3, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-34)
Selected article titles: "1000 Club logo may switch to 'Shogun'" (p. 1), "JARP set to honor pledge to $100 donors" (p. 3 and 10), "On the eve of East West Players' 16th year" (p. 6 and 7).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 90 , No. 2089 (April 18, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-15)
Selected article titles: "Nikkei ups & downs in local California elections seen" (p. 1 and 4), "Are Asian Americans Disadvantaged?" (p. 5).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2101 (July 18-25, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-27)
Selected article titles: "Sen. Inouye - principal convention speaker" (p. 1 and 2), " 'Racism" in Korematsu" (p. 3 and 11).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 91, No. 2112 (October 31, 1980) (ddr-pc-52-38)
Selected article titles: "EEOC guidelines bared for national origins bias" (p. 1 and 3), " 'Hito Hata' " (p. 4).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 107, No. 3 (August 5-12, 1988) (ddr-pc-60-28)
Selected article titles: "Senate Gives H.R. 442 Final Approval, House Next" (pp. 1-2), "Grand Parade to Close '88 Nisei Week" (pp. 1, 7), "No Disgrace in JACL's Admission of Its Wartime Error" (p. 2), and "Violence Against Asians on Important Issue: What Will Replace Redress as JACL's Top Priority?" (p. 5).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 106, No. 3 (January 22, 1988) (ddr-pc-60-3)
Selected article titles: "Hirabayashi Case May Go to High Court" (p. 1), "Northern California Leaders Support Nakanishi" (pp. 1-2), "Congressman Vouches for JACL's Collaboration with Army in 1942" (pp. 2-3), and "Matchmaking Japanese-Style" (pp. 3, 5).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 107, No. 1 (July 8-15, 1988) (ddr-pc-60-26)
Selected article titles: "Resolution Admitting JACL 'WW2 Errors' Presented to NCWNP" (p. 1), "Top Aides Urge Approval: Reagan Intends to Sign Redress Bill, Says Mercury News Report" (p. 1), and "Part II: JACL Presidential Candidates Respond to Questionnaire" (p. 7).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 111, No. 12 (October 19, 1990) (ddr-pc-62-37)
Select article titles: "California Changes Policy for Medi-Cal Patients Due to Receive Federal Redress Payment"(p.1);"First 15,000 Checks in the Mail Now"(p.1);"Susan A Kamb of Malibu: 'The National' Calls Over a Sansei from 'Sports Illustrated' to Top Post"(p.2);"The JACL Legacy Fund -- Our Obligation"(p.5).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 110, No. 4 (February 2, 1990) (ddr-pc-62-4)
Select article titles: "Chinese Immigration Relief Act Veto Sustained; Bush's Executive Order Rules"(p.1); "Study of JACL's Actions During WWII Due for April Presentation"(p.1); "Sen Nishiyama Compares Heritage and Human Rights in U.S.-Japan Relations at Selanoco Fete"(p.3); "Issei History of U.S. in Agriculture"(p.6).
doc Pacific Citizen, Vol. 80, No. 3 (January 24, 1975) (ddr-pc-47-3)
Selected article titles: "To the Point: The Year Ahead" (p. 1), "Dies Committee vs. JACL" (pp. 1-2), "Evacuee Reparation a Sleepy Issue in JACL" (p. 3), and "First Ethnic Survey of Hawaii Teachers Held" (p. 5).
doc Series of articles submitted by Paul Ito to Pacific Citizen, Rocky Shimpo and other news outlets (ddr-densho-122-508)
Re: Lim report, JACL activities during the war, submitted to Japanese-American news outlets, personal information redacted.
doc Resolution submitted by San Francisco Chapter JACL (ddr-densho-122-572)
Resolution acknowledging JACL errors in response to incarceration
doc Clipping from front page of Rocky Shimpo (ddr-densho-122-780)
Selected articles: letter to the Editor re: JACL actions, Two Resister Change Minds, Sentinel asks Help to Dissuade Draft Protestors
doc Letter from Takashi Hoshizaki Gonzales to Caroline Aoyagi (ddr-densho-122-505)
Response to coverage of controversy over JACL apology to resisters, personal information redacted.
doc FBI memos from Dies Sub-Committee hearings on Japanese Americans (ddr-densho-122-581)
Copies of memos concerning Mike Masaoka's testimony before committee
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line392
|
__label__wiki
| 0.95561
| 0.95561
|
Melia Kreiling Joins ‘Tyrant’; Chris Backus & Jussie Smollett In ‘Underground’
By Denise Petski
Denise Petski
Senior Managing Editor
More Stories By Denise
‘The Last Of Us’: ‘Beanpole’ Helmer To Direct Pilot Of HBO’s Video Game Series Adaptation
Xander Berkeley Joins ‘The Republic Of Sarah’; ‘Young Rock’ Casts Taj Cross
EXCLUSIVE: Melia Kreiling (Guardians Of The Galaxy) has joined the Season 2 cast of FX’s Tyrant in a recurring role. The series revolves around an unassuming American family drawn into the inner workings of a turbulent fictional Middle Eastern nation. Bassam “Barry” Al-Fayeed, the younger son of the war-torn country’s dictator, ends a self-imposed 20-year exile to return to his homeland. His reluctant homecoming leads to a dramatic clash of cultures as he is thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth. Kreiling, repped by CAA, Piers Nimmo and Brillstein Entertainment, will be introduced as Daliyah in an upcoming episode. Kreiling’s other TV credits include The Borgias and The Bible. She will next be seen in feature DxM.
Chris Backus (Deliverance Creek) has booked a major recurring role and Empire‘s Jussie Smollett has signed on for two episodes of Underground, WGN America’s pre-Civil War straight-to-series drama about the Underground Railroad. The series from Sony Pictures TV and Tribune Studios follows a group of slaves who plan a daring escape from a Georgia plantation to cross 600 miles to freedom. They are aided along the way by a secret abolitionist couple running a station on the Underground Railroad, as they evade those tasked with bringing them back — dead or alive. Backus will play Jeremiah Johnson, a well-dressed dandy, but a threatening slave catcher. He’s the leader of the Patty Cannon Gang who are after the escaped slaves. Smollett is Josey, a wild-eyed runaway who doesn’t trust anyone, not even those stationed along the way who would try to help him. Backus is repped by Buchwald & Assoc. and co-managed by Untitled Entertainment and the Van Johnson Company.
This article was printed from https://deadline.com/2015/06/melia-kreiling-cast-tyrant-jussie-smollett-chris-backus-underground-1201453186/
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line393
|
__label__wiki
| 0.994806
| 0.994806
|
Maryland Law Review
Home > UMLL_JOURNALS > MLR > Vol. 44 > Iss. 2 (1985)
Tributes to Judge Rita C. Davidson
Tributes to Judge Rita C. Davidson, 44 Md. L. Rev. 229 (1985)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol44/iss2/3
Legal Biography Commons
Maryland Law Review Symposia
Maryland Law Review Online
All Issues Vol. 80, Iss. 1 Vol. 79, Iss. 4 Vol. 79, Iss. 3 Vol. 79, Iss. 2 Vol. 79, Iss. 1 Vol. 78, Iss. 4 Vol. 78, Iss. 3 Vol. 78, Iss. 2 Vol. 78, Iss. 1 Vol. 77, Iss. 4 Vol. 77, Iss. 3 Vol. 77, Iss. 2 Vol. 77, Iss. 1 Vol. 76, Iss. 4 Vol. 76, Iss. 3 Vol. 76, Iss. 2 Vol. 76, Iss. 1 Vol. 75, Iss. 4 Vol. 75, Iss. 3 Vol. 75, Iss. 2 Vol. 75, Iss. 1 Vol. 74, Iss. 4 Vol. 74, Iss. 3 Vol. 74, Iss. 2 Vol. 74, Iss. 1 Vol. 73, Iss. 4 Vol. 73, Iss. 3 Vol. 73, Iss. 2 Vol. 73, Iss. 1 Vol. 72, Iss. 4 Vol. 72, Iss. 3 Vol. 72, Iss. 2 Vol. 72, Iss. 1 Vol. 71, Iss. 4 Vol. 71, Iss. 3 Vol. 71, Iss. 2 Vol. 71, Iss. 1 Vol. 70, Iss. 4 Vol. 70, Iss. 3 Vol. 70, Iss. 2 Vol. 70, Iss. 1 Vol. 69, Iss. 4 Vol. 69, Iss. 3 Vol. 69, Iss. 2 Vol. 69, Iss. 1 Vol. 68, Iss. 4 Vol. 68, Iss. 3 Vol. 68, Iss. 2 Vol. 68, Iss. 1 Vol. 67, Iss. 4 Vol. 67, Iss. 3 Vol. 67, Iss. 2 Vol. 67, Iss. 1 Vol. 66, Iss. 4 Vol. 66, Iss. 3 Vol. 66, Iss. 2 Vol. 66, Iss. 1 Vol. 65, Iss. 4 Vol. 65, Iss. 3 Vol. 65, Iss. 2 Vol. 65, Iss. 1 Vol. 64, Iss. 4 Vol. 64, Iss. 3 Vol. 64, Iss. 2 Vol. 64, Iss. 1 Vol. 63, Iss. 4 Vol. 63, Iss. 3 Vol. 63, Iss. 2 Vol. 63, Iss. 1 Vol. 62, Iss. 4 Vol. 62, Iss. 3 Vol. 62, Iss. 2 Vol. 62, Iss. 1 Vol. 61, Iss. 4 Vol. 61, Iss. 3 Vol. 61, Iss. 2 Vol. 61, Iss. 1 Vol. 60, Iss. 4 Vol. 60, Iss. 3 Vol. 60, Iss. 2 Vol. 60, Iss. 1 Vol. 59, Iss. 4 Vol. 59, Iss. 3 Vol. 59, Iss. 2 Vol. 59, Iss. 1 Vol. 58, Iss. 4 Vol. 58, Iss. 3 Vol. 58, Iss. 2 Vol. 58, Iss. 1 Vol. 57, Iss. 4 Vol. 57, Iss. 3 Vol. 57, Iss. 2 Vol. 57, Iss. 1 Vol. 56, Iss. 4 Vol. 56, Iss. 3 Vol. 56, Iss. 2 Vol. 56, Iss. 1 Vol. 55, Iss. 4 Vol. 55, Iss. 3 Vol. 55, Iss. 2 Vol. 55, Iss. 1 Vol. 54, Iss. 4 Vol. 54, Iss. 3 Vol. 54, Iss. 2 Vol. 54, Iss. 1 Vol. 53, Iss. 4 Vol. 53, Iss. 3 Vol. 53, Iss. 2 Vol. 53, Iss. 1 Vol. 52, Iss. 4 Vol. 52, Iss. 3 Vol. 52, Iss. 2 Vol. 52, Iss. 1 Vol. 51, Iss. 4 Vol. 51, Iss. 3 Vol. 51, Iss. 2 Vol. 51, Iss. 1 Vol. 50, Iss. 4 Vol. 50, Iss. 3 Vol. 50, Iss. 2 Vol. 50, Iss. 1 Vol. 49, Iss. 4 Vol. 49, Iss. 3 Vol. 49, Iss. 2 Vol. 49, Iss. 1 Vol. 48, Iss. 4 Vol. 48, Iss. 3 Vol. 48, Iss. 2 Vol. 48, Iss. 1 Vol. 47, Iss. 4 Vol. 47, Iss. 3 Vol. 47, Iss. 2 Vol. 47, Iss. 1 Vol. 46, Iss. 4 Vol. 46, Iss. 3 Vol. 46, Iss. 2 Vol. 46, Iss. 1 Vol. 45, Iss. 4 Vol. 45, Iss. 3 Vol. 45, Iss. 2 Vol. 45, Iss. 1 Vol. 44, Iss. 4 Vol. 44, Iss. 3 Vol. 44, Iss. 2 Vol. 44, Iss. 1 Vol. 43, Iss. 4 Vol. 43, Iss. 3 Vol. 43, Iss. 2 Vol. 43, Iss. 1 Vol. 42, Iss. 4 Vol. 42, Iss. 3 Vol. 42, Iss. 2 Vol. 42, Iss. 1 Vol. 41, Iss. 4 Vol. 41, Iss. 3 Vol. 41, Iss. 2 Vol. 41, Iss. 1 Vol. 40, Iss. 4 Vol. 40, Iss. 3 Vol. 40, Iss. 2 Vol. 40, Iss. 1 Vol. 39, Iss. 4 Vol. 39, Iss. 3 Vol. 39, Iss. 2 Vol. 39, Iss. 1 Vol. 38, Iss. 4 Vol. 38, Iss. 3 Vol. 38, Iss. 2 Vol. 38, Iss. 1 Vol. 37, Iss. 4 Vol. 37, Iss. 3 Vol. 37, Iss. 2 Vol. 37, Iss. 1 Vol. 36, Iss. 4 Vol. 36, Iss. 3 Vol. 36, Iss. 2 Vol. 36, Iss. 1 Vol. 35, Iss. 4 Vol. 35, Iss. 3 Vol. 35, Iss. 2 Vol. 35, Iss. 1 Vol. 34, Iss. 4 Vol. 34, Iss. 3 Vol. 34, Iss. 2 Vol. 34, Iss. 1 Vol. 33, Iss. 4 Vol. 33, Iss. 3 Vol. 33, Iss. 2 Vol. 33, Iss. 1 Vol. 32, Iss. 4 Vol. 32, Iss. 3 Vol. 32, Iss. 2 Vol. 32, Iss. 1 Vol. 31, Iss. 4 Vol. 31, Iss. 3 Vol. 31, Iss. 2 Vol. 31, Iss. 1 Vol. 30, Iss. 4 Vol. 30, Iss. 3 Vol. 30, Iss. 2 Vol. 30, Iss. 1 Vol. 29, Iss. 4 Vol. 29, Iss. 3 Vol. 29, Iss. 2 Vol. 29, Iss. 1 Vol. 28, Iss. 4 Vol. 28, Iss. 3 Vol. 28, Iss. 2 Vol. 28, Iss. 1 Vol. 27, Iss. 4 Vol. 27, Iss. 3 Vol. 27, Iss. 2 Vol. 27, Iss. 1 Vol. 26, Iss. 4 Vol. 26, Iss. 3 Vol. 26, Iss. 2 Vol. 26, Iss. 1 Vol. 25, Iss. 4 Vol. 25, Iss. 3 Vol. 25, Iss. 2 Vol. 25, Iss. 1 Vol. 24, Iss. 4 Vol. 24, Iss. 3 Vol. 24, Iss. 2 Vol. 24, Iss. 1 Vol. 23, Iss. 4 Vol. 23, Iss. 3 Vol. 23, Iss. 2 Vol. 23, Iss. 1 Vol. 22, Iss. 4 Vol. 22, Iss. 3 Vol. 22, Iss. 2 Vol. 22, Iss. 1 Vol. 21, Iss. 4 Vol. 21, Iss. 3 Vol. 21, Iss. 2 Vol. 21, Iss. 1 Vol. 20, Iss. 4 Vol. 20, Iss. 3 Vol. 20, Iss. 2 Vol. 20, Iss. 1 Vol. 19, Iss. 4 Vol. 19, Iss. 3 Vol. 19, Iss. 2 Vol. 19, Iss. 1 Vol. 18, Iss. 4 Vol. 18, Iss. 3 Vol. 18, Iss. 2 Vol. 18, Iss. 1 Vol. 17, Iss. 4 Vol. 17, Iss. 3 Vol. 17, Iss. 2 Vol. 17, Iss. 1 Vol. 16, Iss. 4 Vol. 16, Iss. 3 Vol. 16, Iss. 2 Vol. 16, Iss. 1 Vol. 15, Iss. 4 Vol. 15, Iss. 3 Vol. 15, Iss. 2 Vol. 15, Iss. 1 Vol. 14, Iss. 4 Vol. 14, Iss. 3 Vol. 14, Iss. 2 Vol. 14, Iss. 1 Vol. 13, Iss. 4 Vol. 13, Iss. 3 Vol. 13, Iss. 2 Vol. 13, Iss. 1 Vol. 12, Iss. 4 Vol. 12, Iss. 3 Vol. 12, Iss. 2 Vol. 12, Iss. 1 Vol. 11, Iss. 4 Vol. 11, Iss. 3 Vol. 11, Iss. 2 Vol. 11, Iss. 1 Vol. 10, Iss. 4 Vol. 10, Iss. 3 Vol. 10, Iss. 2 Vol. 10, Iss. 1 Vol. 9, Iss. 4 Vol. 9, Iss. 3 Vol. 9, Iss. 2 Vol. 9, Iss. 1 Vol. 8, Iss. 4 Vol. 8, Iss. 3 Vol. 8, Iss. 2 Vol. 8, Iss. 1 Vol. 7, Iss. 4 Vol. 7, Iss. 3 Vol. 7, Iss. 2 Vol. 7, Iss. 1 Vol. 6, Iss. 4 Vol. 6, Iss. 3 Vol. 6, Iss. 2 Vol. 6, Iss. 1 Vol. 5, Iss. 4 Vol. 5, Iss. 3 Vol. 5, Iss. 2 Vol. 5, Iss. 1 Vol. 4, Iss. 4 Vol. 4, Iss. 3 Vol. 4, Iss. 2 Vol. 4, Iss. 1 Vol. 3, Iss. 4 Vol. 3, Iss. 3 Vol. 3, Iss. 2 Vol. 3, Iss. 1 Vol. 2, Iss. 4 Vol. 2, Iss. 3 Vol. 2, Iss. 2 Vol. 2, Iss. 1 Vol. 1, Iss. 4 Vol. 1, Iss. 3 Vol. 1, Iss. 2 Vol. 1, Iss. 1
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line394
|
__label__wiki
| 0.735942
| 0.735942
|
Los Adaes Historic Site
BUILT ON THE EDGE of the Spanish empire, the Los Adaes settlement had both a mission and a fort (presidio). It served as the capital of the Province of Texas for 41 years. Los Adaes was a place of rare cooperation among the Spanish, the French, and the Caddo Indians. In this site, explore the history, daily life, and stories that Los Adaes still reveals today.
Los Adaes dates back to the early 1700s when a Franciscan missionary, Father Francisco Hidalgo, urged the French governor of Louisiana to establish a post near east Texas. The missionary’s objectives weren’t purely religious; he knew that such an action by the French would alert New Spain and cause the Spanish government to re-establish previously closed Spanish military posts and Franciscan missions. The founding of Natchitoches in 1714 by the Frenchman St. Denis and the subsequent construction there of Fort St. Jean Baptiste had the predicted effect. In 1716, the Spanish established six missions and one fort in east Texas.
In 1719, an attack on Mission San Miguel – 15 miles from the French Fort St. Jean Baptiste – alarmed the Spanish and they built a new presidio, or fort, to counter any further French intrusion into Spanish territory. The Presidio Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes (Fort of Our Lady of Pilar at the Adaes) was surrounded by a hexagonal stockade with three bulwarks. In 1729, Spain designated Los Adaes the capital of the province of Texas. This made Los Adaes the official residence of the governor, and a house was constructed for him within the presidio. Los Adaes remained the administrative seat of government for the entire province for the next 44 years.
Life at Los Adaes was harsh. Poor land and crop failures meant constant food shortages and rainy weather often meant spoiled supplies. The nearest Spanish supply post was 800 miles away and that distance, combined with rain, floods and hostile Native Americans, resulted in chronic shortages of everything. Without the trade of the French at Natchitoches, the inhabitants of Los Adaes would have starved. Although Spain strictly prohibited trade with the French, the latter eagerly sought it. The French took advantage of supply shortages at Los Adaes, and an illicit trade soon flourished between the two posts.
In 1772, ten years after Louisiana was transferred to Spain, Los Adaes closed and the inhabitants moved to San Antonio. However, many of the 500 soldiers and family members soon left San Antonio and returned to Louisiana, where their descendants live today.
Multimedia Webpage – click here
VisitNatchitochesLA.com
6354 LA-485,
Robeline, LA 71469
Sunday, Monday & Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday – Saturday: 12:00pm – 4:00pm
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line398
|
__label__wiki
| 0.950773
| 0.950773
|
Category: johnstown
johnstown, johnstownvillage, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Police working to identify Johnstown Drive Thru robbery suspect
January 8, 2016 Debbie
JOHNSTOWN INDEPENDENT
Monday November 23, 2015 8:29 AM
Johnstown police are asking for the community’s help in identifying a man who robbed the Johnstown Drive Thru, 243 W. Coshocton St., at 8:37 p.m. Nov. 12.
The unarmed man stole $1,400 from the business.
According to police reports, a 6-foot tall, heavy-set man walked in and asked the cashier to give him all the money in the drawer.
The cashier put her hands up and allowed the man to reach into the drawer and take the cash.
Reports said the robber did not threaten her but he told her, in a deep voice, to not tell the store owner, who he mentioned by name.
The man wore a black hoodie, black face mask, black gloves, black work boots and jeans according to reports.
He entered the building from the south side on foot and proceeded to run out the south exit and “disappear into the darkness” according to the police report.
At the Johnstown Village Council meeting Tuesday, Sept. 17, Police Chief Don Corbin said the Johnstown area is now “entering the season for robberies” and police have seen this trend in previous years.
Police are continuing to gather more information from witnesses, he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Johnstown Police at 740-967-9911.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/11/19/police-working-to-identify-johnstown-drive-thru-robbery-suspect.html
johnstown, johnstownindependent, november, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Adopt-a-Child will continue through Dec. 12
This holiday season, Johnstown residents can once again “adopt” a child to buy presents for or sign up to see if they qualify to receive presents.
The Johnstown-Northridge Adopt-a-Child program has been underway since September and will continue to accept new families and donated presents until Dec. 12.
Monday November 30
Interested volunteers receive information about a child’s gender and age and sometimes even a wishlist of presents the child would like.
The present, which is to cost no more than $75, is purchased and given to the organization that will distribute it to the family in need.
The program has been helping Johnstown residents for more than 10 years. More than 200 children received presents last year from the organization.
Donors and recipients of the gifts are both kept anonymous.
Stephanie Stephens is one of the members of Faith Fellowship Church who is helping organize the event.
“We still have many applications to fill and are so appreciative of people who are willing to help,” Stephens said in an email.
“Adopt-a-Child is a communitywide effort and so many people make it successful.”
Another one of the organizers, Janie Young, said people are welcome to donate cash or gift cards and someone else can go out and buy the presents for a child.
She acknowledged not everyone likes to shop, but they can still give back and make a difference for a family.
“It’s so rewarding to see people come in and receive the presents,” Young said.
“Sometimes they have tears in their eyes,” she said. “It’s so much fun and great we are able to facilitate this.”
Young said a lot of community businesses have made generous donations to the group and those shopping locally might receive a small discount if they tell the manager they are shopping for a family in need.
“I really enjoy helping organize this,” Young said. “It’s very time-consuming, but so rewarding to hear how we are impacting people.
“It makes your heart melt.”
The group does not wrap the presents for the families so parents can see the gifts ahead of time.
They do give the families wrapping paper, tape and scissors. Young said donations of wrapping paper and tape are always appreciated.
There are six locations to pick up applications for the program and drop off presents. The locations are marked with Christmas mailboxes at: the Heartland Bank of Croton, the Faith Fellowship office in downtown Johnstown, the Pizza Place in Croton and the Homer, Mary E. Babcock and Alexandria public libraries.
Those interested in getting involved can call Stephens at 740-967-0148 or send an email tostephatfaith@yahoo.com.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/11/30/gift-giving-program-adopt-a-child-will-continue-through-dec–12.html
december, johnstown, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Deficit shown in proposed budget delays council vote
Monday December 7, 2015 11:19 AM
Johnstown Village Council delayed a vote on a proposed 2016 budget that showed a negative balance in the General Fund at the regularly scheduled council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 1.
As proposed, the budget resulted in a negative balance of $60,873 in the general fund, so it could legally not be passed, village officials said.
The vote on the budget was postponed until the next council meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at 599 S. Main St.
Johnstown Mayor Sean Staneart recommended another Village Finance Committee meeting, which will be open to the public and held at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 7, at 599 S. Main St.
In the proposed budget, 5-percent salary increases for village employees were factored into the budget. The amount of each potential raise would depend on an employee’s years of service and performance, as determined by department directors.
The issue of the village having outdated and low salaries has frequently been brought up at council, with both the service department and police department losing employees to other communities that pay higher wages.
When discussing appropriations for the capital improvement fund, council members debated which roads in the village most needed to be repaired next year.
Service Director Jack Liggett said he and the village engineer, Jamie Decker, ride throughout all the village streets and take into account which roads need to be prioritized for repairs.
“Part of the decision is looking at what we can afford, what can we do to prevent road failure, how much traffic there is, and a lot of hard work goes into these tough decisions,” Liggett said.
Councilman Bob Orsini viewed the road repairs as a long-term investment that could potentially encourage new residential growth in the village.
Village Council President David Keck said this calendar year there are 28 pay periods instead of 27. This phenomenon happens every 11 years and resulted in a re-appropriation of $80,000 into this year’s budget.
He explained that because the village has had five finance directors in seven years, there was little warning about the unanticipated expense.
“It’s a weird one time thing,” Keck said. “We discovered it and are fixing it so it won’t catch us off guard again,” he said.
Council members voted to move all 2016 regular council meetings to start at 6:30 p.m. and not 7 p.m
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/12/04/deficit-shown-in-proposed-budget-delays-council-vote.html
Local Waste Services granted contract for refuse-hauling
Monday November 23, 2015 3:36 PM
The new refuse hauler in the village of Johnstown will be Local Waste Services.
The company was awarded the contract for the service after a unanimous vote by Johnstown Village council members during a meeting Tuesday, Nov. 17.
In discussing potential trash providers, Mayor Sean Staneart said his favorite provider was Local Waste Services and his second choice was Shackleford.
He said he was concerned Shackleford, a smaller company, was only a 7-year-old company and might not have enough necessary experiences.
“If it was for my personal business, I’d like to support the local smaller business, but this is for the entire village so we need to go with a bigger company,” Staneart said.
Council members Sharon Hendren, Bob Orsini, Cheryl Robertson, and Bill Van Gundy all said they liked both Local Waste Services and Shackleford.
Robertson said she liked Local Waste Services because they already worked with other municipalities such as Hilliard. She echoed Staneart’s concerns about Shackleford.
Van Gundy also agreed within Staneart’s opinion and said Local Waste Services had excellent reviews.
The new contract will begin Jan. 1 and be valid for three years.
Village officials said they believe the rates residents pay for refuse collection will likely be less than the current rate.
Six months ago, the previous refuse-hauler, Big-O Refuse, was purchased by a larger company, Waste Management.
Since then, some village residents have complained they have seen a decrease in service quality, prompting the search for a potential new provider.
Concord Road update
Area residents can now celebrate seeing less orange barrels around the village.
Concord Road was scheduled to re-open Friday, Nov. 20, and the Raccoon Creek Pedestrian Bridge is completed.
Village Manager Jim Lenner said at Tuesday’s council meeting he wanted to remindpeople the speed limit of the road is 35 mph and police will be patrolling to enforce the speed limit.
Johnstown Service Director Jack Liggett said he was excited about the new road.
“That road should last,” Liggett said. “It was built properly this time.”
In his report to council, Liggett said in order for the water plant to stay compliant with new EPA regulations, new water treatment equipment will need to be purchased sometime within the next five to seven years.
Resident Lindsey BeVier spoke to council about wanting to plant a 10-foot evergreen “Tree of Hope” in Bigelow Park.
She said she hoped the tree could become a symbol of home and stability for Johnstown.
The tree is being donated by Monroe Township and BeVier asked council for a $300 monetary donation for LED lights for the tree.
Staneart said he would like to personally foot the bill instead of asking council to pay for the lights.
Van Gundy said he thought the tree was “an awesome idea and fantastic for the community.”
Lewis Main, who was elected to council Nov. 3 and will begin serving in January, said during the public comment portion of the meeting he was not pleased with the recent change in the structure of the water bills where the breakdown of the bill amount is no longer being shown.
“It shouldn’t be concealed in a raw number,” Main said. “
People should know what they are paying and where it’s going,” he said.
Teresa Monroe, clerk of council, said the village isn’t hiding anything and the breakdown information is still available if people want to call the village office.
In an unsigned note addressed to council, a resident noted Johnstown streets have not been cleaned recently.
Council members stated the village’s street sweeper machinery is not operational right now because of budget constraints.
Previously, council members voted not to purchase a new street sweeper because the necessary money was not budgeted.
Robertson said she had learned of residents with questions about how their property taxes are being spent.
She said they should address those questions with the Licking County auditor.
The next regular council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 1 at 599 S. Main St.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/11/19/local-waste-services-granted-contract-for-refuse-hauling.html
december, johnstown, johnstownvillage, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Suspects charged in CVS robbery
The Johnstown Police Department in conjunction with the Licking County Drug Task Force and the Licking County Sheriff’s Office arrested two people in connection with the robbery of the CVS pharmacy Nov. 23.
The suspects have been formally charged with robbery and are being held in the Licking County Justice Center while awaiting legal proceedings, law enforcement officials said.
After the robbery, police released information about a suspect to the media and received many anonymous tips from village citizens.
Using these tips, they started an investigation which led to a traffic stop of the suspect, according to Lt. Josh Boudinot.
“We can’t speak highly enough of those who came forward and gave us tips,” he said. “Those anonymous tips helped us a lot.”
So far, law enforcement officials said they have recovered only 1,149 of the 3,440 painkiller pills that were stolen. The pills recovered have a street value of more than $30,000, officials said.
One of the suspects previously had served a jail sentence for robbery, law enforcement officials said.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/12/04/suspects-charged-in-cvs-robbery.html
johnstown, johnstownvillage, november, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Cooperrider is recognized for helping troubled individuals
November 22, 2015 Debbie
“I’m not any different than anyone else, other than the fact that I put on this uniform,” said Chris Cooperrider, a full-time police officer for the Johnstown Police Department.
Cooperrider came to Johnstown in April 1997, after attending high school in Heath and receiving an associate’s degree at Central Ohio Technical College.
“I’ve been here a long time and I know a lot of people in this town,” he said, and then laughed. “I became a police officer so I could help people and make a difference for others.”
Through his time in Johnstown, he’s become a specialist in helping children and individuals with mental illness.
“There was a family who noticed their son was acting strange and they were worried he’d gone down the wrong path,” Cooperrider said.
“I worked with them and advised what I would do if he was my son.
“At first the son resisted getting help, but eventually he agreed to get treatment and said ‘thank you’ to everyone,” he said.
In an e-mail that was read at the Oct. 20 Johnstown Village Council meeting, community member Rebekah Carlisle called Cooperrider a tremendous resource for her and her family.
“In a confusing, dark, difficult time, Officer Cooperrider was a lifeline,” Carlisle wrote in her email.
“He offered clarity and expertise to help guide us.”
Cooperrider said he encourages people to call him “Coop” and think of him as just like everyone else.
His step-daughter graduated from Johnstown-Monroe high school last year and his son is a senior and his daughter, a freshman.
For 20 hours he is a school resource officer and 20 hours he is on patrol in the community.
“I have kids in the schools and so I know if we can start talking to the kids now and show them the way, it will be a lot better,” Cooperrider said.
“I get to form relationships with the students and sometimes they keep in touch with me after they graduate,” he said.
“One former student is actually now my neighbor.”
Cooperrider even spoke with Lieutenant Josh Boudinot, back when Boudinot was in school.
“I try to gain the trust of students and tell them I’m here for them and I’m a great listener,” he said. “I try to kill people with kindness and treat people with respect, until I can’t.
Although he enjoys his job, Cooperrider said it can be frustrating to respond to calls and see the same people over and over.
“It’s always the same couple of families and it baffles me that they don’t seem to get it,” Cooperrider said.
“I do my best to refer them to family services, food pantries, rehab, Moundbuilders (Guidance Center), or other resources.”
Even when he is off-duty, other Johnstown police officers call Cooperrider with questions about how to handle situations with children or those with mental illness.
“My cell phone is always on and I’m happy to help how I can.”
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/11/13/cooperrider-is-recognized-for-helping-troubled-individuals.html
Candidates make final pitches to voters
November 4, 2015 Debbie
OCT. 27 FORUM
Monday November 2, 2015 2:12 PM
At a meet-the-candidate forum Tuesday Oct. 27, four of the five Johnstown Village Council candidates explained to community members why they deserve one of the three open seats.
Candidates Ben Lee, Lewis Main, incumbent Cheryl Robertson and Ryan Green attended the forum. Candidate Russell Sparks did not attend the forum held in Village Council Chambers at 599 S. Main St.
Lee talked about his unique experience of growing up in Johnstown and how it has inspired him.
“The big reason why I’m running is for my two daughters,” Lee said.
“I had a tremendous experience growing up and a good childhood and I want it to be the same for them,” he said.
Lee said he is excited about the growth in the village and its schools.
“We need to embrace that progress but preserve our small town feel. I will do what I can to ensure the small town atmosphere but encourage growth,” he said.
Lee emphasized in his position as distribution center operations manager at L Brands he has experience managing budgets, planning and making hard decisions.
Main told citizens he moved to the village in 1969, spent 15 years on the Village Council and eight years on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
“I am pro growth,” he said. “I spent a lot of time initiating the first development on what is now Commerce Boulevard.”
He noted his managerial experience and said he is an “accountant and auditor by trade.”
Robertson told voters she wants to focus on three key issues.
The first is the village’s shoestring budget which she said was partially caused because of revised state tax laws and the loss of a large business in the village.
“Second, I want to focus on economic development,” Robertson said.
“We need to retain our current businesses and look for opportunities to bring in new businesses,” she said.
Her third key point was developing a plan to work together with the school board to manage the village’s future growth.
Green said he has been asking people as he goes door-to-door how he can help them.
“As a Buckeye, I was taught to pay it forward and give back to my community,” he said. “I have some experience, but I’m willing to admit I don’t know everything.”
Green said the village will continue to see plenty of change and he would like to be part of that change and continue to help grow current businesses and bring future businesses to town.
Also at the meeting, all five Johnstown-Monroe school board candidates spoke about their qualifications and so did David Cole, candidate for Liberty Township Trustee and Troy Hendren, Monroe Township Trustee candidate.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/10/30/oct–27-forum-candidates-make-final-pitches-to-voters.html
5 candidates are running for 3 seats on Tuesday
JOHNSTOWN VILLAGE COUNCIL RACE
oters in the village of Johnstown will be electing members of the Village Council when they go to the polls to vote in the general election Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Five people are running for three seats on Village Council.
The candidates include incumbent Cheryl Robertson and challengers Ben Lee, Lewis Main, Ryan Green and Russell Sparks.
Incumbent councilmen David Keck and Bob Orsini are not running.
Robertson manages her family farms in Sandusky County and previously worked at Johnson & Johnson.
She has served on the Village Council since February 2014 and on the Johnstown Economic Development Commission. Robertson said the village needs to seek economic development opportunities while retaining existing businesses.
She also wants to focus on managing the village budget as the village continues to grow.
Lee is distribution center operations manager at L Brands.
He said his passion for small towns sets him apart from the other candidates.
Lee said he wants to make sure the Johnstown experience he had growing up is the same for his young daughters.
Lee also said he wants to increase communication between the council and the community.
Main is retired. He worked at Western Electric, AT&T and Lucent Technology in a variety of accounting and supervisory positions.
He served 15 years on the council and Village Planning and Zoning Commission in the 1980s and 90s.
Main said he believes the Village Council needs to stick to its budget and sell surplus water and sewer capacities to reduce costs.
He said he also wants the village to prepare to become a city in 2020.
Sparks works in the emergency department at St. Ann’s Hospital and volunteers with the Boy Scouts of America.
Sparks said he is most concerned with traffic, water rates, trash service and police protection.
He said his goal is to bring police protection back up to the level where it was 10 years ago and look into getting a new trash service provider.
Green works in sales at Scotts Miracle Grow.
He said he plans to bring more businesses to Johnstown so people have more things to do and more amenities in the village. Green wants to place a framework in place that will encourage new businesses to move in.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/10/30/johnstown-village-council-race-5-candidates-are-running-for-3-seats-on-tuesday.html
johnstown, johnstownvillage, october, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Valentinos perfecting recipe(s) for food truck success
November 2, 2015 April 15, 2018 Debbie
Monday October 26, 2015 12:41 PM
Clara Valentino of Johnstown quit her corporate marketing career to pursue her culinary dream by teaming up with her father to open up a food truck called Buster Mac’s.
Working together is nothing new for this father and daughter duo.
Clara worked in his catering business for more than 10 years, sometimes standing on a milk crate just to reach the counter.
“We work good together,” said her father, Rocco Valentino. “I’m the creative brain behind the food and she talks to people and does the sales and marketing.”
Rocco Valentino, has been in the culinary industry for more than 40 years. He grew up in Reynoldsburg, studied at the culinary school in Hyde Park in New York City, worked at the Granville Inn and most recently was the chef at Pastaria at North Market in Columbus.
While Clara Valentino was at home with her newly born son, Leo, and 7-year-old daughter, Ellen, she called her father with the idea of operating a food truck.
“For about 10 years, we’d always talked about opening a restaurant, but the moment was never right,” Clara Valentino said.
“Now, things are oddly falling into place. Our business plan was approved, we got the loan with no problem and everyone has been so supportive of us.”
Within a week of that initial phone call, Rocco Valentino was on board and bringing her different menu ideas. Clara Valentino left her career in marketing at Thirty One Gifts to focus on the food truck.
“It was scary at first, but it’s one of those things where you don’t know until you try,” she said. “I’m pretty confident we’ll be OK. No other food truck is doing what we’re doing right now.”
The father and daughter duo invited 50 of their closest family and friends to a tasting survey where guests tried Buster Mac’s food and filled out a six-page survey, commenting on taste, presentation and value.
“Everyone loved the food and gave us really positive feedback,” Clara Valentino said.
“We didn’t have to make a lot of modifications to the menu,” she said. “It was fun to watch my dad be creative and make his own menu.”
The truck was bought in Indiana and actually used to be a restaurant supply truck.
A friend of Clara Valentino helped her with the exterior graphic design and a builder in Galloway, Ohio installed the kitchen equipment.
The truck was ready to go Oct. 5, just in time for their first event Oct. 9 at the Food Fort in downtown Columbus.
The name “Buster Mac’s” comes from a silly song Rocco Valentino used to sing to Clara when she was little.
“We were brainstorming names for the truck, like thinking of old streets we’d lived on, when I sang that little jingle and he was like ‘Shut up, that’s so perfect,’ ” Clara Valentino said.
The Valentinos are working hard to locally source all their ingredients. They get all their meats from A’mays’ing Meats in Johnstown. The meat has no hormones, no antibiotics and Rocco Valentino hand-patties all the burgers. Their cheeses come from Troyer Cheese in Millersburg, Ohio.
The Valentinos said the food truck community has welcomed them with open arms and they have even been asked to join the Central Ohio Food Truck Association.
“I was starstruck when they asked us,” Clara Valentino said. “I’m so amazed at how much input everyone has given us and how willing people are to help.”
When people visit Buster Mac’s, to beat the lines they can order their food online in advance and pick up their orders when they arrive at the truck.
So far, the Valentinos are booked through November and hope to participate in the Columbus Food Truck Festival next year and cater weddings in the future.
You can catch the Buster Mac’s food truck from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Thirty One Gifts, 3425 Morse Crossing, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Innovate New Albany, 8000 Walton Parkway.
To see Buster Mac’s full menu and where they will be, go to bustermacs.com; or call 614-585-3169.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/10/23/valentinos-perfecting-recipes-for-food-truck-success.html
election, johnstown, johnstownindependent, johnstownvillage, october, ThisWeek, ThisWeekNews
Village Council candidates offer opinions about issues
October 27, 2015 April 15, 2018 Debbie
Five candidates — Ryan Green, Ben Lee, Lewis Main, Russell Sparks and incumbent Councilwoman Cheryl Robertson — are running for three seats on the Johnstown Village Council.
Incumbent councilmen David Keck and Bob Orsini are not running. The general election is Nov. 3 and the council terms will start Jan. 1.
Here’s a brief look at the candidates:
Green, 27, originally from Pataskala, has lived in Johnstown for just two years, but he said he has lived in Licking County the majority of his life.
He said because he doesn’t have a lot of ties to Johnstown, he could bring a fresh perspective to the village.
“I would bring a solid work ethic and youthful exuberance to council,” Green said.
He said he has done a little bit of campaigning by going door-to-door and talking to neighbors.
Green said he has been asking people what they would like to see in Johnstown and is taking note of their answers.
“I’m learning a lot and gaining perspective,” he said. “I’m letting people get to know what I can do for them. Johnstown is great because we’re so local and people know each other.”
Green said he hopes to bring more businesses to Johnstown so people have more things to do and more amenities in the village.
“We have a lot of people moving to town right now and I want us to have an era of growth,” he said. “I want to place the framework and set things in place so people can bring businesses to town.”
Green has a degree in political science from Ohio State University and works in sales at Scott’s Miracle Grow in Gahanna.
Lee, 31, said his No. 1 concern was the village’s fiscal security for the future.
“I want to understand how the money is being spent and if there’s smarter ways of using the money,” he said. “I want to make sure the Johnstown experience is the same for my daughter as it was for me.”
If elected, he said he would work with the finance director to dig through finances on a minute level and make sure the public is informed.
“We’re all in the village together so I want to do what I can to increase visibility and interact more with the community,” he said. “I enjoy hearing what I can do to help others.”
Concerning growth of the village, he used the phrase “progress with preservation” and cited examples of new businesses such as The Crafty Garden and All Things Old filling vacant spots downtown.
Lee graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in public affairs journalism and is the Distribution Center Operations Manager at L Brands.
He hopes to continue the school liaison committee and keep the dialogue open between the Johnstown-Monroe school board and Village Council.
Lee said his passion for small town sets him apart from other candidates.
“I want to see the village succeed and for us to become a destination location,” he said.
He has spent 21 years in the village with his wife and his two daughters, ages 5 and 2.
Unlike other candidates, Main, 71, has served more than 15 years on the council and Village Planning and Zoning Commission.
Main said the most important issue the village faces is handling finances.
“We aren’t underwater, but it is getting harder to breathe,” Main said in an email.
“Council set a budget and approved appropriations last year and have increased the approved spending seven times so far this year,” he said.
“We keep seeing the additional authorization to spend, but no reductions in spending.”
He suggested selling the village’s surplus water and sewer capacities to reduce costs.
Main noted the village needs to start preparing to become a city in 2020 and re-evaluating its charter in 2018.
Main was employed by Western Electric, AT&T and Lucent Technology in a variety of accounting and supervisory positions. He retired after 32 years of service.
Another one of his priorities is keeping the small town warmth and friendly atmosphere with a trained police force that provides a safe environment to live and raise a family.
If elected, Main said he hopes to increase communications from the council to the community and encourage feedback from businesses and residents.
He has worked for more than 30 years in private industry in accounting, auditing and supervision and an additional 10 years with the Ohio Department of Development.
Incumbent Cheryl Robertson, 59, has lived in Johnstown for 34 years and previously was employed with Johnson & Johnson in sales and management managing multi-million dollar budgets for 27 years.
Now, she manages her family farms in Sandusky County.
Robertson said one of the most important issues currently facing the village of Johnstown is managing the village’s budget with limited resources as the village grows.
“We need to seek economic development opportunities,” she said. “We must retain our existing business base while recruiting new businesses.
“This would bring in additional revenue to the village without undue burden to our residents.”
She explained the importance of managing the anticipated growth of the village.
“The wonderful new schools will draw new residents to Johnstown, increasing residential development,” Robertson said.
“In turn, this creates more monetary demands on the village, such as street maintenance and police protection,” she said.
Robertson has served on the Johnstown Economic Development Commission and if re-elected, she said she wants to continue to focus on economic development opportunities for the village, to help provide jobs to residents and financial stability to the village.
“I take this responsibility seriously, as local government has a direct impact on our daily lives, Robertson said. “I look forward to continuing my service on the Johnstown Village Council.”
Robertson has a bachelor’s degree in business administration in marketing from Bowling Green State University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Franklin University.
Recently, Sparks and his family have been enjoying supporting The Big Red Band, Johnnies football, Johnstown Youth Athletic Association Football, and camping with the Boy Scouts.
Sparks, his wife have lived in Johnstown for more than 22 years. They have three sons — Ryan, Reece and Rylee.
He said his most successful and meaningful campaign strategy is just talking to people when he is around town, at the grocery store, the football game or the gas station.
“I engage in conversation that allows me to hear the needs and concerns of my fellow community members in an environment that is comfortable to them,” he said in an email.
“My goal is to bring our police protection back up to where it was 10 years ago,” he said.
“We have several police officers that have not had a raise,” he said.
“Also, I keep hearing complaints about the current trash service provider,” Sparks said.
“I know the contract is up at the end of this year and would like to be involved with the selection of a new provider.”
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/johnstown/news/2015/10/23/village-council-candidates-offer-opinions-about-issues.html
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line399
|
__label__wiki
| 0.608146
| 0.608146
|
Dorm Room Hoops
ACC, SEC
Instant Analysis: Paige leads Tar Heels to Sweet 16
March 21, 2015 Kyle Blevens Leave a comment
For more than 30 minutes of Saturday’s game between No. 4 North Carolina and No. 5 Arkansas, it looked like it could come down to a buzzer beater. It took a gutsy effort by UNC to make it to the Sweet 16, advancing with an 87-78 win.
The first half of this game may have been the fastest paced game of the entire tournament. Neither team held the ball deep into the shot clock as there was a combined 30 shots in the first 8 minutes. Both teams seemed careless with the ball at times and fast breaks were one after another. Arkansas would lead by 6 early, but they could not hold it. The second half would slow down a bit as it took a little over 14 minutes to reach 30 shots. Malcolm Qualls for Arkansas led all players in this one with 27 points. He was able to complete a 4-point play in the second half that made it a one-point game. Bobby Portis struggled in the first half, but started to hit some shots in the second half. It was just not enough for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas had just taken the lead after a huge 3-pointer that put the Razorbacks up 59-58. Sparked by an and-1 by Marcus Paige, the Tar Heels put on a run that the Razorbacks could never come back from. Paige followed the and-1 with two 3-pointers that would stretch the lead to 10. Two more free throws from Paige would put the lead all the way up to 75-63. It did not bode well for Arkansas that it was held without a field goal for 6 minutes while Paige was heating up. The Tar Heels were able to repeatedly get to the charity stripe and take advantage of what Arkansas was giving them. Up until this point the game could have gone wither way, but then North Carolina took the game by the reigns.
Impact Player
Paige, the Tar Heels’ leader, was able to step up when it mattered. He single-handedly went on a 11-2 run in a three-minute span as the Tar Heels were able to stretch the lead to double digits with a little over 7 minutes to go. After a disappointing first half of the game, the junior guard stepped up and scored all but two of his points in the second half. He went to the locker room hitting just one of his eight shots, but finished with hitting four of his six shots in the second half. He also was perfect from the free throw line, sinking all nine of his attempts
The spark provided by Paige gave the Tar Heels the biggest edge of the game as both teams had exchanged the lead 11 times up to that point. He finished with 22 points and 5 steals.
Strange, Yet True
The last time the Razorbacks were in the tournament in 2008, the Tar Heels knocked them out.
Record Tied
With the victory, Roy Williams tied Dean Smith for most all-time wins in the tournament with 65. He will look to take sole possession of second place on Thursday. Williams only trails Coach K who currently has 82 tournament wins.
North Carolina will face the winner of the Wisconsin-Oregon game played tomorrow on Thursday in the Sweet 16.
Arkansas’ season comes to an end with a 27-9 record.
ArkansasBobby PortisMalcolm QuallsMarcus PaigeNorth CarolinaRoy WilliamsUNC
Previous PostInstant Analysis: No. 2 Arizona moves onNext PostPreview: No. 7 Michigan St. vs. No. 2 Virginia
We Tweet
We Like Pictures
Because we know you're not studying.
Mid-Majors
Pregame Shows
Header photo by Abhishek Chandra on Unsplash
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line412
|
__label__cc
| 0.548815
| 0.451185
|
The Most Overrated Players in MLB in 2016 at Each Position (Giuseppe)
This is a team of players that did not live up to their expectations in the 2016 season.
This is a time of professional athletes (especially baseball players) getting paid massive amounts of money. Superstars like Mike Trout and Kris Bryant are getting paid huge amounts of cash every year and even less talented players are getting paid absurd amounts. MLB teams are richer than ever and spend absurd amounts on less talented players in hope of receiving a ring at the end of the season. I have decided to put together a team of players that either were great but are now average or players that just flat-out are not worth what they are making. So why don’t we get started?
Left-handed Starting Pitcher: David Price
To be fair, David Price will never live up to the $217 Million deal he signed before the 2016 season began. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, he did not meet their expectations by posting a 3.99 ERA, allowing 102 ER, while allowing the most hits of any MLB pitcher. These numbers are especially depressing because he is the highest paid player in the American League.
Right-handed Starting Pitcher: Felix Hernandez
“King” Felix Hernandez was one of if not the best MLB pitcher from 2009-2010, but is now just an average pitcher. During that period of time, he won a Cy Young award, appeared in 2 All-Star games, and established himself as a superstar. In 2015 he hurled the first perfect game in Seattle Mariners history, but since then has been quiet.
In 2016 he posted a 3.82 ERA, an 11-8 win-loss record, and allowing 65 earned runs in 25 appearances. He is clearly not a superstar anymore and should no longer be referred to or thought of as one.
Relief Pitcher: Craig Kimbrel
Once one of the most dominating and intimidating closers is now just an average closer and these numbers prove it.
Year ERA FIP WHIP BB/9 K/BB
2012 1.01 0.78 0.65 2.0 8.29
2013 1.21 1.93 0.88 2.7 4.9
* Numbers from the article: The Most Overrated Players in MLB in 2016 at Each Position
This is definitely not the Craig Kimbrel we know considering that he went with a 1.01 ERA in 2011 with a 3.40 ERA in 2016. Also, his walks per nine innings have gone from 2.0 in 2011 to 5.1 in 2016. Along with a WIP that went from .65 to 1.09. His velocity has diminished and September of 2016 was easily the slowest month of his career. With numbers like these, it is hard to believe that his reputation has not diminished by now.
Catcher: Salvador Perez
Salvador Perez is an excellent catcher and a great person. He is a great receiver of pitches and is one of the best in baseball at throwing out opposing base runners. Some say he has good power because he hit 22 home runs in 2016 but keep in mind that 88 players hit that many or more home runs which makes it that much less impressive. To add to his mediocre hitting his .288 on-base percentage was 143rd among 146 qualifiers. Not that impressive huh? So is he a great defensive player? Yes! Should he get all the praise he is getting? No!
First Baseman: Eric Hosmer
2015 was Eric Hosmer’s career year and he became very well-known in 2014-2015 in the baseball world for his contributions to the Kansas City Royals during their World Series run in 2014 and victory in 2015. Despite having an excellent two years and a career year in 2015 he still gets way more praise than he should get.
Hosmer hit .266/.328/.433 with 25 home runs which are OK but first base is a position with many home run hitters and twelve first baseman hit more home runs than him. Along with going through a long slump in the second half of the season, Hosmer is also a very shoddy defensive first baseman.
Second Baseman: Brandon Phillips
Brandon Phillips hit .291 with 34 doubles, 11 homers, 64 RBI and 14 steals. It looks pretty good, but if you include that he only had 18 walks and a .320 OBP (below league average) it is not as impressive for a 35-year-old.
Here is Phillips compared to other second basemen offensively:
Hits: 13th
Doubles: 9th
Home runs: 26th
RBI: 15th
Runs: 16th
*Chart from the article: MLB Hot Stove: Brandon Phillips more open to trade, but his value is diminished.
Phillips is still a decent defensive player but should no longer be considered a superstar.
Third Baseman: Todd Frazier
Yes, I know what you are thinking, 40 home runs. The problem is, he can’t do anything else anymore. He only hit 21 doubles and he struck out 163 times in 590 at-bats. Along with a depressing slash line of .224/.293/.441, he dipped below average in defensive runs saved. I guess what I am trying to say is that winning the home run derby then hitting 40 home runs in a season does not make you a superstar.
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki
I think it is safe to say that Troy Tulowitzki is no longer the superstar he once was. Last season he only hit .254 with a .318 on-base percentage with 24 home runs. 24 home runs are good for a shortstop but we have already established that 24 home runs are no longer that impressive. He is still an above-average defender but is not the superstar everyone seems to still think he is.
Right-Fielder: Giancarlo Stanton
Everyone knows that Stanton has the best raw power in baseball and it is also clear he is not deserving of the biggest contract in MLB history.
When Giancarlo Stanton connects with a pitch it is a beautiful sight to see. We saw a lot of those connections in the Home Run Derby when he not only won the contest, but he broke the record for long balls in a derby by 20. There is just one problem: In 7 years of playing Stanton has only played in over 125 games twice being very injury prone. If he can’t stay on the field what value does he have to the Marlins? He has never had a batting average over .300 and he has never hit more than 40 homers in a season. I sure wouldn’t want a player on my ball club that hits 30 home runs then is injured for the rest of the season. Also, he only had a .240 batting average with a .489 slugging percentage and only played in 119 games in 2016. He is still an offensive force to be reckoned with but if he cannot stay healthy, he just isn’t as good as we think he is.
Center-Fielder: Jacoby Ellsbury
Jacoby Ellsbury is a good defender and a fast baserunner, but he only had one season with an OPS above .800. The Yankees decided that didn’t matter and using their George Steinbrenner-like spending habits they signed Ellsbury to a 7 year $153 million deal. Since becoming a Yankee, Ellsbury has hit 32 home runs in 408 games with an average OPS of .705. Aside from 2011 when he pounded 32 home runs and 105 RBI, he has been one of the most overrated players in baseball.
If you thought Mike Trout for even an instant then please get it together!
Left-Fielder: Justin Upton
When Justin Upton signed a 6 year $132.75 million deal it had baseball fans singing…Y’all gon’ make me lose my mind, Upton here, Upton here.
With a .246 BA,.310 OBP, 173 strikeouts, and a .775 OPS, Upton showed that he was not worth what the Tigers are paying him. Also, he is not a fast baserunner with a mere 9 stolen bases in 2016. To add-on to his 1.4 WAR, Upton is also a poor defensive player with a -12.4 Def. according to Fangraphs. Unless he bounces back and is an above average Left-fielder for the next five years on his contract, the Tigers will be getting a lot less than what they bargained for.
This was a painful list to make because I am a fan of and respect (almost) all of these players. The only reason they are on this list is because they are paid way more than what they are worth, or are still considered a superstar and are clearly not one. This would be a cool team to watch play on the field but it probably wouldn’t be as good as we think it would be.
December 18, 2016 December 31, 2016 baseball, Brandon Phillips, Craig Kimbrel, David Price, Eric Hosmer, Felix Hernandez, Giancarlo Stanton, Jacoby Ellsbury, Josh Hamilton, MLB, Most Overrated Players in MLB, Overrated, Overrated MLB Players, Salvador Perez, The Most Overrated Players in MLB in 2016 at Each Position, Todd Frazier, Troy Tulowitzki
3 thoughts on “The Most Overrated Players in MLB in 2016 at Each Position (Giuseppe)”
Pingback: The Most Underrated Players in MLB in 2016 at Each Position (Giuseppe) – doubledaydoubletalk
Interesting analysis.
TheBaseballGuru17 says:
Thank you! If you would like to see more then check out my newest article which lists the most underrated players in the MLB in 2016.
Previous Previous post: Bud Selig in the Hall of Fame Exposes Double Standard (Daryll)
Next Next post: The Most Underrated Players in MLB in 2016 at Each Position (Giuseppe)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line413
|
__label__wiki
| 0.61406
| 0.61406
|
The Kitimat and Prince Rupert Airshed studies
Modelling scenario-based cumulative effects of emissions from proposed industrial development in Northwest BC for a government regulator.
Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada; N 54.0494°, W 128.6284°
BC Ministry of Environment
Carol Murray, David Marmorek, Patricia de la Cueva Bueno, and collaborators at Trinity Consultants, Risk Sciences International, and Trent University
EA/CEA
Facilitation & Stakeholder Engagement, Ecological Modelling, Statistical Design & Analysis
The BC Ministry of Environment commissioned two scenario-based cumulative effects studies of air emissions from existing and proposed industrial development to inform facility-specific decisions and regional air quality management.
The Kitimat and Prince Rupert airshed studies modelled a range of future emission scenarios and provided the government regulator with science-based information to support the permitting of industrial development while avoiding unacceptable impacts on human health and the environment.
The town of Kitimat straddling the Kitimat River, just upstream of the Kitimat LNG facility.
Northwest British Columbia: Potential implications of rapid industrial growth for regional air quality
In 2013, a sparsely populated and relatively undeveloped area of Northwest British Columbia was slated for rapid industrial growth which raised questions about how this would change regional air quality over the next decade. Numerous liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities were proposed for the coastal areas of Kitimat, and Prince Rupert, in addition to already existing sources of industrial emissions.
A map of the region around Kitimat and Prince Rupert, showing numerous LNG facilities and the ports and anchorages affiliated with LNG transport.
The uncertainty focused on the potential effects of emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulates (PM2.5) on human health and the environment.
The government wanted to understand and compare potential risks under different scenarios representing a range of emission sources and emissions treatments, and have science-based information to inform decisions about future industrial development and avoid unacceptable impacts on human health and the environment.
The BC Ministry of Environment (MOE) contracted us to conduct a rapid scoping-level assessment of the potential combined effects of SO2, NO2 and PM2.5 emissions on human health, vegetation, terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems in the Kitimat and Prince Rupert airsheds.
Bringing experts together to answer complex questions
For a relatively small company, we have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience, as well as a collection of expert associates and collaborators. For these studies we built a multidisciplinary team that included Trinity Consultants, Risk Sciences International, Dr. John Laurence and Trent University, all qualified professionals with expertise in the fields of air dispersion and deposition modelling, human health risk assessment, terrestrial plant pathology, and acidification and eutrophication of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
An example of a predicted Sulphur deposition map under just one of many future modelled air dispersion scenarios carried out for the airshed study.
Applying rigorous science and powerful tools
Given the numerous industrial facilities proposed in the Kitimat and Prince Rupert airsheds, there were many possible combinations of emission sources and emission treatments that could be modeled. We narrowed the selection down to eight future scenarios for the Kitimat Airshed study and seven for the Prince Rupert Airshed study. These represented a range of emission source and treatment combinations, bookended by the highest and lowest emission scenarios.
The study approach had many dimensions. Our team used the CALPUFF model used to predict future atmospheric dispersion SO2, NO2 and PM2.5 emissions, and future deposition of sulphur and nitrogen in the region, for each scenario. We compared predicted atmospheric concentrations of these pollutants to evidence-based thresholds in the literature to assess potential impacts on human health and terrestrial vegetation.
We used a suite of models to assess the potential for future predicted deposition to exceed critical loads of sulphur and nitrogen in soils and water, to assess potential impacts on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Clearly communicating science for decision-making
The results had to be clearly understood by decision-makers and the public. The challenge was to find a method that would be applicable for all of the different receptors and assessment methods used in these studies.
We created colour-coded risk categories that were used to convey the results for all four receptors. While the meaning of these categories for the environmental receptors was different than for the health receptors given the nature of the respective analyses, these colour categories provided a simple and effective way of communicating the relative results for all receptors across all of the scenarios.
The end result of the two scenario-based cumulative effects studies was a screening level assessment of the range of risks associated with emissions of SO2, NO2 and PM2.5 from proposed industrial development in Northwest BC. Our analyses gave the BC Ministry of Environment objective, robust science-based information to support the management of emissions in the Kitimat and Prince Rupert airsheds.
Project Reports & Other Solutions
Prince Rupert Airshed Study Report Summary
Kitimat Airshed Assessment
Journal paper in Atmospheric Environment: Williston, P., Aherne, J., Watmough, S., Marmorek, D., Hall, A., de la Cueva Bueno, P., Murray, C., Henolson, A., & Laurence, J. A. (2016). Critical levels and loads and the regulation of industrial emissions in northwest British Columbia, Canada. Atmospheric Environment, 146, 311-323. Download Document.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line420
|
__label__cc
| 0.552487
| 0.447513
|
Regulating Mental Health: Humanitarian Reason and the Structuring of Research and Service-Design
Research and expertise event Wednesday 2 March 2016
Date: Wednesday 2 March 2016, 17:00 – 18:00
Location: Liberty Building SR (G.33)
Download: Outlook, iCal
This seminar will discuss the forms of humanitarian reason that (are claimed to) structure two case studies, and consider the ensuing regulatory effects.
Dr Martyn Pickersgill, Edinburgh Medical School, martyn.pickersgill@ed.ac.uk
Mental health is an area that has commanded some attention by lawyers and socio-legal scholars in recent years, not least as a consequence of the controversial reforms to the 1983 Mental Health Act of England and Wales. Certainly, black-letter law has wide-ranging impacts on the delivery of interventions (around consent, capacity, coercion, and so on). We can also discern a number of regulatory effects produced through processes of service innovation, especially with regards to psychological therapy across the UK. Further, new international developments in how psychiatric disorders are researched – and, hence, what they are taken to be – have implications for the future of services. In turn, there are ramifications for the legitimacy, authority and assumed expertise of treatment providers, as well as the operation of legal tools such as the Mental Health Act. In this talk, I will reflect on such issues, drawing from interview data concerning two Wellcome Trust-funded projects: the first, an analysis of the social dimensions of initiatives to enhance access to psychological therapy in England and Scotland; the second, a new project interrogating innovation in psychiatric diagnosis across the US and the UK. I will discuss the forms of humanitarian reason that (are claimed to) structure both of the cases I explore, and consider the ensuing regulatory effects on service structures, staff and users in terms of their practices and emotions.
Martyn Pickersgill is Wellcome Trust Reader in the Social Studies of Biomedicine, based in Edinburgh Medical School. He is particularly interested in the sociologies of neuroscience and mental health. Martyn has been a principal or co-investigator on grants from AHRC, ESRC, Leverhulme Trust and Wellcome Trust, and received fellowships from the Newby and Wellcome Trusts. He is a member of the BBSRC Bioscience for Society Strategy Panel, the ALLEA Science Ethics Working Group, and various journal Editorial Boards. In 2015, he became the recipient of a 5 year Wellcome Trust University Award, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh Henry Duncan Medal for Social Science.
See all Research and expertise events
‘Macromedical’ Regulation
Research and expertise - Wednesday 24 February 2021
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line421
|
__label__cc
| 0.70194
| 0.29806
|
Obamacare's "People Will Die" Canard
This argument is premised on an easily-recognized logical fallacy.
Charles Blahous
Politics Health Care Obamacare Insurance
Passions are high in the national health care debate. Some supporters of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have taken to asserting that hundreds of thousands of “people will die” if it is repealed or significantly altered. These claims do not withstand scrutiny, and those who wish their policy arguments to be taken seriously would be well advised to avoid them.
These sensational claims rest on fallacious reasoning, which I’ll describe later in this piece. But first let’s acknowledge that neither I, you, nor anyone else has any idea how many Americans will live or die under alternative federal health care policies. It’s an inherently fruitless exercise to attempt to quantify these effects. However, if one seriously wished to attempt it, one would not do so via the methods now being employed to promulgate the “people will die” claim.
Effects of the ACA
The claims are based on extolling a single effect of the ACA: increasing health insurance coverage, which is said to reduce mortality. Of course, the ACA didn’t magically produce its coverage increase out of thin air. To finance it, the law included several features that likely have countervailing effects on mortality.
Below is a partial list of such effects, provided with the caveat that it would be just as silly to charge the ACA with killing people as it is to attribute deaths to its possible repeal:
CBO found the ACA to reduce economic growth, meaning that as a nation we are collectively poorer because the ACA is on the books. Longevity correlates with income, as lower-income people have shorter lives. Repeal would increase national wealth, which correlates with greater longevity.
CBO also found the ACA to reduce workforce participation. Although there is a fierce national debate over the effects and causes of unemployment, there is broad understanding that unemployment correlates with worsened health.
The ACA imposed substantial taxes on medical devices and drugs, inhibiting their development and use. We do not know how many lives these products would otherwise have saved.
Most of the ACA’s coverage expansion occurred through Medicaid, which has a limited supply of providers and services. Those who gained Medicaid coverage via the ACA gained access to subsidized health services. But unless the number of providers, facilities and services accessible through Medicaid grew at least as fast as enrollment did, there has been a corresponding reduction in health service availability to people previously on Medicaid.
The study is credible and interesting but it does not offer any proofs of the effects of national health policy on longevity.
But even a balanced attempt to weigh the ACA’s net effects on longevity would be inherently problematic under the methods currently being employed to estimate them.
The widely-circulated figures for deaths supposedly caused by replacing the ACA are extrapolated from a study of the Massachusetts health reform experience. That study found that post-reform (2007-10) mortality rates in Massachusetts improved relative to pre-reform (2001-05) mortality rates more than was the case in other US counties after controlling for demographic and economic conditions.
The study is credible, interesting, and suggestive, but does not offer any generalizable proofs of the effects of national health policy on longevity. To the contrary, the authors state that “Massachusetts results may not generalize to other states.”
The study merely shows that longevity improved within Massachusetts after health legislation, more than can be accounted for by economic and demographic trends. This indeed might plausibly have happened because of Massachusetts’s particular health reforms but as the authors acknowledge, it could also have arisen from any of countless factors specific to Massachusetts.
The biggest problem with the “people will die” claim is that it rests on a fundamental logical fallacy.
Indeed, a similar study of Oregon’s experience with Medicaid expansion “did not detect clinical improvements other than depression reduction.” In any case, the Massachusetts study only tells us what didn’t cause its longevity improvement; it cannot definitively explain what did.
Killing Your Credibility
But the biggest problem with the “people will die” claim is that it rests on a fundamental logical fallacy. It is related to the familiar “Fallacy of Composition,” which any discerning interlocutor will call you on if you commit it. An oft-cited example of the fallacy is that just because a standing spectator can see a baseball game better than the patrons seated near him, this doesn’t imply that everyone will see better if they all stand up.
The application of the fallacy to health insurance is straightforward. One cannot leap solely from the observation that “having health insurance. . . results in better health” to the conclusion that “the more we expand health insurance, the healthier we all will be.”
Health insurance reduces the out-of-pocket costs individuals face when they buy health services. Expanded insurance coverage increases health service consumption which, considered by itself, should improve health. But it also increases cost growth, an effect widely recognized in health expenditure forecasting. People with insurance feel this cost growth through rising premiums, but the cost inflation is felt especially keenly by the uninsured, who must pay more whenever they buy health services (or receive less care for what they pay). The observation that the insured are relatively healthier doesn’t by itself imply that expanding coverage will save lives.
Thus, even if health insurance did absolutely nothing to improve national health outcomes, we’d still expect the insured to be healthier than the uninsured. Thus, the observation that the insured are relatively healthier doesn’t by itself imply that expanding coverage will save lives.
There are countless potential examples of the fallacy in operation. For example, consider the current tax preference for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). Those who receive health insurance through their employer enjoy an advantage in these benefits’ exemption from taxation. This tax preference steers additional health benefits to these individuals. However, this does not mean improved health for the nation as a whole. To the contrary, the ESI tax preference is widely recognized as a driver of health market inefficiency, reducing the value of health services relative to dollars spent.
An even simpler example: the government could easily add to the wealth of ten individuals by sending them each a million-dollar check. It is a non-sequitur to infer from this that the national wealth would be increased by the government’s sending a million-dollar check to every American.
In short, the “people will die” argument is premised on an easily-recognized logical fallacy. Don’t use it if you want to convince others to adopt your health care policy views. If you do, the only thing certain to die will be your credibility.
Reprinted from Economics 21.
Check out this hilarious video, parodying the "people will die" argument.
Charles Blahous is a senior research fellow for the Mercatus Center, a research fellow for the Hoover Institution, a public trustee for Social Security and Medicare, and a contributor to e21.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line424
|
__label__wiki
| 0.802297
| 0.802297
|
Mary Sennholz
Mary Sennholz (1913-2017)
Mrs. Sennholz graduated from the Altoona School of Commerce in 1932. She worked as executive secretary and court reporter for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. A few days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, she was offered a position in Washington, D.C., in the executive office of the President, where she managed a pool of secretaries, working with U.S. senators, congressmen, and high officials in the government. She served under two presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
Soon after the war, she joined Adlai Stevenson’s committee of American officials in London, England, preparing a way for a new world organization, the United Nations. She resigned her government position in 1947 and joined a “think tank,” the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. From that day forward, she was a staunch believer in freedom and free markets.
She studied piano and organ with the best teachers she could find in Washington and New York. In Washington, she played in many services conducted by the famous evangelist Peter Marshall at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. She attended George Washington University in Washington, and Fordham University and New York University in New York City, where she met her husband, Hans Sennholz.
The couple moved to Grove City, Pennsylvania, when her husband accepted a professorship at Grove City College.
In Grove City, Mrs. Sennholz served as organist and choir director of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for seven years. Soon after resigning as church organist, she became organist for Grove City College, continuing for two years.
Mrs. Sennholz belonged to most of the women’s clubs in Grove City and has served them in various capacities.
She published four books: On Freedom and Free Enterprise (1956, 1994), Faith and Freedom: A Biographical Sketch of a Great American, J. Howard Pew (1975), Leonard Read: Philosopher of Freedom (1993), and Faith of Our Fathers (1997).
She has a son, Robert; daughter-in-law, Lyn; and two grandsons, Roland and Emil Sennholz. She helped to homeschool her two grandsons, teaching grammar, composition, and piano.
Soon after the war, she joined Adlai Stevenson’s committee of American officials in London, England, preparing a way for a new world organization, the United Nations. She resigned her government position in 1947 and joined a “think tank,” the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. From that day forw... Read more
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line425
|
__label__wiki
| 0.920803
| 0.920803
|
Afghanistan Attacks
by EMTV Online 30/12/2015 186
by Lorraine Gabina – EM TV World News, Port Moresby
A ceremony was held for one of the troops killed in an attack in Afghanistan last week. Joseph Lemm, a 15-year veteran of the NYPD who also volunteered in the U.S. Air National Guard, and five other Americans were killed in Afghanistan near Bagram air base on December 21 when a suicide bomber on a motorbike struck their patrol. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. forces this year.
New York Police Detective, Joseph Lemm’s body was returned to the United States on Monday December 28th, 2015. Lemm was on his third deployment to war zones when he was killed, having been deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
Lemm was killed, along with 5 other Americans; including first openly-gay servicewoman killed in action, Air Force Major Adrianna Vorderbruggen. Also killed in the attack, Sergeant Louis Bonacasa, who was serving with Lemm and three others, were all U.S. Air Force staff sergeants who served with Vorderbruggen in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=6T1vQuSXshQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
Wildfires rage across northern Spain after unusual dry spell
Atiyafa on limited rural police presence concern
Powes Parkop on independence celebrations
Trump says will quit Pacific trade deal on day one of presidency
Reuters 22/11/2016 12/02/2018
Final ‘Game of Thrones’ season to air in first half of 2019
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line431
|
__label__cc
| 0.501964
| 0.498036
|
How to Bet the Prince of Wales's Stakes
Hawkbill winning the Dubai Sheema Classic - Coady Photography
J. Keeler Johnson
In handicapping Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Eng-I) on the second day of , the key question to consider is simple—is #2 Cracksman vulnerable to an upset?
Trained by , the brilliant son of Frankel has won his last five starts—all at the Group 1 or Group 2 level—with varying degrees of authority. In fact, he reached the pinnacle of his career with a tremendous seven-length win in the QIPCO Champion Stakes (Eng-I) last October over the same ten-furlong course and distance as the Prince of Wales’s, earning a massive 131 Racing Post Rating in the process.
Cracksman kicked off his 2018 campaign with an easy win in the Prix Ganay (Fr-I) at Longchamp, but seemed something less than his unbeatable self when rallying to win the Coronation Cup (Eng-I) at Epsom earlier last month by a desperate head.
There’s no doubt that Cracksman ran below his best form at Epsom, though perhaps this shouldn’t be viewed as a surprise since Cracksman was beaten in the Derby at Epsom last year and was all out to win the Derby Trial over the same course, hinting that perhaps he doesn’t care for the tricky conditions at Epsom.
If this is indeed the case, then Cracksman should prove difficult or impossible to beat while returning to Ascot for the Prince of Wales’s, and since he’ll be a heavy favorite in the wagering, we won’t get too creative with our bets, instead keying Cracksman on top while attempting to identify the most likely runners to round out the trifecta.
The second choice in the wagering is the accomplished #6 Poet’s Word, distant runner-up behind Cracksman in the Champion Stakes. He signaled that he’s still in good form by scoring a comfortable win in the ten-furlong Brigadier Gerard Stakes (Eng-III) last month at Sandown, but you can make a case that #5 Hawkbill might be the superior runner at a better price. The son of Kitten’s Joy defeated Poet’s Word by three lengths in the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I) in March, and while he was no match for Cracksman in the Coronation Cup, but he got worked up before the start and simply didn’t fire after that, so it’s not hard to draw a line through that effort and expect him to rebound at Royal Ascot.
It’s also worth noting that Hawkbill won the Tercentenary Stakes (Eng-III) over this course and distance in 2016 and followed up with a win in the ten-furlong Eclipse Stakes (Eng-I) at Sandown, so although Hawkbill hasn’t run this short in a while, he does have excellent back class going ten furlongs.
Let’s also include #1 Cliffs Of Moher, runner-up in the Derby last year and a Group 2 winner this season for trainer Aidan O’Brien:
$10 trifecta: 2 with 5 with 1,6 ($20) $5 trifecta: 2 with 6 with 1,5 ($10)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line435
|
__label__cc
| 0.685557
| 0.314443
|
Cultural globalization
Cultural Globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values across national borders. This process is marked by the spread of commodities and ideologies, which become standardized around the world. Mass consumption serves as a facilitator between different people and cultures around the globe as a result of the exponential growth of the human population. Through technological advancement, culture has been moving beyond borders and boundaries, transforming through locations the shared meanings of culture. Through the process of sharing the ideas and values of one culture to another ultimately leads to an interconnectedness between various populations from diverse cultures.[1]
Cultural Implications
According to Inda and Rosaldo, globalization refers to the intensification of connections within the global, regional, and local level. These aspects of social life contain multidimensional processes that are quite complex. To better understand the complexity of culture, Stuart Hall defines it as the process of sharing meanings in society. [2] Culture used to be confined to local regions in premodern society, but technological advances now allow us to tear down the barriers of time and space. Today in modern society cultures move freely from the most remote areas in the world to the biggest cities. Acculturation or the mixing of cultures in modern society is commonly seen in many countries from the West. The domination of a culture over another can be referred to as [colonial imperialism]; which greatly impacts our understanding of globalization. Cultural globalization thus modifies the meaning given to a representation by a particular culture, and gives it the dominant cultures' own meaning.
Perspectives on Globalization
Jan Nederveen Pieterse ( 2004) believes that globalization should be viewed as a long term historical process.[3] He conceived globalization as a human integration and hybridization, arguing that it is possible to detect cultural mixing across continents and regions back many centuries. These ideas refer to the movement of religious practices, language and culture brought by Spanish colonization of the Americas. This however contrast with many economist and sociologist, who trace the origins of globalization to capitalism as well as modernity, which have been facilitated through technological advances.
One of the dominant perspectives of globalization, asserts that this is a process of the transfiguration of worldwide diversity into a pandemic westernized consumer culture. [4] Many critics argue that through the dominance of American culture influencing the entire world, this will ultimately result in the end of cultural diversity. This has been associated with the destruction of cultural identities, dominated by a homogenized and westernized, consumer culture. The global influence of American products, businesses and culture upon other countries around the world has been referred to as Americanization. This influence is represented through that of American-based Television programs which are rebroadcast throughout the world. Major American companies such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola have played a major role in the in the spread of American culture across the globe. Terms such as Cocacolonization have been coined to refer to the dominance of American products in foreign countries, which some critics of globalization view as a threat to the cultural identity of such foreign nations. Another perspective, regards globalization as a process of hybridization on which cultural mixture and adaptation continuously transform and renew cultural forms[5]. As anthropologist Roy Wagner [6]. has argued; cultures are continually changing and being recreated as part of an ongoing process. In particular cultures are being informed through various internal pressures and influences. However culture is also shaped by external forces, thus indicating that this is not a homogenous discrete and bounded entities; rather cultures overlap as well as draw from other traditions.
^ Inda & Rosaldo; Jonathan, Renato."The Anthropology of Globalization." Wiley-Blackwell.(2002).Introduction: A World in Motion
^ Stuart Hall. "Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices." Sage Publications & Open University.(1997)
^ Jan N. Pieterse. "Globalization and Culture." Rowman & Littlefield. (2003).
^ Kraidy, Marwan. Hybridity, or the cultural logic of globalization. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2005. 1-23. .
^ Hopper, Paul. Understanding cultural globalization. Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2007. 1-223.
Sociocultural evolution
Cultural geography
German nationalism in Austria
Cultural Géminis
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line437
|
__label__wiki
| 0.92395
| 0.92395
|
Russia, China, Kazakhstan Hesitate To Assess Kyrgyzstan’s ‘Political Experiment’
Protesters gather during an October 7, 2020 rally on Bishkek's central square of Ala-Too and demand the impeachment of Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
As protesters returned to the streets in Kyrgyzstan on October 7, regional players Russia, Kazakhstan, and China found themselves scrambling for answers to the question of who now rules this democratic Central Asian country. Meanwhile, in Belarus, where protesters for nearly two months have been campaigning unsuccessfully for fresh presidential elections, some view Kyrgyzstan as an example to consider.
Most outside observers, however, appear to be waiting for the political situation to settle.
After one group of parliamentary deputies on October 6 recognized a new prime minister, opposition politician Sadyr Japarov, and a Coordination Council of opposition parties named a new interior minister and security affairs chief, rival opposition members on October 7 sprang into action with their own council and nominee for prime minister as well as protests for “new” leadership. They declared they would not recognize Japarov’s government.
Kyrgyzstan now contains at least six such Coordinating Councils, according to Ordo (The Horde) party leader Mirbek Miyarov, a member of the new People’s Coordination Council, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
Amidst the chaos, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, whose impeachment protesters now demand, urged the different groups on October 7 “to return to the field of law.”
Following the country’s October 4 parliamentary elections, protesters on the night of October 5-October 6 took over the building that contains Kyrgyzstan’s presidential administration, government cabinet, and parliament, prompting the Central Election Commission to annul the preliminary vote results. President Jeenbekov's exact whereabouts in the capital, Bishkek, are unclear.
Kyrgyzstan’s Election Uprising: Don’t Call It A Revolution … Yet, Analysts Say
It took Russia, which maintains a large air base in the country and holds hundreds of millions of dollars in direct investment there, more than a day to respond.
“We’re in contact with all the participants, with all the sides of this conflict,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an October 7 interview on the state-run Rossia-24 TV channel to mark his birthday. He did not specify the identities of those “participants.”
Expressing an interest in a “peaceful” resolution of the crisis, Putin added that “after the normalization of the domestic political situation, we’ll continue the realization of all our plans with Kyrgyzstan,” particularly those related to the two countries’ joint membership in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.
For now, Moscow, like much of the outside world, appears taken aback by the unexpected turn of events after Kyrgyzstan’s October 4 parliamentary elections, commented Russian political analyst Arkady Dubnov.
“[B]ased on the general picture of the reactions, I understand that the Kremlin is confused,” said Dubnov. “It’s confused also because [the situation] is unsteady. These shaky gates of the White House, that’s the model of shaky power,” he said, referring to the gates outside Kyrgyz government headquarters that protesters broke down before storming the building.
Dubnov termed the uprising “an incomplete overthrow [of the government], which has all the grounds to shift into a full-fledged coup d’etat.”
For Russia, that puts much at risk.
Putin did not touch on the more strategic bond between the two states – Russia’s air base in the northern city of Kant, which houses Russian air-and-missile defense systems and essentially controls Central Asian air space, according to one assessment. Moscow holds a lease on the facility until 2027.
Ahead of the October 4 vote, President Jeenbekov reassured President Putin that the government wants to expand Kyrgyzstan’s ties with Russia. He warned that unidentified “forces” are "trying [to encroach] on the sovereignty of Kyrgyzstan" and are "driving a wedge into our allied relations and strategic partnership" with Russia, Kloop.kg reported.
"Of course, we won't let them [do] this. Nothing will work for them. Because Russia's support is the main thing for us. It's very important."
And, potentially, also for Jeenbekov’s brother, Asylbek, a member of the pro-government Birimdik (Unity) party, whose leader has advised reconsidering Kyrgyz independence and returning to some form of a closer relationship with Russia.
Amidst allegations of vote fraud, the annulled preliminary election results gave Birimdik and the pro-government Mekenim Kyrgyzstan (My Homeland Kyrgyzstan) each roughly a quarter of the October 4 vote.
Protesters do not appear to have a unified position on Kyrgyzstan’s ties with Russia, but some before the election rallied against Birimdik’s apparent integration proposal.
That disapproval continued at the October 5 protests near the White House.
“If we don’t unite today, this [Kyrgyz] flag will fall tomorrow under the feet of Russia or China,” one protester warned Bishkek demonstrators, Media Zona Central Asia reported. “I want to live freely in a free Kyrgyzstan and transfer it like this to its children.”
China, Kyrgyzstan’s eastern neighbor, also has much at stake in the country. In 2019, the Kyrgyz government owed Chinese banks $1.7 billion, more than 40 percent of its entire foreign debt.
Much of its ability to pay off those debts stems from gold mining, but intruders also have overrun some foreign-owned mining operations since October 5, including the Chinese-operated Ishtamberdi mine in western Kyrgyzstan, bneIntelliNews reported, citing Kyrgyz media.
Officially, China, like other states, has called for “dialogue” between “all parties” to arrive at a “peaceful solution” of the Kyrgyz crisis.
In what could be interpreted as a hint to Beijing’s regional rival, Russia, or Western powers, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stressed on October 7 that it opposes “foreign interference” in the country’s domestic affairs, and supports policies “to safeguard its independence and sovereignty,” the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN reported.
Right now, however, no clear sign exists that any of these players are eager to get publicly involved in the political dilemma.
Calling for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, the U.S. embassy in Bishkek on October 7 described Kyrgyzstan’s protests and the takeover of government headquarters as “a reflection of internal political dynamics, not external ones.”
“We call on all of Kyrgyzstan’s neighbors and international partners to refrain from violating its sovereignty during this delicate moment in its national history,” an official statement posted on the embassy’s website read.
Kyrgyzstan’s influential northern neighbor, energy-rich Kazakhstan, also has no desire to meddle, commented one Kazakh analyst.
“It’s understandable that Kazakhstan will not get involved there in any way because it itself will not understand what’s going on there,” said political analyst Dosym Satpaev, director of the Kazakhstan Risk Assessment Group. “It seems to me that the same situation is being observed in Russia.”
Aside from Kyrgyzstan, ongoing election protests in Belarus have put Kazakh officials on guard, Satpaev said, and they “naturally” fear that Kazakhstan’s 2021 parliamentary elections could also spark a “wave of protesting.” A similar fear hit the authoritarian Kazakh government during Kyrgyzstan’s 2005 Tulip Revolution, which removed President Askar Akaev from power.
How The 2005 Tulip Revolution Changed Kyrgyzstan
However, Satpaev added, the unease this time has more to do with the economic and healthcare stresses that Kazakhstan, which has Central Asia’s highest COVID-19 death rate (1,746 as of October 7, 2020), has experienced amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
“All of this is not a very favorable background for holding any elections,” he said.
Nur-Sultan does not appear to have yet issued an official comment on the unrest in Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile, Belarus, the other source of Kazakhstan’s concerns, has remained relatively silent about the Kyrgyz response to allegations of election fraud. The official news agency BelTA reported on October 7 that Alyaksandr Lukashenka had discussed Kyrgyzstan with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an October 6 phone call, but did not share the details.
One of the self-exiled leaders of Belarus’ own Coordination Council of government opponents, however, sees cause for reflection.
“Actually, in one day, they managed to change political power in Kyrgyzstan,” commented Paval Latushka, a former Belarusian ambassador and culture minister. “I think that very many Belarusians are looking at this and are surprised. They’re probably thinking about this.”
Belarusian analyst Artem Shraibman, however, sees clear distinctions between the two countries’ protests.
By contrast with Kyrgyzstan, whose White House has featured prominently in each of the three post-election uprisings since 2005, Belarus’ government headquarters, which also houses parliament and the Central Election Commission, “hasn’t been interesting to anyone for many years,” Shraibman observed on his Telegram channel.
The violence displayed in storming the Kyrgyz White House is another key distinction from Belarusian demonstrators, he added. Overall, several hundred people were wounded and at least one person died during Kyrgyzstan's October 5-6 clashes between protesters and police.
“The temptation to return to shooting and the seizure of buildings again, or to continue the violence after the triumph of the revolution, is poison for sustainable democratization,” Shraibman argued. “In fact, Kyrgyzstan is a good example [of this].”
Kazakh analyst Satpaev, though, sees a larger role for Kyrgyzstan. The country, he wrote on Telegram, is “a political laboratory that constantly conducts some kind of political experiments …”
The results may be “unpredictable, contradictory,” but also “interesting,” he said, because “everything in this small Central Asian republic is done for the first time in Central Asia.”
Volunteers Block Looters Amid Kyrgyz Power Vacuum
Who's Running Kyrgyzstan? Nobody Knows
Election Protesters Attempt Takeover Of Kyrgyz Government
Allegations of Wrongdoing Follow Kyrgyz Parliamentary Vote That Largely Shut Out Opposition
Kyrgyzstan: Pushing Back Against Voter Bribery, But Will It Work?
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line438
|
__label__wiki
| 0.984967
| 0.984967
|
Spotlight: Newsbites
Investigators Seeking Cause Of Russian Explosives Plant Blast
A still image, taken from video footage, shows smoke rising from the site of blasts at an explosives plant in the town of Dzerzhinsk.
Regional authorities say emergency rescue operations have been completed following a series of massive blasts that devastated an explosives plant in central Russia, and investigators are seeking the cause of the accident.
Emergency Situations Ministry official Valery Sinkov told reporters at the site on June 2 that “the emergency rescue operation has been completed. Now work is in place to remove the effects linked to the damage of buildings and evaluate the situation."
He added that some 700 personnel and 150 vehicles responded to the June 1 disaster.
The Russian Health Ministry said on June 2 that 89 people, including 44 employees of the Kristall plant in the town of Dzerzhinsk, have been seeking medical help following the explosions.
The ministry said one woman remains in serious condition.
Emergency officials said 39 workers and 46 local residents were injured in the blast that sent shock waves through the city of Dzerzhinsk and neighboring communities of Pyra and Zhelnino, about 400 kilometers east of Moscow.
A health official said most victims were suffering from "shrapnel wounds of mild and moderate severity." Officials said there appeared to have been three explosions.
The BBC quoted local officials as saying the factory was used to make and store high-explosive bombs for the military. It said the processing facility at the plant had been destroyed in the blast.
Windows were shattered and scores of buildings were damaged. It was the second such incident at the plant in two months.
The Interfax news agency said the plant director had been fired "literally a day before" for violating safety rules earlier in the year. The director was blamed for an explosion that occurred in April.
A local news site, V Gorode N, published video of a car driver passing by the plant, and sound waves from the explosions echoed through the countryside.
Dmitry Krasnov, deputy governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, told state TV that at least two people were missing.
The Nizhny Novgorod governor’s office said that people injured in the explosions will receive about $2,235 each in compensation from the regional and Dzerzhinsk town funds.
Owned by the state conglomerate Rostec, the facility is decades old and is now a major producer of explosives and related equipment for military and civilian industrial purposes.
V Gorode N said the blasts were the second such incident at the factory in two months. On April 4, an explosion destroyed a workshop facility at the plant. No injuries were reported at the time.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, the BBC, Interfax, TASS, and AFP
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line439
|
__label__wiki
| 0.888682
| 0.888682
|
International Karate +
International Karate +, often abbreviated as IK+, is a karate fighting video game published in 1987 by System 3, originally for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It has since been ported to a number of other platforms. The Commodore 64 version was released in the U.S. under the title Chop N' Drop.
A screenshot of the Commodore 64 version of International Karate +
System 3 (Europe)
Epyx (U.S.)
Ignition Entertainment (PS1/GBA)
Archer MacLean
Rob Hubbard
Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, Virtual Console
Virtual Console (C64)
EU: July 25, 2008
Versus fighting game
Singleplayer, Two player
1 Gameplay
3 Ports and remakes
GameplayEdit
In the game, three karateka fight against each other on a beach, trying to be the first to score six points. After every two rounds, there is a bonus game which is either deflecting bouncing balls or kicking away bombs. The C64 version of the game only has the ball bouncing bonus game, and not the bomb bonus game. The game can be played by one or two human players; at least one fighter is always controlled by the computer. Unlike its predecessor, International Karate, there is only one backdrop. However, different parts of the backdrop can be recoloured to several different themes by the players using specific keystrokes. The Amiga, Atari and C64 versions of the game (and possibly other versions, unconfirmed) had a number of "background antics", a Pac-Man would appear, a spider would descend, and a U-boat's periscope would occasionally be seen in the harbour. In addition, pressing a certain key or keys would cause the trousers of all three protagonists to fall down, after which they would do a double-take. Additionally, it was possible (on the Amiga version, at least) to type in four-letter curse words; the game would respond first by rebuking the player for their use of such language, and upon the second offence would reset the game.
Archer Maclean did most of the work on developing the game, and the music was written by Rob Hubbard, who created a more energetic main theme after the predecessor, but still based it on "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" by japanese composer and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto. Music for the Amiga version was arranged by Dave Lowe. The game was voted Best 16-bit Soundtrack of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards.[1] In August 2005, the music from the game was performed at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany.
The game enjoyed a large following in Europe during the late 1980s and even into the early 1990s. In North America it was nowhere near as popular as in Europe, although it became somewhat of a cult game there as well. The packaging illustration for the Activision Commodore 64 release version of IK+, entitled "Chop 'N Drop", was created by Marc Ericksen.
Ports and remakesEdit
16-bit versions of the game were released in 1988 for the Atari ST and Amiga home computers. Except for the music, which was done by Dave Lowe, the Atari ST version was done entirely by Archer MacLean.[2] He used the bitmap editor NeoChrome to draw background graphics and sprites.[2] Coding was done in assembler on a PC-based development system that cross-compiled the 800 KBytes of source code in seven seconds and transferred the program to the RAM of the Atari ST via a parallel cable.[2] Development took six months. The subsequent port to Amiga took just seven days thanks to MacLean avoiding operating system calls as much as possible.[2]
Another International Karate Deluxe game (AKA IK++) was ready but unreleased for the Atari ST and Amiga in 1987/1988.[3]
It was also released by Activision in 1988 for the Commodore 64 under the title Chop 'N Drop. A version for Amiga CD32 was released in 1994.
International Karate + Gold is an unauthorized release of International Karate + that supports controlling of the 3rd player using a joystick adapter. Crack by Ninja of The Dreams in 2001.
In 2003, following the retro-gaming trend, Maclean's Ignition Entertainment released IK+ for the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation in Europe, which remained faithful to the 16-bit iterations.
The C64 version was re-released on the Virtual Console in Europe on July 25, 2008.
ReceptionEdit
Your Sinclair 7/10[4]
Zzap!64 97%[5]
Zzap!64 Gold Medal
Golden Joystick Award Best Soundtrack
International Karate
^ http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=C+VG/Issue092/Pages/CVG09200062.jpg
^ a b c d Toni Schwaiger: "Archer MacLean. Von Karate verstehe ich nicht viel." In: ST Magazin, No. 3, 1989. ISSN 0934-3237 (German, online full text via stcarchiv.de, accessed 2020-10-04)
^ In the chair with ... Archer Maclean. Retrogamer Magazine, issue 63 (2009).
^ http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzap100/100thspec5.html
International Karate + at MobyGames
IK++, a Flash remake of the Amiga version of IK+
IK+ at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
The Making of International Karate +. Edge Online, November 27, 2009. – Interview with Archer MacLean
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Karate_%2B&oldid=981703364"
Last edited on 3 October 2020, at 23:06
This page was last edited on 3 October 2020, at 23:06 (UTC).
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line440
|
__label__wiki
| 0.948882
| 0.948882
|
An Ethiopian Woman was kidnapped and raped at the age of 13, She's finally found justice
Khulna University to observe Katka tragedy day tomorrow
After A Year In Space, Astronaut Scott Kelly To Retire In April
Astronaut Scott Kelly to retire in April
12 March 2016, Nirapad News: Astronaut Scott Kelly will retire from NASA next month, after spending nearly a year in space and setting a record for the most cumulative days in space of any American, the US space agency said.
Kelly, a former Navy pilot who joined NASA in 1996, will leave the agency April 1.
“This year-in-space mission was a profound challenge for all involved, and it gave me a unique perspective and a lot of time to reflect on what my next step should be on our continued journey to help further our capabilities in space and on Earth,” Kelly said in a statement.
“I am humbled and excited by new opportunities for me to support and share the amazing work NASA is doing to help us travel farther into the solar system and work with the next generation of science and technology leaders.”
He gave no further details on his plans post-retirement.
However, Kelly — who is allowing his body to be studied to further research on the effects of long-term spaceflight — will “continue to participate in the ongoing research related to his one-year mission,” NASA said.
“He will provide periodic medical samples and support other testing in much the same way that his twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, made himself available for NASA’s Twins Study during his brother’s mission.”
Kelly is a four-time veteran of spaceflight. His first trip was aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1999, during a mission to repair NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. His other three missions were to the International Space Station.
His latest mission lasted 340 days, and gave him a US record of 520 cumulative days in space.
Kelly said he hoped the legacy of his near-year mission would be to help pave the way toward a deep space mission to Mars someday.
For now, the risks of long-term spaceflight remain unclear, amid concerns such as high radiation, food supply and the psychological challenges of spending months or years away from Earth.
“When the first Americans set foot on Mars, they will be following in the footsteps of one of the finest astronauts in the history of the space program, my friend, Commander Scott Kelly,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
“I can think of no one more deserving of some well-deserved rest and time on the same planet as his family and friends.”
***Scott Kelly: Year in space paves the way for even longer missions
Tag: American Astronaut Scott Kelly Charles Bolden cumulative days further research NASA Administrator profound challenge spaceflight r
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line442
|
__label__wiki
| 0.652415
| 0.652415
|
Nexteer President Michael P. Richardson Announces Retirement
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- After 45 years of service, Nexteer's President and Executive Board Director Michael P. Richardson announces his retirement today. Senior Vice President and Global Chief Operating Officer, Tao Liu, and Nexteer's senior leadership team will assume Richardson's duties going forward.
"Mike has served Nexteer in many roles over 45 years and we especially appreciate his leadership in recent years as Nexteer diversified its customer base and expanded its global presence. While we will greatly miss Mike and his inspiring leadership, we wish him the happiest of retirements," said Guibin Zhao, Nexteer's Chief Executive Officer, Executive Board Director and Vice Chairman. "We have a talented and experienced senior leadership team committed to executing our proven strategy for profitable growth and driving shareholder value and continuing to drive Nexteer's leadership in intuitive motion control."
Richardson began his career in 1974 at the former Saginaw Steering Gear Division while studying for his bachelor's degree in engineering at Kettering University. Over the next four decades, he held a broad range of assignments across skilled trades, manufacturing, engineering and business leadership within the US, France and China. He was appointed Nexteer's Executive Board Director in 2013 and appointed President in 2016.
"It's been my distinct honor to have served alongside this global team for 45 years. I have every confidence that Nexteer is well positioned to continue to create an increasingly prosperous future for all stakeholders," said Richardson.
Nexteer Automotive (HK 1316), a global leader in intuitive motion control, is a multi-billion dollar global steering and driveline business delivering electric and hydraulic power steering systems, steering columns, driveline systems, as well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving enabling technologies for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company has 28 manufacturing plants, three technical centers and 14 customer service centers strategically located in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The company serves more than 60 customers in every major region of the world including BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, PSA Groupe, Toyota and VW, as well as automakers in India and China. www.nexteer.com
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1059082/Nexteer_Logo.jpg
HongKong:1316
Keywords: Auto Machinery Mining/Metals Transportation
Greenland Technologies Expects Over 25% 4Q20 Revenue Growth YoY
JSGQ Participates in the Formulation of National standards for Hot-dipped Galvanization
RS Components is stocking an extensive range of RS PRO handheld T&M instruments
Hyundai Capital Canada named Greater Toronto's top employer 2nd year running
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line443
|
__label__wiki
| 0.52457
| 0.52457
|
Ships for New Year's Wars
What will be the warships of the future? While the first prototypes and published sketches evoke images of ancient battleships or ocean transports from science fiction films. But the appearance is not the main thing.
The aspirations of engineering in the design of surface warships are a reflection of the military-political concepts of the respective countries. The first thing that catches your eye is the general fashion for low visibility, or stealth technology. It is these technologies that give the ships a futuristic look, and the first in this row is the Swedish corvette Visby, launched in 2000 year. The characteristic angular design, which impedes radar, lightweight composite plastic body, a minimum of protruding elements.
The Swedish concept was that a nimble and subtle corvette would sooner detect an enemy target in coastal waters and destroy it, than it would be discovered and destroyed by itself. In the January issue of PM, she wrote about the newest Russian corvette of the 20380 project, which also used composites and elements of stealth technology.
Now, when looking at the trimaran of the USS Independence, a representative of the new class of coastal zone warship (Littoral Combat Ship, LCS), the characteristic features of stealth seem to be something that goes without saying. But if Visby and the Russian corvette are intended for operations in the national coastal zone with defensive targets, then LCS is obviously designed to participate in operations primarily on foreign shores. And this indicates a lot.
To distant shores
Strictly speaking, LCS is two different projects. One is the development of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, a single-hull ship. The project's firstborn in 2006 was the USS Freedom. The second version of LCS, the brainchild of General Dynamics, is a trimaran (number one in the series is USS Independence). Initially, the US Navy planned to make a choice of these two concepts, but then it was decided to finish building both lines with new ships.
However, since the famous weapons corporations performed a similar technical task, the parameters and capabilities of the two types of LCS were pretty close. The main thing that you immediately pay attention to is the cruising range quite decent for a coastal ship. The Lockheed Freedom has 3500 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots, the Independence has 4300, which is almost 8000 km. Autonomy - 21 days. The second is the maximum speed of about 45 knots (83 km / h) and is provided by water-jet engines. This significantly exceeds the performance of Visby (35 knots) and the mentioned Russian project 20380 corvette (27 knots).
It is clearly talking about something more than just replacing obsolete corvettes and mine-sweepers, especially if we recall that at the time of launching the USS Freedom became the representative of the only class of American warships put into operation for all previous 20 years.
The appearance of lightweight high-speed ships, close in class to the corvettes, was the result of awareness of the new reality. But the reality was that the AUG, heavy cruisers and destroyers were well suited to show strength in the Cold War era, but for smaller-intensity conflicts, more subtle and cheaper tools were needed. Among American military analysts, even the concept of a “street fighter” was born - an inexpensive, small, specialized ship that can operate in shallow water in the coastal zone of the enemy.
The idea of LCS is close to this concept - Freedom or Independence is easy to imagine performing tasks somewhere off the coast of the Persian Gulf. There such vessels could hunt diesel submarines and high-speed rocket boats (on which Iran hopes), free the water area from mines, conduct reconnaissance and eventually clear the way for a large-scale invasion from the sea.
Simple transformations
And what about specialization? This problem is easily solved at the expense of modularity, which is structurally embedded in both LCS projects. Modularity is obviously another basic trend in the development of both surface and submarine warships. When applied to ships of the coastal zone, this means the possibility of equipping them (depending on the upcoming operation) with a module to combat mines, a module for anti-submarine operations or a module to counter the enemy on the surface of water or land.
The modules are placed in special containers that are easily mounted on the ship, and, if necessary, are quickly replaced by others. The modules include a variety of reconnaissance equipment: for example, a robotic autonomous probe is used to detect mines, underwater sensors and air-based systems are used in anti-submarine warfare: LCS can carry a pair of MH-60R helicopters on the deck, as well as UAVs.
The 30-mm gun mk46, producing 200 shots per second, as well as NLOS launchers (out-of-sight) with high-precision missiles, are included in the “package” of countering the enemy on the surface.
“Closer to the coast” - this could be the slogan of many projects of promising warships. The long-publicized new class of destroyers with missile weapons - the so-called Zumwalt class - will perform their functions equally well both in the far sea zone and in the coastal shallow water. The first representative of this class DDG 1000 Zumwalt is to be launched shortly.
It is characteristic that this destroyer, which for the first time in more than a hundred years will be built according to a scheme with an expanding hull (a la cruiser Aurora), was particularly interested in the command of the US Marine Corps. “Marines” view Zumwalt as a powerful support for naval assault. The ship could help the assault with rocket and artillery strikes to the rear of the enemy, as well as provide air defense of the site of the operation. It was even suggested that the destroyer of the class Zumwalt is able to act as a supporting element of the Freedom or Independence type LCS operating in the coastal waters of the enemy.
For the sake of operations in the coastal zone, special attention was paid to stealth, which, in fact, dictated the unusual design of the ship. And this is despite the fact that the Zumwalt (14 500 T displacement) actually has the dimensions of a battle cruiser and significantly more of a class destroyer with missile armament of the Arleigh Burke type. Zumwalt bears the helicopter and three multi-purpose drone MQ-8 Fire Scout, built on the helicopter scheme (the same equipped and LCS).
In the design of the destroyer, another interesting trend in shipbuilding is visible - the transition to a single electrical source. Two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent 30 gas turbine engines spin Curtiss-Wright generators, and the propellers that drive the rotors are powered by this electricity. In addition, it is possible that various promising weapon systems like railguns will be powered by electricity in the future.
Ship robots
British BAE Systems, as a rule, actively participates in large American defense projects, however, it also has its own developments that fully meet current high-tech trends. In particular, approximately from 2012, the “Royal Combat ShipType 26” should be adopted by the Royal Navy of Great Britain.
“Type 26” by displacement refers to frigates (that is, it is more than a corvette and less than a destroyer), and it will eventually become a “workhorse” fleet, which suggests a high degree of versatility. This will be achieved, naturally, with the help of a modular design - the ship can easily be converted to combat piracy, a humanitarian operation or the task of establishing a blockade of the coast.
But perhaps the funniest British concept of a future surface ship (this is also a BAE project, although its timing is unclear) can be considered the so-called UXV Combatant. This ship the size of a destroyer is designed to become a floating base, focused on work with unmanned vehicles, both flying and floating.
It is assumed that the UXV Combatant will serve a small crew (about 60 people), and all the ups and launches of reconnaissance or strike drone can be done automatically. In the end, it is probably this British project that shows where the entire arms industry in developed countries is gradually moving, and shipbuilding is no exception: soon robots will be sent to war.
The design of the USS Independence is based on the design of the high-speed ferry Benchijigua Express, developed by the Australian company Austal. Nowadays, civilian shipbuilding is often technologically ahead of the military.
The integral superstructure and unusual hull will make Zumwalt-class missile destroyers look like submarines. Perhaps they will be able to fight in a semi-submerged state to ensure greater stealth.
Britain has a very advanced development. In addition to the high-tech destroyers "type 45" creates "type 26" - a frigate, called the "Global Warship."
Oleg Makarov
http://www.popmech.ru/
Corvettes of the Visby project (Sweden)The world's first stealth warships: Visby Corvettes (Sweden)
These ships are generally for unknown wars. There is no experience of combat use. In fact, the designers are fantastically developing some initially fantastic model (the connection with old ships that developed from the experience of real wars is already very relative). And practice - it can be quite unexpected - remember the fascination with aluminum on warships. And then Sheffield met with Exocet and died in fact from a fire caused by the remnants of rocket fuel and the presence of flammable materials and alloys in the ship's structure (the rocket itself did not explode).
il grand casino 27 July 2013 08: 05
Wait and see. But one thing is clear, the design is interesting - therefore, taxpayers will like it and they will eagerly unfasten their hard earned money for this miracle
loft79 27 July 2013 08: 12
No one asks taxpayers
dustycat 27 July 2013 19: 15
Quote: il grand casino
What is invisible in the rays of its radar is visible in the rays of a neighboring radar.
Divorce of taxpayers to grandmas and no more.
smsk 27 July 2013 10: 53
Quote: serge-68-68
Do you think it's better to just sit and do nothing?
Some developments from these projects will certainly be used in further developments. Fiction or not, but about 30 years ago, who would have thought that drones would push ordinary planes out of the battlefield?
Shadowcat 27 July 2013 11: 18
Once the submarines were delirious crazy, tanks idiocy, and armadillos nonsense.
The seeker will find, the inquiring may find - to get acquainted, take into account shortcomings, gain experience and do better. This is the motto.
The key phrase is "gain experience." Airplanes, submarines, tanks only then became weapons when they were repeatedly tested in battles. And not just in any "shots" against the natives with clubs, but in battles with an equal opponent. Nobody knows how the "drone" will behave on a battlefield saturated with various weapons and other radiating nonsense, in conditions of active fire contact and enemy resistance. And here is how the Sheffield behaved, having received the unexploded Exocet on board, we know - it burned down and drowned.
In this regard, a simple question (exaggerating somewhat): what to bring with you for long-lasting and possibly heavy obsolete battles - never fired electromagnetic machine of any kind or AK?
Constantine 27 July 2013 09: 18
The new is always interesting, but not always feasible to the extent that it is conceived. The same LCS, for example, resulted in an epic cut of money, and its modularity is so whimsical about the infrastructure, and to a sufficient amount of time, that there will be no sense in it. Unless as a technology demonstrator in a small series.
In general, there is a tendency toward unification, however, the universality of technology in aviation (F-35) and in shipbuilding (LCS), so far, looks, to put it mildly, wretched next to the specimens ground for specific purposes.
Master Taiga 27 July 2013 09: 52
Ultimately, not technology is fighting, but people.
Goryn 27 July 2013 11: 08
Good development, in any case, is visible progress and development. Especially with regard to modularity, it is the future.
Quote: Goryn
Some kind of strange concept of modularity.
Modularity is when using the KLKK you can turn a roller into a base for air defense, missile defense, air defense or into a carrier of percussion weapons with the help of a port crane.
And when for this the ship needs to be docked, disassembled add-ons and then reassembled, or else during construction it will be decided what it will be - you need to change something in the conservatory.
1c-inform-city 27 July 2013 12: 38
They bent the cheaper ships. The cost of building and operating these boats is much higher than that of Arly Burke and Tikonderoger. By the way, they have only had problems with the electrics and armament to debug the artillery component. During trial transitions, there are always problems. I think they are too clever, they put everything that is possible and unfeasible there. The more complicated the product, the more failures. But I want more and more money, so they screw everything up, and how it works ten. Well, as for me, they seem to be torn with Zumvolt.
patsantre 29 July 2013 17: 16
Quote: 1c-inform-city
They bent about cheaper ships. The cost of building and operating these boats is much higher than that of Arly Burks and Ticonderoge.
Why? This is where you read this?
Well, with Zumvolt, they seem to be torn apart.
They abandoned it, 3 pieces will be completed and completion.
poquello 27 July 2013 14: 01
“Another interesting trend in shipbuilding can be seen in the design of the destroyer - the transition to a single electrical source. Two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent 30 gas turbine engines spin Curtiss-Wright generators, and this electricity is already powered by the engines that rotate the propellers. In addition, possibly in the future electricity will power various advanced weapon systems such as railguns. "
I don’t understand anything, I heard about this implemented on our ships about 10 years ago.
Mirrors 27 July 2013 18: 42
Civilian vessels have such - diesel-electric ships. But on our surface ships there is no such power plant. Steam turbines, diesels, gas turbines operating on a propeller shaft are common. Maybe someone somewhere such experiments and conducted, but in a series of such NK is not.
Quote: Spiegel
He told me, in general, not marine, on special operations, on which they were bombarded by hz.
Quote: poquello
In fact, all river diesel electric ships of the sad sad Bulgaria type have had the same DESU since the 1960s.
Since 1970 there have been turboelectric ships. With GTES. And also a typical one - the Yak40 engine and the Electric Power generator.
77bor1973 28 July 2013 22: 56
The transatlantic liner "Normandy" also had electric motors for propeller shafts.
datur 27 July 2013 16: 38
damn I'm an infantry, so explain to me what kind of masterpiece is this?
Roughly speaking, new types of platforms are being developed for the delivery and use of modern weapons in modern wars. Platforms should be invisible, unified - and already there is already a lot of big money to allow themselves to produce a lot of different projects. So they want to make a universal small boat, on which you can change part of the equipment and weapons, and which will run fast, and even be inconspicuous. Either he fights with submarines, then with surface ships, then he works along the shore, sometimes he fights with airplanes. In short, they think about ships for future wars, they try. Nobody wants to be in a situation similar to the one when the expensive battleships during World War II were practically out of work, although the resources for them were exhausted. We can say that not a single fleet has guessed what the next war will be.
Quote: datur
For anyone who wants to learn more about the ships of the coastal zone, I suggest to open the link ---
http://nnm.ru/blogs/smprofi/budushiy_korol_pribrezhnoy_zony/
There is a beautifully illustrated article ... there are a lot of photos and videos.
Fofan 27 July 2013 19: 59
and the crew is also replaceable? or do the same people fight equally well with pl and strike rockets at enemy rear?
17085 27 July 2013 21: 26
I agree one hundred percent. So it happened in the fleet, the commander of the ship is either an artilleryman, or, more often, a rocket launcher, etc. depending on specialization. Of course, the team can also be formed on the same principle - modular (which word).
Although honestly for me it’s news that the Navy does not have electric ships, civilians have been using them for quite some time.
Imagine Bora electrically - cool ...
Corsair 28 July 2013 10: 48
Quote: 17085
Of course, the team can also be formed on the same principle - modular (which word).
Hands from one "module" * Opu, the torso and legs from the other ... But maybe the head is not necessary?
Vlad51 27 July 2013 21: 21
Money needs to be earned on something
For me, the principle of stealth for surface ships is a PR move. It is expensive, but it can be nullified without any problems. Yes, and the noise of the movers is not gone. Modularity is a dubious pleasure. Hulls of ships vary depending on the purpose and installed weapons. Even a possible sailing area affects the hull. (Ice class, maximum draft, wave height during the storm season, and a bunch of other things) Unification of equipment can achieve greater benefits. The widespread use of robotics also has enough limitations, the sea is a whimsical thing, often such weather that not every helicopter takes off, there’s little use for a 5-meter wave on the water from a robot. So the robot carrier in the middle storm can be boarded on the gallery.
Misantrop 28 July 2013 10: 21
the principle of stealth for surface ships is some kind of PR move
I can still understand about stealth while the pelvis sneaks in low-noise mode. But what kind of "stealth" can we talk about after starting to use their systems in an active mode? I see, the gun is cool there,
200 rounds per second
I wonder how many minutes of battle the ammunition will last? I didn’t notice a docked barge there in the project
Modularity is cool. But only anyone who has dealt with complex units knows what in practice means to dock a unit that has been stored in a spare part for a long time on the shore ...
report4 28 July 2013 09: 30
Zvizdets. Will anti-Papuan war toys come back a few lards apiece?
The saddest thing (naturally for them) is that they are useless against the weapons of a potential adversary
bulvas 28 July 2013 09: 40
Let them search, try, if there is money
The main thing that is enough for our minds is to learn from the mistakes of others, not from our own
Perhaps they will be able to fight in a semi-submerged state to ensure greater stealth.
Returning to "Monitor" and "Merimak"?
Happy Fleet Day of the USSR and Russia!
tol100v 28 July 2013 11: 45
Sea Souls! HOLIDAY ALL OF YOU!
aud13 28 July 2013 18: 23
200 rounds per second at the gun - what kind of miracle is this gun?
ICT 28 July 2013 20: 38
Quote: aud13
sovereign typo, rate of fire 200 rounds per minute
tilovaykrisa 28 July 2013 21: 52
This is a miracle of technology PR at one time as a super-stealth, now they are selling as unnecessary, although new concepts are always good, technology is developing.
Lopatov 28 July 2013 22: 17
This is an experimental vessel that has served honestly for 27 years. Since then, technology has come a long way. Compare F-117 and F-22 - you will understand.
Quote: Spade
Compare F-22 flying and permanently damaged F-117
the idea is so-so. It is better to compare the number of shock missions f-22 and f-16;) the result will be interesting.))
Quote: report4
It is better to compare the number of shock missions f-22 and f-16;) the result will be interesting.))
How interesting will you be to compare if the F-22 is completely not intended for such missions.
Woldemar 15 August 2013 16: 14
And I like their trimaran independence outwardly. Someone here writes that they say the technology has not been tested and only money wasted. But once everything that they use now was new in technology and nothing, normally, was run in and began to be done in large batches. Something dropped out of course. But for this it is necessary to build and experience, and not just indiscriminately groan. We don’t build such people and it’s a pity. And modularity is in my opinion good and it is not necessary to constantly change weapons on one ship. Just one case, not ten different. But each ship can be sharpened for its own. Of the ten identical ships, one will have anti-submarine weapons and air defense, the other will have shock and air defense, but they will rivet them quickly and the weapons will be shoved as needed without any problems.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line446
|
__label__cc
| 0.677924
| 0.322076
|
Keep power: the tasks of the military engine
Marines after eliminating oil leaks install a Caterpillar C7 engine on a Stryker machine
Recent conflicts that required more substantial protection for armored vehicles, as well as the emergence of more efficient but heavier onboard systems, had a direct impact on engine production. It is worth looking at how some manufacturers respond to such requests.
The modes of operation of the engines of military vehicles differ significantly from the modes of operation of their commercial counterparts. The latter, as a rule, are used more frequently, since such vehicles, such as a car or a bus, are used daily by their owners, sometimes for hours at a time, stopping many times and starting to move around in cities or moving monotonously along motorways.
Military vehicles, especially such heavy categories as Tanks, self-propelled howitzers and larger BMPs and armored personnel carriers, are used only during exercises or during deployment and therefore they need a sharp increase in speed and good off-road patency over rough terrain or sand, which requires significantly more power.
Military engines must also have the ability to work on slopes, run without preheating and run on alternative fuels. They also need special air filtration systems that have undergone rigorous tests that would allow engines to work in any desert in the world.
Another specific military requirement is to increase radiation resistance in order to protect electronics from an atomic explosion, which was a famous requirement of the Cold War, when it was assumed that military units of armored vehicles could survive the attack and continue to fight in post-nuclear space.
Mobility issues
Today, the most pressing issue is mobility, since in recent years, due to the installation of additional protection systems, equipment and sensors, the mass of heavy armored combat vehicles has significantly increased. As a result, the requirements for military engines provide for a certain specific power or horsepower per ton. According to Cummins commercial director (a renowned diesel engine manufacturer) Nigel Cheeseman, by and large, approximately 25 hp are needed. per ton.
"Machine manufacturers will choose the engine based on the requirements for torque and power, and this is not necessarily the largest engine available - the tonnage of the machine will meet the need for power and then they [manufacturers], starting from this, will be able to make the choice of the necessary engine" .
However, the more power the engine generates, the more expensive it is, and therefore machine manufacturers, along with power, never for a moment forget about economic efficiency.
Chizman said there are two ways to increase power: re-adjusting existing engines and installing a new engine.
“As a rule, manufacturers took the standard engine, but nowadays the machines have a large carrying capacity and therefore they need more power. But it is clear that the military would like to leave the same engine, since it reduces installation and maintenance costs to a minimum. All hardware and installation remain the same, but the electronics or software in the engine is changed to get more power, ”he said.
“Everything consists in different working conditions in a typical civil automotive environment and in military conditions. Military equipment is used much less frequently, that is, it allows us to move barriers or some technical limitations. If the engine does not operate at full capacity for a long time, then you can improve certain parameters in the engine. "
“What we need to do is create a new torque curve that is programmed electronically. Adjustment is essentially a torque curve. Engineers generally adjust to get more power; it is based on the working cycles of the military transport system and the analysis tools we use. In general, there is already enough potential engine refinement. "
Modernization of BMP WARRIOR
Over the past decade, the mass of the tracked BMP Warrior of the British Army has increased significantly, and in this regard, the question of upgrading this machine has become acute. The Warrior power unit has not yet been modernized, and Caterpillar is working with the British Department of Defense on this. At the moment, an eight-cylinder hp 550 engine is installed on the Warrior BMP.
Transmission is a mechanical system and. Consequently. prone to blocking, so there are plans to introduce an integrated controller and other improvements for the driver. An electronically controlled common fuel line may be installed, but this is a more difficult job. However, fuel pumps are also nearing the end of their service life, and replacing them will cost tens of thousands of pounds. In addition, there are problems with the obsolescence of the fire extinguishing system.
The cooling system also needs upgrading; A transition from an old, inefficient copper system to an aluminum one can increase efficiency by 15-20%.
Like the modernization of the American Bradley, the modernization of the BMP Warrior should be neutral, that is, there should be no changes for the machine itself or they should be minimal. In order to increase power, an improved fuel pump and turbocharger will be introduced; in this case, the power will increase by 100 hp compared to what is now. This will allow the platform to return after increasing its mass (from 25 tons to more than 30 tons) to its initial mobility characteristics.
The exhaust system will receive additional protection, such as insulation with a decrease in the number of "hot spots", which will help maintain thermal efficiency. The cooling system is also being finalized; Caterpillar manufactures experimental power units for testing as part of the WSCP (Warrior Capability Sustainment Program) program. These tests will go through the entire 2016 year before the final decision is made.
It is also scheduled to implement a program to extend the life of the British Army Challenger XBT Challenger in order to return to its original levels of mobility. Work on the WSCP program will be included in the program to extend the life of the Challenger 2, which is still to begin. As expected, it will include installation of a common fuel line, aimed at combating the obsolescence of the fuel pump and reducing fuel consumption, increasing the power of the 2-cylinder engine, improving the exhaust system, cold start, etc.
Oldies update
Cases of operation of cars quite long time, thirty, forty and more years are not rare. Here there is a need for restoration or overhaul, within the framework of which the question of what to do with the engine will certainly arise. In this case, the existing engine can either undergo a complete restoration, or a new one can be installed. On some older machines, engine replacement is not possible, since they are no longer manufactured.
Chizman said that a similar engine could be provided, “it is unlikely that it will be the same in terms of installation, but it can be as close as possible to the original, with minimal changes in installation. In this case, some additional piping system or additional brackets or connection points may be needed, but it should be installed in the machine with minimal technical changes. ”
In addition to adjusting the engine. may change the "iron" in order to obtain greater power. and this is achieved mainly by modifying the turbocharger and upgrading the piping system, pipes, exhaust nipples and other secondary parts.
“Another system that needs refinement is the filtering system,” continued Cheeseman. “Since the military Cummins models are, first of all, work on JP-8 fuel ... then we must provide a certain level of filtration.”
“We could change the engine filtration system to deal with the sulfur in the fuel and allow the engine to run on the JP-8. This is a matter of accessibility, as cars are often parked in aviation hangars or near aircraft, where there is JP-8 fuel, so it is also necessary that the machines can work on it. "
The MTU 890 series engine is mounted on a Puma German Army BMP
BMPs are a significant part of the Cummins business, in particular, this applies to ISBe 6.7l and ISL 9l engines (HP 185-450).
The company said that “the 6.7l engine is popular in the automotive and construction markets, but this is one of those main engines that we have redesigned for military use. On most BBMs with Cummins engines, there is either an ISBe 6.7l engine or an ISL 9l engine. The first one is available with power up to 360 hp. "
“Modernization of engine components allows us to meet military requirements, for example, it is adjustment of filters for military fuel. In some cases, we were able to simplify engine technology and eliminate exhaust gas recirculation.
Cummins also offers its V903 engine (525-675 hp) with a volume of 14,8 liters, which since 80-s has been installed on the Bradley infantry fighting system of the British Army. The preferred business model for the company is to offer more performance enhancements to existing engines, rather than performing an expensive replacement procedure.
The idea behind this strategy is that, in field conditions, mechanics and mechanics continue to work with the engines with which they are familiar, so in this case a smaller amount of training is required, in addition, the supply of spare parts and tools has also been debugged. For more than thirty years of the life of the machine, this will significantly save. Cummins constantly offers upgrades to its products, and the V903 engine has not bypassed this process. In order to meet the requirements of increasing power, he received additional components of the electronic adjustment, a modified fuel system and several variants of turbocharging.
Another world-famous engine manufacturer, MTU, does not consider the engine as a separate product. Its concept is to supply the engine as part of a whole propulsion complex (or power unit), which includes transmission, cooling, air filtration, exhaust system. In fact, the manufacturer of the machine, using several quick disconnects, should simply connect the power unit with the fuel, coolant, oil and electrical wiring, and then the machine can already move.
MTU has developed engines for various heavy machines by weight, and these are 55 tons and more. These include MBT, self-propelled howitzers and large BMP. Fighting vehicles weighing less than 20-40 tons fall into the middle category by weight.
Engine Upgrades V903
Although the Cummins V903 engine is installed in the American Army’s Bradley combat vehicle, its engine compartment is relatively small. This means that there is relatively little room for changing engine components or replacing it with a larger engine.
Therefore, in order. To obtain the necessary power, some upgrades were carried out in the existing volume; This affected the cooling system and other components.
Cummins has raised the power of the VTA903E engine with 600 and 660 HP up to standard power 675 hp (received the designation VTA903E-T675) using components from the second option.
This upgrade was first implemented in the program for the M109A7 self-propelled howitzer, but as far as possible it is identical to the previous version of the M109 howitzer engine. The modified VTA903E-T675 engine is also slated for installation on an upgraded version of the Bradley ECP2 BMP.
Current machines on which the V903 engine is installed:
• armored earth-moving machine M9ACE (Armored Combat Earthmover) power 295 hp;
• amphibious-tracked amphibious vehicle Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV7A1) hp 400;
• amphibious tracked amphibious vehicle Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV7A1 RAM / RS) hp 525;
• MLRS M270 power 500 hp;
• MLNO M270A1 with HP 600 power. with Centry fuel control;
• BMP Bradley M2A2 horsepower 600;
• Bradley M3A2 intelligence machine with 600 horsepower;
• self-propelled 155-mm howitzer AS90 with power 660 hp; and
• 155 self-propelled howitzer Paladin Improved Management with horsepower 675.
Heavy category
The head of the sales department at MTU, Giovanni Spadaro, said that in the difficult category there are only a few companies on the market that can provide the right engines.
“The situation with the current MBT fleet is such that during the development and manufacture of each tank it was intended to use its own unique engine of local development, but these engines were never installed on other machines in large quantities,” he explained.
However, the German tank Leopard 2 was exported on a large scale with an installed power unit from MTU based on the 870 series. Although the development of local engines, in particular in the Middle East and East Asia, continues, they are rather stimulated by a political desire to be independent in military technology rather than purely economic reasons, and here Mr. Spadaro is unsure whether this will result in promotion to foreign markets.
“Heavy tracked vehicles like MBT or howitzers need more power, so they need special military-type engines, such as our MTU 870, 880 or 890 engines,” he said.
As for wheeled vehicles, they differ significantly in that they have a mass limitation associated with the wheel configuration (approximately 35 tons) and therefore the requirements for maximum output power are approximately 800 hp. For this reason, modifications of the engines of trucks are usually installed on wheeled vehicles.
The 199 Series MTU engine is a ready-made commercial military solution that meets these requirements. Spadaro noted that his company never stopped investing in promising developments. The result was the 880 series engine, which is currently installed on the export version of the French Leclerc tank, the Korean K9 Thunder howitzer and the German PzH2000 self-propelled howitzer.
Can not compare?
Talking about new developments, Spadaro stated with complete confidence that the 880 series is “the most advanced engine for heavy tanks in the world” and that there is no comparable product here.
The 880 series was further refined by integrating a common-rail fuel injection system that enables the use of various injection electronics, which improves engine efficiency, leads to less fuel consumption and allows for more flexible engine control.
However, Spadaro sees a downward trend in engine sizes for future cars. In order to comply with this, MTU developed the 890 series, which he called not just an evolution, but a “revolution” regarding the weight and size and energy-consuming characteristics of the engine. The 890 engine is installed on the Puma BMP of the German army and has almost the same power with significantly smaller sizes, for example, when compared with models of the 880 series.
“We do not just provide the engine, but provide a complete propulsion system, including a transmission, an advanced starter-generator, installed between the engine and transmission, which produces 170 kW of power to drive the cooling system fans,” says Spadaro.
“From the volume that was allocated to us for the engine compartment, we filled almost 92% with components, that is, very little air around the power plant and everything is tightly packed in this volume. He passed the qualification and at the moment some of the machines are already in operation, and some are still in production. ”
The 880 engine is available in two configurations, the 8 and 12 cylinders. The first produces the same power 1000 hp, as the ten-cylinder 890 German BMP Puma. With regard to the size of the power unit, the 890 series engine takes approximately 70% of the equivalent volume of the power unit based on the 880 series engine.
As for engine speed, 880 runs on 2700-3000 rpm, and 890 series engines develop from 3800 to 4250 rpm. The 890 series engines have a more integrated design, pipelines and oil pumps are already built into the internal circuit of the engine itself.
Among other applicants, the 890 and 880 series engines were also considered for the US Army program on the Ground Combat Vehicle ground combat vehicle (before it was closed). In addition, the company MTU is not averse to participate in the new program for a promising combat vehicle Future Fighting Vehicle.
Due to its characteristics such as rotational speed, power and dimensions, the 890 series engines are also suitable for electric propulsion systems.
In a mechanically driven system, the power generated by the diesel engine is mechanically transmitted to the wheels or tracks through the gearbox. In electrically driven systems, a diesel engine is connected to a generator, which transforms the energy produced by the engine into an electric one. This electrical energy is used to drive one or more electric motors that drive a car and can also be used to supply onboard consumers.
However, Spadaro said that at present the demand for electric-powered cars is limited: “In our opinion, now customers are more likely to look for options with less risk due to time and budget constraints. Traditionally, the military business has always been a driving force in new technologies. Therefore, I believe that this is just a period that we need to go through due to financial difficulties. ”
The company offers complete power units based on the 890, 880 and 199 series. MTU EuroPowerPack, based on the 880 series, is a rear-wheel drive system for the prototype of the Turkish Altay tank, which combines the MT 883 MT engine with the Renk HSWL 295 TM transmission.
For the middle category, the company is also able to provide complete propulsion systems. However, this option is also not excluded: the manufacturer of the machine receives only the engine and the cooling system from the MTU company and manufactures the rest of the components itself or receives them from another supplier.
MTU also develops other engines for special military tasks. A very recent example: for the British Ajax reconnaissance vehicle (formerly Scout SV), the 199 series engine was selected. The basis for this engine is the engine for a truck, which was modified by MTU by military standards.
Component development
Honeywell supplies AGT1500 gas turbine engines for M1 Abrams tanks of the US Army. He, after the German tank Leopard, is one of the most successful Western tanks in the export market. According to the company, the AGT1500 engine is installed on Abrams tanks from the 1979 of the year, in which a total of more than 40 millions of miles have passed. The company also added that in the framework of the recent modernization program of the TIGER (Total Integrated Engine Revitalization) power plant, the aim of which was to reduce operating costs, 13% fuel savings were achieved compared to the previous engine version.
The company is constantly working to improve the engines, increasing their efficiency and power and reducing the size and weight. A company spokesman said that this is achieved through "modern heat-resistant materials, smaller gaps, improved aerodynamics and improved auxiliary cooling circuits."
Efficiency can be achieved by improving the fuel injection system, where the correct ratio of chemicals in the combustion chamber can be rewarded. He also said that optimization of the air-fuel mixture can be achieved through improved fuel atomization methods, improved combustion chamber designs and improved cooling schemes.
The company confirmed that since military machines are operated in adverse environmental conditions, air filtration is a "significant problem."
According to a company representative: “Proper maintenance of the air filtration system is imperative in order to ensure that the engine does not suffer from the absorption of sand and dust. All engine interfacing to the “outside world”, including suction and exhaust, cooling system, fuel system, controls, power supply, starters and air filtration, should be packaged in a single unit to ensure proper engine operation and its maximum efficiency. For gas turbine engines, modern computer-based fluid dynamics instruments are used to reduce inlet and outlet losses and improve the internal and external cooling circuits. ”
In October, 2015, the company Honeywell received a contract worth 20 million dollars from the US Army under the TIGER program to continue to supply parts for the engine AGT 1500
MTU takes the engine as a basis, adds turbochargers to increase power, introduces lubrication in the dry crankcase and other modifications to make the engine suitable for a finished military product. The company implemented a similar scheme on the new Ajax machine, the base of which is the General Dynamics ASCOD machine, which is in service with Spain and Austria. The 6V 199 engine is also installed on the GD Piranha V wheeled vehicle, which Denmark selected in April 2015.
Caterpillar engines are installed on the Stryker US Army and tactical cars and trucks, as well as on the tactical vehicles of the Marine Corps, which in total amounts to 95% of the entire wheeled vehicle fleet of the US armed forces. Also, the engines of this company are installed on armored vehicles of the British army.
The company installs its C9.3 diesel engine on the Singapore Technologies Kinetics Terrex 2 8xNNXX (Terrex 8 has an 1 hp engine) and offers the C450 engine for the Marine Corps ACV9.3 program. It has two power levels (1.1 hp for combat orders and 600 hp in other cases), between which the driver can switch.
According to a Honeywell representative, close cooperation between the engine supplier and the platform manufacturer is very important when installing the engine on the machine.
“The solutions are to optimize the intake and exhaust systems, integrate the control system and integrate with the transmission. Each machine has its own unique features regarding engine integration. ”
The company also noted that in addition to ensuring proper integration of all components in the engine, repair shops should have all the necessary spare parts to maintain the health and readiness of any machine. In October, 2015, the company Honeywell received a contract worth 20 million dollars from the US Army under the TIGER contract to continue to supply parts for the AGT 1500 engine.
The company is optimistic about the future and believes that the military engine market keeps afloat, despite financial difficulties. “Although military budgets for current and new developments are limited, heavy armored vehicles will remain an integral part of the armed forces for decades to come. In addition to new projects, there is still a huge number of heavy armored vehicles around the world that need new upgrades and major repairs. Funding for new development programs will be limited, which, as a result, will bring to the fore the modernization of existing machines and systems. ”
www.shephardmedia.com
www.cummins.com
www.mtu-online.com
www.honeywell.com
www.cat.com
www.wikipedia.org
Family BTR-60 / 70 / 80 in combatIs the "old" well forgotten to become the "new"? Part-2. At the call of honor and duty
Wheel 21 January 2016 06: 51
The style is some kind of advertising ...
Sweles 21 January 2016 11: 17
much has been said about their engines, but what about ours, better or worse? civilians must be assumed worse, otherwise Mercs and Kamins would not have crawled onto our cars. And this situation does not strive for improvement; our engines are all kinds of their engines or with their configuration. Why is that so? And why can’t they create a Russian computer in any way? Someone needs this and those at the very top ...
Amurets 21 January 2016 15: 40
The topic is very complicated! Yes, the style is almost advertising, I agree. But we also have problems. The problems are that we have just begun to switch to 4 valve heads. Turbo-charging has just begun to be applied on army engines. Fuel equipment is rather cumbersome. This I’m writing not general phrases, but specifically I had to deal with the repair and maintenance of ICE. The author is right when he says that it is necessary to reduce the filter resistance, but on a civilian, electronically controlled injection pump systems are effective, but in the army, where the EURO norms do not apply, I would not go over l to these fuel supply systems, since they are less reliable. Sulfur in the fuel has a double meaning: on the one hand it is a harmful additive, on the other it is the lubrication of parts of the fuel-supplying equipment. There are many examples when, without the use of special lubricating additives to fuels and lubricants, the fuel equipment had a life of 10000 km . And lubricants are also needed of very high quality, especially oils, since they are not only used for lubrication but also for cooling parts of the CPG. There are many problems with materials. If for army ICEs, relatively few there’s a lot of high-quality materials. For the citizen, I won’t go into details. Over the past 25-30 engine powers have doubled: For diesel engines from 25hp / l to 5o and above, for gasoline from 50-55ls / l to 100-125ls / l . Who the specialist will understand what quality materials should be and in what quantities.
Fox 21 January 2016 07: 25
the question is: what do they put on a headband in helmets dviglo? is it fighting? or have it grown already?
inkass_98 21 January 2016 07: 31
The issue of paying insurance, I suppose. Something will fall on the leg, and the insurance will say that the conditions of the policy are not met - and the mustache, heal for your own.
DanSabaka 21 January 2016 08: 17
there are too many people, here is a helmet and is needed, so that you do not fight with your foreheads .....
cth; fyn 21 January 2016 10: 45
Instead of the usual orange helmet, TB. I have a belazist friend, so according to the requirements of TB, I must wear a helmet when leaving the car.
We seem to be more concerned about the issues of our own engine building and the substitution of what we did not do before.
KLV 21 January 2016 09: 14
I wonder why this aluminum cooling system is better than copper? In terms of heat capacity, copper and brass are much better than aluminum.
gjv 21 January 2016 12: 53
Quote: KLV
Just the same specific heat of copper 0,385 kJ / (kg · K) 2,3 times smaller specific heat of aluminum is 0,903 kJ / (kg · K). In this case, the same volume of pipes and radiators made of aluminum will be 3,3 times lighter copper.
Another thing is that copper is about twice as strong as aluminum. However, this lends itself to strength calculations. And if aluminum strength is enough, then it is better to cool the cooling system.
Mavrikiy 21 January 2016 18: 38
"I wonder why this cooling system made of aluminum is better than copper? Copper and brass are much better than aluminum in terms of heat capacity."
Correctly. The copper cooling system is better than aluminum. Only here it is not heat capacity that matters, but the thermal conductivity, with which copper is all right. But then the economy comes into play: copper is expensive. aluminum is cheap. Here as a result of optimization it turns out - aluminum.
By the way, heat capacity is a parameter for heating, and not for heat transfer, which is more important for cooling.
gjv (3)
The best cooling system is made of gold, in terms of parameters, and aluminum is only from "ECONOMY". Comprivet.
doework 21 January 2016 10: 31
The article is interesting, even if it is a bit like an advertisement .. but the fact that engine building, as the forefront of all mechanical engineering - an archival position - is understandable to anyone. Learn, study, study, and - do better!
max702 21 January 2016 11: 39
Yes exactly! it became interesting to me, for example Cummins also offers its V903 engine (525-675 hp) with a capacity of 14,8 liters, and our engine for BMP-3 UTD-29 500 l / s with a volume of 26.5 l and its turbocharged version UTD-32 660 l / s with the same 26.5 l .. It turns out that the bourgeoisie remove 45.6 l / s from a liter, and we 24.9 .. So .. flashed the truth infa what was done on the basis of UTD-32 version with 813l / s, but somehow it went quietly and not noticeably. with engines we always, as it were, was not very good, the temples, both in terms of power and efficiency, did not please, they often put the omnivorousness of our engines in a plus, but this reflected on the resource .. Alas, but why, being able to build the world's best rocket and aviation We somehow bypassed internal combustion engines and did not achieve much success in this field .. This is especially true for civilian engine building and the lack of a good small-volume diesel engine from 4.5-2l stands out in it as a complete failure. PETROL engines are still installed on UAZ and Gazelles !!! This alone leads to dire economic inefficiency. in recent years, especially with the advent of the YaMZ-534 \ 536 family, there have been shifts with in the middle segment of engines, but in the small range of 3.5-1.5 liters there was no good engine and no .. What is it? Not the manufacturer's interest? Or the customer's laziness? In the USSR, it is understandable that no one wanted to deal with such small things, and gasoline was "free" for users of this technique, but now the situation is different! I see a way out like this, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, but buy a license for a long-tested and worked-out engine of this group, the options are dark, this is Mercedes and Toyota and Nissan and others .. The Chinese produce such a range of engines, Brazilians, Mexicans and others .. And only we have a failure here .. Although the sales market for engines of this category is truly huge! These are all Gazelles, Oise, Niva .. Millions of units! But for some reason this is not interesting to anyone ..
Quote: max702
buy a license for a long time ago tested and used engine of this group
Not everything is so simple. License is a license, but you also need equipment. Specifically production lines, but they are expensive. In July-August Stepashin showed in Barnaul a whole gamut of small and medium-capacity diesel engines. Stapashin said we will do it and that in a week, it seems, Stepashin was removed from the premieres and no one cared about these ICEs, while in 70-80 a whole range of new engines was being developed at the YaMZ; ZiLe; MMZ and in Barnaul at the AMZ. factory, entered AutoUral. Where are they? Were experienced Vases with diesel engines.
Quote: Amurets
Not so simple. Licensing with a license, but still need equipment. Specifically production lines, but they are expensive
So I also meant the purchase of a full cycle! You can also buy out old equipment, it's not expensive! What do you think licensed engines in China and other countries do? And once again about the "expensive" a couple of three years ago, the Tatra plant was sold for a measly 8.5 million dollars, and this with all the shops, not sold out machines and, most importantly, with all the intellectual property of the patent! Have you bought ours? NO! Fucked up this opportunity! In 2020, "Gelik" is removed from production due to non-compliance with pedestrian protection standards (too square) .. Do you think they will buy? Why do we need it? We'd rather harass a goat 469 .. It's not funny at all about environmental standards, if a prepared machine can meet the standards and keep within the same from the assembly line is very unlikely .. and the standards themselves are more like divorce, and squeezing money out of the manufacturer first, but then from the buyer .. but about what happened, let's forget, she died so died .. The question is what to do now? We see how our engine-building design bureaus work, so well, they nafig, buy a normal licensed engine with production and we will be happy, the people will remember this decision well in 30-40 years, as the students remembered kindly, and the wartime doji. ...
How our engine building design bureaus work, we see
The factories in Yartsevo and Kustanai were almost ready, but the USSR collapsed inappropriately. Two plants were working in Tutaev. YaMZ began producing 6-cylinder Renaults on a fairly fresh line purchased in France. TMZ produces engines of the 140x140 840 series and further of the series up to 880. With small diesel engines, we really have problems and blame something that we don’t have correctly, but we don’t have engine design bureaus. In principle, all ICEs are the same, they differ in attachments. So, the production of fuel equipment , we also don’t have bearings in fact. The Dmitrovograd plant, in essence, makes high-quality bearings from imported tape. And the worst thing is the lack of modern fuel equipment, and Bosch is not going to develop our floor valuable production. Even on ZiL, in Yartsevo, fuel equipment at the time of the USSR was supposed to be delivered with ready-made kits for assembly in Yartsevo and this was not connected with CMEA, but with license prohibitions and the Czechs honestly executed them. It’s been a long time to understand this topic. But motor industry in China developed due to the fact that in the USA, in the pursuit of cheap labor, they dismantled their plants and transferred them to the PRC.
Those problems that you voiced are understandable, but something needs to be done! There is an option all by ourselves, once again I repeat if for aviation and missiles we do this and here we can, the question is how long and how much expensive, the engine is needed yesterday! So the choice is simple, buy, steal, threaten, etc., industrial espionage. bribing officials, and others are sometimes not the purest methods .. But the main thing is to attend to this problem at the BEST level, otherwise nothing will work, alas! On one fuel inefficiency, we lose a huge amount of money, thereby reducing the competitive advantages of our economy, this is a global question! Everything can be done and plants can be bought and licenses and so on up to entice specialists. will need to do it and that's it!
Chtononibrator 21 January 2016 16: 16
The point is environmental standards, and this is complication, electronics. So it turns out to the average uncle Vasya that benzone is dearer than a European diesel engine even 15 years ago. Yes, and let out quite an old diesel way to nowhere.
mkpda 21 January 2016 10: 54
It seems that the article was translated by an electronic translator, or the translation was performed by a person far from technology.
abc_alex 21 January 2016 11: 07
How did you get these foreign samogvalki ...
Maegrom 21 January 2016 12: 49
Most of all I liked the thesis that military engines appear to work less and their resource can be reduced in favor of power. It’s probably great to stay somewhere between Rakka and Mosul without an engine or in a gorge in Afghanistan, etc.
Zaurbek 21 January 2016 15: 39
Our diesel engines can work for a long time in isolation from the service and are as repairable as possible. MTU are tied to the service. What approach is right here, I don’t know. Reducing engine volumes in civilian cars and in the military are two different things. Read about the T-90 trials in India and Kuwait. Not every tank passed them, but ours passed. In addition to pure mechanics, the design of military units also requires military experience, which not all countries have.
Olegmog 21 January 2016 20: 25
I would like to add fuel to the fire! The complete lack of automatic
gearboxes for heavy machinery. It’s not unimportant to remove it from the driver,
the same infantry fighting vehicle or armored personnel carrier, gear shift function. This is a decrease in fatigue,
error exclusion when choosing a gear, especially on low bearing soils
ability. Etc.
wanderer_032 26 January 2016 16: 47
Quote: Olegmog
It’s not unimportant to remove it from the driver,
This is only necessary for the cross-eyed, who do not know how to use manual transmission. Normal mech.vod or the driver shifts the desired gear at the right time - intuitively. And much faster than any automatic system.
Squinting morons, in the workplace of mechanical water - nothing to do.
On tractors from 500 hp they put AT to exclude the human factor. Clutch is often harnessed, especially when transporting cargo.
Jager 23 January 2016 13: 26
A living example. I have two cars - a modern Jaguar and a 34-year-old AZLK 2140. Moskvich's mileage is 170 t.km. WITHOUT A BULKHEAD, work on DIESEL oil, God knows what kind of antifreeze, using gasoline "as it is - we pour it", attachments, except for the starter - everything is native. Yes, low-powered, yes, noisy, flowing, in need of constant adjustment - but it is still alive and working. But the Jaguar passed 120 t.km. Replacement of all bearings on timing rollers, pump, fuel equipment glitches, problems with collector air leaks, incredible difficulty in repair even in good service - but powerful, flexible, modern - what is more important? It's like Sherman and T-34. The best tank for service in peacetime and equipment for war. Here everyone chooses for himself.
volunteer 14 March 2019 23: 00
If you analyze the car, then many bottlenecks will open. 1 Engine, 2 Transmission. 3 undercarriage with suspension. 4 Body. 5 fuels and lubricants. In each we are inferior to the world level. Name the technique in which we are not inferior? As I see it, the reason is the global attitude to the ENGINEER! For the past 10 years, I have not been able to find support from manufacturers to the president. For example, when I turned to the "holy of holies of the Russian automotive industry" NAMI with a proposal to increase the specific power of the engine by 60%, they sent me an explanation signed by great scientists that my solution was a compressor that consumes energy. Like in the internal combustion engine, this function is missing! Moreover, air compression requires 25% of the power. Although, as I know, 50%.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line447
|
__label__wiki
| 0.914835
| 0.914835
|
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel
Melissa Jayne Fawcett
Mohegan, United States
Georgetown University; University of Connecticut; Fairfield University
Author, Storyteller
Gladys Tantaquidgeon
http://www.melissatantaquidgeonzobel.com
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (born March 24, 1960) is a Mohegan author, historian, and storyteller who serves as both the Medicine Woman and Tribal Historian for the Mohegan Tribe.[1] In addition, she is executive director of the tribe’s cultural and community programs department.[2] Also a prolific writer, Zobel has published many books including the historical biography, Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon, and the futuristic novel Oracles. Some publications appear under her maiden name of Melissa Jayne Fawcett.[3]
1 Education and family
Education and family[edit]
Tantaquidgeon Zobel served as high school president of The Williams School in New London, Connecticut. After receiving her B.S.F.S. in History and Diplomacy from Georgetown University, where she was both a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society and recipient of the Lorenze Tsosie Native American Scholarship. Zobel earned an M.A. in History from the University of Connecticut—the school from which both her mother, Jayne Fawcett, and great-aunt, Dr. Gladys Tantaquidgeon, received degrees.[4][5][6][7] Both are prominent Mohegan figures.[5] Jayne Fawcett grew up on the home site of Reverend Samson Occom, one of the first Christian American Indian ministers.[5] Gladys Tantaquidgeon founded what is now the oldest Indian-run museum in the United States, the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum,[8] in 1931.[9] Dr. Tantaquidgeon also trained the young Zobel in tribal oral traditions, beliefs and sacred practices.[4] Following her death on November 1, 2005, Dr. Gladys Tantaquidgeon’s life and accomplishments were acknowledged in a New York Times article.[10] In 2012, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel earned the degree of M.F.A. from Fairfield University.[11] She has three children: Madeline Fielding Sayet, Rachel Sayet, and David Sayet.
Zobel has served as the storyteller of the Mohegan Tribe and traveled all throughout New England.[4] She has held a number of prestigious tribal positions and elected posts, including the Mohegan Federal Recognition Coordinator from 1992 to 1994 and the first Native American Gubernatorial Appointee to the Connecticut Historical Commission in 1994.[7] As an author, her first recognized work came in 1992, when she was awarded the first annual Non-Fiction Award of the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.[4][12] This accolade was presented for her manuscript, The Lasting of the Mohegans.[4][12] Zobel later became the first American Indian appointed by Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr. to the Connecticut Historical Commission.[4] In 1996, Zobel also received the first annual Chief Little Hatchet Award, given in recognition of her efforts in fostering the survival of the Mohegan people.[4] Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel lives in Connecticut with her husband and three children.[12] Zobel also won a $10,000 essay contest in 2009 for an essay in which she shared her perspectives on the difficulties and opportunities of the current economic and political landscape.[13][14] Additionally, Zobel won a top national award for "The Accomac Business Model." [13] The contest, called "Native Insight: Thoughts on Recession, Recovery & Opportunity," was sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives, in partnership with the National Congress of American Indians and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.[13]
Publications[edit]
Wabanaki Blues. Poisoned Pencil, 2015. ISBN 978-1929345120
Fire Hollow. Raven's Wing Books, 2010. ISBN 0980100453 [15]
Makiawisug: The Gift of the Little People. Little People Pubns, 1997. ISBN 0965693325 [16]
Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. University of Arizona Press, 2000. ISBN 0816520690 [17]
Oracles: A Novel. University of New Mexico Press, 2004. ISBN 0826331912 [18]
The Road to Elsewhere. Scribes Valley Publishing; First edition, 2009. ISBN 0974265276 [19]
The Lasting of the Mohegans: Part I, The Story of the Wolf People. The Mohegan Tribe, 1995. ASIN B0006QGXTK [20]
^ "Raven's Wing Book's Authors". Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. Raven's Wing Books. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
^ Jacobson, Erica. "Norwich Bulletin". Tantaquidgeon relative named Mohegan tribal medicine woman. Norwich Bulletin. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ Zobel, Melissa. "Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel". Native American Author. Melissa Zobel. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ a b c d e f g "The Official Website of the Mohegan Tribe". Government. The Mohegan Tribe. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^ a b c "Great Tribal Leaders of Modern Times: Jayne Fawcett". Indigenous Governance Database. The University of Arizona. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ "Heritage". Gladys Tantaquidgeon. The Mohegan Tribe. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ a b "Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel". Academia. Academia. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
^ "Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum". Visit CT. Connecticut Office of Tourism. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
^ Sayet, Rachel. "From the Mohegan Tribal Museum to Harvard to NMAI: An Intern's Journey (So Far)". The National Museum of the American Indian. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ "Gladys Tantaquidgeon, Mohegans' Medicine Woman, Is Dead at 106". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ "MFA in Creative Writing: A Sample of Publications by Our Alumni". Fairfield University. Fairfield University. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
^ a b c "Fawcett, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (Mohegan)". Native Authors. The Greenfield Review Press. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ a b c Toensing, Gale Courey. "Mohegan Medicine Woman Wins $10,000 Essay Contest". Indian Country. Today Media Network. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
^ Zobel, Melissa. "The Accomac Business Model". Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
^ "Fire Hollow". Amazon. Raven's Wing Books. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^ "Makiawisug: The Gift of the Little People". Amazon. Little People Pubns. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^ Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. University of Arizona Press. 2000. Retrieved 6 April 2013 – via Internet Archive. medicine trail.
^ "Oracles". Google Books. University of New Mexico Press. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^ "The Road to Elsewhere". Google Books. Scribes Valley Publishing. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^ "The Lasting of the Mohegans: Part I, The Story of the Wolf People". Amazon. The Mohegan Tribe. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melissa_Tantaquidgeon_Zobel&oldid=988502367"
Native American writers
American non-fiction writers
Mohegan people
Georgetown University alumni
Fairfield University alumni
American women non-fiction writers
Native American people from Connecticut
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line448
|
__label__cc
| 0.60344
| 0.39656
|
Lou Schick
As Director of Investments for Clean Energy Ventures, Lou brings more than twenty years of experience as a technologist in large and small companies and investing in early and growth stage companies. In his investing role, Lou works with deal teams to source, screen, and diligence new investments, as well as support portfolio companies on technology, markets, strategy, and commercialization.
Prior to joining Clean Energy Ventures, Lou was co-founder, partner, and CTO at NewWorld Capital, which focused on investments in later stage clean energy companies. Notable investments at NewWorld included a pre-IPO round with Solar Edge and growth round with Astrum Solar.
Prior to NewWorld, Lou served as a Managing Director at Ritchie Capital, a hedge fund, where he oversaw a legacy portfolio of energy and environmental businesses. Prior to Ritchie, he also ran the high-power product line of direct methanol fuel cells for MTI micro overseeing a team of engineers developing battery replacement technologies for military and civilian application.
From 1997 to 2005, Lou held a variety of positions at General Electric’s Corporate Research and Energy groups. Lou facilitated GE’s entrance into both solar and wind energy. He also led GE’s solid oxide fuel cell program which developed novel cathode materials, hybrid cycles, and unique deposition-based manufacturing processes. In his role as head of the solid oxide fuel cell program, Lou led a team with more than 100 scientists and researchers in five facilities and participated in strategic partnership negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, and government relations.
Lou currently serves on the advisory committee for National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Climate Communications Initiative and has participated in expert panels and the assessment of ARPAe awards. Lou is an active speaker at energy and technology conferences and has established a strong network of relationships with national labs and university technology and TLOs to help commercialize innovative technologies.
Lou was trained as a physicist and co-authored papers in accelerator physics, space physics, and biophysics as well as earning ten granted US patents. He holds a B.S. in Physics from Union College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and an M.S. in Physics from Cornell University.
Ramsay Siegal Jacqueline Ros Amable
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line450
|
__label__wiki
| 0.965488
| 0.965488
|
Dispatch: The Frontman vs. al Qaeda The Frontman vs. al Qaeda...
The Frontman vs. al Qaeda
Meet Jamal Maarouf, the West's best fighting chance against Syria's Islamist armies.
By Susannah George
| March 11, 2014, 11:39 PM
DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images
ANTAKYA, Turkey — In this Turkish town, just miles from the Syrian border, Jamal Maarouf has traded his military fatigues for simple civilian dress. He sits in a narrow apartment in the town’s old city; a tangle of charging smartphones rests in the middle of the room. The leader of the Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF), a moderate rebel alliance, is surrounded by his commanders and advisors, who are perched on overstuffed couches and thin foam mattresses.
Maarouf is only here for the day, and plans to return to the battlefield later that night. "I am a fighter," he says. "I eat and sleep with my men, and during the battles I’m always with them on the front line. I feel their pain."
Maarouf has been the big winner of the recent push by rebel groups to oust the extremist al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), from northern Syria. His alliance was one of the first to launch the fight against ISIS, winning a series of quick, decisive victories in early January that shot it to prominence both inside Syria and out. Islamist rebels have also gradually joined his cause: The Islamic Front, the country’s largest rebel alliance, has repeatedly clashed with ISIS, while Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria, issued an ultimatum last week calling on ISIS to submit to mediation or be exterminated.
The SRF is a collection of moderate rebel groups, about 25,000 fighters in all, bound more by their common cause to roll back Islamist influence in Syria than a specific ideology. The group was formed in early December by uniting 14 factions with particularly strong representation in the northern Idlib province, including Maarouf’s Syrian Martyrs’ Brigade, Ahrar al-Shamal, and the Idlib Military Council.
While an estimated 3,000 anti-Assad fighters have been killed in the infighting against ISIS, Maarouf believes that the effort to expel the jihadist group is only making the rebel cause stronger. He claims the fight has healed the divisions that previously plagued the rebel forces, and transformed the opposition into stronger, more effective fighters.
"It’s a positive situation," he says. "Now around 70 percent of Syria’s opposition groups are unified and together they’re doing well, securing many victories against both the regime and [ISIS]."
Maarouf’s actions have led some to hope that he could be a rebel commander that the West could wholeheartedly support — someone with influence on the ground, and no extremist tendencies. He maintains close ties with Syria’s Western-backed political leadership in exile, most recently becoming one of the few commanders to endorse the peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, last month. On the eve of the negotiations, Syrian National Coalition head Ahmad Jarba paid Maarouf a battlefield visit — an effort to use the moderate rebel commander as proof that the opposition coalition had influence on the ground in Syria.
Maarouf says he would be open to Western support, and it’s not hard to see why his political and religious views make him a potentially attractive partner for those concerned with the rise of Islamist extremists. "I love my country and I am a practicing Muslim," he explains, "but my religion preserves dignity and freedom for other people as well."
The rebel commander says he’s fighting for an inclusive Syria with a representative government: "The real Syrian people don’t like terrorism or extremism, they’re a tolerant people," he says.
Maarouf’s lack of any defined ideology had led to condemnations from rival groups that he had joined Syria’s war for little more than his own enrichment. Hassan Aboud, a leader of the Salafist brigade Ahrar al-Sham, has called Maarouf’s men "gangs," accusing them of attacking and stealing from other members of the opposition. After the Islamic Front, an umbrella alliance for Islamist militias of which Aboud is a top official, was accused of pillaging warehouses being used by the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, Aboud shot back, saying that Maarouf "should not forget he was one of the first to steal from the Free Syrian Army." As a result of such condemnations, support for his Syrian Martyrs’ Brigade dwindled throughout much of 2013.
"In terms of the Syrian conflict all together, I think he’s predominantly been seen as an opportunist," says Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha center. "For a period of time prior to the formation of the SRF under his leadership, his popular support on the ground had reduced significantly and he was almost decried within certain circles."
All this turned on a dime when Maarouf first took on ISIS. In the SRF’s first battle against ISIS, his forces routed the jihadists from the strategically important town of Atareb, near the Turkish border. Maarouf justifies his struggle against ISIS in explicitly religious terms: "The Quran says you have your religion and I have mine," he says, but continues with a caveat. "God also says you can attack anyone if he attacks you, even if he is a Muslim."
For Maarouf and his men, this confidence has translated into an influx of weapons and cash — mostly from Saudi Arabia, Maarouf says. The rebel commander shrugs off a question about whether his close ties to the kingdom are problematic for someone who claims to fight only for the Syrian people.
"Saudi Arabia supported the revolution from the beginning," he says, unruffled. "Until now we haven’t received any other support, so we thank Saudi Arabia very much for all they have given us."
So far, Maarouf appears to be successfully balancing his role as a simple military commander with his need to woo powerful allies abroad for guns and money. Anti-Assad Syrians, meanwhile, are watching closely to see whether he can emerge as a leader strong enough to rid their country of both Assad and the jihadists.
On the other side of Antakya’s old city, two Syrian businessmen with ties to a number of rebel groups — some of whom are critical of Maarouf — chat about the day’s news over flutes of sweet tea.
When the subject of Maarouf comes up, one of the men pauses. "Let’s be honest, nobody in this war in Syria is completely clean," he sighs, betraying a hint of exhaustion with the endless search for a leader to champion. "But at least for me as a Syrian, Maarouf does what I want, he represents the true Syria."
Tags: Default, Dispatch, Free, Middle East, Syria, Web Exclusive
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line451
|
__label__wiki
| 0.745634
| 0.745634
|
Media Release by The Hon Kate Ellis MP
Community organisations to reduce violence against women with disabilities
Joint Media Release with:
The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Social Inclusion and Member for Sydney
Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis and Minister for Social Inclusion and Member for Sydney Tanya Plibersek have announced new funding today two community organisations supporting women with disabilities to take action to reduce violence against women.
The Minister for the Status of Women, Kate Ellis today announced that People with Disability Inc in NSW and Montagu Community Living in Tasmania will share in almost $400,000 as part of the Government’s National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022.
“Shockingly, nearly one in three Australian women experience physical violence since the age of 15, and almost one in five women are victims of sexual violence,” Ms Ellis said.
“Women with disabilities are often more vulnerable to this type of gendered violence and that is why our Government knows we need to work with community organisations on the ground, with expertise in disability, to promote relationships that are based on respect.”
“All forms of violence against women are unacceptable – in any community and in any culture – and it is everyone’s responsibility to reject and prevent violence.”
“These grants will support activities that prevent, respond to, and speak out against violence, change community attitudes and behaviours, and encourage community responsibility to support the reduction of violence against women with disabilities.”
The Australian Government will provide:
$147,720 over three years to People with Disability to develop and roll out a domestic violence abuse and neglect training package focused on women with intellectual disability, staff and service providers.
$250,000 to Montagu Community Living to deliver its Find a Friend, Keep a Friend project to support women with disabilities in Hobart and Glenorchy.
People with Disability Executive Director, Michael Bleasdale said the grant will help the organisation carry out a training project that will provide “women with intellectual disability, and staff that support them, with the knowledge and skills necessary to identify what their rights are, what it looks like when these rights are being violated, and the complaints mechanisms they can access in order to achieve positive change.”
Minister for Social Inclusion and Member for Sydney Tanya Plibersek said she was delighted to announce this new investment for local community organisation People with Disability.
“There is limited knowledge about how best to address and support women with intellectual disability who are affected by domestic violence,” she said.
“Through this training package, staff and service providers across Australia will have access to the latest knowledge and skills to help them identify violence against women with disabilities, and what systems can help prevent violence from occurring.
Montagu Community Living CEO, Mary Gays is pleased about the grant as it acknowledges “that the needs of women who live with a disability have been recognised as a priority area, requiring targeted interventions in the prevention of violence against women.
“Women living with a disability have an increased vulnerability to domestic violence and often have difficulties initiating, developing and maintain friendships, and our project aims to encourage participation in a skill building training course which enables them to learn from and be supported by other women living with a disability,” she said.
The Australian Government has committed $3.75 million for Community Action Grants, which will be distributed amongst 17 community and sporting organisations across the country.
A range of funded projects will support different communities, with these two projects specifically supporting women with disabilities – one of the grant’s priority groups.
A copy of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 is available from www.fahcsia.gov.au.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line452
|
__label__cc
| 0.617874
| 0.382126
|
Faculty Forum (Moderator: mir) »
Type 2 diabetes may be reversible:
Author Topic: Type 2 diabetes may be reversible: (Read 676 times)
A UK trial study has found that type 2 diabetes could potentially be reversed through weight loss, and with the long-term support of a medical professional.
The initial findings come from an ongoing trial study called DiRECT (Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial), which aims to find an effective accessible way to put type 2 diabetes into remission long-term.
Led by Professor Roy Taylor, from Newcastle University, and Professor Mike Lean, from Glasgow University, the study recruited 298 people and gave half standard diabetes care from their GP, while the other half were placed on a structured weight management program which included a low calorie, nutrient-complete diet for three to five months, food reintroduction, and long-term support to maintain weight loss.
The team found that diabetes remission was closely linked with weight loss, with almost nine out of 10 people (86%) who lost 15kg or more putting their type 2 diabetes into remission.
Over half (57%) of those who lost 10 to 15kg also achieved remission, along with a third (34%) of those who lost five to 10kg.
In comparison, only 4% of the control group, who received standard care, achieved remission.
Professor Taylor, lead researcher of the DiRECT trial, commented on the first year results saying, "These findings are very exciting. They could revolutionise the way Type 2 diabetes is treated."
"The study builds on the work into the underlying cause of the condition, so that we can target management effectively. Substantial weight loss results in reduced fat inside the liver and pancreas, allowing these organs to return to normal function. What we're seeing from DiRECT is that losing weight isn't just linked to better management of Type 2 diabetes: significant weight loss could actually result in lasting remission."
Type 2 diabetes is a life-changing condition which progresses over time with potentially devastating consequences.
Remission could transform the lives of millions of people living with or at risk of the condition, reducing the risk of developing serious complications such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease or stroke.
DiRECT is a two-year trial, with Dr Elizabeth Robertson, Director of Research at Diabetes UK, commenting that, "We're very encouraged by these initial results, and the building robust evidence that remission could be achievable for some people."
"The trial is ongoing, so that we can understand the long-term effects of an approach like this. It's very important that anyone living with Type 2 diabetes considering losing weight in this way seeks support and advice from a healthcare professional."
The results can be found published online in The Lancet.
(copied)
munira.ete
Re: Type 2 diabetes may be reversible:
Thnx Ma'm.
murshida
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line453
|
__label__cc
| 0.59852
| 0.40148
|
https://forum.sis-group.org.uk/
Water Levels of the Great Lakes
https://forum.sis-group.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=191
Posted: Fri 16 Oct 2020 2:15 pm
by barry
On the 30th of September 2020 a repeat of a programme titled Drain the Great Lakes was shown on Television. The programme presented evidence that quite recently, that is since the Great Lakes were sculpted by glacial ice, there has been a period when the water level of the lakes was quite a bit lower than at the current time. The lakes were quite a bit smaller and only connected by rivers; although not Lakes Erie and Ontario, because the water level in Lake Erie was below the level of the Niagara Falls barrier. The lower water level was attributed to climate change, but no attempt was made to explain the climate change except to suggest that greatly reduced rainfall must have been experienced for quite some time.
There is, however, another possibility. It could be that when the Great Lakes were closer to the North Pole, as they would have had to have been if, as suggested in earlier postings, the Phoenicians had visited the lakes and mined copper on Isle Royale and elsewhere around Lake Superior, the water table of the whole region would have been lower. Centrifugal force created by the rotation of Earth raises the sea level at the equator which means that the closer you get to the poles the lower the sea level is. If the North Pole was located close to the South East of Greenland as suggested by this analysis of the situation, drainage of central Canada, the current source of the Great Lakes water supply, could have been redirected into the Hudson Bay. With the North Pole that close the sea level of Hudson Bay would have been well below the current level and it is possible that the whole of North Eastern Canada had a much reduced water table.
The television programme told of a possibly successful underwater investigation for evidence of people having built hunting traps on a drowned ridge crossing one of the lakes, but did not say anything about any other Great Lakes underwater archaeological investigations. Is it possible that underwater exploration around Isle Royale could reveal drowned copper mine workings?
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line454
|
__label__wiki
| 0.836331
| 0.836331
|
« Cyberpunk 2077 gets a fresh new trailer
Thy Sword review for PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Switch »
Totally Reliable Delivery Service review for PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Reviews, Xbox One
by Matthew Pollesel
Also on: PC, Xbox One, Switch
Developer: We’re Five Games
Medium: Digital
Online: Yes
ESRB: E
It’s hard to review a game like Totally Reliable Delivery Service. Like Goat Simulator years ago, it’s broken in a lot of ways…but it’s intentionally broken, which makes it difficult to tell where the line is between bad on purpose and just plain bad.
That said, I think Totally Reliable Delivery Service comes a lot closer to that line than Goat Simulator ever did. In fact, it may just outright cross it. Where a game like Goat Simulator occasionally reached some surprisingly impressive highs if you stuck with it long enough, with Totally Reliable Delivery Service, you’ll find that the whole thing has diminishing returns pretty quickly.
It’s not that the basic idea isn’t fun — it is. You (and friends, if you want) control — in the loosest sense of the term — a klutzy delivery driver, and you have to try and deliver all kinds of packages from Point A to Point B. Much like Human Fall Flat or QWOP, you have far more control over your driver’s limbs than you would in most other games, and the resulting flailing is good for a laugh or two. On top of that, some of the packages are explosive, which means the game makes good use of its ragdoll physics.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of times where the flailing and the falling feel more like a design flaw than something intended to make the game more enjoyable. Like, one time I dropped a package off in the designated area, and my character ended up getting stuck as well. Similarly, any time I tried getting into a vehicle — which is a must in this game, seeing as you have an open world full of deliveries to make — it was a hit-or-miss proposition. Sometimes I’d make it in, but just as frequently I’d phase through the vehicle entirely. One time, trying to get into a plane, I ended up rolling around beneath the wing, unable to do anything else. While it may be fun once or twice, when it happens over and over again, the humour evaporates pretty quickly.
Which is the other big flaw with Totally Reliable Delivery Service: it gets really repetitive really fast. Sure, the packages change, but it’s still all Point A to Point B while fighting with lousy physics. I’ll admit that I only played the game solo, so it’s quite possible things are improved by the presence of other people, but even still, I can’t see how that would make it substantially better. After all, there are only so many times you can flop around helplessly before it stops being funny.
In other words, Totally Reliable Delivery Service is the definition of a one-note joke that wears out its welcome pretty quickly. You’ll experience pretty much everything it has to offer in the first few minutes of playing it, and it’s the sort of game best experienced as part of a YouTube compilation, rather than something you need to play on your own.
tinyBuild GAMES provided us with a Totally Reliable Delivery Service PS4 code for review purposes.
$75 PlayStation Store Gift Card [Digital Code] (Software Download)
Tags: nintendo switch, ps4, tinybuild games, totally reliable delivery service, we’re five games, xbox one
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line455
|
__label__wiki
| 0.909653
| 0.909653
|
Apex Legends To Introduce Solo Mode | Limited Time Update
By Purab Kashyap | July 20, 2020 August 8, 2019
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 4, 2019, without any prior announcement or marketing.
ABOUT GAMEPLAY
The gameplay of Apex fuses elements from a variety of video games, including Respawn's own Titanfall series, battle royale games, class-based shooters, and those with evolving narratives. Approximately sixty players are pitted against each other on an island in squads of three, with one player controlling where their squad lands. The squads then must scavenge for weapons and other resources to fight other squads, during which the play area gradually constricts in size until one squad remains, thus ending the match. The game also features care packages and the ability to revive your teammates within a certain amount of time. Communication with team members can be done through voice chat or through a ping system, allowing teammates to mark supplies, locations, and enemies with ease. The game features nine heroes to choose from (though three of them are locked by default), and features a microtransaction system for cosmetic items.
The concept for the game came to fruition during the development of a new Titanfall game, after EA's acquisition of Respawn in 2017. The sudden success of the battle royale genre prompted the developers to create one of their own that incorporates elements of the series, in addition to the concepts seen in games throughout the past decade. Following its release, the developers announced plans for cross-platform play.
Apex Legends received very positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, progression system, and fusion of elements from various genres. Some considered it a worthy competitor to Fortnite Battle Royale, a similar game that had gained massive popularity in the previous year. The game surpassed over 25 million players by the end of its first week, and 50 million within its first month.
SOLO MODE
Apex Legends will finally get the taste of solo mode which is a good news for the players and fans of the game. There was always the want for solo mode in apex legends. And the news is confirmed by the official tweet from the Apex Legend's team about the solo. But the bad news is that they are introducing solo mode for limited time only, i.e from 13 August to 24 August. The apex players and fans can enjoy the solo mode for a week as per the official tweet by the apex team.
You can check the tweet from following link : https://twitter.com/PlayApex/status/1158784910594674688
You can even check the small promo video with the video from above link.
The Apex Legends will be testing the solo mode with quick update release soon and for now the temporary solo mode will be released which can be permanent in the future updates.
Subscribe to us and never miss an update on Apex Legends.
Categories Aged Posts, Gaming, News & Updates, PC Post navigation
Sony PlayStation 5: Price Details, Release Date, Specs & Games.
TEAM INDIA FINAL ROSTER REVEALED - OVERWATCH WORLDCUP 2019
About Purab Kashyap
Founder and Featured Writer at Gamzo. Esports Analyst and Programmer :D
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line456
|
__label__wiki
| 0.593834
| 0.593834
|
Putin, Dozens Of Other Leaders Gather In China For 'Belt And Road' Summit
April 25, 2019 update April 25, 2019
China's $1 trillion Belt and Road initiative seeks to create new rail, road, port, and energy infrastructure that links China with Europe, Africa, and other parts of Asia.
Leaders from dozens of countries have begun arriving in Beijing to attend the April 25-27 Belt and Road Forum.
The United States and many EU countries have criticized China's project and its lending for regional infrastructure efforts, warning that it has saddled some developing countries with debts that they cannot afford to repay.
The high-profile meeting brings together dozens of heads of states, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country became the first G7 member to sign up to the initiative.
Putin arrived in Beijing for the summit late on April 25 after talks earlier in the day with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Russia's Far East port city of Vladivostok.
EU members Germany and France are sending ministers, while the United States has not dispatched any officials from Washington.
"We call upon all countries to ensure that their economic diplomacy initiatives adhere to internationally accepted norms and standards, promote sustainable, inclusive development, and advance good governance and strong economic institutions," a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said.
The 37 heads of state that will attend the forum also include Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev.
Since Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the initiative in 2013, China has invested $90 billion in projects while Chinese banks have provided at least $200 billion in loans to foreign governments.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line457
|
__label__cc
| 0.701435
| 0.298565
|
Deploying mobile devices? A few questions to consider.
By William Jackson
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is using the MaaS360 cloud-based service to manage mobile devices in its enterprise; but before any agency fully implements a program for using mobile devices in the workplace, whether agency-issued or BYOD, there are questions that must be answered.
More MDM
NOAA: From BlackBerry to iPhones, Androids and (maybe) BYOD
As the agency moves to new platforms it is using a cloud-based service to learn how to effectively manage mobility across the enterprise, and possibly allow personal devices. Read more.
Provisioning and securing the devices is done through policy enforcement, and policies have to be developed to mesh with the agency’s mission, said Daniel McCrae, NOAA’s director of IT service delivery. The agency’s use of government-issued iPhones and Android devices now is limited, as NOAA tests the waters and answers questions about how the devices are to be used and managed.
The first step in developing a program for mobile devices is to determine the agency’s mission requirements, and then identify policies and protocols for supporting those requirements. These policies then can be used to development the functional requirements for a mobility management platform.
There are a variety of issues to be considered in establishing policy that are likely to vary from agency to agency, and even from one job to another within an agency. Resolving some of these issues can involve working with human resources departments and employee unions as well as security and IT shops.
Geolocation is one issue. Most smartphones come with GPS capability, which not only is a valuable function for the user but also can be used to track the device. There are advantages to this, including the ability to locate lost or stolen devices. But this also tracks the user, which can be a sensitive issue, especially when the device is being used off-duty.
“We’re not going to enable that, because we don’t want to track our employees,” McCrae said.
There are several questions involving application provisioning. Should the agency set up its own app store for approved applications, or use the stores provided by Google and Apple? Should employees be allowed to acquire their own apps? NOAA now is issuing phones to select employees, but there is an expectation that they also will be put to personal use. The limit of controls on personal apps has to be determined, and a technique for enforcing it decided on. Should the agency use a white list (allowing only specified applications) or a black list (banning specified applications)?
What happens when an employee leaves the agency? A government device obviously will have to be left behind, but what about the personal information it contains and the applications the employee has bought? If the agency allows workers to use their own devices on the job, to what extent with it be able to wipe or clean up the personal device upon departure?
How is NOAA handling these issues? “That’s a work in process,” McCrae said.
William Jackson is a Maryland-based freelance writer.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line459
|
__label__wiki
| 0.877626
| 0.877626
|
Home / Books / History / 100 Years of the RAF
100 Years of the RAF
100 Years of the RAF quantity
Categories: Books, History Tags: 100th Anniversary, RAF ISBN: 9781782813262
The Royal Air Force has been central to the evolution of air power for 100 years. It is also the oldest independent air force in the world with origins that take it back to the earliest days of flight. Formed in April 1918 while the outcome of the First World War was still in doubt the Royal Air Force has played a vital part in the defence of Britain and her allies for a century.
100 Years of the Royal Air Force is a fast-paced and authoritative account of the history, the aeroplanes, the technology and the people who have flown and fought for the service and it is illustrated with more than 150 great images from a wide variety of sources. It tells of the early days when the RAF was formed from the merger of the RFC and the RNAS; the fight to stay independent in the inter-war years; the vitally important battles fought during the Second World War – the Battle of Britain, the bomber campaign, Coastal Command’s fight to maintain Britain’s sea lanes and the tireless work of Transport Command. The coming of jet aircraft revolutionised the work of the RAF as did the advent of flight refuelling, the missile and many other key inventions.
The modern Royal Air Force may now be smaller and constrained by budgets, but it has maintained its reputation as an agile, adaptable and capable force and is still the envy of the world.
Colin Higgs
Be the first to review “100 Years of the RAF” Cancel reply
THE PFA PREMIER & FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS’ RECORDS 1946-2015
National Trust Histories – The Lake District
National Trust Histories – Cornwall
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line460
|
__label__wiki
| 0.935152
| 0.935152
|
The current state of 5G in France
5G network launches follow spectrum allocation in October
France was one of the latest countries in Western Europe to launch 5G. Mobile operators in the country announced their initial 5G deployments in November and December after telecommunications regulator Arcep made available suitable spectrum for 5G in October. Here, we briefly describe the initial availability of 5G announced by French carriers.
Iliad subsidiary Free Mobile launched commercial 5G services in the country in December. The telco said that its 5G network already has 5,255 active sites across France, which enables the carrier to cover almost 40% of the country’s overall population.
Free Mobile also said that its 5G network already covers rural areas as well as towns and cities.
For its 5G network, Free Mobile currently uses frequencies in the 700 MHz band as well as frequencies in the 3.5 GHz band which Free acquired in the French spectrum auction in 2020.
The operator said that its current spectrum enables broad coverage and good indoor reception thanks to the so-called low frequencies (700 MHz), as well as ultra-fast speeds, thanks to 70 megahertz in the midband (3.5 GHz).
Free Mobile also highlighted that it is principally using European equipment for developing its 4G and 5G networks.
Bouygues Telecom recently announced that its 5G coverage has already reached 67 cities with a population of over 50,000 since the commercial launch of its 5G services on December 1.
The telco said that its 5G rollout has reached over 1,000 municipalities across the country.
Bouygues Telecom initially launched 5G in 20 cities across France. Some of the cities covered by the company’s 5G network are Lyon, Nice, Cannes, Montpellier, Avignon, Reims, Le Havre, Toulon, Dijon, Villeurbanne, Le Mans, Aix-en-Provence, Boulogne-Billancourt, Metz, Versailles, Saint Denis, Argenteuil, Rouen, Montreuil et Nancy.
The French operator said it expects to achieve nationwide coverage by the end of 2021. The current roll-out phase will rely on the 3.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands.
SFR announced that its 5G service will be available in 120 towns and cities in France by the end of December. The telco had initially launched its 5G commercial network in Nice in November.
Some of the large cities to be covered by SFR’s 5G network include Bordeaux, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Nantes, Nice and Paris.
Orange was expecting to launch its commercial 5G services in 15 municipalities in December. Some of the cities where the 5G service will be initially available are Nice, Marseille, Le Mans, Angers and Clermont Ferrand. By the end of 2020, more than 160 municipalities will be covered with 5G, according to Orange’s initial plans.
The operator said it has chosen to initially cover areas that are already heavily used in order to avoid any risk of saturation.
5G spectrum and coverage specifications
The main auction for 3.4-3.8 GHz frequencies for the provision of 5G in France was completed in early October.
In this spectrum auction, local operators Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad committed to pay a total of 2.8 billion euros ($3.4 billion) for a total of 11 blocks of 10 megahertz of spectrum.
Telecom regulator Arcep’s specifications for the 5G auction stipulate that each operator must launch 5G services in at least two cities before the end of 2020. Each carrier should deploy 3,000 sites by 2022, 8,000 sites in 2024 and 10,500 sites by 2025.
Eventually, all of the cell sites must provide a 5G service using frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band or other bands, according to the regulator.
Arcep also proposed that 25% of 3.4-3.8 GHz band sites in the last two stages must be located in sparsely populated areas, targeting economic activity, notably manufacturing, excluding major metropolitan areas.
Previous articleSouth African regulator gets six applications for 5G spectrum auction
Next articleHow battery life could be the major mobile computing fight of 2021
Nvidia’s graphics card lineup just got a whole lot more confusing at CES 2021
US Sanctions Russian Attackers for 2020 Election Interference
Twitter Updates its Efforts to Tackle COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation
The next 16-inch MacBook Pro could leave Intel-based Macs in the dust
Celebrate Fallout 76’s Bombs Drop Day with a Free Play Week, Sales, and In-Game...
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line461
|
__label__wiki
| 0.702782
| 0.702782
|
This Year in Ransomware Payouts (2020 Edition)
Ransomware has come to be a customary instrument in the arsenal of cybercriminals who routinely attack individuals and organizations. Under such circumstances, their victims experience financial damage either by ending up paying the ransom or by bearing the price of recovering from attacks. It’s now fairly obvious that becoming a ransomware target is no longer an “if”, but rather a “when” presumption. In a piece I wrote at the end of last year, I examined the biggest ransomware payments of 2019. To keep the tradition going, I’ve also tracked this year’s publicized cyberattacks so, at this time, I will review the highest ransomware payouts of 2020.
Ransomware statistics and trends in 2020
51% of businesses were targeted by ransomware (source).
There was a 40% surge in global ransomware, reaching 199.7 million hits (source).
By the end of 2020, ransomware costs are projected to reach $20 billion for all businesses (source).
The average ransomware payment demand was $233,817 in Q3 2020 (source).
1 in 5 SMBs and 4 in 5 MSPs were targeted by ransomware attacks (source).
The rise of Ransomware during COVID-19
Malicious hackers have taken advantage of the uncertainty and instability created by this year’s pandemic, at the same time amplified by the work-from-home movement adopted by companies unprepared to deal with remote set-ups.
Unfortunately, the 2020 events shaped a prosperous environment for cybercriminals who were hunting for increasingly larger compensations and consequently resorted to ransomware.
Naturally, as people wanted to relieve their sense of confusion, coronavirus-related web searches increased. As a result, cybercriminals started to conceal ransomware and disguise it as COVID-19 materials, seeking to trick victims into accessing fake websites or downloading malicious applications.
During this period, researchers found that the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a 72% growth in ransomware attacks.
An example of a Covid-19-related ransomware attack has been spotted in Italy, one of the most affected countries. A type of ransomware dubbed “[F]Unicorn” started spreading through a fake contact tracing app, that promised to offer real-time updates related to new infections. After installing the application, users would notice that their data had been encrypted and could read a ransom note written in Italian, which demanded them to pay EUR 300 in three days – otherwise, their data would be erased. The “good” news here was that, according to CERT-AgID, the password for encrypting the files was sent in plain text, so it could be recovered from the network traffic logs. This indicated that [F]Unicorn was the creation of an inexperienced attacker with little technical expertise, who used the code from an already-known ransomware strain.
Other victims were targeted through commonly used software such as Microsoft Office. Recently, security researchers discovered a phishing document targeting staff at the University of British Columbia (UBC) with a fake COVID-19 survey, which used template injection to download and execute a remote template that included a malicious macro. When the macro was executed, it dropped the Vaggen ransomware and demanded a payment in Bitcoin, the equivalent of $80.
First reported fatality triggered by ransomware
Tragically, the first human death as a result of ransomware took place this year. The incident happened on September 10, when the Dusseldorf University Hospital, the nearest institution to a woman who required immediate medical attention, was shut down due to a ransomware attack. Consequently, the patient had to be transferred to another hospital 30 km away, but sadly, it was too late.
By exploiting a flaw in commercial software, the criminals obtained access to the network and more than 30 of the hospital’s internal servers were encrypted with ransomware, causing it to close down all facilities, including the emergency unit. After being approached by the police, the attackers issued the decryption key without requesting the ransom payment.
Major ransomware payouts of 2020
Moving on to the largest ransomware payments of 2020, you’ll notice how easily organizations of all sizes can become victims of crippling cyber-attacks.
Without further ado, below you will find the biggest ransomware payouts of 2020.
#10. City of Florence
Amount paid: $300,000
Ransomware: DoppelPaymer
On June 5, ransomware attackers breached the IT networks of City of Florence, Alabama. After the intruders unleashed the attack, they encrypted the City’s systems and requested Bitcoin worth almost $300,000. City officials decided to pay the ransom fee, seeking to keep their residents’ personal details off the Internet.
On May 26, acting in response to information received from Hold Security, KrebsOnSecurity contacted the Florence mayor’s office to inform them that a ransomware group had taken control of a Windows 10 system in their IT environment.
The computer and the Windows network account that was flagged as compromised were isolated by an administrator. However, a few days later, Florence Mayor Steve Holt announced that the city’s email system was shut down by a cyberattack. At the time, there was no evidence of ransomware, according to Holt.
However, Holt later admitted in an interview with KrebsOnSecurity that the City’s systems had been infected with DoppelPaymer, a ransomware type used by a cybercriminal group with a reputation for negotiating some of the largest extortion payments, with attacks involving hundreds of popular ransomware strains.
The mayor stated the same group seemed to have concurrently infiltrated networks belonging to four other victims an hour away from Florence, including another municipality he refused to name. Holt mentioned that the scam artists originally requested 39 bitcoins (USD $378,000), but the offer had been negotiated down to 30 bitcoins (USD $291,000) by an independent security company hired by the city.
Holt declared that the city couldn’t have risked having the personal and financial records of its citizens compromised by not paying.
Image source: Crowdstrike
DoppelPaymer operators are generally known for stealing massive amounts of data from victims before releasing the ransomware, and then threaten to reveal or distribute the information unless a ransom demand is paid. This practice is commonly employed by many ransomware cyber criminals, who typically infiltrate a target’s network for weeks or even months before initiating an attack.
#9. Tillamook County
Ransomware: Sodinokibi
Tillamook County fell victim to a ransomware attack on January 22, 2020. The servers, internal computer systems, and website went down, and their phone systems and email networks were affected as well. Their IT environment was disabled for around two weeks.
Officials announced that a $300,000 ransom was paid to restore computer access. Commissioner Bill Baertlein said if the amount went unpaid, it would have taken 12-24 months and cost $1 million to decrypt the county’s computer system.
Image source: PCRisk
The attack was allegedly carried out by a multinational cyber-criminal group – dubbed REvil (also known as Sodinokibi or Sodin), an extremely lucrative ransomware-as-a-service operator.
#8. Yazoo County School District, Mississippi
Ransomware: Unconfirmed
In October, a school board in Mississippi voted to pay $300,000 to restore files that were encrypted during an alleged ransomware attack.
After malicious actors breached the information technology infrastructure of the Yazoo County School District, a federal investigation was opened.
“Last week, the Yazoo County School District detected a potential cyber event impacting certain devices on our network. We took our IT systems offline to investigate and address. National cyber-security firms were engaged to assist. We also reported this to federal law enforcement,” said Barron Superintendent Dr. Ken Barron in a statement released by the school.
Dr. Ken Barron informed the WLBT news that on Monday, 12 October, the institution became aware of the cyberattack. Barron also stated that the attack did not involve payroll, cafeteria transactions, and the school’s phone, fire alarm, and burglary systems.
#7. University of Utah
The University of Utah announced on July 19, 2020, that they become the target of ransomware. A $457,000 ransom was paid to stop cybercriminals from disclosing data captured during the attack.
In the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (CSBS) branch, the malware encrypted their servers. As part of the operation, before locking up their devices, the malicious actors also stole the university’s data.
“After careful consideration, the university decided to work with its cyber insurance provider to pay a fee to the ransomware attacker. This was done as a proactive and preventive step to ensure information was not released on the internet,” stated their data security incident notification.
#6. Communications & Power Industries (CPI)
CPI – a major electronics manufacturer for defense and communications (military devices and equipment, such as radar, missile seekers, or electronic warfare technology) – also became a victim of a high-profile ransomware attack this year.
The incident took place in mid-January and shortly after, the defense contractor paid a ransom of about $500,000.
A user with the highest level of privileges (a domain admin), accessed a malicious link as they logged in, which contained the ransomware. Since thousands of endpoints on the network were on the same, unsegmented domain, the encrypting malware rapidly extended to all CPI offices, as well as to its on-site backups.
A few machines holding sensitive military data were restored using the decryption key, which was obtained after the organization paid the ransom. It was said that one system had files linked to Aegis, a naval arms system developed by Lockheed Martin.
System admins waste 30% of their time manually managing user rights or installations.
Thor AdminPrivilege™
is the automatic Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution
which frees up huge chunks of sys-admin time.
Automate the elevation of admin rights on request;
Approve or reject escalations with one click;
Provide a full audit trail into user behavior;
Automatically de-escalate on infection;
#5. Delaware County, Pennsylvania
In November, Delaware County, Pennsylvania paid a $500,000 ransom after their systems were infected with DoppelPaymer ransomware.
The Bureau of Elections and the County’s Emergency Services Department were not impacted and were on a different network than the affected one.
According to local media, the ransomware operators managed to access networks that contained police reports, payroll, purchasing, and other sensitive information. The attackers demanded a $500,000 ransom in exchange for the decryptor. The payment was covered by their cyber insurance.
#4. University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
Amount paid: $1,14 million
Ransomware: Netwalker
The University of California at San Francisco paid a ransom demand of $1.14 million to recover files encrypted by ransomware.
The institution was attacked on June 1, when ransomware was discovered in the systems of the UCSF School of Medicine. The IT staff attempted to isolate the infection, which prevented the malware from extending to the core UCSF network and producing additional damage.
The school said the attack did not affect their patient care delivery operations, overall campus network, or COVID-19 work. However, the UCSF servers used by the school of medicine were encrypted.
The Netwalker ransomware gang was believed to be responsible for the attack.
The BBC closely followed the Dark Web negotiation made between Netwalker and the UCSF. The malicious hackers first asked for a ransom of $3 million, which was disputed by the UCSF with a $780,000 proposal. The university’s offer was declined and negotiations eventually led to the agreed figure of $1,140,895, paid in Bitcoin.
The threat actors offered a decryption key and said they would erase data stolen from the servers. However, it is uncertain whether the attackers actually kept their promise.
#3. Travelex
Amount paid: $2,3 million
Following a ransomware attack on New Year’s Eve, Travelex, a London-based foreign currency exchange that does business in 26 countries, paid $2.3 million to regain access to its records. The event crippled the company for weeks.
Travelex’s payment and the sum were not announced until April 2020, but the company reported the ransomware attack shortly after it happened.
The Sodinokibi gang claimed to have accessed and then copied and encrypted 5 GB of data from Travelex’s network. Initially, the cybercriminals allegedly requested $6 million to decrypt the information.
Travelex agreed to pay a $2.3 million ransom after several weeks of negotiation and consulting its partners and associates. Sources said they confirmed the payment in an online conversation with members of the Sodinokibi group.
#2. CWT Global
Ransomware: Ragnar Locker
According to a record of ransom negotiations seen by Reuters, the US travel services company CWT paid $4.5 million to malicious hackers who stole vast amounts of their confidential business files and said they had taken 30,000 computers down.
Image source: Reuters
A type of ransomware dubbed Ragnar Locker was used by the attackers, which encrypts data files and makes them unusable until the user pays for access to be recovered.
In an anonymous chat room, the ongoing discussions between the hackers and a CWT official remained publicly open, offering a remarkable glimpse into the complex connections that can be created between cybercriminals and their victims.
CWT said it had notified U.S. law enforcement and European data privacy agencies immediately.
A source familiar with the investigation believed the number of compromised machines was significantly smaller than 30,000.
According to the messages inspected by Reuters, the hackers initially requested a ransom of $10 million to recover CWT’s files and erase all the stolen data. In the talks, the CWT official, who said that they were speaking on behalf of the Chief Financial Officer of the company, said the organization was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and agreed to pay $4.5 million in Bitcoin.
The hackers reported having stolen two terabytes of data, including financial records, security documentation, and personal details of employees such as email addresses and salary information. Whether the data belonging to some of CWT’s customers (including Thomson Reuters) was hacked was not known.
#1. Garmin
Amount paid: $10 million (disputed)
Ransomware: WastedLocker
Garmin experienced a worldwide outage on July 23rd, 2020, where their clients could not access their services. BleepingComputer was the first one to announce the incident after Garmin’s employees exchanged images of encrypted workstations.
The cyber assault was carried out by the operators of WastedLocker Ransomware.
Source: BleepingComputer
Employees later revealed that the ransom demand was $10 million.
Garmin suddenly announced that they were beginning to restore services after a four-day shutdown, which led the public to believe that they had paid the ransom to obtain the decryptor. However, the company declined to comment.
BleepingComputer obtained access to an executable developed by the Garmin IT department used to decrypt a workstation and install a range of security tools on the device.
WastedLocker is a ransomware strain with no known vulnerabilities in its encryption algorithm. The absence of flaws only suggests that it would not have been possible to create a decryptor for free.
“To obtain a working decryption key, Garmin must have paid the ransom to the attackers. It is not known how much was paid, but as previously stated, an employee had told BleepingComputer that the original ransom demand was for $10 million.”, notes Lawrence Abrams.
To pay, or not to pay?
Today’s organizations live and breathe data, which is why ransomware victims are inclined to pay. One may think that as a result of paying the ransom the issue will simply disappear, however, this will not always be the case.
In fact, studies have shown that half of ransomware victims who pay the ransom never get their data back.
Here are the top three reasons why HeimdalTM always advises both individuals and organizations to never pay the ransom:
There’s no guarantee that all your data will be decrypted. It could only be partially recovered, or not at all.
You will never find out if your data has already been sold on the dark web.
This practice fuels future attacks – in a nutshell, this is why ransomware attacks still work.
In addition, if you’re a US-based company, paying the ransom might also get you in trouble with the federal government. On October 1st, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released an advisory indicating that paying ransoms may be unlawful in certain situations. All entities that pay could breach the OFAC legislation and thereby be subject to investigation and stiff penalties, regardless of whether the victim or a third-party (such as a cyber insurance company) arranged the payment.
How to prevent ransomware infections in your organization
As a general rule, prevention is always much better and easier than the cure. Luckily, there are numerous steps you can take to prevent ransomware, such as keeping backups, performing regular patching, using multi-factor authentication and strong passwords, introducing programs for your employees’ education, and using the appropriate cybersecurity tools.
What’s more, you should always plan your company’s protection in layers, from the bottom up.
Your first anti-ransomware layer of protection should be your employee cybersecurity awareness training. This should far exceed the simple understanding of how to recognize an attack, but rather include rigorous and continuous education. Your staff needs to grasp the motivations behind a ransomware attack, what to do if they believe the company has been targeted, how their actions will influence the final outcome, and what the recovery process will include if an attack turns into an outbreak.
With reference to cybersecurity tools, I suggest you check out HeimdalTM’s Threat Prevention suite, which proactively offers DNS, HTTP, and HTTPS filtering at the perimeter and endpoint-level. Our proprietary technologies, DarkLayer™ GUARD and VectorN Detection™ act jointly to enhance the DNS filtering process with AI-based behavioral analysis and detection. As part of our endpoint cybersecurity suite, but also of our perimeter-based solution, they offer excellent defenses against complex cyber aggressions.
Besides, HeimdalTM’s Automated Patch Management module helps organizations fix software vulnerabilities, achieve compliance, and uniquely prevent and stop ransomware, APTs, data leaks, exploits, and more.
Ransomware attacks leave no organization behind, regardless of industry or size. We can always expect such attacks to be even more frequent than we’ve seen so far, which means that organizations and home users alike will always be vulnerable. All things considered, try to do everything in your power to avoid becoming yet another ransomware attack case study.
If you liked this post, you will enjoy our newsletter.
Receive new articles directly in your inbox
Previous articleDecade-Long Data Silo Designed to Address Google-Fitbit Privacy Concerns
Next articleWooden Camera Unified Accessories for Sony FX6 Announced | CineD
New white paper shows how SuperDSS can facilitate early introduction of 5G
Great moments in PC gaming: The XCOM mission with the fish
gadgetpage - September 6, 2020 0
Schedule your Christmas lights with these outdoor smart plugs
Walmart teams up with Microsoft on a potential TikTok deal
MacDroid: A Solution for Android file transfer – Social Media Explorer
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line462
|
__label__cc
| 0.649497
| 0.350503
|
Nine interesting foreign language research findings you may not know about
July 7, 2015 December 27, 2016 Gianfranco Conti, Phd (Applied Linguistics), MA (TEFL), MA (English Lit.), PGCE (Modern Languages and P.E.) General pedagogy, Language acquisition principles, Teacher Ed. and professional development, Uncategorized
In this post I am going to share with the reader a very succinct summary of 9 pieces of research I have recently come across which I found interesting and have impacted my classroom practice in one way or another. They are not presented in any particular order.
Green and Hecht 1992 – Area: Explicit grammar instruction and teaching of aspect
Green and Hecht investigated 300 German learners of English. They asked them to correct 12 errors in context and to offer an explanation of the rule. Most interesting finding: the students could correct 78 % of the errors but could not provide an explanation for more than 46 % of the grammar rules that referred to those errors. They identified a set of rules that were hard to learn (i.e. most students did not recall them) and a set of easy rules (the vast majority of them could recall them successfully). Their implications for teaching: the explicit teaching of grammar may actually not work for all grammar items. For example, the teaching of aspect (e.g. Imperfect vs Preterite in Spanish), would be more effectively taught, according to them, by exposure to masses of comprehensible input (e.g. narrative texts) rather than through the use of PPTs or diagrams on the classroom whiteboard/screen – in fact Blyth (1997) and Macaro (2002a) demonstrated the futility of drawing horizontal lines interrupted by vertical ones to indicate that the perfect tense ends the action.
My conclusions: I do not entirely agree with Blyth and Macaro that explicit explanation of grammar in the realm of aspect does not work and I do like diagrams (although they do not work with all of one’s students). However, I do agree with Green and Hecht (1992) that the best way to teach aspect is through exposure to masses of comprehensible input containing examples of aspect in context. The grammar explanation and production phase may be carried out at a later stage.
Milton and Meara (1998) – Comparative study of vocabulary learning between German, English and Greek students aged 14-15 years.
197 students from the three countries studying similar syllabi for the same number of years were tested on their vocabulary. The findings were that:
1.The British students’ score was the worst (averaging at 60 %). According to the researchers, they showed a poor grasp of basic vocabulary ;
2.They spent less time learning and were set lower goals than their German and Greek counterparts;
3. 25 % of the British students scored so low (after four years of MFL learning) that the researchers questioned whether they had learnt anything at all.
The authors of the study also found that British learners are not necessarily worse in terms of language aptitude; rather, they questioned the effectiveness of MFL teaching in the UK.
My conclusions: this study is quite old and the sample they used may not be indicative of the overall British student population. If it were, though, representative of the general situation in Britain, teachers may have to – as I have advocated in several previous blogs of mine – consciously recycle words over and over again, not just within the same units, but across units.
Moreover a study of 850 EFL learners, by Gu and Johnson (1996), may indicate an important issue underlying our students poor vocabulary retention; they found that students who excelled in vocabulary size were those who used three metacognitive strategies in addition to the cognitive strategies used by less effective vocabulary learners : selective attention to words (deciding to focus on certain words worth memorizing), self-initiation (making an effort to learn beyond the classroom and the exam system) and deliberate activation of newly-learnt words (trying out using that word independently to obtain positive or negative feedback as to the correctness of their use) . Teaching should aim, in other words, at developing learner autonomy and motivation to apply all of these strategies independently outside the classroom.
Knight (1994) – Using dictionaries whilst reading – effects on vocabulary learning
Knight gave her subjects a text to read on a computer. One group had access to electronic dictionaries whilst the other did not. She found that those who did use the dictionary and not simply guessing strategies, actually scored higher in a subsequent vocabulary test. This and other previous (Luppescu and Day, 1993) and subsequent studies (Laufer & Hadar, 1997; Laufer & Hill, 2000; Laufer & Kimmel,1997) suggest that students should not be barred from using dictionaries in lessons. These findings are important for 1:1 (tablet or PC) school settings considering the availability of free online dictionaries (e.g. www.wordreference.com).
Anderson and Jordan (1998) – Rate of forgetting
Anderson and Jordan set out to investigate the number of words that could be recalled by their informants immediately after initial learning, 1 week, 3 weeks, and 8 weeks thereafter. They identified a learning rate of 66%, 48%, 39%, and 37% respectively. The obvious implication is that, if immediately after learning the subjects could not recall 66 % of the target vocabulary, consolidation should start then and continue (at spaced intervals – through recycling in lessons or as homework) for several weeks. At several points during the school year, I remind my students of Anderson and Jordan’s study and show them the following diagram. It usually strikes a chord with a lot of them:
Erler (2003) – Relationship between phonemic awareness and L2 reading proficiency
Erler set out to investigate the obstacles of learners of French as a foreign language in England. She studied 11-12 year olds. She found that there was a strong correlation between low level of phonemic awareness and reading skills (especialy word recognition skills). She concluded that explicit training and practice in the grapheme-phoneme system (i.e. how letters/combination of letters are pronounced) of French would improve L1-English learners’ reading proficiency in that language. This find corroborates other findings by Muter and Diethelm (2001) and Comeau et al (1999). The implications is that micro-listening enhancers of the like I discussed in a previous blog (e.g. ‘Micro-listening skills tasks you may not do in your lessons’) or any other teaching of phonics should be performed in class much more often than it is currently done in many UK MFL classrooms.
Please note: teaching pronunciation and decoding skills instruction are not the same thing. Pronunciation is about understanding how sounds are produced by the articulators, whilst teaching decoding skills means instructing learners on how to convert letters and combination of letters into sound. Also, effective decoding-skill instruction occurs in communicative contexts (whether through receptive or productive processing) not simply through matching sounds with gestures and/or phonetic symbols.
Feyten (1991) – Listening ability as predictor of success
Feyten investigated the possibility that listening ability may be a predictor of success in foreign language learning. The researcher assessed the students at pre-test using a variety of tasks and measures of listening proficiency. After a ten-week course she tested them again (post-test) and found that there was a strong correlation between listening ability and overall foreign language acquisition, i.e.: the students who had scored high at pre-test did better at post-test not just in listening, but also in written grammar, reading and vocabulary assessment. Listening was a better predictor of foreign language proficiency than any other individual factor (e.g. gender, previous learning history, etc.).
My implications: we should take listening more seriously than we currently do. Increased exposure to listening input and more frequent teaching of listening strategies are paramount in the light of such evidence. Any effective baseline assessment at the outset of a course ought to include a strong listening comprehension component; the latter ought to include a specific decoding-skill assessment element.
Graham (1997) – Identification of foreign language learners’ listening strategies
This study investigated the listening strategies of 17-year-old English learners of German and French. Amongst other things she found the following issues undermining their listening comprehension. Firstly, they were slow in identifying key items in a text. Secondly, they often misheard words or syllables and transcribed what they believed they had heard thereby getting distracted. Graham’s conclusions were that weaker students overcompensated for lack of lexical knowledge by overusing top-down strategies (e.g. spotting key words as an aid to grasp meaning).
My implications are that Graham’s research evidence, which echoes finding from Mendelsohn (1998) and other studies, should make us wary of getting students to over-rely on guessing strategies based on key-words recognition. Teachers should focus on bottom-up processing skills much more than they currently do, e.g. by practising (a) micro-listening skills; (b) narrow listening or any other listening instruction methodology which emphasizes recycling of the same vocabulary through comprehensible input (N.B. not necessarily through videos or audio-tracks; it can be teacher-based, in absence of other resources); (c) listening with transcripts – whole, gapped or manipulated in such a way as to focus learners on phoneme-grapheme correspondence.
Polio et al. (1998) – Effectiveness of editing instruction
Polio et al. (1998) set out to investigate whether additional editing instruction – the innovative feature of the study – would enhance learners’ ability to reduce errors in revised essays. 65 learners on a university EAP course were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group who wrote four journal entries each week for seven weeks. Whereas the control group did not receive any feedback, the experimental group was involved in (1) grammar review and editing exercises and (2) revision of the journal entries, both of which were followed by teacher corrective feedback. On each pre- and post-tests, the learners wrote a 30-minute composition which they were asked to improve in 60 minutes two days later. Linguistic accuracy was calculated as a ratio of error-free T-units to the total number of T-units in the composition.
The results suggested that the experimental group did not outperform the control group. The researchers conjectured that the validity of their results might have been undermined by the assessment measure used (T-units) and/or the relatively short duration of the treatment. They also hypothesised that the instruction the control group received might have been so effective that the additional practice for the experimental group did not make any difference.
The implications of this study are that editing instruction may take longer than seven weeks in order to be effective. Thus, the one-off editing instruction sessions that many teachers do on finding common errors in their students’ essays to address the grammar issues that refer to them, are absolutely futile, unless they are followed up by extensive and focused practice with lots of recycling.
Elliott (1995) – Effect of explicit instruction on pronunciation
Elliott set out to investigate the effects of improving learner attitude toward pronunciation and of explicitly teaching pronunciation on his subjects (66 L1 students of Spanish). He compared the experimental group (which received 10-15 minutes of instruction per lesson over a semester) with a group of students whose pronunciation was corrected only when it impeded understanding. The results were highly significant, both in terms of improved accent and of attitude (92 % of the informants being positive about the treatment). The experimental group outperformed the control group.
Implications: this study , which confirms evidence from several others (e.g. Elliot 1997; Zampini, 1994), confirms that explicit pronunciation instruction is more effective than implicit instruction whereby L2 learners are expected to learn pronunciation simply by exposure to comprehensible input. Arteaga’s (2000) review of US Spanish textbooks found that only 4 out of 10 Spanish textbooks include activities attempting to teach pronunciation. I suspect that the figure may be even lower in the UK. In the light of Elliott’s findings, this is quite appalling, as the mastery of phonology not only is a catalyst of reading ability but also of listening and speaking proficiency as well as playing an enormous role in Working Memory’s processing efficiency in general (see my blog: ‘ Eight important facts about Working Memory’).
How the brain acquires foreign language grammar – A Skill-theory perspective
July 7, 2015 February 15, 2020 Gianfranco Conti, Phd (Applied Linguistics), MA (TEFL), MA (English Lit.), PGCE (Modern Languages and P.E.) Grammar teaching, Language acquisition principles, Uncategorized
Caveat: Being an adaptation of a section of a chapter in my Doctoral thesis, this is a fairly challenging article which may require solid grounding in Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Theories of Skill Acquisition.
1. L2-Acquisition as skill acquisition: the Anderson Model
The Anderson Model, called ACT* (Adaptive Control of Thought), was originally created as an account of the way students internalise geometry rules. It was later developed as a model of L2-learning (Anderson, 1980, 1983, 2000). The fundamental epistemological premise of adopting a skill-development model as a framework for L2-acquisition is that language is considered as governed by the same principles that regulate any other cognitive skill. A number of scholars such as Mc Laughlin (1987), Levelt (1989), O’Malley and Chamot (1990) and Johnson (1996), have produced a number of persuasive arguments in favour of this notion.
Although ACT* constitutes my espoused theory of L2 acquisition, I do not endorse Anderson’s claim that his model alone can give a completely satisfactory account of L2-acquisition. I do believe, however, that it can be used effectively to conceptualise at least three important dimensions of L2-acquisition which are relevant to type of Explicit MFL instructional approaches implemented in many British schools: (1) the acquisition of grammatical rules in explicit L2-instruction, (2) the developmental mechanisms of language processing and (3) the acquisition of Learning Strategies.
Figure 1: The Anderson Model (adapted from Anderson, 1983)
The basic structure of the model is illustrated in Figure 1, above. Anderson posits three kinds of memory, Working Short-Term Memory (WSTM), Declarative Memory and Production (or Procedural) Memory. Working Memory shares the same features discussed in previous blogs (see ‘Eight important facts about Working Memory’) while Declarative and Production Memory may be seen as two subcomponents of Long-Term Memory (LTM). The model is based on the assumption that human cognition is regulated by cognitive structures (Productions) made up of ‘IF’ and ’THEN’ conditions. These are activated every single time the brain is processing information; whenever a learner is confronted with a problem the brain searches for a Production that matches the data pattern associated with it. For example:
IF the goal is to form the present perfect of a verb and the person is 3rd singular/
THEN form the 3rd singular of ‘have’
IF the goal is to form the present perfect of a verb and the appropriate form of ‘have’ has just been formed /
THEN form the past participle of the verb
The creation of a Production is a long and careful process since Procedural Knowledge, once created, is difficult to alter. Furthermore, unlike declarative units, Productions control behaviour, thus the system must be circumspect in creating them. Once a Production has been created and proved to be successful, it has to be automatised in order for the behaviour that it controls to happen at naturalistic rates. According to Anderson (1985), this process goes through three stages: (1) a Cognitive Stage, in which the brain learns a description of a skill; (2) an Associative Stage, in which it works out a method for executing the skill; (3) an Autonomous Stage, in which the execution of the skill becomes more and more rapid and automatic.
In the Cognitive Stage, confronted with a new task requiring a skill that has not yet been proceduralised, the brain retrieves from LTM all the declarative representations associated with that skill, using the interpretive strategies of Problem-solving and Analogy to guide behaviour. This procedure is very time-consuming, as all the stages of a process have to be specified in great detail and in serial order in WSTM. Although each stage is a Production, the operation of Productions in interpretation is very slow and burdensome as it is under conscious control and involves retrieving declarative knowledge from LTM. Furthermore, since this declarative knowledge has to be kept in WSTM, the risk of cognitive overload leading to error may arise.
Thus, for instance, in translating a sentence from the L1 into the L2, the brain will have to consciously retrieve the rules governing the use of every single L1-item, applying them one by one. In the case of complex rules whose application requires performing several operations, every single operation will have to be performed in serial order under conscious attentional control. For example, in forming the third person of the Present perfect of ‘go’, the brain may have to: (1) retrieve and apply the general rule of the present perfect (have + past participle); (2) perform the appropriate conjugation of ‘have’ by retrieving and applying the rule that the third person of ‘have’ is ‘has’; (3) recall that the past participle of ‘go’ is irregular; (4) retrieve the form ‘gone’.
Producing language by these means is extremely inefficient. Thus, the brain tries to sort out the information into more efficient Productions. This is achieved by Compiling (‘running together’) the productions that have already been created so that larger groups of productions can be used as one unit. The Compilation process consists of two sub-processes: Composition and Proceduralisation. Composition takes a sequence of Productions that follow each other in solving a particular problem and collapses them into a single Production that has the effect of the sequence. This process lessens the number of steps referred to above and has the effect of speeding up the process. Thus, the Productions
P1 IF the goal is to form the present perfect of a verb / THEN form the simple present of have
P2 IF the goal is to form the present perfect of a verb and the appropriate form of ‘have’ has just been formed / THEN form the past participle of the verb would be composed as follows:
P3 IF the goal is to form the present perfect of a verb / THEN form the present simple of have and THEN the past participle of the verb
An important point made by Anderson is that newly composed Productions are weak and may require multiple creations before they gain enough strength to compete successfully with the Productions from which they are created. Composition does not replace Productions; rather, it supplements the Production set. Thus, a composition may be created on the first opportunity but may be ‘masked’ by stronger Productions for a number of subsequent opportunities until it has built up sufficient strength (Anderson, 2000). This means that even if the new Production is more effective and efficient than the stronger Production, the latter will be retrieved more quickly because its memory trace is stronger.
The process of Proceduralisation eliminates clauses in the condition of a Production that require information to be retrieved from LTM memory and held in WSTM. As a result, proceduralised knowledge becomes available much more quickly than non-proceduralised knowledge. For example, the Production P2 above would become
IF the goal is to form the present perfect of a verb
THEN form ‘had’ and then form the past participle of the verb
The process of Composition and Proceduralisation will eventually produce after repeated performance:
IF the goal is to form the present perfect of ‘play’/ THEN form ‘ has played’
For Anderson it seems reasonable to suggest that Proceduralisation only occurs when LTM knowledge has achieved some threshold of strength and has been used some criterion number of times. The mechanism through which the brain decides which Productions should be applied in a given context is called by Anderson Matching. When the brain is confronted with a problem, activation spreads from WSTM to Procedural Memory in search for a solution – i.e. a Production that matches the pattern of information in WSTM. If such matching is possible, then a Production will be retrieved. If the pattern to be matched in WSTM corresponds to the ‘condition side’ (the ‘if’) of a proceduralised Production, the matching will be quicker with the ‘action side’ (the ‘then’) of the Production being deposited in WSTM and make it immediately available for performance (execution). It is at this intermediate stage of development that most serious errors in acquiring a skill occur: during the conversion from Declarative to Procedural knowledge, unmonitored mistakes may slip into performance.
The final stage consists of the process of Tuning, made up of the three sub-processes of Generalisation, Discrimination and Strengthening. Generalisation is the process by which Production rules become broader in their range of applicability thereby allowing the speaker to generate and comprehend utterances never before encountered. Where two existing Productions partially overlap, it may be possible to combine them to create a greater level of generality by deleting a condition that was different in the two original Productions. Anderson (1982) produces the following example of generalization from language acquisition, in which P6 and P7 become P8
P6 IF the goal is to indicate that a coat belongs to me THEN say ‘My coat’
P7 IF the goal is to indicate that a ball belongs to me THEN say ‘My ball’
P8 IF the goal is to indicate that object X belongs to me THEN say ‘My X’
Discrimination is the process by which the range of application of a Production is restricted to the appropriate circumstances (Anderson, 1983). These processes would account for the way language learners over-generalise rules but then learn over time to discriminate between, for example, regular and irregular verbs. This process would require that we have examples of both correct and incorrect applications of the Production in our LTM.
Both processes are inductive in that they try to identify from examples of success and failure the features that characterize when a particular Production rule is applicable. These two processes produce multiple variants on the conditions (the ‘IF’ clause(s) of a Production) controlling the same action. Thus, at any point in time the system is entertaining as its hypothesis not just a single Production but a set of Productions with different conditions to control the action.
Since they are inductive processes, Generalization and Discrimination will sometimes err and produce incorrect Productions. As I shall discuss later in this chapter, there are possibilities for Overgeneralization and useless Discrimination, two phenomena that are widely documented in L2-acquisition research (Ellis, 1994). Thus, the system may simply create Productions that are incorrect, either because of misinformation or because of mistakes in its computations.
ACT* uses the Strengthening mechanism to identify the best problem-solving rules and eliminate wrong Productions. Strengthening is the process by which better rules are strengthened and poorer rules are weakened. This takes place in ACT* as follows: each time a condition in WSTM activates a Production from procedural memory and causes an action to be deployed and there is no negative feedback, the Production will become more robust. Because it is more robust it will be able to resist occasional negative feedback and also it will be more strongly activated when it is called upon:
The strength of a Production determines the amount of activation it receives in competition with other Productions during pattern matching.Thus, all other things being equal, the conditions of a stronger Production will be matched more rapidly and so repress the matching of a weaker Production (Anderson, 1983: 251)
Thus, if a wrong Interlanguage item has acquired greater strength in a learner’s LTM than the correct L2-item, when activation spreads the former is more likely to be activated first, giving rise to error. It is worth pointing out that, just as the strength of a Production increases with successful use, there is a power-law of decay in strength with disuse.
2.Extending the model: adding a ‘Procedural-to-Procedural route’ to L2-acquisition
One limitation of the model is that it does not account for the fact that sometimes unanalysed L2-chunks of language are through rote learning or frequent exposure. This happens quite frequently in classroom settings, for instance with set phrases used in everyday teacher-to-student communication (e.g. ‘Open the book’, ‘Listen up!’). As a solution to this issue Johnson (1996) suggested extending the model by allowing for the existence of a ‘Procedural to Procedural route’ to acquisition whereby some unanalysed L2-items can be automatised with use, ‘jumping’, as it were, the initial Declarative Stage posited by Anderson.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line466
|
__label__wiki
| 0.795167
| 0.795167
|
Operations in the Dominican Republic, Part II
On 1 June 1916, Marines aboard USS Sacramento, USS Panther, and USS Lamson went ashore to seize the strategic ports at Puerto Plata and Monte Cristi. Monte Cristi was taken without any resistance, but the Marines at Puerto Plata had to fight their way into the town, which was defended by 500 irregular forces supporting General Arias. Captain Herbert J. Hershinger, leading the Marines at Puerto Plata was killed; the first Marine killed in the Dominican Republic. Dominican loses were estimated as light because the Marines exercised great restraint while entering the city. Colonel Kane added four rifle companies as reinforcements for the Marines at Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata.
Admiral Caperton messaged the Navy Department for additional Marines for the Dominican Republic campaign. On 4 June, Major General Commandant George Barnett ordered the 4th Marine Regiment to proceed from San Diego, California to New Orleans. A week later the 4th Marines, Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton [1] (Uncle Joe), commanding, embarked aboard USS Hancock for passage to Santo Domingo. The regiment arrived in DomRep on 21 June and by his seniority, Colonel Pendleton assumed command of all land forces. The colonel and his staff began preparations for an assault against Arias’ stronghold at Santiago.
Brigadier General Pendleton USMC National Archives
Pendleton planned for two columns of Marines to converge simultaneously on Santiago. The 4th Marines with artillery would march by road from Monte Cristi; a second column consisting of the 4th and 9th companies, reinforced by Marines from ship’s detachments aboard USS Rhode Island and USS New Jersey would follow a rail line inland from Puerto Plata [2]. These two groups would form up at Navarette and aggress Santiago. The first column, the largest number of Marines —with the longest route of march, would temporarily halt its march at a half-way point to rest and resupply. The second column would seize the railroad connecting Santiago with the seacoast, thus establishing a main supply line for the combined force in its assault and later occupation of the Santiago.
Before commencing operations, Colonel Pendleton issued specific orders to his men that defined their mission and the principals that would govern their conduct in the Dominican Republic [3].
“… our work in this country is not one of invasion; we are here to restore and preserve peace and order, and to protect life and property, and to support the Constituted government. Members of this command will therefore realize that we are not in an enemy’s country, though many of the inhabitants may be inimical to us, and they will be careful to so conduct themselves as to inspire confidence among the people in the honesty of our intentions and the sincerity of our purpose. Officers will act toward the people with courtesy, dignity, and firmness, and will see that their men do nothing to arouse or foster the antagonism toward us that can be naturally expected towards as armed force that many interested malcontents will endeavor to persuade the citizens to look upon as invaders. Minimum force should be used at all times, but armed opposition or attack will be sharply and firmly met and suppressed with force of arms.”
—Joseph H. Pendleton, Colonel, Commanding
Colonel Pendleton’s Marines, consisting of 34 officers and 803 enlisted men began their 75-mile march on 26 June 1916. He organized his force with the expectation of ambush and combat. An advance guard of Marines mounted on locally procured horses led the column along the Santiago Road. They preceded the main body at a distance of 800-1,000 yards. The supply train consisted of 24 mule-pulled carts, 7 motorized trucks with trailers, 2 motorized water carts, a water wagon, a tractor pulling four carts, with eleven Ford touring cars [4] followed the main body of troops. Supplies were guarded by the 6th Company. A signal detachment maintained a tenuous telephone line between Colonel Pendleton’s headquarters and the coastal base.
On day one, the Marines marched sixteen miles without meeting enemy resistance. That night, however, one of the trucks that had been dispatched for water came under fire. Corporal Leo P. Carter, from the 13th Company, received serious wounds.
Marines march to Santiago
A major engagement occurred on the next day near Las Trencheras. Dominican rebels had prepared trenches on two hills, one behind the other, which blocked the road to Santiago. It was a strong position, but disadvantaged by flat ground, covered with thick brush high enough to conceal advancing Marines —yet, not thick enough to dissuade the Marine advance. On 27 June, Captain Chandler Campbell of the 13th Company, placed his field artillery at a position commanding the enemy’s trenches. The field guns were reinforced by machine gun squads. At 0800, Campbell opened fire on the trenches; under this fire, Marine riflemen advanced. At about 1,000 yards, the Marines encountered heavy (but inaccurate) fire. With few casualties, the Marines fixed bayonets and assaulted the Dominicans. The insurgents, not willing to engage the Marines in close combat, fled to their secondary positions. Campbell adjusted his fires and the Marines continued their assault. The battle lasted barely 45 minutes before the enemy executed a rapid withdrawal. They left behind five dead comrades. Marines experienced 1 killed and four wounded.
Withdrawal from advancing Marines was a pattern established for most engagements with Dominican insurgents. The Marines had superior arms, employed small unit maneuver, and deadly accurate fire. No Dominican rebel would hold their position against such a force. Still, the Marines had several disadvantages: there were insufficient Marines to cover such a large territory, lacked mounted or motorized transportation, communications were poor, and the Marines had no way of forcing the enemy to stand and fight. Time after time, the enemy broke ranks and ran away, only to return later to harass the Marines with sniper fire.
After Las Trencheras, Colonel Pendleton’s column pushed on toward Santiago. Aside from sniper fire and an occasional night attack, the enemy offered no substantial resistance. Poor roads and inadequate bridging did more to slow Pendleton’s progress than did any rebel defense. Despite its challenges, the supply train kept pace with the main body. Fuel was sparse, but so too was forage for animals.
The insurgents made their second major stand on 3 July at Guayacanas. A decisive engagement in the advance to Santiago, the Marines once more faced an entrenched enemy and thick undergrowth in the advance to contract. This time, field guns could not locate the concealed enemy, but machine gunners displayed laudable gallantry. They hauled their heavy guns through the brush to within 200 yards of the opposing line and laid down deadly accurate fire. First Sergeant Roswell Winans, trying to clear his jammed Colt machine gun, stood up under fire to clear a stoppage and keep his weapon in action. He was the first Marine of the 4th Regiment to win the Medal of Honor.
Infantry and machine gunners pressed the frontal attack while the 6th Company under Captain Julian C. Smith [5], fought off a rebel force that had slipped around the Marines in an attempt to attack the supply train. As before, the enemy broke ranks and fled, leaving behind 27 dead and 5 men who surrendered to the Marines. The Marines lost one man killed and ten wounded. Colonel Pendleton’s force reached Navarette during the next day.
The second column, commanded by Captain Fortson, marched along the rail line repairing bridges, track, and roadbed. Many of these men rode in improvised military trains consisting of four boxcars and a dilapidated locomotive. In front, the Marines pushed along a flatcar, upon which they had mounted a 3-inch gun. The gun proved devastatingly effective in disbursing insurgents at Llanos Perez. Captain Fortson was replaced in command by Major Hiram Bearss [6] who was remembered by Marines as someone with a peculiar fondness for force marches.
Hiram Iddings Bearss Photo from Public Domain
Major Bearss resumed the advance on 29 June, but shortly encountered a force of about 200 rebels entrenched across the railroad line at Alta Mira. Bearss sent the 4thCompany over a mountain trail to turn the defender’s right flank, while the rest of his force, supported by the train, advanced along the railroad. This combination of frontal and flank assault forced the insurgents back to a secondary blocking position in front of a railroad tunnel. As lead elements began their assault, Bearss and 60 men charged through the 300-yard-long tunnel to prevent the rebels from damaging or destroying this crucial link in the rail line. When Bearss and his Marines emerged from the tunnel, they observed the enemy running in full retreat toward Santiago. The engagement lasted about 30 or 40 minutes. Two Marines received wounds, including Second Lieutenant Douglas B. Roben. The enemy losses included 50 dead.
After making extensive repairs to the rail line and constructing a bridge, the rail column, which encountered no further resistance, joined Colonel Pendleton’s main force at Navarette on 4 July 1916. With his force united, Pendleton was poised to enter Santiago. On 5 July, civic leaders of that city sent a peace commission to Pendleton to inform him that Arias had concluded an accord with Admiral Caperton to cease all resistance. As General Arias was in the process of discharging his followers, the peace commissioned asked the Marines to delay their entry into the city, which they assured Colonel Pendleton, would be unopposed. Colonel Pendleton agreed to the delay but using caution (should Arias change his mind), rushed his Marines forward to occupy the remaining defenses between his camp and the city.
The rebels did capitulate, and on 6 July, the Marines marched into Santiago to establish the 4th Regiment’s headquarters and communications with other Marine units in Santo Domingo City. With organized resistance broken, Marine detachments took up the mission of finding and arresting rebel leaders. It was easier assigned than accomplished, however, as there was no distinction between bandit and bandit leader. Beyond arresting malcontents, the Marines began helping local communities in the reconstruction of the nation’s economy. Major Bearss and Captain Wise were instrumental in organizing a freight and passenger transportation entity. It wasn’t a glamorous arrangement, but reestablishing rail transportation was far better than having no operational railroad at all.
Before the end of July, the Marines were well into controlling the Dominican military situation, but the political situation remained dicey. On 25 July 1916, the Dominican Congress elected Dr. Francisco Henriquez y Carvajal as provisional president. Henriquez promised not to seek reelection when his six-month appointment expired. His government, however, was supported and influenced by pro-Arias factions in the legislature. President Henriquez refused to agree to two conditions set by the United States for granting his regime diplomatic recognition, which the US believed were indispensable to political stability in DomRep. First, that the Dominicans must allow American authorities to collect and disburse all of the country’s revenues, and second, that the Dominican military be replaced by a national constabulary under American supervision. It was a deadlock that lasted into the fall of 1916. Then, despite his earlier assurances, Henriquez decided to run for reelection.
Henriquez’ intransigence along with an increase in violent clashes between Marines and Dominican insurgents foreshadowed a reemergence of political deterioration within or near the capital city. The most serious of these occurred at Villa Duarte on 24 October. A detachment of Marines attempted to apprehend a noted bandit by the name of Ramon Batista, who seized a rifle and resisted arrest. Other Dominicans rallied to his aid and a shoot-out ensued during which Captain Low and Sergeant Frank Atwood were killed, along with Batista and three Dominicans. Continued public disorder and political obstinacy led the United States to conclude that it was time to take the next step. On 29 November, Captain Harry S. Knapp [7], USN (having succeeded Admiral Caperton commanding US forces) issued a proclamation placing the Dominican Republic under the military jurisdiction of the United States. Knapp asserted that the Dominican government stood in violation of the Treaty of 1907.
The US military government mission included returning DomRep to a condition of internal order that would enable it to observe the terms of the Treaty, and the obligation of restoring DomRep to the family of nations. The United States thus assumed control of all Dominican finances, law enforcement, judiciary, and its internal administration. According to Knapp’s proclamation, Dominican laws were to continue in effect so far as they did not conflict with the objectives of the occupation. Ordinary administration of both civil and criminal justice would remain the responsibility of Dominican courts and officials, except in cases involving American military personnel and/or any resistance to the military government. In those cases, matters would be resolved by US tribunals. Captain Knapp enjoined all Dominicans to cooperate with the American government, promising that occupation forces would respect the personal and property rights of all citizens and lawful residents.
As might be anticipated, most Dominicans received this news somewhat unenthusiastically, but Knapp anticipated less violence as its result. In Colonel Pendleton’s opinion, most people wanted an intervention, but were afraid to say so. Whatever they actually believed, most Dominicans seemed content to comply at least passively with Knapp’s decrees.
Of course, resistance did flare up, most of it isolated and minor, with the most serious incident taking place at San Francisco de Macoris where the governor, Juan Perez and a band of his pro-Arias followers, occupied the Fortaleza [8] in the provincial capital and refused to surrender their weapons to American forces. Governor Perez, in violation of an order to disarm, now became the focus of the Marines. On the night of 29 November 1916, First Lieutenant Ernest C. Williams [9] led a detail of twelve Marines from the 31st and 47th Rifle Companies, 4th Regiment, in a surprise assault against the Fortaleza. The two companies awaited the opportunity to support Williams as he and his hand-picked men rushed the gate, opened it, and rushed inside before guards could erect a barricade. Insurgents opened fire, wounding eight of Williams’ party, but within ten minutes, Perez and his followers had either surrendered or fled.
Other scattered clashes resulted in Marine casualties, including Captain John A. Hughes, who suffered severe leg injuries during a routine patrol near San Francisco de Macoris on 4 December. By the end of the year, senior military officials believed that the Dominicans were quieting down and settling in to American occupation. As an indication of this belief, Marine companies of the Provisional Regiment retired from service in DomRep, leaving behind the 4th Regiment in occupation of northern Santo Domingo with its headquarters at Santiago. 1st Regiment headquarters and staff remained at Santo Domingo City while subordinate organizations were returned to the United States. Redesignated 3rd Provisional Regiment, this headquarters controlled the Marine units remaining in the southern part of the country. Together, 3rd and 4th Regiments constituted the 2nd Provisional (Marine) Brigade under recently promoted Brigadier General Pendleton.
From late 1916 onward, the 2nd Brigade performed as an army of occupation to enforce the decrees of the military government and maintain public order. Initially, the DomRep was divided into two military districts: Northern District (4th Regiment) at Santiago, and Southern District (3rd Regiment) at Santo Domingo City. In 1919, the military government created a third Eastern District to address the provinces of El Seibo and Macoris, which had become centers of banditry and political unrest. The Eastern District fell under the auspices of the 15th Regiment, initially commanded by Colonel James C. Breckinridge [10]. The 15thRegiment had a strength of 50 officers and 1,041 enlisted men. With the addition of the 15th Marines, the 2nd Brigade reached a peak strength of 3,000 officers and men.
The Marines assigned to the Dominican Republic had a wide range of duties and responsibilities and to ensure that they were able to carry them out with the most flexibility, the regimental commanders had wide latitude in deploying these Marines. There were always a strong contingent stationed at important seaports because these Marines safeguarded the country’s economic and political centers, protected main lines of supply, and protected the customs houses, which remained the primary source of government revenue. Marines were also stationed in the interior regions to protect Dominicans from bandits. The DomRep is a large country, which meant that the Marines had to be dispersed over wide areas. It also meant that senior NCOs often had to make important, split second, far-reaching decisions that might otherwise be made by commissioned officers. Marine NCOs were up to the task. Frequently, a squad of eight Marines, led by a sergeant, patrolled 35 or 40 miles from their company headquarters.
Wiarda, H. J. and Michael J. Kryzanek. The Dominican Republic: A Caribbean Crucible. Boulder: Westview Press, 1982
Diamond, J. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Books, 2005
Fuller, S. M., and Graham A. Cosmas. Marines in the Dominican Republic, 1916-1924. History and Museums Division, U. S. Marine Corps, 1974
[1] Joseph H. Pendleton (1860-1942) joined the Marine Corps in 1884 and participated in combat operations during the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and a series of so-called Banana Republic wars. He received the Navy Cross for heroic service in combat. He retired in 1924 as a Major General. Camp Pendleton, California is named in his honor.
[2] This northern coast operation was devised owing to the fact that there was no passable road for a large force and supply train from Santo Domingo across the central mountain range to Santiago.
[3] Similar in content to the instructions issued by James Mattis before the assault on Iraq in 2003.
[4] Presumably used to convey the regimental staff.
[5] Julian C. Smith (1885-1975) joined the Marine Corps in 1909 and served through 1946. Lieutenant General Smith was a recipient of the Navy Cross and Navy Distinguished Service Medal. He saw combat service in Vera Cruz, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and in World War II, commanding Marine forces during the Battles of Tarawa and Peleliu.
[6] Hiram Bearss was a charismatic, aggressive leader who never felt the need to waltz when a tango would be more appropriate. In contrast, Joseph Pendleton was a thoughtful and pragmatic leader who always tried to look at a given situation through the lens of his enemy.
[7] Harry Shepherd Knapp (1858-1923) was an 1878 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy who ultimately reached the position of Vice Admiral. He commanded USS Charleston, USS Florida, and Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet. He served as Military Governor of the Dominican Republic and Military Representative of the United States in Haiti. He served during the Spanish-American War and World War I. He was the recipient of the Navy Cross.
[8] Dominican provincial capitals contained a stone-built square enclosure called a Fortaleza, which contained a barracks, offices, an armory, and occasionally, a small prison. It functioned as the political as well as military center of provincial government.
[9] Awarded the Medal of Honor.
[10] James Carson Breckinridge (1877-1942) was a member of the prominent Breckinridge family of the United States, which included six members of the House of Representatives, two US Senators, a cabinet member, two ambassadors, a vice president of the United States, college presidents, prominent ministers, military personnel, and theologians in Kentucky and Tennessee. Colonel Breckinridge received the Navy Cross during World War I for service performed as a Naval Attaché in Russia, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Breckinridge retired from active service in 1941 with the rank of lieutenant general.
Posted on 05/31/2019 04/22/2019 Categories Banana Wars, History & Traditions, Seagoing Marines4 Comments on Operations in the Dominican Republic, Part II
Operations in the Dominican Republic, Part I
It is often proclaimed that Christopher Columbus discovered America. He did no such thing. What he did do is depart Spain with no clear idea about where he was going. Then he quite miraculously bumped into an island, a large one, located in the present-day Greater Antilles. At that time, Columbus didn’t know where he was. He named the island Insula Hispana (Latin) or in Spanish, La Isla Española. When he returned to Spain, he could not, with any degree of certainty, tell his employers where he’d been. Clearly, however, Columbus did set into motion the beginning of an almost unbelievable Spanish Empire, both in terms of land and wealth.
The indigenous people of Hispaniola called themselves Arawak/Taino people. The Arawak originated in Venezuela, traveling to their island paradise around 1200 A.D. Each settlement was a small independent kingdom. At the peak of this society, there were five separate kingdoms. There may have been as many as 750,000 people living on Hispaniola.
Typical of Hispanic society, Columbus and all those who came after him enslaved the natives. It is a sad story, of course and one repeated many times at every location the Spanish conquistadores placed their boots in the Americas. Also typical of the Spaniards, interest in Hispaniola waned as Spain conquered new regions on the mainland. In 1665, the French began their colonization of the Island; they called it Santo Domingo. In 1697, Spain ceded the western third of the island to France. Santo Domingo quickly came to overshadow the eastern two-thirds in both wealth and population. Under the French, with a system of enslavement used to grow and harvest sugar cane, Santo Domingo became the richest colony in the West Indies. Slavery kept the cost of production low and maximized profits. It was also an important port for goods flowing to and from France and Europe.
Still, Santo Domingo was no paradise; tropical diseases created a high death-rate among European colonists. Added to this were a series of slave uprisings in the late eighteenth century. During the French Revolution in 1791, a major slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. France abolished slavery in their colonies in 1794 and many of the ex-slave army joined forces with France in its European wars. In 1795, Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola to the French. It became the Dominican Republic and French settlers began to colonize some areas in the Spanish side of the territory.
In 1802, Napoleon reimposed slavery in most of its Caribbean islands, a decision reinforced by French army garrisons. Yellow fever [1] ended up killing off many of these soldiers. After the French removed its remaining 7,000 troops in 1803, revolutionary leaders declared western Hispaniola the new and independent nation of Haiti. France continued to rule Santo Domingo but in 1805, Haitian forces under General Henri Christophe attempted conquest of all Hispaniola. A show of force by the French caused Christophe to withdraw back to Haiti. In 1808, following Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, the criollos [2] of Santo Domingo revolted against the French and, with the aid of Great Britain, Santo Domingo was returned to Spanish rule.
Concerned about the influence of a society that had successfully fought and won against their enslavers, the United States and European powers refused to recognize Haiti (the second Republic in the Western Hemisphere). To settle this issue, France demanded a rather substantial payment for compensation to slaveholders who lost their property, the effect of which threw Haiti into debt for many decades. Haiti became (and remains) one of the poorest countries in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic gradually developed into one of the largest economies of the Central American-Caribbean region.
It was not long before the Dominicans began to regret their return to Spanish authority. The Spaniards were cruel masters. In 1821, Santo Domingo joined with other Caribbean and South American territories in declaring independence from Spain. Initially, the Dominicans expressed a desire to attach their country to the new Republic of Columbia, far to the south. Instead of that ever happening, independence brought new foreign domination: in 1822, the Haitian government sent troops to conquer its neighbor, which could offer no resistance. From then until 1844, Haiti ruled Santo Domingo. During this period, the Haitians made a concerted effort to stifle all Dominican cultural and economic activity. Santo Domingo was reduced to a nation of economic stagnation and cultural and psychological despair.
In 1844, Dominican nationalists succeeded in throwing off the Haitian yoke of domination. It was the beginning of the emergence of the modern Dominican Republic. It was a rough road, however. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Dominican people experienced a succession of corrupt and arbitrary rulers who maintained themselves in power by playing upon the people’s fears of Haitian domination. The rule of caudillos [3] in Santo Domingo was also not a new story in Hispanic America: caudillos diverted the nation’s meager resources to serve their own personal designs.
Of these, General Ulises Heureaux [4] was among the most destructive. Keeping himself in power by methods that foreshadowed those of modern totalitarian regimes, Heureaux brought modest economic growth and strengthened the armed forces from a centralized government, which is also a consistent element of Hispanic governments. He also fostered corruption and violence in Dominican politics and vastly increased the national debt by borrowing money from European and American banks —banks that expected their governments to support their claims for repayment and collect debts.
A succession of governments who found themselves in trouble at home made a habit of borrowing money from foreign governments; when the payment on the debts became due (or overdue), corrupt politicians often attempted to play their foreign creditors off against one another as a means of preventing foreign military intervention, which their behaviors in fact invited.
During the 1890s, a group of idealistic young generals and politicians organized to oppose Heureaux’s political machine. They were led by General Horacio Vasquez. As a figurehead for their movement, they chose the nation’s wealthiest planter, Juan Isidro Jimenez —a man who some described as completely lacking in character or vision. After Heureaux’s murder, Vasquez and Jimenez proclaimed a new revolutionary government. It began a period of political disorder that eventually provoked the United States [5] to intervene in Dominican affairs.
Heureaux’s enemies divided themselves into competing factions —groups loosely associated with Vasquez and Jimenez. Juan Jimenez soon developed his own taste for power. The feud led to a series of weak presidents, coup d’état, and counter-coups. All the while, each successive regime continued to borrow money from foreign banks to purchase arms pay the men who would help them suppress revolution. The Dominican Republic steadily sank even further into debt and political chaos; foreign creditors began to demand repayment, threatening military intervention if necessary.
Dominican financial delinquency and political upheaval attracted the attention of the United States. After 1900, concern for the defense of sea approaches to the Panama Canal intensified American interest. Dominican entanglements with European powers seemed particularly worrisome because, under the guise of upholding the claims of its citizens, a country such as Germany might be compelled to establish a colony and a naval base within striking distance of the Canal. Combined Anglo-French-German expeditions against Venezuela [6] during the early 1900s caused President Theodore Roosevelt to threaten to send the US fleet to interdict foreign ships. European behavior dismissive of the Monroe Doctrine eventually brought the issue to a head: the United States decided to take strong action [7] to protect the Caribbean.
The Roosevelt Corollary received its first practical application in the Dominican Republic. At the initiation of the Dominican president, the US and Dominican Republic (DomRep) negotiated a treaty under which American representatives would collect the customs revenues at Dominican ports and divide the proceeds between current government expenses and payments on foreign debt. In February 1905, the agreement was submitted to both legislative bodies for ratification and, at the same time, the two governments established a modus vivendi, the practical effect of which placed the treaty into immediate operation.
The treaty met significant opposition in the US Senate, resolved in 1907 with DomRep legislature accepting the treaty later that year. Meanwhile, between 1905-1907 under the modus vivendi, the claims against Dominican creditors were reduced from $30-million to approximately $17-million. Beyond implementing a customs receivership, the 1907 also treaty provided for the floating of a bond issue of $20-million (at five percent interest) to be devoted exclusively to paying off long-dormant accounts and financing specified public works projects that were designed to reduce domestic discontent. By 1912, Dominican debt had been reduced to about $14-million.
In 1906, Ramon Caceres was elected president of the DomRep. He was perhaps the most honest and capable of Dominican leaders during this period. He fully supported the receivership as the best possible solution to the country’s debt, and he was enthusiastic about using revenues to improve public services and stimulate economic development. Caceres was assassinated on 19 November 1911 [8] and the internal stability of the DomRep deteriorated —along with its relationship with the United States. New regimes resorted to their old habit of enriching themselves and borrowing foreign money to suppress revolutions.
In the United States, President Woodrow Wilson sent envoys to the DomRep who were far less capable than those under earlier administration (Roosevelt-Taft). They began throwing their weight around, making demands to form stable governments. When this didn’t happen, the United States seized control over all Dominican revenues and began supervising public works projects. In 1914, with rival politicians fomenting civil war, President Wilson decided that he’d had enough of the squabbling and sent in the U. S. Marines.
The Fifth Marine Regiment (5thMarines) made their presence known aboard ships of the US Navy off-shore. It was enough to bring about a political truce and an orderly presidential election. Juan Isidro Jimenez assumed the presidency with US guarantees of support against future revolutions. Of course, the US continued to insist that Jimenez abide by the 1907 Treaty [9].
On 15 April 1916, Jimenez arrested two close associates of the Dominican Minister of War, General Desiderio Arias. General Arias had been one of the trouble-makers in 1914 and now established himself in the fortress of Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital. Supported by his loyal followers, Arias raised the standard of open revolt. Opponents of Jimenez flocked to join the revolutionary army. When Jimenez and Arias failed to make a settlement, the American Minister to Dominica called for Marines to protect the US legation. Then, on 2 May, the Dominican legislature (under pressure from Arias) voted to impeach President Jimenez. Jimenez then fled to the countryside to gather an army of his own. Fighting commenced on 5 May 1916. US Marines came ashore on that same day.
Marines come ashore at Santo Domingo, 1916 Photo from National Archives
The landing force consisted of two rifle companies (about 150 Marines) from USS Prairie: The 6th Company, under Captain Frederic M. Wise, and the 9th Company, equipped with field artillery, under Captain Eugene Fortson. Captain Wise, as senior officer present, exercised overall command of the contingent, which was designated a provisional battalion. Captain Wise was a strict disciplinarian, a no-nonsense officer with a volatile temper. His orders were to occupy the US legation and consulate, as well as the strategically placed Fort San Geronimo. Wise was also ordered to assist President Jimenez against Arias’s rebel forces.
In fact, Captain Wise and his Marines found themselves in the middle of a miniaturized civil war. Some 250 troops loyal to Arias were reinforced by hundreds of civilian irregulars to whom Arias had distributed rifles and ammunition from government arsenals. Arias controlled Santo Domingo City. No sooner had the Marines entered the city, Arias blockaded the principal avenues to deny the Marines access to resupply. Captain Wise was not a happy man.
Forces loyal to President Jimenez numbered around 800. They had initiated assaults upon the city from the north and west. By the time Wise arrived ashore, Jimenez’ attack had already failed; his men running low on ammunition. Captain Wise acted with a combination of courage and discretion. Knowing that his 150 Marines could not defeat a thousand Dominicans, Wise put up a brave front. While his men occupied their objectives, Wise went directly to Arias and demanded safe passage for foreign nationals out of the city, and the right to resupply his Marines. Arias agreed to both points. All foreign nationals were evacuated to the USS Prairie; hired civilians hauled supplies from dockside to the Marine positions.
Lieutenant Colonel Frederic M. Wise, USMC Photo from public domain
Captain Wise then established contact with General Perez, commanding the president’s forces. Perez asked for 100 rifles and ammunition (Wise refused), and for artillery support for an attack scheduled for the next day, which Wise agreed to furnish. During the night of 5-6 May, Wise deployed his artillery and infantry to support a government advance.
Without consulting with any of his subordinates, President Jimenez resigned the presidency on 6 May, citing as his reason for doing so a refusal to turn American guns on his own people. Perez was forced to abandon his assault and the Dominican Republic was suddenly without a national leader. The Congress created a provisional council of ministers to carry out executive functions.
Unsure of what might happen next, Captain Wise requested additional forces from the USS Prairie; 130 sailors were sent ashore to reinforce him. In conjunction with the US minister and naval commander, Wise arranged a truce between the warring factions. Arias dismantled many of his fortifications and disbanded the civilian irregulars; most government troops withdrew to Fort San Geronimo just outside of Santo Domingo City. Wise and his Marines held their original positions and awaited further instructions and reinforcement.
Commanding the Cruiser Squadron, Atlantic Fleet aboard USS Dolphin, Rear Admiral William Caperton [10] arrived offshore on 12 May 1916 and assumed overall command of the operation. Marines from the 4th and 5th Companies (from Haiti) and a detachment from the 24th Company (from Guantanamo) came ashore on 13 May. With 400 Marines ashore, Admiral Caperton met with Arias on 14 May and demanded that he disband his army and surrender his arms by 0600 on 15 May —or face a full-scale American assault. General Arias refused Caperton’s demand but did agree to vacate the capital. Marines entering the rebel-held area of the city on 15 May encountered no significant resistance. The salts who had participated in the conflict at Vera Cruz were relieved; not one of them wanted another taste of urban warfare.
Marine strength continued to increase. USS Panther arrived on 23 May with Colonel Theodore P. Kane commanding the 2nd Regiment of Marines and three additional rifle companies. Kane assumed command of the land forces, setting up his headquarters in the American Consulate. He stationed his Marines at key locations throughout Santo Domingo: on the east bank of the Ozama River, the northwestern approaches to the city, and at the Guardia Republicana barracks. Additional Marines bivouacked at Fort Ozama. Marines remaining afloat served as a reserve force off the north coast. USS Sacramento, with two Marine companies, awaited orders off Puerto Plata. USS Panther and USS Lamson with two companies patrolled offshore near Monte Cristi. By 28 May, Colonel Kane commanded eleven companies, drawn mostly from the 1st and 2nd Regiments in Haiti. On deck in Santo Domingo were about 750 Marines. Colonel Kane determined that he required a still larger force if he was to seize the entire country.
Meanwhile, the unresolved revolution had caused the collapse of the Dominican Republic’s civil government in many interior towns. Some of these were left unprotected when civilian police detachments departed to fight for Jimenez. Senior US commanders believed that the next step would have to be an occupation of the entire country. Of concern, General Arias was at large with at least several hundred men. No matter where Arias was located, his personality became a rallying point for bandits, local caudillos, and malcontents. There were only about 300 remaining Dominican army troops, men who seemed somewhat unenthused about the possibility of engaging Arias further.
[1] Yellow fever is a viral disease causing fever, chills, nausea, muscle pain, and severe headache. Liver damage can occur, causing a yellowing of the skin, hence its name.
[2] Criollo (French: Creole) persons are Latin Americans who are full or near full Spanish descent, which distinguishes them from multi-national Latinos and Latin-Americans of the post-colonial period European group. They were at the top of a long list of social classes in Hispanic societies.
[3] Spanish word for military dictator.
[4] Heureaux ruled from 1882 to 1899 when he was assassinated. Called Lilís, he was the son of Haitian mulatto parents. He served as the 22nd, 26th, and 27th president of the Dominican Republic; when he wasn’t president, he control those who were.
[5] Perceiving it’s potential economic and strategic value, President Ulysses S. Grant made an attempt to annex the island republic in the 1870s. He was unable to gain the support of the Congress, however.
[6] European navies in fact bombarded Venezuelan coastal towns.
[7] In December 1904, President Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The corollary reaffirmed US opposition to European military intervention in any Western Hemisphere country, for any reason, but also assumed responsibility for enforcing international good-behavior of the Latin American nations. If Latin-American countries would not police themselves, the United States would do it for them. This was the genesis of the so-called Banana Wars.
[8] Political assassination became a frequent strategy within Latin American countries; being fast, cheap, and permanent, no place on earth has had a greater number of such incidents.
[9] In 1915, US Marines occupied the Dominican Republic’s neighbor, Haiti, in an effort to establish stable government. Wilson’s stated policy was to “teach the Latin Americans to elect good men.”
[10] Rear Admiral William Banks Caperton, USN (1855-1941) graduated from the USNA in 1875. He commanded naval force interventions in Haiti (1916), Dominican Republic (1916), and served as Commander, Pacific Fleet (1916-1919). He participated in the Spanish-American War, and World War I. He was a recipient of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
Posted on 05/24/2019 04/22/2019 Categories Banana Wars, History & Traditions, Seagoing Marines
Allied Invasion of Russia, 1918-20
History never happens in a vacuum. There are causes, and there are consequences. The seeds of World War I were actually sewn one-hundred years earlier at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), where the ambassadors of European states intended to provide a plan for peace in Europe by settling issues that came from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. After 1815, these same powers tried to maintain a balance of power—to maintain the peace —but what actually transpired was a complex network of political and military alliances. Also, after 1815, the Ottoman Empire began its decline, the British withdrew into “splendid isolation,” Prussia emerged to form the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and France was taught a valuable lesson in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. These confrontations led European powers to formulate secret agreements with one another. The complex network became even more so.
On 28 June 1914, a Bosnian-Serb-Yugoslav nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. The network of secret alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to one involving most of Europe and, eventually, the United States of America. Within a month of Ferdinand’s death, the “great powers” of Europe were divided into competing coalitions. The Triple Entente involved France, Russia, and Great Britain and the Triple Alliance was formed around Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
Ferdinand’s assassination caused Germany and Austria-Hungary to impose demands on Serbia; Russia, itself a Slavic nation, felt obliged to back Serbia. After Austria-Hungary shelled the Serbian capital at Belgrade, Russia began mobilizing its armies. Germany and Austria-Hungary followed suit. France, supporting Russia, mobilized its armed forces in early August.
When the war came, it manifested itself on two fronts. Germany attacked France in the West, and Russia in the east. In addition to the countries mentioned above, conflict engaged all of the Balkan states, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. It eventually spilled over into Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.
Initially, the United States pursued a policy of non-intervention. President Woodrow Wilson wanted to avoid conflict while trying to broker peace from the sidelines. Wilson was narrowly reelected in 1916 after campaigning to keep America out of the “Great War.”
In January 1917, Germany pursued two aggressive courses of action: (1) It resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, and (2) Germany approached Mexico with a proposal for a military alliance against the United States. In exchange for Mexico’s participation, Germany offered to finance Mexico’s war effort and, at such time as Germany defeated the United States, promised to return to Mexico its previously held territories in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. This communiqué was intercepted by British Intelligence, decoded, and transmitted to the United States government. The Zimmerman Telegram, along with a number of Mexican intrusions into the United States that were an off-shoot of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) generated popular support for America’s declaration of war against Germany in April 1917.
At the time, the United States was not a formal ally of any European power —it was more on the order of an associate-membership in the Triple Entente. In 1917, the United States Army was small, but after passage of the Selective Service Act, nearly 3-million men were compelled to serve in the U. S. Army. By June 1917, the US was sending thousands of soldiers to France every month. To bolster its field of potential soldiers, the US offered grants of citizenship to Puerto Ricans for voluntary service in the US Army.
At the outbreak of World War I, national societies representing ethnic Czechs and Slovaks residing in Russia petitioned the Russian government to support the independence of their homelands. To prove their loyalty to the Entente cause, these groups advocated the establishment of a unit of Czech and Slovak volunteers to fight alongside the Russian Army. In time, these volunteers became known as the 1st Division of Czechoslovak Corps. A second division of four regiments was added in October 1917. Known collectively as the Czechoslovak Legion, it consisted of over 40,000 Czech and Slovak volunteers.
In November 1917, Russian Bolsheviks seized power throughout Russia and soon began peace negotiations with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk. In the face of the Revolution, Russians wanted to withdraw from the war. The Chairman of the Czechoslovak National Council began planning for the Czech Legion’s withdrawal from Russia and transfer to France, where it could continue fighting against the Central Powers. Since most of Russia’s main ports were blockaded, the Legion would travel from Ukraine to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. There, they would embark on ships that would carry them to Western Europe.
In February 1918, Bolshevik authorities granted permission for the Legion to begin a march of 6,000 miles from Ukraine to Vladivostok. Before departure, however, the German Army launched a massive assault on the Eastern Front as a means of forcing the new Russian government to accept Germany’s terms for peace. The Legion successfully fought off every German attempt to prevent their evacuation.
After entering Soviet Russia, the Czech National Council continued to negotiate with the Bolsheviks to iron out the details of the Legion’s evacuation. An agreement on 25 March forced the Legion to surrender most of their weapons in exchange for unmolested passage to Vladivostok. Neither side trusted the other: Bolsheviks suspected the Czechs were attempting to join the counter-revolutionaries. Legion commanders were wary of Czech communists who were attempting to subvert the Legion, and also suspected that the Bolsheviks had made a deal with the Central Powers to keep the Legion penned up in Russia.
By May 1918, the Czech Legion was strung out along the Trans-Siberian Railway —their evacuation taking longer than they expected due to dilapidated railway conditions. In mid-May, Russia’s Commissar for War, Leon Trotsky, ordered the complete disarmament and arrest of the Czech Legion. The Legion refused to disarm.
Czechs and Bolsheviks engaged at several locations along the railroad. By June, both sides were involved in full-scale war. The Legion had taken control of Vladivostok and declared the city an allied protectorate. By mid-July, the legionaries had seized control of the railway from Samara to Irkutsk. By the beginning of September, they had cleared Bolshevik forces from the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Legionnaires conquered all the large cities of Siberia.
News of the Czechoslovak Legion’s campaign in Siberia during the summer of 1918 was welcomed by Allied statesmen in Great Britain and France, who saw the operation as a means to reconstitute an eastern front against Germany. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who had resisted earlier Allied proposals to intervene in Russia, and against the advice of the War Department, finally gave in to foreign pressure to support the legionaries’ evacuation from Siberia. In actuality, there were two groups of American soldiers sent to Russia: The American North Russia Expeditionary Force (Polar Bear Expedition) consisted of 5,000 troops who were sent to Archangel; an additional 8,000 soldiers, organized as the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia, were shipped to Vladivostok from the Philippines and from Camp Fremont, California.
In the summer of 1918, William S. Graves was a highly motivated career Army officer. He had been promoted to Major General, and he was designated to assume command of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division. The division would soon depart the United States for France; what career officer does not want to command in time of war?
Unfortunately, Graves received a reassignment on 2 August 1918. Secretary of War Newton Baker informed him of the following: President Wilson had decided that the United States, still at war in Europe, must intervene in another part of the world to protect its investments. The US had $1-billion worth of American made guns and equipment strewn along a segment of the Trans-Siberian Railway between Vladivostok and Nikolsk. Someone would have to protect this equipment from falling into the hands of Germany or the Bolsheviks. That someone would be General Graves.
Wilson appointed Graves to command the American Expeditionary Force (Siberia). Graves’ orders, directly from the President, handed to him in the form of an aide-mémoire, included: (1) Facilitate the safe exit of 40,000 members of the Czech Legion [1] from Russia; (2) Guard the $1-billion worth of military equipment stored at Murmansk and Vladivostok; and (3) Help the Russians organize their new government. Siberia is the coldest and most forbidding part of Russia, and instead of facing off against the German Army, Graves would confront Cossacks, Bolsheviks, and Japanese (who, still gloating over their defeat of the Russians in 1903-04, had their eyes on territorial gains in Siberia). The Graves Expedition was the first and only time American troops invaded Russian territory.
The international force was formed under Lieutenant General Frederick C. Poole, British Army. The force main force consisted of British [2], French, and American naval and military organizations. Other participating countries and troops included Italy, Serbia, Poland, and White Russian forces.
In July 1918, the Army’s 339th Infantry Regiment, Colonel George E. Stewart, Commanding, was hastily organized to spearhead the American North Russia Expeditionary Force (also, Polar Bear Expedition). AEF (Siberia) included the US 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments, elements of the 12th, 13th and 62nd Infantry Regiments. To operate the Trans-Siberian Railway, US Army personnel with railroad experience were assigned to this duty.
Initially in 1918, the Bolsheviks controlled only small pockets in Siberia. International forces arrived unopposed and were deployed to the interior regions along the path of the Trans-Siberian Railway between Vladivostok and Archangel. In accordance with a plan formalized by General Poole, Tsarist Captain Georgi Chaplin led a coup d’état against the local Soviet government at Archangel on 2 August 1918. Allied warships seized portages from the White Sea. In short order, a Northern Region Government was established by Chaplin and the Russian revolutionary, Nikolai Tchaikovsky. In spite of outward appearances, General Poole was running the show. The International force began its advance almost immediately, seizing Onega Bay. On 28 August, the British 6th Royal Marine Light Infantry Battalion was ordered to seize the village of Koikori from Bolsheviks as part of a wider offensive into East Karelia.
The first US troops arrived in Vladivostok between 15-21 August 1918. They were quickly assigned to guard duty along several segments of the railway between Vladivostok and Nikolsk-Ussuriski in northern Russia. General Graves arrived in early September.
For the most part, the Americans stood apart from their Allies in the sense that, while acknowledging their mission to protect American-supplied property, Graves resisted General Poole’s demand for fighting troops to confront Bolshevik elements. He quite often clashed with his British, French, and Japanese counterparts over this issue.
General Graves saw his primary responsibility as making sure the Trans-Siberian railroad stayed operational. To this end, he brought in a number of railroad experts to manage the railway. Despite strong pressure applied to Graves to render assistance to Admiral Kolchak, he would not involve himself in the affairs of the Russian revolution and did not contribute any of his men to combat (beyond self-defense). In fact, General Graves developed a strong dislike of Admiral Kolchak and his “White Russian” government. Moreover, Graves thought that British, French, and Japanese commanders were pursuing self-serving political ambitions beyond the stated allied goal of protecting supplies that had been paid for by allied taxpayers. He did embrace the mission to rescue Czechs but stopped short of trying to suppress Bolshevik forces. Graves suspected that Japan’s involvement had more to do with annexing parts of Eastern Siberia. He was right.
Duty in Russia was difficult, for all kinds of reasons. US soldiers experienced problems with fuel, ammunition, and food. Horses were unable to function in the sub-zero Russian climate. Water-cooled machine guns froze and became worthless. Over a period of 19 months, 474 soldiers died from various causes.
As the Bolsheviks gained in military strength, they began to take a more aggressive stance toward elements of the International expedition. Graves continued to withhold his men except in cases of self-defense. General Poole’s force (excluding the Americans) began to experience significant losses. One Royal Marine company refused to fight and were court-martialed. They were initially given stiff sentences, but the British government lightened or commuted most of them.
In June 1920, the American, British, and remaining allied coalition withdrew from Vladivostok.
The Japanese, however, decided to remain in Siberia thinking that their presence would in some way inhibit the spread of communism so close to the Japanese home islands. Besides, the Japanese controlled Korea and Manchuria. Eventually, however, the Japanese found themselves in an untenable situation and were forced to sign an agreement with the Bolsheviks in order to be allowed to withdraw peacefully.
The Japanese Army continued to provide military support to the Japanese-backed Provisional Priamur Government (a White Army enclave) based in Vladivostok against the Moscow-backed Far Eastern Republic. This continued Japanese presence concerned the United States, who had grown ever-suspicious of Japanese motives in Siberia. Subjected to intense diplomatic pressure by the United Kingdom and United States and facing increased domestic opposition due to the economic and human costs of remaining in Siberia, Japanese Prime Minister Kato Tomosaburo withdrew Japanese forces in October 1922.
Japan’s motives in Siberia were complex and incoherent. Overtly, Japan sent troops to Siberia for the same reasons as the other countries: to safeguard stockpiled military supplies and rescue the Czech Legion. However, Japan’s intense hostility to communism and a desire to protect Japan’s northern security, either by creating a buffer state or through outright territorial acquisition, were also factors. Their patronage of the White Russian Army left Japan in a diminished position vis-à-vis the government of the Soviet Union, particularly since the Red Army emerged victorious over the White Russian Army. Moreover, the Intervention had significant internal repercussions which led the Japanese Army and its civilian government to bitter animus and renewed factional strife inside the Army.
Japanese casualties in the Siberian Expedition included 5,000 KIA and expenses in excess of ¥900-million.
Humphreys, L. A. The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s. Stanford University Press, 1996.
Kinvig, C. Churchill’s Crusade: The British Invasion of Russia, 1918-1920. Continuum Publishing, 2006
Jackson, R. At War with the Bolsheviks. London, 1972
Wright, D. Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-1920. Solihull Press, 2017
Long, J. W. “American Intervention in Russia: The North Russian Expedition, 1918-1919. Diplomatic History, 1962
Major Paul Webb Chapman, USMC (Retired)
Mark Yost, The Wall Street Journal: “The Polar Bear Expedition: Frozen doughboys.”
[1] The Czechoslovak Legion was a volunteer armed force fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of bohemia and Moravia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In Russia, the Legion took part in several battles against Central Powers and Bolshevik forces.
[2] A contingent of United States Marines accompanied the British forces, fighting alongside the 1/10th Royal Scots Regiment at Nijne-Toimski along the Dvina River. The Marines may have been part of the Marine Detachment, USS Olympia, but I am unable to confirm this. Captain Archie F. Howard, while commanding the Marine Detachment, USS Brooklyn, was assigned to serve in Vladivostok to protect the US Consulate. His Marines participated with the Czech Legion in patrolling the city, but they did not engage any Bolshevik forces. This duty was terminated early in 1919. Major General Howard retired from active service in 1946.
Posted on 05/17/2019 04/17/2019 Categories History & Traditions, World War I4 Comments on Allied Invasion of Russia, 1918-20
U. S. Marines in Urban Warfare
Urban areas (cities and large towns), are important centers of gravity —points of interest that involve a complex range of human activities. Throughout history military commanders have acknowledged that urban areas are either places that require protection, or they are centers that demand firm control. These are mankind’s centers of population, transportation and communications hubs, seats of government, the sources of national wealth, and concentrations of industry. Over the past three-hundred years, humans living in agrarian areas have migrated to towns and cities in ever-increasing numbers. In just a few years nearly 85% of the world’s population will reside in urbanized areas —which places these areas squarely in the sights of military establishments seeking either to defend or seize them. Urban areas are also areas where radical ideas ferment, dissenters cultivate allies, where human diversity leads to ethnic friction, and where disgruntled people receive the most media attention.
In its expeditionary role, the U.S. Marine Corps is trained to fight battles within urbanized terrain. This was not always the case, but in recent history, Marine Air-Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs) of various sizes have been deployed to address conflicts in urban areas: Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Beirut, Granada. The acronym for these operations is MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain). Important for Marines is the fact that 60% of politically significant urban areas (outside allied or former Warsaw Pact territories) are located within 25-miles of littoral areas; 75% within 150 miles; and 87% within 300 miles. In armed conflict, whoever controls the cities exercises de facto control over a country’s natural resources.
History demonstrates that there has been an abundance of guerrilla and terrorist operations in built-up areas: Belfast, Caracas, Iraq, Managua, Santo Domingo, Viet Nam come to mind. Beyond the fact that the control of urban areas offers certain psychological advantages that can affect the outcome of a large conflict, Marine planners are keenly aware that American embassies and consulates are located where host countries concentrate their centers of political and economic activity. One mission the Marines share with other naval expeditionary forces is the emergency evacuation of US civilians caught up in urban insurgencies. (Photo: Cpl Blake Miller, USMC, Fallujah. Credit: Luis Sinco, LA Times (Fair Use asserted)).
Urban areas have dramatically expanded over the past 100 years —often going beyond well-defined boundaries into suburban/countryside areas. Connecting the inner-cities to peripheral areas has been a parallel expansion of transportation: highways, canals, and rail systems. Industries and markets have grown up along these connectors and there has been an expansion of secondary roadways connecting outlying farms to urban areas —the effect of which further complicates the operational planning for and execution of military operations. It widens the military footprint needed to deal with emergencies.
Urban warfare takes place in a unique battlespace —one that provides aggressor and defender with numerous avenues of approach and defensive fields of fire. In essence, there are four distinct battle areas: buildings, streets, subterranean networks, and air. These are often fought simultaneously, which makes the urban warfare effort even more complicated.
The Marine’s first urban warfare experience occurred early in the Korean War. Since then, with lessons learned through actual combat, the Marine Corps has evolved from knowing next to nothing about urban warfare to becoming America’s preeminent expert. As a demonstration of this transition, I will offer my readers three examples: The Second Battle of Seoul, Korea (1950), The Battle for Hue City, Viet Nam (1968), and the First and Second Battles of Fallujah, Iraq (2003-4). Stay with me; I think you’ll find these interesting and informative.
The North Korean Army (NKPA) seized Seoul, South Korea during its invasion in late June 1950. After US Marines made their amphibious landing at Inchon in mid-September 1950, General Douglas MacArthur assigned them the mission of liberating Seoul from the NKPA force, which by then was an understrength division. In any normal situation, the NKPA would have the advantage of defending Seoul —but in this case, the NKPA were facing American Marines, the most tenacious combat force in the entire world —true then, equally true today.
Even so, the advance on Seoul was slow and bloody. The Marines faced the 78th Independent Infantry Regiment and 25th Infantry Brigade, in all, about 7,000 troops. Moreover, the NKPA decided to put every effort into obstructing the Marine advance until they could be reinforced by units operating south of Seoul. MacArthur, as Supreme Allied Commander, assigned responsibility for liberating Seoul (Operation Chromite) to his X Corps commander, Major General Edward Almond—who knew as much about urban warfare as he did about rocket ships to the moon. In any case, MacArthur wanted a quick liberation of Seoul and Almond, a first-class sycophant, applied continue pressure to Major General Oliver P. Smith, commanding the 1st Marine Division, to “hurry up.” To his credit, Smith would have none of it. (Photo: Marines attack Seoul, South Korea, 25 Sep 1950; DoD Photo (Fair Use asserted)).
Marines entered the city at 0700 on 25 September, finding it heavily fortified. Buildings were heavily defended with crew-served weapons and snipers. On the main highway through the city, the NKPA had erected a series of 8-foot-high barricades, located 200-300 yards apart. Every one of the city’s intersections contained such an obstacle. Anti-tank and anti-personnel mines laced the approaches to these barricades, supported by anti-tank guns and machine guns. The Marines had to eliminate these one at a time, which took about one hour for each barricade. Casualties mounted as the Marines engaged in house-to-house fighting.
General Almond declared the city “secure” on the first day. Clearing operations continued for five additional days, even though effective enemy resistance collapsed by 28 September. In the aftermath of the Second Battle of Seoul, Korea, there was no time for the Marines to analyze the campaign —such analyses would have to wait for a later time —but here I will pause to reflect on what it must take to succeed in urban warfare: the esprit de corps of fire teams who must, in the final analysis, win or lose the contest. Private First Class (PFC) Eugene A. Obregon from Los Angeles, California, was awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing himself to enemy machine gun fire to save the life of a wounded Marine on 26 September 1950.
Hue City, Viet Nam
In 1967, the North Vietnamese realized that their war strategy in South Viet Nam wasn’t working out quite the way they had intended. It was time to try something else. The government of North Viet Nam wanted a massive offensive, one that would reverse the course of the war. When defense minister and senior army commander General Vo Nguyen Giap [1] voiced opposition to such an offensive, believing as he did that a major reversal of the war would not be its likely result, the North Vietnamese stripped Giap of his position, gave him a pocket watch, and sent him into retirement. The politburo then appointed General Nguyen Chi Thanh to direct the offensive. At the time, Thanh was commander of all Viet Cong forces in South Viet Nam. When General Thanh unexpectedly died, senior members of the politburo scrambled to reinstate General Giap.
Earlier —in the Spring of 1966— Giap wondered how far the United States would go in defending the regime of South Viet Nam. To answer this question, he ordered a series of attacks south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) with two objectives in mind. In the first, he wanted to draw US forces away from densely populated urban and lowland areas to a place where he believed the NVA would have an advantage over them. Second, Giap wanted to know whether the United States could be provoked into invading North Viet Nam.
Both questions seem ludicrous since luring the US/ARVN military out of villages and cities was the last thing he should have wanted, and unless China was willing to rush to the aid of its communist “little brothers,” tempting the US with invading North Viet Nam was fool-hardy. In any case, General Giap began a massive buildup of military forces and placing them in the northern regions of South Viet Nam. Their route of infiltration into South Viet Nam was through Laos [2]. General Giap completed his work at the end of 1967; there were now six infantry divisions massed within the Quang Tri Province.
Leading all US and allied forces in Viet Nam was US Army General William C. Westmoreland, titled Commander, United States Military Assistance Command, Viet Nam (COMUSMACV or MACV [3]). Westmoreland responded to Giap’s buildup by increasing US/allied forces in Quang Tri —realizing that if one wanted to dance, they had to go into the dance hall. The one thing that Westmoreland could not do was invade either North Viet Nam or Laos [4]. Realizing this, Giap gained confidence in his notion of larger battles inside South Viet Nam. But even this wasn’t working out as he imagined. Westmoreland was not the same kind of man as French General Heni Navarre. For one thing, Westmoreland was far more tenacious. Besides, meeting the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) outside populated areas would allow Westmoreland to make greater use of air and artillery fire support assets.
In phases, Giap increased North Viet Nam’s military footprint in the northern provinces of South Viet Nam. One example of this is the NVA’s siege of the Khe Sanh combat base. President Lyndon Johnson was concerned that the NVA were attempting another coup de guerre, such as Dien Bien Phu, where General Navarre was thoroughly defeated. Johnson ordered Khe Sanh held at all cost. With everyone’s eyes now focused on the events at Khe Sanh, Giap was able to launch a surprise offensive at the beginning of the Tet (lunar new year) celebration. He did this on 31 January 1968. It was a massive assault: 84,000 NVA and Viet Cong (VC) soldiers who violated the cease-fire accord and executed simultaneous attacks on 36 of 44 provincial capitals, five of the six autonomous cities (including Saigon and Hue), 64 of 242 district capitals, and 50 hamlets.
Giap chose to violate the Tet cease-fire because he knew that many South Vietnamese soldiers would be granted holiday leave. It was a smart move and one that opened the door for Giap’s early successes. VC forces even managed to breach the US Embassy enclosure in Saigon. Within days, however, the offensive faltered as US/ARVN forces were able to defeat the communist onslaught. Heavy fighting did continue in Kontum, Can Tho, Ben Tre, and Saigon… but the largest of these occurred at the City of Hue [5]. It was the Marine’s longest and bloodiest urban battle up to that time.
In 1968, Hue City was the third-largest city in South Viet Nam. Its population was around 140,000 souls; about one-third of these lived inside the Citadel, north of the Perfume River which flows through the center of the city. Hue also sat astride Highway-1, a major north-south main supply route (MSR), located about 50 miles south of the DMZ. Hue was the former imperial capital of Viet Nam. Up to this point, Hue had only occasionally experienced the ravages of war —mortar fire, saboteurs, acts of terrorism— but a large enemy force had never appeared at the city’s gates. Given the city’s cultural and intellectual importance to the Vietnamese people —as well as its status as the capital of Thua Thien Province— it was only a matter of time.
The people who lived in Hue enjoyed a tradition of civic independence that dated back several hundred years. Religious monks viewed the war with disdain; few of these religious leaders felt any attachment to the government in Saigon. What they wanted was national conciliation —a coalition where everyone could get along.
Hue City was divided into two sectors: the Old Imperial City, and the New City. These two sectors were divided by the Perfume (Hoang) River, which emptied into the South China Sea five miles southwest of the city. On the north bank of the river stood the Citadel, a fortress extending nearly 4-square-miles, shaped like a diamond. Surrounding the Imperial City were 8-meter high walls that were several meters. There were eight separate gates, four of which were located along the southeastern side. A winding, shallow canal ran through the Citadel, with two culverts that connected the inner-city canal with those on the outside.
The “New City” was constructed south of the Perfume River; a residential and business center that included government offices, a university, the provincial headquarters, a prison, hospital, and a treasury. The US Consulate and forward headquarters of the MACV were also located there.
Despite Hue’s importance, there were few ARVN defenders within its limits. On 30 January 1968, there were fewer than a thousand ARVN troops inside the City. Part of this was because a large number of troops were on leave to celebrate the Tet holiday with their families.
Security for Hue was assigned to the First Infantry Division (1st ARVN Division), then commanded by Brigadier General Ngo Quant Truong. The 1st ARVN was headquartered within the fortified Mang Ca compound in the northeast corner of the Citadel. Over half of Truong’s men were on leave for the holiday when the offensive commenced; General Truong’s subordinate commands were spread out along Highway-1 from north of Hue to the DMZ. The nearest unit of any size was the 3rdARVN Regiment, consisting of three battalions, five miles northwest of Hue. The only combat unit inside the city was a platoon of 36-men belonging to an elite unit called the Black Panthers, a field reconnaissance and rapid reaction company. Internal security for Hue was the responsibility of the National Police (sometimes derisively referred to as “white mice”).
The nearest US combat base was Phu Bai, six miles south on Highway-1. Phu Bai was a major U. S. Marine Corps command post and support facility, including the forward headquarters of the 1st Marine Division, designated Task Force X-Ray. The Commanding General of Task Force X-Ray [6] was Brigadier General Foster C. LaHue, who also served as the Assistant Commander, 1st Marine Division. Also situated at Phu Bai was the headquarters elements of the 1st Marine Regiment (Stanley S. Hughes, Commanding) and the 5th Marine Regiment (Robert D. Bohn, Commanding). There were also three battalions of Marines: 1st Battalion, 1st Marines (1/1) (Lt. Col. Marcus J. Gravel, Commanding), 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (1/5) (LtCol Robert P. Whalen, Commanding), and 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines (2/5) (LtCol Ernest C. Cheatham, Jr., Commanding).
The attacking NVA force included 8,400 well-trained and equipped soldiers [7]. The majority of these were NVA regulars, reinforced by six VC main force battalions (between 300 and 600 men each). The field commander of these forces was General Tran Van Quang. The NVA plan of attack called for a division-sized assault on the Imperial City with other units serving as a blocking force. True to form, the communists knew all they needed to know about their civilian and military objectives within the city. VC cadres had also prepared a list of “tyrants” who were to be located and terminated —nearly all of these were South Vietnamese civilian and military officials. Added to the list were US civilians, clergy, educators, and other foreigners. The communists also knew all they needed to know about weather conditions.
The NVA plan, termed the General Offensive/General Uprising, was designed to incorporate both conventional and guerilla operations intending to destroy any vestige of the South Viet Nam government or western authority, and if not that, then to discredit their enemies and cause a popular uprising among the people. If all worked out according to plan, western allies would be forced to withdraw its forces from Vietnam.
There were a few senior NVA planners who thought that a popular uprising was highly unlikely; a few more expected that ARVN and US forces would drive the NVA out of the city within a few days —but, of course, such defeatist notions were best left unsaid. Meanwhile, the young, idealistic, and gullible soldiers believed the NVA propaganda and went in to combat convinced of a great victory. When these same young men departed their training camps, they had no intention of returning. Many wouldn’t.
The NVA assault commenced at 0340 when a rocket and mortar barrage in the mountains in the west served as a signal for the attack to begin. The assault was over by daybreak and the communists began gathering up “enemies of the people” and killing them. NVA and VC soldiers roamed the city at will and began to consolidate their gains. Responding to the attack, General LaHue rushed Marines forward with only scant information about the shape of the battle. Company G 2/5 was pinned down short of the MACV compound. They eventually forced their way into the compound, but in that process, the company sustained 10 killed in action (KIA). After linking up with the handful of US Army advisors, the Marines were ordered across the river and fight their way through to the headquarters compound of 1st ARVN Division. Overwhelming enemy fire forced the Marines back across the bridge. Company G took additional casualties; weather conditions prohibited the immediate evacuation of the wounded.
Soldiers of the 1st ARVN Division were fully occupied; the Marines engaged south of the river. ARVN I Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Lam met with the III MAF commander, Lieutenant General Robert Cushman to devise a strategy for re-taking the city. They agreed that ARVN forces would concentrate on expelling communists from the Citadel, and Marines would focus their assets in the New City. By this time, General LaHue fully realized that his Marines were facing a large assault force. He dispatched Colonel Stanley S. Hughes, CO, 1st Marines, to assume operational control of US forces.
A brutal building-by-building, room-to-room campaign was launched to eject communist forces. Untrained in urban warfare, the Marines had to work out their tactics and techniques “on the job.” Their progress was slow, measured, methodical, and costly. The progress of the Marines was measured in inches … every inch was paid for in blood.
On 5 February, Company H 2/5 took the Thua Thien Province headquarters compound, which had until then served as the NVA’s 4th Regiment command post. This loss caused the NVA effort south of the river to begin faltering, but hard fighting continued over the next several days. By 14 February, most of the city south of the river was once more in US hands but rooting out pockets of resistance would take another 12 days. The NVA/VC continued sending rockets and mortars into Marine positions; snipers continued picking off American Marines. Operations south of the river had cost the Marines 34 dead and 320 WIA. It had been even more costly for the communists; over 1,000 NVA and VC soldiers lay dead on the streets of the New City.
The battle continued to rage in the Imperial City. Despite the insertion of ARVN reinforcements, their advance was stalled among the houses, narrow streets, and alley ways on the northwest and southwest wall. The communists burrowed deeply into the walls and tightly packed buildings; they maintained control of the Imperial Palace. They seemed to gain in strength with each passing day. Somehow, NVA forces were regularly receiving reinforcements.
An embarrassed General Truong was finally forced to appeal to the Marines for assistance. On 10 February, General LaHue moved a Marine battalion into the Citadel. Two days later, elements of 1/5 made their way across the river on landing craft and entered the Citadel through a breach in the northeast wall. Two South Vietnamese Marine Corps battalions moved into the southwest corner, which increased the pressure on communist forces. In spite of this, the communists held their positions. American Marines began an advance along the south wall, taking heavy casualties. The fighting grew even more savage as Marines brought in airstrikes, naval gunfire, and field artillery; the NVA grew more determined to resist the bloody American assault. On 17 February 1/5 achieved its objective but doing so cost the battalion 47 KIA and 240 WIA. The battle for the Citadel continued.
On 24 February, ARVN soldiers pulled down the communist banner that had been flapping in the breeze for 25 days. They replaced it with the RVN national ensign. The battle was declared at an end on 2 March; the longest sustained battle in the Viet Nam war up to that time. ARVN casualties included 384 KIA, 1,800 WIA, and 30 MIA. US Marines suffered 147 dead, 857 wounded. The US Army reported 74 dead and 507 wounded. NVA/VC losses were: 5,000 communists were killed inside Hue City; an additional 3,000 were killed in the surrounding area by elements of the 101st Airborne and 1st US Cavalry.
Forty percent of Hue City was utterly destroyed. More than one-hundred-thousand Vietnamese civilians were homeless. Civilian casualties exceeded 5,800 killed or missing.
From these two experiences, the US Marine Corps developed a doctrine for urban warfare: Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-53-3. Today, Marines are trained in the tactics and techniques for urban warfare. This publication was published in 1998; the Marines would rely on these guidelines and procedures when they were dispatched to Fallujah in 2003 (See also: Fish & Chips and Phantom Fury).
Warfare is both lethal and complex. Today, field commanders not only have to employ their infantry to win, they also have to consider the non-combat impact of such operations, the health and welfare of citizens, maintaining law and order, address media concerns, employ psychological operational teams, control refugees, guard against urban terrorism, and establish “rules of engagement.” The enemy in the Middle East may not look like much of a threat, but they do pose a clear and present danger to US combat forces. It is also true that insurgents exasperate US forces because they so easily blend in with innocent populations. This is the nature of war in the early 21st century. This is the danger imposed by domestic terrorists. Islamists are not fools; this enemy effectively uses our own rules of engagement to their advantage. American politicians have never quite figured this out.
[1] General Giap defeated the Imperial French after eight years of brutal warfare following the end of World War II.
[2] The reason behind America’s bombing of Laos and Cambodia, referred to by the liberal media as America’s Secret War.
[3] Major component commands included: US Army, Vietnam; I Field Force, Vietnam; II Field Force, Vietnam; XXIV Corps; III Marine Amphibious Force; Naval Forces, Vietnam; US Seventh Air Force; Fifth Special Forces Group; Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support; Studies and Observations Group; Field Advisory Element.
[4] The United States did deploy covert and special forces into Laos at a later time.
[5] Pronounced as “Way.”
[6] Task Force X-Ray went operational on 13 January 1968.
[7] In January 1968, everyone knew something was off-kilter. Tet was approaching. The people were uneasy. The cancellation of the Tet Truce and enemy attacks at Da Nang and elsewhere in southern I Corps dampened the normally festive spirit in Viet Nam. The first indication of trouble came shortly after midnight on January 30-31 —a five-pronged assault on all five of the provincial capitals in II Corps, and the city of Da Nang in I Corps. VC attacks began with mortar and rocket fire, followed by large-scale ground assaults by NVA regulars. These were not well-coordinated attacks, however, and by dawn on 31 January, most of the communists in outlying areas had been driven back from their objectives.
Posted on 05/10/2019 05/14/2019 Categories History & Traditions, Iraq War, Korean War, Middle East, Urban Warfare, Vietnam War/Era9 Comments on U. S. Marines in Urban Warfare
Leading from the Front
The post-World War II period was no easy time for the American people. At the conclusion of the war, Americans were exhausted. They needed a normal economy; they needed peace; they wanted to get on with their lives. President Harry Truman, in seeking cost-cutting measures, ordered a one-third reduction of the Armed Forces. Between 1945-50, Washington, D. C. was a busy place. War veterans were expeditiously discharged, the War Department became the Department of Defense, the Navy Department was rolled into DoD, the US Army Air Force became the United States Air Force, and the missions and structures of all services were meticulously re-examined. In terms of the naval establishment, about one-third of the Navy’s ships were placed into mothballs; in the Marines, infantry battalions gave up one rifle company —Marine Corps wide, this amounted to a full combat regiment.
There was more going on inside the Truman administration, however. In 1949, Secretary of State Dean Acheson produced a study titled United States Relations with China with Special Reference to the Period 1944-1949. The short title of this document was the China White Paper. It took Acheson 1,000 pages to explain how America’s intervention in China was doomed to failure. China’s premier, Mao Zedong was overjoyed to hear of this. Then, on 12thJanuary 1950, Acheson addressed the National Press Club; in his discussion of the all-important defense perimeter, Mr. Acheson somehow failed to include the Korean Peninsula and Formosa as being places that the United States was committed to defend. Upon learning of this, North Korea’s premier Kim Il-sung called Moscow and requested a meeting with Joseph Stalin.
Thus, when North Korea launched their attack on South Korea on 25th June 1950, no one in America was prepared to defend our South Korean ally. There had been no money for combat training, insufficient munitions for live-fire training, not enough fuel for military aircraft, and no replacement parts for military vehicles. It was a situation that affected every military command, no matter where it was situated.
In Japan, the US military maintained its occupation forces throughout the main islands. It was good duty: there was no training, only limited flying, and only rudimentary vehicle maintenance. There were plenty of personnel inspections, though, and lots of liberty for the troops. Senior military officers played golf, company officers learned how to keep out of sight, and unsupervised NCOs engaged in black market activities. As for the troops, they were content with drinking Japanese beer and chasing skirts (or, if you prefer, kimonos).
As with the Marines, Army units were understrength. Unlike the Marines, the Army’s rolling stock was inoperable and senior divisional staff were either incompetent or lazy in the execution of their duties. Quite suddenly, the US was once more at war and the ill-trained occupation forces were rushed into a North Korean Army meat-grinder in South Korea.
In South Korea, American military units were also understrength. Units located in and around Seoul were mostly administrative, communications, or military police units. Eighth US Army, headquarters in Taegu, included three infantry divisions: 24th, 25th and 1st Cavalry. All of these units were lacking in men, equipment, and combat experience. Most of the troops were conscripts. Junior officers were a puzzle. Senior officers were hoping to bide their time until retirement. The Army of the Republic of Korea (ROKA) had a force of about 58,000 men when the North Koreans launched their invasion. ROKA was ineffective in stopping the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) for several reasons. These soldiers were armed but had no infantry training; their officers lacked leadership, and every time the ROKA confronted the NKPA, they were soundly defeated.
When the NKPA invaded South Korea, American military units and personnel stationed in Seoul hightailed it south to avoid capture. Elements of the 24th Division, fed piecemeal into South Korea, were chewed up almost as soon as they arrived. No US Army unit was prepared to confront the 80,000-man NKPA invading force, which included ten mechanized infantry divisions. In mid-July, NKPA forces mauled and routed the 24th Division at the Battle of Hadong, which rendered the 29th Infantry Regiment incapable of further combat service. NKPA forces also pushed back the 19th Infantry Regiment, which opened up a clear path to Pusan in southern South Korea.
At Camp Pendleton, California, the 1st Marine Division received a warning order. A regimental combat team was quickly organized around the Fifth Marine Regiment (5th Marines): three understrength battalions under Lieutenant Colonel (Colonel select) Ray Murray. Marine Aircraft Group 33 was attached as the air element, forming the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Edward Craig. Craig’s deputy was Brigadier General Thomas H. Cushman, who also headed the reinforced air group.
As the brigade made sail on 14 July 1950, the balance of the 1st Marine Division was rapidly reorganizing: Marines were ordered to immediately report from the 2nd Marine Division, various Marine Corps bases and stations. Recruitment staffs were reduced. Reserve units were activated and dispatched to Camp Pendleton. Many reserve units included men who had yet to attend recruit training. The Seventh Marine Regiment (7th Marines) was reactivated. Marines from all across the United States streamed in to find their slot in either the 1st Marines or 7th Marines.
The Brigade (with its full complement of equipment) arrived in South Korea on 2 August 1950. Before the end of the day, General Craig led his infantry to establish the 8th US Army reserve at Changwon, 40 miles northwest of Pusan. On 6th August, the 5th Marines were attached to Major General William B. Kean’s 25th Infantry Division and moved an additional 13 miles southwest to Chindong-ni. On that very night, Company G, 3/5 was rushed forward to defend Hill 342. The Marines lost 11 men that night but inflicted 30-times that number of enemies killed. The NKPA suddenly realized that there was a new sheriff in town.
Eighth Army units began to attack but were frequently overrun by counter-attacking NKPA forces. Whenever this happened, the Marines were sent in to repel the NKPA, seal the gap in the lines, and restore American control over that sector. This happened so frequently that Marine grunts developed a sense of contempt for the Army. This attitude wasn’t entirely fair, but completely understandable. The Marines began calling themselves “the Fire Brigade.” The fact was that two-thirds of Marine officers and mid-to-senior NCOs in the 5th Marines had served during World War II. They knew how to fight —they knew how to win battles.
They added to that experience between 15 August and 15 September; the 5th Marines were engaged in bloody combat almost from their first week in South Korea. Commanding the 1st Marine Division, Major General Oliver P. Smith [1] arrived in theater at the end of August and began planning for an amphibious invasion of Inchon. It was an audacious plan because of erratic tidal conditions in Inchon. The Marines would have only so many hours to force their landing, and it would have to be carried out in increments —which meant that the lead units would be without reinforcements for between 12-20 hours. General Craig’s Brigade was folded back into the 1st Marine Division. BLT 3/5 under Lieutenant Colonel Bob Taplett spearheaded the Division assault.
After the 1st Marine Division and 7th Infantry Division knocked in the door to Inchon, Eighth Army tasked the Marines with clearing operations inside Seoul. Urban warfare at its worst. No sooner had this mission been accomplished, MacArthur placed the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division under Major General Edward Almond, US Army, commanding X Corps. The Marines landed at Wonson on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on 26 October 1950; 7th Infantry Division landed at Iwon in early November. Smith’s orders were to establish a base of operations at Hungnam. For an account of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, click here.
As with many young men of his day, Stanley J. Wawrzyniak dropped out of school to pursue adventure in the US military. He initially joined the U. S. Navy with service as a hospital corpsman. As it turned out, the Navy wasn’t Wawrzyniak’s cup of tea, and so he accepted discharge at the end of his enlistment and joined the Marines. He was serving with the 5th Marines on 25 June 1950. He was one of 2,300 Marines sent to square away the South Korean peninsula. Since few people could pronounce his Polish last name, everyone just called him “Ski.”
The Silver Star Medal
On 28 May 1951, while serving with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, Staff Sergeant Wawrzyniak’s platoon assaulted a well-defended Chinese communist position. Without regard for his own personal welfare, while under heavy enemy fire, Wawrzyniak moved forward shouting words of encouragement to his men as they advanced against the hail of enemy mortar and small-arms fire to gain the enemy position. Although painfully wounded in the assault, Sergeant Wawrzyniak refused first-aid in order that he might remain to supervise the treatment and evacuation of other wounded Marines. The initiative and aggressiveness displayed by Sergeant Wawrzyniak reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.
The Navy Cross [2]
On 19 September 1951, Staff Sergeant Wawrzyniak, while serving as Company Gunnery Sergeant, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, led an assault in his company’s final push against a heavily fortified and strongly defended enemy hill-top position. During the assault, Sergeant Wawrzyniak courageously exposed himself to enemy small-arms and grenade fire while moving and maneuvering his force and marking enemy positions and targets. As the squad neared the crest of the hill, Wawrzyniak observed an enemy position that threatened the squad’s entire left flank. Wawrzyniak single-handedly charged the emplacement, killed all of its occupants, and although painfully wounded, he immediately rejoined the attack. Seizing an automatic rifle from a fallen comrade when his own ammunition was exhausted, he aggressively aided the squad in overrunning the enemy position, directed the pursuit of the fleeing enemy, and consolidated the ground position. By his daring initiative, gallant determination, and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of hostile opposition, Staff Sergeant Wawrzyniak served to inspire all who observed him, contributing materially to the successes achieved by his company, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
The Navy Cross (Second Award) [3]
On 16 April 1952, while serving with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, an outnumbering enemy force launched an assault upon an outpost position. The outpost commander and his immediate squad were cut off from friendly lines by intensive hostile fire. Technical Sergeant Wawrzyniak unhesitatingly assumed command of the remaining Marines and promptly organized an effective defense against fanatical attackers. With the position completely encircled and subjected to extremely heavy enemy machine-gun, recoilless rifle, mortar, and small-arms fire, Wawrzyniak repeatedly braved the hail of blistering fire to reach the outpost, boldly led the men back into the defensive perimeter, replenished their supply of ammunition, and encouraged them while directing fire against close-in enemy assaults. Although painfully wounded, Wawrzyniak refused medical treatment for himself and aided medical personnel in treating and dressing the wounds of his Marines. By his outstanding courage, inspiring leadership, and valiant devotion in the face of overwhelming odds, Technical Sergeant Wawrzyniak upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
After the Korean War, Master Sergeant Ski was recommended for a commission as a Marine Corps officer. In subsequent years, his reputation as a combat Marine followed him from post to station. He somehow managed to add to his colorful legend with each successive assignment.
In 1960, Ski attended training at the Marine Corps Cold Weather Training Center. While practicing a glacier rescue technique, he was accidently dropped by his belayer into a crevasse. The fall caused serious internal injuries. The only route out of the crevasse required a descent of 2,000 feet and traversing some 3-miles over extremely rough terrain. Refusing to be carried out, Ski walked the entire way carrying his own rucksack. During rest stops, Ski urinated blood. When he later learned that his belayer was being blamed for the injury, Ski defended him, stating, “It wasn’t his fault; it was my fault for not making sure he was ready.”
Some months later, Ski was assigned as a student at the Escape, Evasion, and Survival Training Course. Ski was assigned to lead an evasion team … which promptly disappeared and was unobserved by any instructor for four days. Ski’s team finished in first place for this training exercise, but then … Ski was used to finishing in first place. In his mid-30’s, he finished first at the Army’s Airborne and Ranger schools. He didn’t brag about his accomplishments; he simply believed that an older, more experienced Marine ought to have finished first.
One of the duties of an adjutant is to communicate the orders of the commanding officer at assembled formations. In one instance, Ski was ordered to read a letter of censure aloud at morning formation so that a Marine could be properly chastised for breaking the rules. The problem was that the words used in the construction of this letter were a bit more than most of the assembled Marines could understand. Realizing this, Ski shoved the letter into the hand of the Marine being chastised, telling him: “Here—you take this damn thing, read it, and don’t screw up again.”
As Ski was promoted through the ranks, it became a bit obvious to others that his career might be limited. He was serving as a field grade officer, without a college education. He also a bit profane; he spoke in a way that one might expect from a company gunnery sergeant, but not from a field-grade officer. This was never a problem among his enlisted Marines but was a handicap when among senior officers, who regularly complained about Ski’s colorful language.
Typically, general officers like to be pampered —perhaps thinking that having made it all the way to flag rank, they’re somehow entitled to having everyone of lesser grade kiss their ass. Ski didn’t kiss ass. How he ever wound up being assigned as the Protocol officer at Marine Corps Base, Camp Butler, Okinawa confused almost everyone who knew him. It was during this assignment that Ski managed to offend a visiting senior officer.
It was during the Viet Nam War and at that time, Okinawa camps served as staging and transit facilities for combat replacements. Not to put too fine a point on it, Ski’s boss wasn’t too pleased when this VIP expressed his displeasure over something Ski had (or had not) done. The Commanding General called Ski in to his office for one of his “get closer to Jesus” moments. The General pointedly told Ski that if he ever screwed up another senior officer visit, he’d find himself in Viet Nam. Major Ski could hardly wait for the next general officer visit.
The Bronze Star Medal
In Vietnam, Ski was assigned to serve as Executive Officer, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. During this assignment, Ski was awarded two Bronze Star medals and his fourth Purple Heart. Ski was always “at the front.” Why? Because that’s where leaders are supposed to be. Even as a battalion XO, he would somehow manage to involve himself in such things as security patrols [4]. Ski would never re-enter friendly lines until he was certain that every Marine on patrol had been accounted for. At the conclusion of one of these missions, an NCO told him, “Sir … you’ve got more balls than brains.”
I served under in Wawrzyniak in 1972-73. He commanded Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, which at the time was located on Okinawa. In this assignment, Ski wore three hats: Battalion Commander, Division Headquarters Commandant, and Area Commander for Camp Courtney, Okinawa. I was one of the 1,700 Marines assigned to Wawrzyniak’s battalion, at the time a staff sergeant. In addition to my regular duties, he assigned me as a platoon commander in the 3rd Marine Division honor guard, which also supported the co-located Headquarters of the III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF). Colonel Wawrzyniak always provided feedback after an honor guard detail. It was either “Good fucking job, Marine,” or “Ya fucked up, didn’t ya? Get your shit together.”
At this time, III MAF was commanded by Lieutenant General Louis Metzger [5] (who was known by some as Loveable Lou). General Metzger was a no-nonsense general officer under whom I had previously served when he commanded the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade.
A World War II Era Marine, (then) Brigadier General Metzger demanded perfection from his officers. His demeanor was gentlemanly, but direct. He spoke with a baritone voice. He never spoke at anyone, but rather engaged them in conversation. Of course, throughout the conversation, he also engaged you with his eyes. You knew that he was listening carefully to what you had to say —and he knew when someone didn’t know what they were talking about. Whenever General Metzger asked a question, he expected a frank, honest, and well-thought-out response. If one happened not to know the answer, all you had to do was say so and then go find out what he wanted to know. If someone tried to bluff his way through a conversation with Lou Metzger, he’d eat you alive. He always asked challenging questions —not to embarrass anyone, but because he expected a person of some position to know the answers to such questions..
During the Viet Nam War, 9th MAB had several important missions beyond providing the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with battalion landing teams. One of these was the continual review of contingency operational plans —necessary at a time when the world situation was in a state of continual flux. The General also had a photographic memory and the ability to speed read, comprehend, and analyze complex battle plans. In this process of review, General Metzger wasn’t particularly pleasant whenever a staff officer knew less about these plans than he did —hence the label “Lovable Lou.” Beyond his directness and his no-nonsense approach to serious matters, Metzger was an exceptional general officer. One always knew where you stood with him.
A few years later as a lieutenant general in command of III MAF, Metzger was the senior-most officer of the “general mess,” the dining facility [6] for all officers serving in the 3rd Marine Division Headquarters and III MAF at or above the rank of colonel. The General Mess included three general officers and around 15 or so colonels. The only lieutenant colonel permitted to dine in the general mess was the Headquarters Commandant, who was also responsible for managing it. One night at dinner, a somewhat grumpier than usual General Metzger had taken but a few bites of his salad when he threw his fork down on the table, looked down toward the end of the table where sat LtCol Wawrzyniak and said, “Damn it, Ski … why can’t we ever have fresh vegetables?”
Ski’s reply stunned everyone into silence. “General, there aren’t any fucking fresh vegetables … so if you don’t like the fucking vegetables, then don’t eat the fucking vegetables.” No one spoke to General Metzger in such a crude and insubordinate manner. After what seemed like a very long pause Metzger said, “Okay, Ski … no need to get testy.”
Two very fine Marine Corps officers … both of whom it was my privilege to serve; two legendary Marines now long deceased. These are the kinds of Marines who most effectively lead Marines to win battles. I think of Metzger and Wawrzyniak often, which in my own mind means that they live still. How grand it would be to “return” to an earlier time and serve alongside them once more.
Few senior officers today are capable of filling either of these men’s combat boots —which is disturbing to me because our Marines deserve the best leaders— and these were two of the very best in their own unique style of leadership. What Major Anthony J. Milavic once said about Ski is absolutely true: “Ski was a leader of Marines who knew each of us; communicated to each of us; and, each of us knew that he cared about us. If he sometimes cursed at us, that was okay because he was always with us: at physical training, climbing a mountain, falling off a cliff, or in a combat zone —always at the front— he was always with us.”
Ski and Metzger are still with us … well, they’re with me anyway. Memories.
[1] See Also: Scholar-Warrior.
[2] United States’ second highest award for courage under fire in time of war.
[3] Ski was initially recommended for award of the Medal of Honor for this action.
[4] Security patrols are dispatched from a unit location when the unit is stationary or during a halt in movement to search the local area, detect the presence of enemy forces near the main body, and engage and destroy the enemy within the capability of the patrol. It is standard to send out such patrols when operating in close terrain where there are limitations of observation and concentrated fires.
[5] Awarded two Navy Cross medals for exceptional courage under fire during World War II; Legion of Merit; two awards of the Bronze Star Medal.
[6] Military officers pay for their meals and other consumables at the end of each month. Mess bills cost senior officers more than junior officers.
Posted on 05/03/2019 08/16/2019 Categories In the Pacific, Korean War, Vietnam War/Era, World War II6 Comments on Leading from the Front
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line467
|
__label__wiki
| 0.865223
| 0.865223
|
The 42-year-old husband of the wedding cheater hopes that the victims will "get justice".
The husband of a wedding planner, who disappeared alleging that she cheated thousands of pounds on couples, said he hoped "justice would be done" after her apparent arrest.
Dana Twidale, 42, of Hull, East Yorkshire, is being investigated by the police and the Action Fraud hotline for complaints from engaged couples, catering and event rental companies, and DJs.
A number of men in love, including their estranged husband Carl Twidale (45), also claim that the mother of four children cheated them out of large sums.
Dana Twidal's estranged husband Carl (pictured together) claims he cheated on him
Mr. Twidale says he lost £ 4,000 and an applicant who met her through the Tinder dating app claims he gave her £ 10,000 for her mother's funeral – only to find out that her mother was still alive was.
Now the hairdresser has spoken to Mr. Twidale to tell how he thinks their seven-year relationship was "a big lie".
He said, "It made me realize that I didn't even know who she was or who I was when I was with her, and now it just feels like I woke up from a really long dream.
"I put on a brave face, but it's all just so emotional. I've lost seven years that I can't get back, and I often just sit there and start crying.
"Every now and then I remember a happy memory of our wedding day that puts a smile on my face, but that annoys me more because she wasn't really my wife, does it? I don't know who she was because everything she did was a lie.
"I don't want to be a martyr at all, I just want all of her victims to be fair, but people keep telling me that I am the greatest victim of all."
Dana Twidale (left) was investigated by police and the Action Fraud hotline after allegations from people like her estranged husband Carl (right).
Mr. Twidale said the Humberside police called him on Saturday and said his wife was "arrested and detained".
But the group refused to comment "for privacy reasons" earlier this week, and it was not clear whether they were in the UK or Spain, where they were discovered three weeks ago.
The police later clarified MailOnline that the force would not confirm or refuse to arrest a designated person, according to the instructions from the College of Policing.
Ms. Twidale was photographed by a tourist who sunbathed and swimming with one of her children in a holiday complex in Benidorm.
Her husband had been trying to track her down since she disappeared from her rented house in the city six weeks ago.
He added Facebook groups across Europe and published pictures of her in the hope that someone would discover her.
Mr. Twidale said this allegedly led to her being arrested in Spain, with the images most likely being sent to him by someone in the Benidorm complex.
It is believed that Ms. Twidale fled with her second youngest child and Mr. Twidale has already asked his wife not to drag her into the chaos.
Ms. Twidale (left) was photographed swimming in a holiday complex in Benidorm, Spain
After the allegations of fraud surfaced, Mr. Twidale was shocked when he was approached by his wife's ex-boyfriend, who said she saw him at the same time as Mr. Twidale and claimed she had him over £ 10,000 deducted.
Mr. Twidale said: “Dana is the most amazing, fun-loving and contagious person there is, and I felt so special and happy to be with her because she is so attractive. I thought she was completely out of my league.
Ms. Twidale faced complaints from engaged couples as well as catering and event rental companies
"All you are looking for in life is to meet that one person that you can grow old with, and I really thought I was on my feet with Dana and thought she was all I wanted from a partner because it was just amazing and was fun for a minute. but it was really all a lie.
"I have since found out from other men who have contacted me that it is only her MO to treat boys like this … and then move on to the next one, so I cannot believe that she ever really loved me."
A Facebook page titled "People Affected by Dana Twidale, Wedding Planner Help and Support" is full of posts from people who claim to have lost money.
Nigel Wainwright wrote: “I met her through Tinder and we went out a few times. She told me that her mother died in December and had rotten in a coffin.
"I paid for this funeral. All lies – her mother is alive and well. I just found out what a lying, wicked person she was last week. She skinned me for every penny I had. & # 39;
Ms. Twidale was discovered by a vacationer who wanted to sunbathe in a holiday complex in Benidorm
Mr. Twidale said he was shocked by the allegations. "It has affected dozens of people and stolen tens of thousands," he added. "My life was a lie."
A notice on the door of Mrs. Twidal's apartment in Hull after she "left" the property
The couple met at their cousin's funeral and lived together within a few weeks before marrying in 2014 after a six-month romance.
However, they separated two years ago. Even after the couple filed for divorce, the couple continued to meet and even tried to revive their relationship, with Mr. Twidale last seeing his estranged wife on July 14th.
He said, "When we tried to get back together and get things going again for Christmas, I later found out that she had sent a message to Nigel, a man she had met with, while she was was in bed with me, which really hurt.
"If I saw her, would I tell her why? Why me? I have so many questions that need to be answered.
& # 39; she had everything; a successful wedding business, a loving family and a good relationship. I have no idea why she did it. It doesn't make sense. & # 39;
After spitting in 2017, Ms. Twidale started a wedding planner business with a woman with clients across the UK. Couples claim that they received large sums but did nothing.
Nicky Thorpe, 32, who married in Harrogate, North Yorkshire last week, says she paid Ms. Twidale "well over £ 2,000" before realizing that she had been "cheated" on.
She says her ceremony only took place after a cry for help on local radio. Jade Savage said she was disappointed by Ms. Twidale ten days before her wedding in August.
She wrote on Facebook: “With the generosity of completely foreign people and the love and support of family and friends, our wedding day took place on Saturday.
"It turned out to be better than what it would have if this bad woman did it anyway."
In the course of the fraud investigation, Mr Twidale contacted the Humberside police, who informed him that Ms Twidale had been subjected to nine allegations of fraud.
Anyone affected should call the Humberside Police Department at number 101, as well as Action Fraud, who will also investigate alleged victims' allegations
The 36-year-old Hurstville driver was convicted of manslaughter
Stuntman is accused of strangling his French filmmaker "after she murdered her after watching porn," the court hears
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line468
|
__label__wiki
| 0.606863
| 0.606863
|
‘Designing Women’ Creator Throws ‘Evening Shade’ at Les Moonves
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the creator of iconic TV shows Designing Women (1986-1993) and Evening Shade (1990-1994), has blasted deposed CBS honcho Les Moonves, 68, in a searing THR essay.
The cast of Evening Shade (Image via CBS)
On the heels of Moonves stepping down from CBS (but staying on in an advisory role and likely to continue to rake in millions), Bloodworth-Thomason writes that Moonves sabotaged her career at its pinnacle, conjecturing it was due to his misogyny:
I was never sexually harassed or attacked by Les Moonves. My encounters were much more subtle, engendering a different kind of destruction ...
I was producing a new pilot, prophetically titled Fully Clothed Non-Dancing Women. I was immediately concerned when I heard that Mr. Moonves was rumored to be a big fan of topless bars. Then, someone delivered the news that he especially hated Designing Women and their loud-mouthed speeches. He showed up at the first table read and took a chair directly across from mine (actress Illeana Douglas, who later accused him of sexual harassment, sat next to me). Having been voted most popular in high school, I felt confident that I would be able to charm him. I was wrong. He sat and stared at me throughout the entire reading with eyes that were stunningly cold, as in, “You are so dead.” I had not experienced such a menacing look since Charles Manson tried to stare me down on a daily basis when I was a young reporter covering that trial.
She goes on to recall that it was common knowledge Moonves saw actresses privately in his office because, "Why would I wanna cast 'em if I don't wanna f*ck 'em?"
Shockingly, she relates a story of Moonves sexually assaulting a "famous actress" whom he had just informed was "too old" to be on CBS. The actress, who had starred in "an iconic detective show" on the network, received his tongue down her throat as a parting gift.
The moral of the story may be not to piss off a good writer, with Bloodworth-Thomason seizing on the following memorable line:
“Where have you been? What happened to you?” Les Moonves happened to me.
Moonves is currently spending time with his wife, Julie Chen (b. 1970), a woman who owes her entire career to her husband — so don't expect her to confirm he is a disaster as a human being.
After Bloodworth-Thomason finally left CBS (with Moonves owing her money and telling her agent she could "go f*ck herself), she never came close to recapturing her career magic. Since then, she created the short-lived series Women of the House (1995) and Emeril (2000-2001), as well as Hearts Afire (1992-1995), which fared somewhat better. She did write and produce the acclaimed doc Bridegroom in 2013.
Dream team (Image via CBS)
Next up, she will produce a new version of Designing Women, sans the late Dixie Carter (1939-2010), Meshach Taylor (1947-2014), Alice Ghostley (1923-2007) and Jan Hooks (1957-2014).
'80s, Bombshells
Matthew Rettenmund
Written by Matthew Rettenmund
View all posts by: Matthew Rettenmund
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line474
|
__label__cc
| 0.620275
| 0.379725
|
The Glenn Fitzpatrick Times
All the news "Fitz" to print
#1140 – late
I got to work about 5 minutes late… Mom had to drop of off because Kelly needed the car today, and mom was running a little behind ^^:: My manager said that it’s ok, though.
Categories LiveJournal Post
Bertie Memorial Day
Pack it in, pack it out, and leave no trace unless it’s LWOP
The internet is insufferable
Picking strawberries
Archives Select Month January 2021 January 2020 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 October 2017 August 2017 October 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 April 2014 January 2013 August 2012 July 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 May 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 March 2001
© 2001–2021 Glenn Fitzpatrick | Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: The Glenn Fitzpatrick Times, a child theme based on Bugis by Elmastudio
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line477
|
__label__cc
| 0.740204
| 0.259796
|
Sounds of the world
You probably use photographs, images and film every day, to strengthen student understanding of topics - but what about sound? You could get students to listen first. What do they think they can hear? Where in the world has it been recorded? What can they find out about a place from the sounds they hear? Sounds are not just a great tool for discovering about other parts of the world but can also help build up an important skill – listening. Here are a few links to help you find sounds from all around the world, past and present. Sounds Around the World: click on different places in the world to hear sounds, from the everyday to the momentous-https://aporee.org/maps/ British Library sound archive: music, stories, accents and nature including recordings of British prisoners of war captured by Germany in WW1 and the Fijian nose flute - http://sounds.bl.uk/ Sound Around You: The Audio and Acoustic Engineering Research Centre at the University of Salford is building a sound map of the world to investigate how sounds in our everyday environment make us feel - www.soundaroundyou.com Nature Sound Map: This brilliant interactive map documents beautiful sounds of nature around the world- http://www.naturesoundmap.com/ Sound Tourism: places that ‘sound’ interesting like the sand whistling through dunes in the Sahara or whistling languages - www.sonicwonders.org BBC World Service: ‘endangered sounds’ www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specialreports/2009/07/090703_ramiarticle.shtml Ecosystem sounds: you can find out more about the biodiversity of a place from sounds than pictures or writing - www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/the-sounds-of-v/ American musician and ecologist Bernie Krause has been recording wild soundscapes for nearly 50 years. Explore his findings and his music at www.wildsanctuary.com and www.thegreatanimalorchestra.com. The lyrebird: this was one of David Attenborough’s recent choices for ‘Desert Island Discs’. Students can learn about adaptation and the impact of humans on the natural world - www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y Earthquakes: converted into sound http://boingboing.net/2012/03/07/seismic-waves-from-tohoku-eart.html No sounds: the world’s last quiet places www.cntraveler.com/features/2012/01/The-Worlds-Last-Great-Quiet-Places Sound could be used in literacy and creative writing lessons – listening to sounds and imagining what you would see as a first step for describing a place or creating a world. Who or what is there? Colours, smells, buildings, weather, emotions and so on. Have you found any useful websites that help you to explore global sounds? Let us know, and we'll add them to this page. Email info@globaldimension.org.uk. The photo at the top of the page is Light and shadow by quinnanya on Flickr and used under a Creative Commons licence.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line478
|
__label__cc
| 0.653233
| 0.346767
|
What is Lacrosse?
The lacrosse is a sport that shares similarities with hockey, but also with other forms of racket, and it is common practice in the United States and Canada. However, more and more countries, including Spain, have been encouraged to create their teams of this fast and fun game that consists of catching the rubber ball with a stick finished in a net to score goals on the contrary.
The origin of this sport is in the southern zone of Canada and the North of the United States, and it began to be practiced by the indigenous tribes, who knew it as ” Guh-Chee-Gwuh “as a practice related to their religious beliefs. Although much has changed since then – in those times, it was much more violent, and more than 100 people could play for days – it still maintains its essence intact.
In our country, it is little less than landing at a professional level, since it was not until 2017 when the Spanish women’s team premiered in the lacrosse World Cup in the women’s category. However, they could not go as a Spanish team. So far, only there are about seven teams, so the Higher Sports Council does not yet recognize it as such.
If you have been bitten by the bug and want to know more, read on to discover how lacrosse is played.
According to World Lacrosse, the international federation of this sport, the laws of lacrosse can have modifications depending on the place where it is played, if it is outdoors or indoor (Box lacrosse), or if the participants are men or women.
However, the version female is the one that most closely resembles the original version of this activity. But in all cases, the main objective is to put the ball in the opposite goal to score a goal, all without touching it with your hands, but carrying it with a stick –a stick that ends with a spoon-shaped net, similar to a butterfly net – and the team that manages to score the most points in the established time will win.
The contact between the participants is one of the points that drastically differentiates both categories; According to what Cristina Grijalba, Team Manager of the Spanish Women’s Lacrosse Selection, has told us, in the men’s group it is very marked, almost as if it were American football.
In the female case, it is against all the rules to attack any of the opponents, either with the body or with the stick. Also, it emphasizes that there are many differences between the masculine and feminine modality of this sport, which make them seem almost different.
The matches officially last four quarters of 15 minutes each, with a 15-minute break, and ten players participate in the men’s version – one goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three attackers – and 12 in the female version – one goalkeeper, six defenders. And five attackers.
However, in Spain and in schools in countries where lacrosse is implemented, they can modify the time or the participants to adjust to their needs.
One of the characteristics of this sport is that it is not necessary to have a certain height, as happens in basketball, or a strong force or musculature, especially in girls, where there is no contact. It only takes an excellent resistance, since the players are practical all the time of the game running from one side to the other to steal the ball from the opponent, or score in the opposite goal.
Restrictions on the field of play
In lacrosse, you can pass the ball back and forth, just as you can move in both directions. However, there are some restrictions in the game, such as pushing, passing the stick near the opponent’s head, or throwing into the goal if there is a player in the path, in the female case, or hitting from behind or hit the stick above the neck area or below the hip, in the male modality. Need to wear attacking or defensive lacrosse gloves to play this game properly.
It should also be noted that when the referee whistles for the ball to come out of the lines of the field, all the players must remain still, since they will be the participant of the opposing team, and that they are closer to the area from which the ball was thrown. Ball, whoever gets possession, and this is proven by all remaining as statues. Don’t miss the next point if you want to know what it takes to participate in a lacrosse match.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line479
|
__label__wiki
| 0.503426
| 0.503426
|
Cruise Stocks Sink After Missing Out on Economic Relief Bill
Al Diaz/Miami Herald via AP
(Associated Press) Shares of cruise lines have taken on more water after the industry’s major players were shut out from government assistance as part of the major economic-recovery bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday
The bill passed by Congress says companies getting loans or loan guarantees must be “organized” in the U.S. under American laws and have a majority of their employees based in the U.S.
Carnival Corp. is registered in Panama, England and Wales; Royal Caribbean Cruises is chartered in Liberia; and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is flagged in Bermuda.
The cruise lines could still get a lifeline from taxpayers. Lawmakers could reconsider aid if it looks like the industry is in serious jeopardy of going under.
A Senate Republican aide familiar with the negotiations said Democratic senators balked at helping the cruise lines. It did not become a sticking point because lawmakers from both parties were eager to act swiftly on the bill, added the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes talks.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., tweeted: “The giant cruise companies incorporate overseas to dodge US taxes, flag vessels overseas to avoid US taxes and laws, and pollute without offset. Why should we bail them out?”
Trump seemed to endorse that argument Thursday. The president said he liked the idea expressed on Twitter by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that cruise lines should come back to America and pay their taxes.
“I do like the concept of perhaps coming in and registering here, coming into the United States,” Trump said. “It’s very tough to make a loan to a company when they are based in a different country, but with that being said, they have thousands and thousands of people that work there.”
Then Trump left the door open to helping the cruise lines some other way.
“Look, it’s a big business, it’s a great business,” Trump said. “So we are going to work very hard on the cruise line business, and we are going to try and work something out.”
In trading Friday, Carnival’s stock dropped 19%. Royal Caribbean fell 15% and Norwegian sank more than 23%.
Cruise ships and airlines are two of the industries hit hardest by the new coronavirus outbreak, and Trump has spoken repeatedly about helping both. But while U.S. passenger airlines got special treatment from Congress — they will be able to seek $50 billion in grants and loans under the economic-stimulus bill — the cruise industry was left high and dry.
Cruise lines canceled sailings in Asia when the outbreak was mostly limited there, but bookings dropped and cancellations rose just about everywhere as COVID-19 grew into a pandemic. Extensive coverage of ill passengers on quarantined ships added to the industry’s image problem.
Representatives of the industry trade group, Cruise Lines International Association, and individual companies did not immediately comment.
While the major cruise ship companies are not headquartered in the U.S., travelers getting ready to take a cruise spend large sums flying to port cities, staying at local hotels and eating at restaurants.
The bill provides $454 billion in loans and loan guarantees to U.S. businesses whose losses result from the coronavirus. American-owned cruise ship companies and owners of smaller passenger vessels and port facilities are expected to qualify for the assistance.
Although the cruise lines won’t get help from the bill signed Friday, their U.S.-based employees who lose their jobs could be eligible for expanded unemployment benefits of $600 a week on top of state benefits through July 31, and an extra 13 weeks of state benefits. They could also be in line for the bill’s stimulus payments of up to $1,200 per adult.
Previous articleVirus Lockdowns Could Lift Slowly
Next articleBills Are Coming Due for Governments, Companies, and Consumers
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line480
|
__label__wiki
| 0.704296
| 0.704296
|
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers: Finn Goes Ballistic, Unleashes His Anger On Liam
SpoilersThe Bold and The Beautiful
By Carol Cassada On Dec 29, 2020
The Bold and the Beautiful spoilers indicate that in Los Angeles Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) will face the wrath of an angry Dr. John “Finn” Finnegan (Tanner Novlan). Upcoming previews say that Liam and Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) will come clean about their night together.
At first, the exes were at odds over what to do. Liam wanted to tell the truth, while Steffy wanted to keep quiet. However, it seems her conscience gets the best of her, and she realizes they need to do the right thing. When Liam and Steffy do come clean, it’s going to cause a lot of heartaches and surprising reactions.
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers – John Finn Finnegan’s Reaction
Since the moment of his debut, Finn has become a favorite with B&B viewers. His caring nature along with his budding romance with Steffy made fans fall in love with him. Finn has been a gentleman, yet according to upcoming spoilers, there may be a different side to him.
Previews suggest that Finn will have a surprising reaction when he learns about Steffy and Liam’s betrayal. Finn’s going to be upset when he learns the news and will evoke his anger.
B&B Spoilers – John Finn Finnegan Goes After Liam Spencer
With Finn’s anger raging, he’ll go after the person he feels is responsible, and that’s Liam. In the past, Finn has warned Liam about interfering in his and Steffy’s relationship. He also advised Liam to concentrate on his own marriage to Hope Logan (Annika Noelle), and not worry about Steffy.
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers: Brooke Blindsides Thomas Invites Him To Move In To Recuperate
Finn knows about Steffy’s history with Liam, and during her pill addiction, she unleashed the pent up hurt she felt because of Liam.Steffy was making progress and moving on with her life until Liam had to mess things up again. Finn knows it’s hard for Liam to let Steffy move on, and he’ll believe Liam took advantage of Steffy once again.
He’s going to be furious at Liam, and he’ll decide to take Mr. Spencer down a peg.
When the time comes for a confrontation between the two, there will be a lot of fireworks and Liam will suffer at the hands of Finn.
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers – What Happens With Steffy Forrester?
The big question in this story is how it will affect Finn and Steffy’s relationship. Finn’s going to be hurt by Steffy’s betrayal, and he may not forgive her so quickly. Steffy said she loves Finn and wants to be with him, but her actions will alter their relationship.
Finn loves Steffy and was looking forward to a future with him. Now, he’s going to be unsure if he can trust her, or if they can survive this. Steffy will do everything in her heart to win Finn back, but it’s going to take time before he’s ready to forgive her.
Whether they’re able to work out their problems or they go their separate ways remains to be seen. But fans are rooting for Team Sinn in this storyline.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with B&B right now. Come back here often for The Bold and the Beautiful spoilers, news, and updates.
Carol Cassada
Carol’s love of soap operas began when she was a kid when she watched an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful with her mom. Since then Carol’s love of soap opera began and she became a lifelong fan. These days her main soaps are B&B and Y&R. When she’s not writing about the soaps, she’s busy working on her next romance novel and playing with her fur babies.
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers: Will Steffy Be Honest With Liam & Finn…
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers: Finn Forgives Steffy In Time, But Needs One…
The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers: Delon de Metz Talks Paris’ Justice Crusade And…
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line486
|
__label__wiki
| 0.871861
| 0.871861
|
‘The Bachelor’ Star Matt James Reveals What He’s Looking For In A Woman: I Want To ‘Empower’ Her
January 4, 2021 6:03PM EST
Jennifer Lopez, 51, Escapes To The Beach In A Red Bikini After NYE In New York City
Jenna Lemoncelli
Jennifer Lopez enjoyed some beach meditation following her glamorous NYE’s performance in NYC. The singer showed off her fit physique in a fiery red swimsuit on Jan. 4. She rocked her naturally curly hair and a fresh face in a new video!
After she put on an explosive New Year’s Eve performance in Times Square, Jennifer Lopez is relaxing on the beach! The “In the Morning” singer, 51, is seen dancing barefoot near the ocean in a new video she shared to Instagram on January 4. JLo, who donned a pair of gold hoop earrings, bared her toned tummy in a red, string bikini. She wore a custom robe that featured her nickname (JLo) printed on the back in crystals.
A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo)
Jennifer’s video was set to her pal Drake and Future‘s hit, “Life Is Good” — an appropriate tune for the singer, who recently launched her JLo Beauty brand. She captioned her post using the hashtags, “Meditation”, “Affirmations” and “Monday Motivation.” It’s unclear where exactly the video was filmed, but it’s likely that Jennifer’s fiancé, Alex Rodriguez captured the glowing moment. The former Yankee turned business mogul has become an unofficial photog for his lady love.
Ahead of her day at the beach, Jennifer shared a glimpse of her Monday morning workout. The Hustlers actress, who performed arm exercises in a closeup Instagram photo, shared a motivational message in her caption: “#2021 Let’s get it!!! #Lift.” The candid gym snap was taken by Jennifer’s actual personal photographer, Ana Carballosa.
A post shared by Alex Rodriguez (@arod)
Although 2020 was a big year for JLo (She was the Super Bowl halftime headliner among other big gigs!), 2021 may be the year she’ll finally say “I do” to Alex. The couple, whose wedding was initially scheduled to take place in June (2019), was forced to delay the nuptials due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they’re considering not having a wedding — at all.
“At our age, you know, we’ve both been married before. It’s like, ‘Do we get married? Do we not? What does it mean for us?’ And it just comes down to personal … like, ‘What do you want to do?’,” Jennifer said during an interview on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show, Radio Andy, which took place right before Christmas.
“It was really sad because we were supposed to get married in June and we had planned it all, so in March or April we’re looking down the pipe and we’re going, ‘This is maybe not gonna happen. Italy’s the worst place in the world.’ And we were gonna get married in Italy,” Jennifer explained, noting that the engaged pair is in “no rush” to marry.
Stars Kissing At Midnight On New Year's Eve: Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez & More
Jennifer Lopez Stuns In 20 Ft. Feather Coat & Diamond Mask For New Year's Eve 2021 Performance
Jennifer Lopez Through The Years
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line487
|
__label__wiki
| 0.62753
| 0.62753
|
ULTRAMAN Faces His GREATEST CHALLENGE yet IN NEW SERIES!
Julia Ormand Stars in REUNION: In Theaters + VOD/Digital on 2/5
THE BLACK KNIGHT Rides Again in New COMIC SERIES!
What is the Secret Behind SPIDER-MAN’S NEW COSTUME?
*OFFICIAL POSTER and NEW CLIP* SHADOW IN THE CLOUD Starring Chloë Grace Moretz – Out 1/1/21
Book Review: Monster Jukebox – a History of Spooky Music from the Beginning of Time | Author Jim Magus
Home | Interviews | Interview: Padraig Reynolds (Open 24 Hours)
Interview: Padraig Reynolds (Open 24 Hours)
Adrian Halen 08/29/2020 Interviews
“Known for putting his unique stamp on the horror community with his cross-genre vision and fast paced style, Writer/Director Padraig Reynolds is best known for Rites of Spring (2011) with IFC, The Devil’s Dolls (2016) and Open 24 Hours (2018). His most recent feature film, Dark Light debuted on Netflix in March of 2020.
Other projects include: Rites of Spring 2: Devil Sent the Rain, Sony Pictures mini series “Buried Alive” and an adaptation of the non-fiction novel Starvation Heights for Kerry, Kimmel and Pollack. His next movie, High Desert is currently in pre-production and scheduled to begin principal photography this fall.”
Hi Padraig, tell us about Open 24 Hours and how this idea manifested for you?
It started way back in 2010. I was doing my first movie; Rites of Spring and we we’re looking for a gas station. The producers found this great gas station in Mississippi. It was isolated away from the rest of the town and it was pretty much just used for farmers, hunters, and stuff like that? I thought this is great gas station. I should write a whole movie around this. That night I went back to my hotel room and over the years I formed the backstory, you know why Mary works in this gas station. My goal was to always shoot it at that gas station. The funny thing about is I finally got the money to do the movie and they told me we were going to shoot the movie in Serbia. We went to Serbia but, they re-did that gas station exactly like the one in Mississippi. They built it there, it was crazy.
Did you ever have any weird gas station experiences?
I grew up in Missouri, so we have a lot of those gas stations. The one in Mississippi was interesting. It was big for that type of story. It had a back room with a pool table and then there was another back room with a shower and a bathtub. Across the street, there was an abandoned trailer park. I wrote the script for her when she runs away from James, she goes over to the trailer park. We didn’t have one in Serbia but there was this abandoned car graveyard. I thought it was interesting. I thought, I can just swap out the trailer park for the car graveyard that’s right next door.
How did you get the cast prepared for everything?
Everybody went through the auditioning process. James was the first one I hired; he was one of the first people I saw tape because I was looking at the audition tapes. I was already in Serbia. I was like, oh wow, that guy is great. I didn’t want someone that was ultimately just bad. I wanted him to kind of have a charisma about him, a little bit like Ted Bundy. This guy could talk this girl into doing all this stuff. Vanessa was in this movie called Leatherface and I loved her performance in that. I hired her friend Jessica for my other movie. Vanessa sent her audition tape and then we met while we were in Serbia and we did a script read-through and she just nailed it. When you write a character, you hope that when people are reading what you write that its good. Brandan Fletcher auditioned for the role of the killer and he’s like, “I kind of want to play Bobby.” I said, I’d love you for Bobby because I need someone with great comic timing. He said he’d never done that much comedy. I was like, that’s great and he really filled out the part.
What was it like shooting in Serbia?
It was wonderful, the crews over there are great. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I didn’t even meet the producers until I was in Serbia which was crazy. I got my DP from Mississippi because I’ve worked with him before. We flew over there and Clockwork Productions, it’s production company out of Serbia. They picked us up at the airport and it was off and running. It was cold though.
It’s always amazing when you find out a movie was shot overseas, and it’s supposed to be in the states. It’s wild all the work and creativity that goes into everything.
What’s crazy is, I walk into the production office and they had a huge poster of the gas station in Mississippi, they got it off the internet. They blew it up so they could match it. They were building the ice machines. The hardest thing they couldn’t find was the deer head. They had to make that from scratch.
What about the special effects? What can you tell us about the effects?
They’ve been on board since day one. It’s Josh and Sierra Russell, they are out of Los Angeles. I’ve worked with them on all four movies. This is how I helped sell this movie, Josh and I went to Mississippi and shot a teaser trailer. The hard part was to get all the special effects over there. We had to pack heads in people’s duffle bags. I was like, are they even going to be able to go through customs. It all worked out well.
I wrote a script called, High Desert. I like female protagonist in isolated areas, so I wrote this movie. I want to hopefully shoot that after the pandemic ends.
Oh, that makes me think of the house in Dark Light. It’s creepy and I love it.
They built that too. I shot that in Georgia. They built that in two weeks. They drove me out to corn fields and said, “where do you want the house?” I said, I can put it anywhere, I said let’s put it between the two rows so she can walk out into the field.
What do you want to say to the people who will be watching Open 24 Hours?
Thanks for watching. I’m glad I got this movie; it was one of my favorite movies that I wrote. It took me a while to get it financed. What’s cool is Josh looked over at me while we were onset and said, “I knew we would do this movie. I’m just happy that I finally got it made. Thanks for watching, I hope everybody likes it. I think its fun. It’s a nice isolated self-contained horror movie.
Thank you so much Padraig! It was great talking to you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Tags Open 24 Hours Padraig Reynolds
The Padraig Reynolds Trilogy (2018)
Film Review: Open 24 Hours (2018)
Film Review: Rites of Spring (2011)
Film Review: The Devil’s Dolls (2016)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line489
|
__label__cc
| 0.588792
| 0.411208
|
horses helping people people helping horses
What Is FEEL?
FEEL Certification
FEEL Certification Training
FEEL Tuition
Advanced FEEL Training
Horse Teachers
FEEL Standards and Ethics
FEEL Certified Practitioners
Victoria Sambleson
Advanced FEEL Certification
Connecting with Horses
King City, ON M6N 2J6
mxtherapist@yahoo.ca
connectingwithhorses.ca
For as long as she can remember, Victoria has had a love of horses. After sitting on a horse at a birthday party when she was 8, her Grandparents had to abandon their dream of her being a Ballerina and buy her a pair of riding boots. She started riding at the age of 10 and competed as a 3-Day Eventer throughout her teenage years. Her love of horses spread into all of her activities as a child. From art work to story writing, she always had horses in her thoughts and dreams.
Victoria attended the University of Western Ontario and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and History. With her degree in hand, she entered the corporate world and left the world of horses behind. For 10 years, Victoria built a career in Project Management. She was in on the ground floor of the .com boom and played an integral part in the creation of many leading edge e-commerce websites.
Through her work in the corporate world, Victoria was introduced to the sport of dragonboat racing. In 2002 she had the privilege of representing Canada in the World Club Crew Championships.
Although Victoria was fulfilled in her corporate career and her dragonboat success, she felt a strong pull towards change. Her experience in high level competitive sport allowed her access to national level trainers and healing teams. This experience sparked her interest in various healing modalities.
In 2002 Victoria left the corporate world to become a Registered Massage Therapist. In 2004, Victoria graduated from the Sutherland-Chan Massage School and began her own very successful private practice. Currently, Victoria also teaches at Sutherland-Chan Massage School as well as teaches continuing education workshops to other RMTS all over the world.
Victoria had discovered a new career she loved, however, she found it difficult at times to meet the physical, mental and emotional needs of her patients. Along with running and managing her own business, the emotional and physical challenges of her patients at times became overwhelming. As a result, Victoria sought the help of her childhood friends… horses. She reconnected with these wonderful beings and found a new way to restore balance in her life. This began a wonderful journey of self-discovery, personal growth and Well-Being. Through a beautiful connection with a horse named Dylan, Victoria discovered a new relationship with horses. This beautiful being has enlightened her and shown her a new way to be with horses. This loving teacher has helper her shift into a new way of being with animals. His powerful teachings of love, compassion trust and understanding continue to evolve Victoria’s relationship with horses on a daily basis.
Victoria’s new passion is to spread the word of the healing power of horses. She has become a Facilitator of Equine Experiential Learning. Her goal is to evolve this powerful relationship between horses and humans and honour the wisdom of the Horse.
In her work, Victoria explores the relationship between physical pain and emotional Well-Being. As an RMT, Victoria recognizes that people store emotional trauma and stress in their physical bodies. Through teachings from the horse, Victoria and her clients can gain a better understanding of the root cause behind their physical discomfort and imbalances leading her clients to a greater healing not only on a physical level but on an emotional and spiritual level as well.
Horses teach that there are messages behind our emotions and Victoria helps people release their emotions from their bodies. This exciting team of teacher (Horse) and healer (Victoria) that began on that pony ride so many years ago, has developed into a powerful healing experience for everyone involved.
FEEL Training Program
Now taking registrations for June 2016
Where horse interaction leads to human insight.
©2021 Horse Spirit Connections. All Rights Reserved. Horse Spirit Connections® and FEEL (Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning)® are registered trademarks of Horse Spirit Connections Inc.
Inquire About FEEL Certification Training
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line490
|
__label__cc
| 0.587199
| 0.412801
|
Navbar w/ text
Find Grad Schools
General Sales & Marketing Major
General Sales & Marketing
590 Master's Degrees Annually
2 Doctor's Degrees Annually
#140 in Popularity (Master's)
$45,080 Median Salary
Types of Degrees General Sales & Marketing Majors Are Getting
The following table lists how many general sales and marketing graduations there were in 2018-2019 for each degree level.
Number of Grads
Master’s Degree 590
Graduate Certificate 45
Doctor’s Degree 2
View the 2021 Best General Sales & Marketing Schools
What General Sales & Marketing Majors Need to Know
In an O*NET survey, sales and marketing majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.
Knowledge Areas for Sales & Marketing Majors
Sales and Marketing majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:
Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Skills for Sales & Marketing Majors
A major in sales and marketing prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:
Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Abilities for Sales & Marketing Majors
As you progress with your sales and marketing degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:
What Can You Do With a General Sales & Marketing Major?
Below is a list of occupations associated with sales and marketing:
Job Growth Rate
Demonstrators and Product Promoters 6.5% $28,960
Energy Brokers 9.7% $54,550
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers 4.9% $73,390
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 3.8% $39,630
Parts Salespersons 5.0% $30,430
Sales and Related Workers 10.6% $33,220
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products 5.2% $58,510
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 5.2% $79,680
Solar Sales Representatives and Assessors 5.2% $79,680
Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in General Sales & Marketing?
75% Percent Women
9% Percent Racial-Ethnic Minorities
The major attracts more women than men. About 75% of the recent graduates in this field are female.
Racial-Ethnic Diversity
At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of sales and marketing majors is as follows:
Black or African American 15
Hispanic or Latino 10
International Students 496
Other Races/Ethnicities 10
Sales & Marketing appeals to people across the globe. About 84.1% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:
How Much Do General Sales & Marketing Majors Make?
Master’s Degree Starting Salary
Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that general sales and marketing students who graduated in 2015-2017 with a master’s degree made a median starting salary of $76,750 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $76,025 (25th percentile) and $77,475 (75th percentile).
It’s important to note that just because the people reporting these salaries have a degree in sales and marketing, it does not mean that they are working in a job related to their degree.
Salaries According to BLS
Sales and Marketing majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $40,480 to $69,480 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.
To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.
Median Salary for a General Sales & Marketing Major ( 40480 to 69480 )
Median Salary for a High School Graduate ( 30000 to 57900 )
Median Salary for a Bachelor's Degree Holder ( 45600 to 99000 )
Median Salary for an Advanced Degree Holder ( 55600 to 125400 )
Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to General Sales & Marketing
Some careers associated with sales and marketing require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.
How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to sales and marketing have obtained the following education levels.
Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma 5.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) 28.8%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) 5.8%
Some College Courses 11.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 10.3%
Bachelor’s Degree 38.0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master. 1.3%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level. 0.1%
Doctoral Degree 0.0%
Online General Sales & Marketing Programs
In the 2018-2019 academic year, 351 schools offered some type of general sales and marketing program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.
Colleges Offering Programs
Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year) 201 36
Certificate (1-2 years) 103 19
Certificate (2-4 Years) 3 0
Associate’s Degree 191 29
Bachelor’s Degree 7 3
Post-Baccalaureate 201 36
Master’s Degree 12 4
Post-Master’s 2 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 1 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 0 0
Is a Degree in General Sales & Marketing Worth It?
The median salary for a sales and marketing grad is $45,080 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.
This is 13% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $103,600 after 20 years!
Explore Major by State
Majors Related to General Sales & Marketing
You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to sales and marketing.
Business Administration & Management 135,757
Accounting 21,904
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 14,136
Human Resource Management 10,770
General Business/Commerce 10,236
Finance & Financial Management 6,277
Marketing 3,308
Management Information Systems 3,158
International Business 2,417
Entrepreneurial Studies 1,778
Taxation 1,611
Other Business, Management & Marketing 1,240
Hospitality Management 1,072
Construction Management 507
Business/Managerial Economics 267
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing 221
Business/Corporate Communications 80
Telecommunications Management 38
Business Support & Assistant Services 0
Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
Image Credit: By Nick Nijhuis under License
Southern New Hampshire University You have goals. Southern New Hampshire University can help you get there. Whether you need a bachelor's degree to get into a career or want a master's degree to move up in your current career, SNHU has an online program for you. Find your degree from over 200 online programs. Learn More >
Find Graduate Schools Near You
Our free school finder matches students with accredited graduate schools across the U.S.
Explore Grad Schools
GradDegree.com provides higher-education, college and university, degree, program, career, salary, and other helpful information to students, faculty, institutions, and other internet audiences. Presented information and data are subject to change. Inclusion on this website does not imply or represent a direct relationship with the company, school, or brand. Information, though believed correct at time of publication, may not be correct, and no warranty is provided. Contact the schools to verify any information before relying on it. Financial aid may be available for those who qualify. The displayed options may include sponsored or recommended results, not necessarily based on your preferences.
© GradDegree.com – All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line496
|
__label__wiki
| 0.692837
| 0.692837
|
ألمصريّة Bahasa Indonesia 普通话 Deutsch ελληνικά हिन्दी Italiano kiSwahili 日本語 ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ Malagasy Português Tagalog Tiếng Việt 한국어
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems
Organisation Staff Board Programme Funders Activity reports Media releases Multimedia
Iowa crops look like food — but no one’s eating
by Mark Bittman | 17 Jul 2019 | Blog
I was in Iowa last week shooting for the PBS NewsHour Weekend “Future of Food” series. There are some good things going on — and you’ll see them in the segment, which will run later this summer or fall — but I left feeling depressed as hell. It’s bad enough that Iowa plays an outsized role in determining presidential candidates; its population, after all, is less than 1 percent of the country’s. But its impact on the food system is even greater, and may be even more difficult to change.
Iowa has its beauty: It’s not flat, as many seem to believe, and although the scenery is not especially dramatic, this time of year it’s lush, with free-flowing waterways everywhere. Iowa farmers generally do not irrigate, which distinguishes the state from California, of course, as does the astonishing dominance of the almost exclusively two-crop economy based on corn and soybeans.
Yet Iowa is unrecognizable from centuries ago, when Europeans took the land for themselves. What were prairie and wetlands are now neatly partitioned grids of intensely cultivated land: the model for the farm as factory. Through a system of underground “tiles” (pipes, really) in the northern half of the state, most of the water has been drained from swamps, prairie potholes, and lakes into creeks and rivers, which in turn have been engineered to maximize flow.
Thus, much of the landscape has been reshaped to make large-scale mechanical farming as productive as possible. Twenty-three million acres are planted in corn and/or soybeans; that’s 63 percent of all the land in the state, and more than the land area of each of 20 states. Nor is Iowa alone. An area the size of Montana is planted in corn every year in the United States; less than 1 percent of that is sweet corn eaten by humans.
Farmers talk of crops and equipment and prices, but not of food.
(Well, except for when they claim to be “feeding the world,” which simply isn’t true.) The ground is barely used for growing food: The grain elevator — the point of contact between the farmer and the industrial commodity system — buys only corn and soybeans. It’s near impossible for all but the most creative farmers to sell anything else.
Fifty percent of the corn in Iowa is used to produce ethanol.
Most of the rest goes to feed animals in confinement, almost all of which are behind closed doors in buildings designed for secrecy. There are 20 million hogs at any given moment in the state, and in four days of crisscrossing a patch northwest of Des Moines, I did not see one. I did see cattle, mostly crowded into muddy feedlots or, to be fair, occasionally grazing.
The farmers I spoke to don’t seem to know or care where their crop goes: Ethanol? Chicken feed? (Fifty-nine million mostly invisible chickens produce 16 billion eggs annually, statewide.) Cheetos? It’s all the same.
A nearly word-for-word conversation I had with a farmer who grows on 3,000 acres:
Q: Why do you choose a certain variety of corn or soybean?
A: Yield.
Q: Does it matter whether you’re growing for ethanol, or animal feed, or food oil, or whatever?
Q: Do you know what happens to the grain after you sell it?
A: I have no idea. I bring my soybeans to the elevator and get a check. It gets trucked away and mixed with other grain.
That check represents less than 10 percent of the ultimate value of the grain.
I should point out — lest I be accused of ignoring the issue — that almost all industrially grown corn and soybeans start with genetically engineered seed. But that is so little a part of the problem that it’s almost not worth mentioning. Even if the seeds were traditional heirloom varieties, wonderful from every possible angle (and impossible in this system), things would suck about 1 percent less, because the problems with genetic engineering pale next to those of the general state of industrial agriculture. Glyphosate (the main ingredient in Roundup, the herbicide that is paired with crops genetically engineered to resist it but kill every other plant it touches) is fearsome stuff. But when it doesn’t work, people stop using it, and switch to another — often more toxic — chemical.
Iowa is not just a two-crop state: There are several million cattle, those 20 million hogs, and at least twice as many laying hens, not to mention 12 million turkeys. The excrement produced by these animals, if it were an amount produced by humans, would make Iowa the most populous state in the country.
It would take 168 million people to produce the same amount of shit as that expelled by Iowa’s confined animals.
It amounts to more than four Californias or 53 Iowas. (Thank you, Chris Jones.)
The state’s oil-based economy and its contribution to the climate crisis; the pollution caused by the runoff of chemicals and manure; the public health crisis that has resulted from the production of horribly raised animals and sinister, sickening junk food; the smaller farms that have been absorbed and the diminished communities that formerly thrived as networks of farm families…all of this has been written about well, elsewhere, and extensively.
Still, let me remind you that four companies control north of 60 percent of global proprietary seed sales. And in “Addressing Monopolization in America’s Food System,” the Open Markets Institute reports that “Monsanto has patented traits found in 80 percent of U.S. corn and over 90 percent of U.S. soybeans and has acquired more than 60 independent seed companies since the late 1980s.” Four companies sell three-quarters of the soybean seeds. The top four pork processors control two-thirds of the market; something like 50 million pigs are raised annually in Iowa, many in torturous confinement. I could go on.
These companies — along with processors, middlemen, brokers, traders, banks, and insurance companies — run the show, assisted by a beholden state government and powerful political allies such as U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and the white supremacist Congressman Steve King, whose 4th Congressional District I was visiting. Farmers may not benefit much from actual crop sales, but they do sit on ever-more-valuable land, kept in business by government subsidies (mostly in the form of crop insurance these days), and perpetuate a deeply and fundamentally flawed system.
Farmers who would like to change things feel trapped by the system.
There are some well-intentioned — yet underfunded — government programs that encourage farmers to take conservation measures, but these are lipstick on a (confined) pig.
Iowa is all about maximizing yield, and has been this way as long as most can remember. Briefly, here’s why: Prices of Midwestern grain commodities tend to fall over time because we don’t need as much as we produce. Against all economic logic, the stratagem is to find uses for the surplus rather than cut back production to balance it with demand. (Imagine, for example, if 50 percent of Florida’s tomatoes were used to run cars because we produced more of them than we can eat.)
If you’re after bushels or pounds per acre, corn is the obvious choice. It yields more than almost anything. Demand is artificially high, thanks in part to ongoing subsidies that ensure that Midwestern farmers can hardly fail and the pork-barrel ethanol mandate. Corn production was undeterred by Trump’s threatened tariffs, which have made Mexico and China look elsewhere for corn and soybeans.
Nevertheless, when I asked a farmer about growing other crops, he said, “I tried oats once, but the yield wasn’t as good as corn and it didn’t pay as much per bushel, so why would I do that again?”
Logically (sort of), every farmer in Iowa behaves as an individual, believing that the way to beat low prices is to “compensate on volume.” Farmers put their farms and their lives on the line by plunging deep into debt for a century — advised by the government to focus on commodities and squeezed by declining prices and “free trade” in a global market, all while trying to maintain a family business that’s existed for generations. The more they produce, the more “inputs” — chemicals, seeds, equipment — they must buy. The more they produce, the lower prices go, and everyone in the system benefits except the farmer, who goes along with it, believing there is no other choice.
Blaming farmers is misdirected, akin to blaming the worker in an arms factory: Farming is hard, and harmful farming has been the way to make money in Iowa for a long time. I felt this despair as a visitor, so I can only imagine being a young person in Iowa, born into a dying, poisoned, exploitative setting, with few ways out. The highly romanticized past has fallen apart, as it did in coal country and the Rust Belt, and anywhere else where extraction has reached its limits. (Industrial farming, like mining, is extraction: The removal of something precious from the earth.) This despair is literally killing people.
I wasn’t privy to many inter-farmer conversations, but I know enough to say that farmers talk to one another about problems, and one of those is soil erosion. As they recognize this, they’re beginning to plant cover crops, a measurable improvement. But the system itself must change, and that change can’t be brought about by individual farmers. Some are hopeful that what they call “the market” — the conglomerates, especially those like Unilever, who tout their dubious sustainability practices — will feel pressure to encourage better methods. Fine, but that too will perpetuate the system in only marginally less damaging form.
To address the climate, environment, animal welfare, and public health crises, we need decisive and radically different government action. Right now, almost all government programs and subsidies favor the corn-and-soybean obsession, and that’s what “the market” — Big Ag and Big Food — wants.
There are incentives and disincentives: Carrots and sticks to encourage crop rotations (instead of “corn on soybeans” or “corn on corn,” the two most common patterns) would begin to change things fast. So would encouraging the growing of actual food by getting land into the hands of a new wave of farmers who want to do things differently, which also would necessitate addressing the issue of land distribution. More positive changes would include the reintroduction of grazing animals in a mixed agriculture setting while banning or at least strictly controlling confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. So would setting up markets to sell local and regional food, and using the power of government to break up monopolies. These changes would make the impossible suddenly seem less so.
These changes are also justifiable. As everyone knows (or should), following the genocide and forcible removal of indigenous people 150 years ago, the federal government gave the land that became Iowa — and most of the rest of this country — to European males. We can pretend this wasn’t perverse, simply a naïve reflection of dominant culture.
It’s immoral to fail to recognize our original promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” that came with the distribution of land to white male citizens (and their nonvoting, not quite full citizen female companions), whose descendants have been able to build wealth as a result. Fulfilling this promise does remain the government’s obligation, as does the acknowledgement, per the 14th Amendment, that there are now many more “citizens” deserving of feeding themselves and others from the land’s wealth, and of stewarding that wealth. The current system obviously enriches a few at the expense of most. That is not how you define “equality,” and it’s certainly not a way to approach sustainability.
I flew home on July 4, filled with unanswerable questions about the nature of our country, an oligarchy if ever there was one.
Yet the promises of democracy are ours for the taking. Or, more accurately, they could be ours if we strive. And, ultimately, the only real solutions lie in actual democracy, government that is responsible to the people who live in Iowa and everywhere else in the United States. One could easily argue that “changing the food system” is a ridiculous notion taken alone, given the state of the bigger system. Clearly, we have to change both.
Mark Bittman has written about food and cooking for nearly 40 years, and has published 30 books, including the “How to Cook Everything” series and “VB6.” Newsletter at markbittman.com.
Source: https://heated.medium.com/iowa-crops-look-like-food-but-no-ones-eating-9360661c3664
Copy short URL
Subscribe to GRAIN's email lists
Other websites that GRAIN is involved in:
Supporting social movement struggles against free trade and investment agreements
biodiversidadla.org
Latin American site on biodiversity and food sovereignty
farmlandgrab.org
Food crisis and the global land grab
soberaniaalimentaria.info
Spanish magazine on food sovereignty
nyeleni.org
Newsletter on food sovereignty
You can read this site in English, Spanish or French by selecting the appropriate language at the top of the page. The site also contains some materials in a number of other languages:
The latest from GRAIN
Lessons learned from 30 years of GRAIN
TIAA and Harvard’s Brazilian farm deals judged illegal
From political coup to land destruction in Brazil
Toxic river: the fight to reclaim water from oil palm plantations in Indonesia
"What does factory farming have to do with the climate crisis?" Comic strip edition
International Street Vendors’ Day and the need for collective struggle
Barbarians at the barn: private equity sinks its teeth into agriculture
To care for our seeds
Digital fences: the financial enclosure of farmlands in South America
Trade deals handing Japanese seeds to multinational corporations
About GRAIN
Copy/distribute
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line497
|
__label__cc
| 0.703802
| 0.296198
|
Talk about trial by fire. With the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the closure of libraries and state-of-the-art tutoring centers, MiraCosta College faculty and professional staff were forced to quickly transition their academic support services to online platforms—with nothing less than the educational success of more than 15,000 students hanging in the balance. The MiraCosta College Tutoring & Academic Support Center deftly pivoted to drop-in, one-on-one appointments, in-class help, and student success workshops—all through online platforms. The MiraCosta College Library, in addition to growing its free laptop and mobile hotspot lending program, saw its “Ask A Librarian” staff engage in more than 1,100 online chats with students seeking help with their studies—and that doesn’t include hundreds of additional sessions with non-MiraCosta College librarians available during off hours. The STEM and Math Learning centers, along with the Library and Writing Center, provide online breakout rooms for individual and group study in addition to preview and review sessions for specific courses with expanded hours to cover late nights and weekends. And the Writing Center now offers all of its services on Sunday.
“MiraCosta pulled off a miracle in that, in every way possible, as the pandemic continued to rage on, we were there for our students,” said Writing Center Faculty Director Denise Stephenson, who pointed to data showing those using online support services in the fall fared far better on several student success metrics than their counterparts who did not utilize the cost-free help.
Web Services Librarian Lauren McFall agreed. “With the Library not being physically open, it was really important to find a way to be where our students are,” said McFall. “We’ve been pretty proactive in reaching out and meeting them where they are and providing services that are making a difference.”
Students logged on to the Library’s homepage more than 30,000 times during the fall semester alone.
“Exactly what I needed,” said one student taking part in a college survey. “I use the drop-in during my 30-minute break at my job,” said a Writing Center student. “I know I can squeeze in a chat with a coach about my writing and then go back to work.”
The transition wasn’t simple. At the Tutoring and Academic Support Center, also known by its acronym of TASC, faculty and professional staff provided comprehensive training for more than two dozen peer tutors, who also were provided a tutor-produced handbook with strategies on effective online learning.
“You don’t just throw everything online and say, ‘Okay, we’re done,’” said TASC Faculty Director Edward Pohlert. “You have to learn new technology and then apply the most effective ways of bringing students to the online environment. You have to train your tutors in effectively using Zoom for the task at hand. You have to make sure the tools are easy to navigate. In the end, we were able, in a short amount of time, to personalize our academic support services for the online modality.”
TASC’s new online services include drop-in tutoring for courses ranging from Accounting 101 to Advanced Cybersecurity. In addition, academic assistance is provided daily with programming and eight part-time coaches targeting first-generation college students. In all, Pohlert notes more than 1,400 students utilized online TASC services in the fall semester.
One of the biggest benefits for students is the significantly expanded hours. “In the past, we were constrained to some extent by the building,” said Scott Fallstrom, Faculty Director at the STEM and Math Learning centers. “We could only be open for so many hours and so many days. Those constraints don’t exist anymore.”
Nearly 600 different students took advantage of the STEM and Math Learning centers’ added opportunities, with many, if not most, logging in several times. More than 6,100 interactions were logged over the fall semester in all.
For those unfamiliar with the new normal, TASC, the Library, the Writing Center, and the STEM and Math Learning centers all include tutorials for how services work. The Welcome to the Online Writing Center Video on the Writing Center webpage provides step-by-step guidance for getting the most out of the service. Anyone logging on for STEM and Math Learning center tutoring is immediately welcomed by a staffer as part of an effort to ease any anxieties newcomers may have.
“We wanted to make sure we had a person, a live person, just to say, ‘Hi, how can we help you,’ to greet anyone who dropped in,” Fallstrom said. “We saw that as being critically important.”
Added Stephenson, “Being forced to move online on such short notice was, in some ways, a gift. We’ve expanded our hours and we’re available wherever our students may be.”
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line499
|
__label__cc
| 0.593949
| 0.406051
|
The Negative Effects of Social Media
By Nila Eslit*
Wall Street International – In my previous article (Impact of social media), I wrote about how social media has brought people together and enhanced businesses in the world. But, just like any other new developments, social media has also its own downsides. And, we need to look into them before they get into us.
Social media addicted | Image reproduced from Wall Street International
The glaring negative effects of social media
It is true that social media has made life easier for humanity. But, it also makes many of us alone.
Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »
Indigenous Peoples – Best Allies or Worst Enemies?
By Baher Kamal*
ROME, Apr 25 2017 (IPS) – It all happened on the very same day—4 April. That day, indigenous peoples were simultaneously characterised as fundamental allies in the world’s war on hunger and poverty, while being declared as collective victims of a “tsunami” of imprisonments in Australia. See what happened.
Credit: FAO
Australia must reduce the “astounding” rates of imprisonment for indigenous peoples and step up the fight against racism, on 4 April warned Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Trump’s First 100 Days: a Serious Cause for Concern
By Martin Khor*
PENANG, Malasya, Apr 24 2017 (IPS) – This week, Donald Trump will mark his first hundred days as US President. It’s time to assess his impact on the world, especially the developing countries.
With one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases becoming a disbeliever that climate change is man-made and could devastate the Earth, and no longer committing to take action domestically and helping others to do so, other countries may be tempted or encouraged to do likewise. Credit: Cam McGrath/IPS
It’s too early to form firm conclusions. But much of what we have seen so far is of serious concern.
By Johan Galtung*
24 April 2017 – TRANSCEND Media Service – To reduce direct violence in cities we have to move from urban violence culture to an urban peace culture and from urban structural violence to a structure of peace.
Madrid. © José María Cuéllar (Flickr)
The center of a city should not be a place of shame reeking of the Inquisition. And urbanization should not be justified as modern, seeing smaller town and villages, less violent, as traditional.
‘Indigenous Peoples Continue to Suffer from Poverty, Discrimination and Poor Health Care’
Speaking at the opening of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, senior UN officials on 24 April 2017 underscored the need to do more to ensure that indigenous peoples are able to benefit from global development agenda, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Ceremonial opening of the Sixteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. UN Photo/Evan Schneider
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line500
|
__label__cc
| 0.664036
| 0.335964
|
ITCILO
This summer I got a great opportunity to conduct work and assignment for the ITCILO. I am honored and delighted to have been asked and selected for the assignment Towards a consolidated ITCILO monitoring and evaluation system for distance learning activities
Background and rationale of the assignment
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the Specialized Agency of the United Nations that promotes social justice and human rights in the world of work (ilo.org). The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (hereinafter the Centre) is the training arm of the ILO (www.itcilo.org). The core offering of the Centre is group-based training for ILO constituents and other ILO stakeholders, with thematic focus on the promotion of decent work and social justice, and delivered either face-to-face on the campus of the Centre/worldwide in the field, or online via the electronic campus of the organization.
The 2018-21 Strategic Plan of the Centre reaffirms the emphasis on group training over the coming years, with face-to-face training as primary delivery method and distance learning as supplementary delivery method.[2]Where applicable, the two delivery modalities are to be combined as part of blended learning journeys (p.11).The 2018-19 Programme and Budget (P&B) of the Centre further specifies that the Centre will consolidate and maintain its face-to-face training activities at levels seen in the 2016-17 biennium, and “further expand its suite of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and self-guided distance-learning courses to take advantage of economies of scale and the lower per capita training costs of these distance-learning modalities. (p.14f).[3] This means that in order to further grow its client base in a budget context that allows for zero growth in fixed staff costs, the Centre will maintain its current outreach in the market segment for more cost-intensive face-to-face training and increase its outreach in the segment for less cost-intensive distance learning.
The outreach-specific indicators in the Results-Based Management Framework underpinning the 2018-19 P&B of the Centre further illustrate the direction of the growth effort: The Centre is expected to maintain its current outreach via face-to-face training at levels seen in the last two biennia (on average 11,000 participants per year) while significantly growing its outreach via distance learning activities from 8,600 participants in the 2016-17 biennium to 14,000 participants in the 2018-19 biennium (p.19).
While distance learning contributes to most of the key performance indicators (KPIs) specified in the 2018-19 P&B owned or co-owned by the Training Department, the following KPIs in particular concern distance learning outreach and impact:
Indicator 1.2 Number of participants reached through distance-learning activities, disaggregated by gender and tripartite constituents
Indicator 1.4. Number of ILO staff trained by the Centre
Indicator 2.1 End-of-activity level of participant satisfaction with overall quality
Indicator 2.2 Percentage of participants who acquire new knowledge during training
Indicator 2.3 Percentage of participants who apply the newly acquired knowledge after training
The 2018-19 Strategy Implementation Framework of the Training Department echoes the call of the P&B for an increase in the number of participants reached via distance learning activities; the framework commits the Office of the Director Training to (a) facilitate the expansion of the suite of MOOCs and self-guided distance learning courses (b) more systematically promote self-guided distance learning courses using the existing comprehensive digital communication approach for open courses, and (c) to further increase of the share of blended activities that combine face-to-face training and distance-learning modalities.[4]The target is to offer at least three MOOCs per year, have a digital communication approach for self-guided distance learning courses in place by October 2018 and to offer at least 80% of all open courses of the Centre in a blended learning approach by end 2019 (p.52ff).
To support this growth drive of the Centre, a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track and report the outreach and quality of the distance learning activities of the Centre is a pre-requisite. The purpose of this consultancy assignment is to support the Centre in reviewing and further developing the existing monitoring and evaluation processes and tools for distance learning activities and to make them fit for purpose.
The overall objective of the assignment is to contribute to the achievement of the outcomes specified in the 2018-19 P&B of the Centre and further described in the 2018-19 Strategy Implementation Framework of the Office of the Director Training. The immediate objective is to strengthen the capacity of the Centre to monitor and evaluate its distance learning activities, and as a result to meet its reporting obligations under the results-based management framework of the 2018-19 P&B.
Under the direct supervision of the Director Training, in close collaboration withthe programme officer in the quality assurance unit of the Office of the Director Training, and in consultation with other units of the Centre directly concerned with monitoring distance learning activities (all Technical Programmes in the Training Department and ICTS), the consultant will:
Review the monitoring and evaluation system underpinning distance learning activities in the Centre and document the current processes and instruments, for future publication as part of a quality assurance manual of the Centre;
Recommend immediately actionable measures to overcome priority challenges to the Centre’s reporting obligations under 2018-19 P&B related to distance learning outreach and impact;
Propose intervention points for the incremental improvement of the existing system, to better align it with international good practice;
Along these intervention points, advise the Centre on the refinement of selected existing processes and tools, and document these revised processes and tools for future use in the quality assurance manual.
Four reports was deleivered for the four deliverables:
Ossiannilsson, E (2018). Towards a consolidation ITCILO monitoring and evaluation system for distance learning systems. Report 1. Turin: ITCILO.
Ossiannilsson, E (2018). Framework to measure and report outreach and impact of distance learning. Report 2. Turin: ITCILO.
Ossiannilsson, E (2018). List of intervention points to for the incremental improvement of the existing system to better align it with international good practice. Report 3. Turin: ITCILO.
Ossiannilsson, E (2018). Intervention points to for the incremental improvement of the existing system to better align it with international good practice. Report 4. Turin: ITCILO.
demokrativerkstaden
ICDE
online leaders
aktivitetsverb
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line502
|
__label__wiki
| 0.679494
| 0.679494
|
WEEK 3 RECAP - ROCKFORD TAKES THREE STRAIGHT
Week 3 Recap:
After losing three straight games, the Rockford IceHogs went on a three-game winning streak to open their divisional schedule. The IceHogs defeated the Iowa Wild and Chicago Wolves at the BMO Harris Bank Center for their first two home victories of the season before winning in Milwaukee to close out the weekend. Tanner Kero earned CCM/AHL Player of the Week honors with three goals and an assist in his team’s victories. Rockford looks to stay hot at home this week when they take on the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and the Iowa Wild on Friday, Oct. 30. The IceHogs will also make a quick visit to Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 1 to play their third game in 12 days against their divisional foe.
Week 3 Results:
Wednesday, October 21, Iowa 2 vs. Rockford 3
Friday, October 23, Chicago 3 vs. Rockford 4 (SO)
Saturday, October 24, Rockford 4 at Milwaukee 2
Week 4 Schedule:
Tuesday, October 27 vs. Charlotte, 7 p.m.
Friday, October 30 vs. Iowa, 7 p.m.
Sunday, November 1 at Iowa, 5 p.m.
Bacon Bits:
-Following a three game losing streak the IceHogs are now riding a three-game winning streak
-The winning streak is the longest since the IceHogs reeled off five wins from April 3 to April 11 last season
-Rookie forward Tanner Kero compiled four points (3g-1a) and a +5 rating in three games for the IceHogs to earn the AHL’s Player of the Week honors
-Kero ranks third in the AHL with six goals on the season
-Last season IceHogs players were honored twice by the league, when Mark McNeill won the Player of the Week award during the season’s fifth week and when Michael Leighton claimed the Goalie of the Month award in January
-Ryan Hartman was awarded the team’s first penalty shot of the season on Friday against the Wolves
-Hartman was unable to convert on the attempt and Rockford is now 5-25 on penalty shots during the team’s AHL era
-Rockford faced off against three Central Division opponents in Week 3 and will continue to see their closest rivals as each of their next 10 games are against teams within the division
-The IceHogs are 3-0-0-0 against opponents from the Central Division
-The IceHogs gave up a season-high nine power play chances to the Chicago Wolves on Friday night
-The Hogs penalty kill unit killed off eight of the nine chances and shows a kill rate of 74.4% on the season
-Through the first seven games of the season Rockford has been short handed a league-leading 39 times
-Rockford has allowed a power-play goal in four straight games and in six of seven games to begin the season
-Former IceHog Byron Froese made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday
-Froese becomes the 76th player to go on and play in the NHL after making a stop in Rockford
Hot Hog: Week 3
Tanner Kero Center (3 GP, 3G, 1A, 4P, +3)
Center Tanner Kero continued his hot start to the 2015-16 season and his professional career. The 23 year-old began the week with his second three point performance of the season with two goals, including the game-winning tally, and an assist against the Iowa Wild on Wednesday. Kero finished the week by helping the IceHogs to their third-straight win with another marker on Saturday at Milwaukee. Kero ranks third in the AHL in goals (6), ninth in points (8), and is tied for seventh with a plus/minus rating of +7 on the young season.
Tuesday, October 27 vs. Charlotte Checkers: Game starts at 7 p.m. The IceHogs welcome the Checkers to Rockford for the first time this season on a “Winning Weekday.” Every time the IceHogs win at home on a weekday, each fan in attendance will receive a free ticket to the next weekday game. Fans can also enjoy $2 beers, hot dogs, and companion tickets.
Friday, October 30 vs. Iowa Wild: Face-off is at 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear their costumes, and the team will host a Trick-or-Treat event, presented by Dr. Zak's Tooth Fairy Castle, where players will give out candy to fans following the game. The first 500 kids (14 and under) to the game will receive a trick-or-treat bag and toothbrush compliments of Dr. Zak's Tooth Fairy Castle. Doors will open at 5:15 p.m. for a Blues Flame Lounge Friday. Fans 21-and-older are invited to enjoy live blues music, a happy hour special, and free appetizers at the Blue Flame Lounge on the main concourse.
Sunday, November 1 at Iowa Wild: Puck drops at 5 p.m. Rockford makes the trip to Iowa to take on the Wild for the second time in three nights. It will be the first of six trips to the Wells Fargo Arena for the IceHogs this season.
Bud Light Monthly Monday Hog Talk At Vintage 501:
Bud Light Hog Talk returns on Monday, October 26 at Vintage 501 from 6-7 p.m. Vintage 501 is located in downtown Rockford at 501 E. State St. Fans can join Bob Mills or Kyle Stuetzel from 6-7 p.m. on the last Monday of every month throughout the season as they chat with IceHogs players, coaches, and front office members. This month’s show will feature Head Coach Ted Dent as well as Michael Leighton and Brandon Mashinter. Take advantage of food and Bud Light specials at Vintage 501. The show will be re-aired on Tuesdays on WIFR’s “Justice Network” on 23.3 from 6-7 p.m.
The IceHogs Broadcasting Network:
Catch every IceHogs game, home and road, in 2015-16 on WIFR’s “Justice Network” on 23.3. The games can also be viewed on Comcast Cable channel 434, Charter Cable channel 194 or Mediacom 102 in the Rockford market and online through AHLLive.com. Every broadcast will start with "IceHogs Warm Up" 30 minutes prior to puck drop. Fans can also listen to the action for free at WXRX.com. For a complete listing of TV stations carrying IceHogs games, visit IceHogs.com.
Tickets on Sale for 2015-16!
IceHogs individual game tickets are now on sale! Call (815) 968-5222 to reserve your seats for any IceHogs regular season game during the 2015-16 season. Tickets can also be purchased online at IceHogs.com, in person at the BMO Harris Bank Center Box Office in downtown Rockford, or any Ticketmaster outlet, including Walmart.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line504
|
__label__wiki
| 0.851362
| 0.851362
|
You are here: Home / Movie Reviews / The Story of Temple Drake (1933) – Paramount Adapts Faulkner’s Sanctuary
The Story of Temple Drake (1933) – Paramount Adapts Faulkner’s Sanctuary
Above: Trade advertisement for The Shame of Temple Drake, Motion Picture Herald, February 25, 1933.
I hate issuing a "spoiler alert" for something that's been around so long, but specifics and key plot points for both William Faulkner's 1931 novel and Paramount's 1933 film adaptation are mentioned, compared, and contrasted throughout this article.
If you’re at all familiar with the source material, it’s hard to believe this movie was even made. Familiarity with the production notes makes the existence of The Story of Temple Drake even more unlikely. The movie is based on William Faulkner’s Sanctuary, a novel in which the leading character’s sexuality is awakened after an impotent gangster rapes her with a corn cob. Let’s try and get that past the Hays Office! No, even in the wild and woolly pre-Code era, nothing close to that is going to fly.
Paramount paid Faulkner $6,000 for film rights to Sanctuary in October 1932. Miriam Hopkins and George Raft were slated to star. Representatives from the Hays Office notified the studio of their objections to the material, later insisting that the title of Faulkner’s book not appear in any advertising for their film. Paramount responded with The Story of Temple Drake, a title that could hook those familiar with Faulkner’s book by way of its title character. The Hays Office rejected the original script, but after rewrites Paramount earned their approval to proceed with production by the end of January 1933.[1] George Raft was less enthusiastic.
The option on Raft’s contract was due for renewal around this time, so it’s possible his labeling the part he was cast in—Popeye in the book, but for copyright reasons Trigger in the film—“screen suicide.”[2]
“They took up my option on the same mail they wrote me a letter suspending me from the payroll for refusing to play a part,” Raft said. “I was promised … ‘No more gangster and racketeer roles.’ Then they spring this on me.”[3]
The Scarface (1932) actor was a rising star at Paramount after films like Night After Night and Under-Cover Man (both 1932). “People have been good to me—they’ve liked me,” he said of his success. “If I had done what Paramount ordered me to do and played the part of Trigger they wouldn’t have liked me any more.”[4]
“That’s the way I got it figured out. That part was plain suicide for me—a fellow with my face. Any other actor might play it and maybe get away with it, but I look like that kind of guy. Not just on the screen—on the street, anywhere. There’d be just one thing for the public to think and they’d think it—‘George Raft, himself, is like Trigger.’”[5]
Paramount and Raft settled in mid-March, and Raft next appeared in Midnight Club (1933) for the studio.(The Trumpet Blows was originally announced as Raft’s return picture, but it wound up delayed until the following year.) [6]
Paramount wasted no time in replacing Raft with Jack La Rue, another actor who looked like “that kind of guy.” The switch caused a sensation in fan magazines, an unexpected benefit that an astute La Rue saw as a positive: “All this newspaper stuff and argument is going to be great publicity for the picture—and for me. Everybody will be curious to see the fellow who took the part George Raft wouldn’t play.”[7]
La Rue (1902-1984) turned professional actor out of high school when he joined Otis Skinner’s Blood and Sand road company. His Broadway debut came in The Crooked Square at the Hudson Theatre in late 1923, and he stuck on the Great White Way beginning with his appearance in Crime during 1927. La Rue’s most notable Broadway credit came opposite Mae West in Diamond Lil at the Royale in 1928. Throughout the late 1920s he also made a handful of bit appearances in movies filmed on the East Coast, especially for Paramount at their Astoria studio.
Jack La Rue arrived in Hollywood in 1932, and seemed poised for an immediate breakout when Howard Hawks cast him as Rinaldo in Scarface (1932). “I’d worked only four days when Hawks said to me, ‘Come into the projection room. I want you to see the rushes,’” La Rue said in a 1975 interview. La Rue viewed his footage with Hawks but saw nothing wrong. Hawks told him, “You’re taller than Muni and your voice overpowers his.’”[8] He was replaced by George Raft, a move that adds irony to the casting change in The Story of Temple Drake.
Raft famously flipped his coin to stardom in Scarface, while La Rue wound up working for Frank Borzage, who cast him as the priest in Paramount’s adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms (1932). “I was glad to get the part,” La Rue said in 1933. “I didn’t think ‘Farewell’ would mean much, but it turned out to be more important than any I ever played. On account of it, I got Raft’s role,” he said, referring to Trigger in The Story of Temple Drake.[9]
There were no hard feelings between the men. “George Raft and I are good friends,” La Rue said. “I don’t blame him, understand. He has more than I to lose—he has gone farther.” Raft, despite his distaste over the role didn’t blame Paramount for making the film, or La Rue for taking the role he had rejected. “I’m not criticizing Jack La Rue,” he said. “I’m only thinking of me—George Raft.”[10]
Above: "Trigger Jinx" title to story running Photoplay, November 1933.
La Rue’s Trigger moves as slow and deliberate as he speaks. Embodying danger, La Rue is often enshrouded by a haze of smoke, almost always with a freshly lit cigarette dangling from his lips. His well-dressed bootlegger looks as though he’s dropped out of some big city, Chicago or New York, to boss the grim backwoodsmen he’s forced to do business with. Those rural bootleggers are dressed in rags and based out of a dilapidated house with boarded windows and no electricity. Fueled by their own product, their minds are mush and their souls empty, the homemade hooch seemingly all that allows them to function in any capacity. A sober Trigger amuses himself by splitting the liquor jug from a blind man’s grip with a bit of indoor marksmanship.
Prohibition is still on, so there’s profit behind the boozing of these country folk, though their surroundings lead you to suspect Trigger earns the lion’s share. The room they’ve gathered in inside the Goodwins decrepit home is a speakeasy for drunks to gather. Toddy Gowan (William Collier Jr.) may be even more depraved than the regularly assembled group who belong there. Toddy is well born, a college man who learned to drink as part of his education. He carries a flask to power through his social life, but Toddy needs more than a sip here and there to feel fulfilled. After Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins) fights off his advances in the parking lot at a society ball, Toddy quickly grows bored.
Above: Temple and Toddy (Miriam Hopkins and William Collier Jr.)
Temple teases him as far as propriety allows before going inside to dance. A Southern belle, Temple has been raised under the respectable eye of her grandfather, a judge (Sir Guy Standing). She can do no wrong by the old judge, though he’d like her to settle down and marry, preferably lawyer Stephen Benbow (William Gargan). But Temple teases and flirts with so many boys that she’s even the subject of bathroom graffiti, civil enough in content, though not so much so in its context (“Temple Drake is just a fake / She wants to eat and have her cake.”). There’s a special place in her heart for Stephen, but Temple is too confused by her awakening sexuality to commit herself to any one man.
Above: William Gargan and Miriam Hopkins
“Stevie, I’ve wanted to marry you ever since I was little. But I won’t. I can’t,” she confesses in a private moment on the balcony outside of the party she’s come to with Toddy.
“It’s like there were two mes,” she tells him. “One of them says, ‘Yes, yes, quick, don’t let me get away.”
“And the other?” Stephen asks.
“I won’t tell you. Or what it wants, or does, or what will happen to it. I don’t know myself. All I know is I hate it.”
Temple runs away from the party, from Stephen, and is passenger on a drunken hell ride through the woods with Toddy Gowan, who overturns his car on a hidden path nearby the Goodwins. It’s Trigger who shines a flashlight over their fallen bodies, pausing his beam on Temple’s bare legs. Temple is terrified, but Toddy is happy to be led to what had always been his ultimate destination anyway, Lee Goodwin’s place. Trigger abandons them for work, so the pair are led by Tommy (James Eagles), a slow-witted young man whose words drip out of his mouth.
Above: Trigger shines a light.
Thunder rumbles as they near Goodwin’s place, its threatening presence highlighted by cracks of lightning overhead. The scene is as unwelcoming as The Old Dark House (1932), only the misfits waiting inside this once stately structure have self-inflicted their insanity through extensive doses of homemade liquor. Toddy leaves Temple outside to rush in for his share of drink. Temple knows she shouldn’t go in. She peers between the boards slatted over the broken window and sees a table surrounded by drunken men. All men, until Ruby (Florence Eldridge) enters. Temple runs around the outside of the house until the weather finally forces her inside. She joins Ruby in the kitchen.
Above: Another old dark house.
She didn’t want to go in. The weather forced her to do so. Would she have gone in if she hadn’t spotted Ruby? Probably not, but the company of another woman offered some suggestion of safety. If Ruby could survive there, then the men probably wouldn’t tear Temple to pieces. But Temple is like a new piece of candy.
“Sit here, kid. Right on my lap,” one of the drunks (James Mason) says, grabbing Temple and propping her atop him.
Terrified, Temple calls to Toddy, who is face down on the table, dead drunk. Toddy finally rises and objects, but the man knocks him out with one punch.
Luckily, the men have work to do. They have to get their booze to town, and it’s suggested that they drop Temple and Toddy off along the way.
“Nah,” Trigger says. “You’re taking the drunk. Not her.”
Temple is a prisoner of the house. Ruby tries to make her comfortable, but Ruby’s main interest is keeping her man, Lee Goodwin (Irving Pichel), away from Temple. The men try to get to her before they go, but one is interrupted by Tommy, who’s proving himself a useful watchdog. The other—Trigger—is driven away by Ruby.
Above: Florence Eldridge (Mrs. Fredric March) as Ruby.
“Well, now you’re satisfied,” Ruby says, scolding Temple. “You got ‘em all fighting over you. You nice women,” she says, practically spitting the words. “I know your kind. You get a kick out of playing the kids. Burning their gas, eating their food, spending their money. And what do you give ‘em? Always got away with it before, ain’t you? And now you’re scared. Because these ain’t kids, they’re men.”
Ruby moves Temple from the bedroom inside the house outside to the barn, where Tommy stands guard over her overnight.
Temple survives the threatening night; the next morning is sunny and beautiful. But Trigger has returned from the liquor haul. Tommy is awakened from his post by the tapping of the blind man’s cane. When Tommy checks on Temple, Trigger scales a ladder leading to the hayloft out of view behind him. Temple reclines on the hay amid a pile of corn cobs as the sun shoots through the wooden slats that seem to safely enclose her. She’s distracted for a moment by footsteps over head. A trap door opens revealing Trigger, who makes eye contact with Temple for a moment before descending to join her in the tight confines of her enclosure. Tommy checks in once more, but Trigger shoots him dead. Trigger and Temple exchange stares, and then he approaches her, passing out of the camera’s view as he nears Temple. We see nobody, but hear Temple’s scream as the scene comes to an end.
Above: Trigger descends (Jack La Rue with Miriam Hopkins).
“It was an-y-thing but done in a distasteful way,” Miriam Hopkins told film historian John Kobal many years later.[11] But what about the corncob? Wasn’t Temple Drake raped with a corncob? Yes—in Faulkner’s novel.
“I offer as evidence this object which was found at the scene of the crime,” the District Attorney says in the book. “He held in his hand a corn-cob. It appeared to have been dipped in dark brownish paint.”[12]
In March 1933, the Hays Office warned Paramount boss Adolph Zukor about including a shot where a corncob is picked up and examined following Temple’s rape. The American Film Institute notes about The Story of Temple Drake also state that the Hays Office forced the scene to take place inside of the barn rather than the corn crib of Faulkner’s novel, and that no corncobs were to be either shown or referenced.[13] They are shown. Attention is not called to them, but if you’re looking for them, they are there.
Above: Temple tries to sleep ... corn cobs at top right.
The film works on multiple levels to this point before veering further away from its source material afterward. Trigger creeps into the barn and rapes Temple Drake, but if you know the book you’d swear he did it with a corn cob because he’s impotent. Those details leave viewers who are unfamiliar with the book wondering what they missed. The rape scene is necessary to the story, and its implications work on different levels in the film depending on whether you’ve read the book or not.
“If you can call a rape artistically done … it was,” Hopkins said. “As a matter of fact, If anybody would say to me: ‘What is one of the finest pictures you’ve made?’ I would say: ‘Sanctuary.’”[14]
Miriam Hopkins was a Paramount contract player at the time of The Story of Temple Drake. She had turned to acting after a broken ankle halted her burgeoning dance career in 1922. After some early highs and lows, Hopkins made good on Broadway in dramatic productions such as Puppets (1925) and An American Tragedy (1926), as well as the comedy Excess Baggage (1927). Hopkins signed with Paramount and made her feature film debut in Fast and Loose (1930).
During her first several months under contract to Paramount, Hopkins was able to work at their Astoria, New York, studios during the day, while continuing to moonlight on Broadway in the evenings. She appeared in The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), the first three films for director Ernst Lubitsch, while in New York, but after that the studio shipped her out to Hollywood as they scaled back east coast operations.
“When five weeks passed and the studio ignored me, I marched in and insisted on testing for the part of a night club singer.”[15] This was for Hopkins’ first film in Hollywood, Marion Gering’s 24 Hours (1931), a movie that did little for her reputation at that time, but which holds up well today. Hopkins next worked for director Rouben Mamoulian opposite Fredric March in the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Hopkins had hoped to play Jekyll’s love interest in the film, but Mamoulian convinced her otherwise: “He said: ‘It’s three scenes. It’s dull! You want to play the little cockney streetwalker of this, it’s the greatest.’”[16] Rose Hobart played the dull part; Hopkins made much more of an impression as the prostitute.
She next appeared in Two Kinds of Women (1932) for director William C. de Mille (Cecil’s brother); as a taxi-dancer opposite Jack Oakie in Dancers in the Dark (1932); and opposite George Bancroft for director John Cromwell in The World and the Flesh (1932), a drama set during the Russian Revolution. Then Lubitsch brought her back for another classic, Trouble in Paradise (1932) with Herbert Marshall and Kay Francis.
Known for stealing scenes and being difficult to work with, Miriam Hopkins is best remembered today for feuding with legendary star Bette Davis during two later films, The Old Maid (1939) and Old Acquaintance (1943). But Hopkins was on her best behavior and did her best work for the men who are remembered as her best directors. “Me temperamental? I never was,” Hopkins said in 1961.
Above: Hopkins with Bette Davis in Old Acquaintance (1943).
“Proof of that is that I made four pictures with Willie Wyler, who is a very demanding director. I made two with Rouben Mamoulian, who is the same. Two [sic] with Ernst Lubitsch, such a dear man.”
Mamoulian didn’t think she was difficult. “She was tenacious,” he said, “but when she discovered that someone could give her something better than she had thought of, she became pliable, and you could get all kinds of things from her that are unavailable from more malleable actresses.”[17]
Hopkins was scheduled to star in No Man of Her Own opposite MGM loan-out Clark Gable when Paramount bought screen rights to Sanctuary.[18] Paramount had promoted the coming Gable-Hopkins teaming for months, but temporarily dropped the entire project after the Hays Office rejected the script as too steamy.[19] Hopkins pulled out of the film for good in November 1932, with the excuse of “not liking the story.”[20] She was replaced by Carole Lombard, making No Man of Her Own required viewing for anyone who wants to see Hollywood’s future royal couple, Gable and Lombard, in their only movie together.
If No Man of Her Own was too hot for the censors, than Miriam Hopkins went out of the frying pan and into the fire with her next assignment: The Story of Temple Drake.
Above: Temple during the ride to Miss Reba's.
Hopkins appears frozen with concern—or is it shame—as La Rue drives her off Goodwin’s property that morning. Ruby sees the pair leave, but Lee Goodwin cuts her short to tell her that Tommy’s dead. When Goodwin goes to town to report the killing, he’s arrested and charged with murder. Goodwin initially refuses an attorney: “Nobody’s got nothing on me. It’s up to them to prove it, ain’t it? Besides, I ain’t got no money.” The judge appoints Stephen Benbow as Goodwin’s defense.
“If I talk to you, nothing can save me,” Goodwin tells Stephen, showing him a bullet hole in the wall of his cell and the bullet casing that whizzed by him from across the way the night before. Goodwin figures he has a better chance of surviving the trial than he does Trigger. Ruby, who sits by loyally, cradling their baby, lets Trigger’s name slip, giving Stephen enough of a lead to follow-up for his court-appointed client.
Above: Stephen and Lee Goodwin (William Gargan and Irving Pichel)
Meanwhile, Trigger places Temple in a room at Miss Reba’s place—a local whorehouse.
“I’m not keeping you,” Trigger tells her. “If you want to go back to that town and to your grandfather, go ahead,” the implication being that Temple isn’t courageous enough to choose that path and confront her shame. Trigger moves from the door towards Temple with tight close-ups of La Rue and Hopkins emphasizing his menace and her fear and confusion. “I ain’t hurt you none,” he tells her. “Spotted you the moment I seen you. You holler and you faint, but—”
“No,” she says, her voice barely a whisper.
“You’re crazy about me.”
“You’re going to stay,” he says. “You’ll like it here.”
She does like it—in the book—though the "it" is the sex, not necessarily Trigger. This is where Faulkner’s subject matter becomes too sensitive for the movie to handle. The movie continues to work and entertain on its own level, but it becomes a different story than what Faulkner wrote. The movie cannot even hint at Trigger’s impotence, whereas in the novel it leads to his next bit of depravity: Faulkner’s Popeye brings in another man, Red, to have sex with Temple while he watches, unable to do anything more. Temple later seeks out Red for another encounter, leading to Red’s murder at the hands of Popeye. There is no Red in the movie, nor any character taking on a role similar to this in any way. In the movie, Temple is held captive by her shame as much as Trigger, leaving whatever goes on behind their bedroom door at Miss Reba’s to our own imaginations.
The only time that Temple likes it in the movie is when she pretends for Stephen’s benefit after he comes to Miss Reba’s seeking out Trigger in relation to the Goodwin murder case. Stephen opens the door to Trigger’s room and is horrified when he sees Temple there. Practically speechless, Stephen threatens Trigger, but Temple notices Trigger reaching to his pocket for his gun. Temple then pretends that she’s Trigger’s woman, and that she likes being so, for benefit of saving Stephen’s life.
“He didn’t bring me here. I came because I wanted to come. And I stayed because I wanted to be here,” she tells Stephen.
Above: Temple plays a part (Gargan, Hopkins, and La Rue).
Temple sits on Trigger’s lap, telling him not to worry about Stephen, “he’s just a jealous busybody.” She takes the cigarette from between Trigger’s lips and kisses him before taking a deep drag off of his smoke. Trigger is placated. He smacks her on her rear end, smiles, and says, “Okay, kid.”
Trigger claims ignorance as to the charge against Goodwin. Temple confirms Trigger’s alibi, claiming they were right there in the room at Miss Reba’s on the night of the murder. Stephen leaves subpoenas for each of them, which Trigger tears up the moment Stephen departs.
“Poor lug … He don’t know yet how near he came,” Trigger says, removing his pistol from his pocket for a quick inspection. “I’d have let him have it sure, if you hadn’t stepped in when you did … You came through for me. Stood up for me against one of your own kind.”
Trigger finally seems—happy. He’s content, as though he’s finally won the girl he’s been courting. But Stephen’s visit has exposed Temple’s shame: her secret is out in the open. So she’s packing.
“It was a rib,” Trigger finally realizes. “You put on an act for me so I wouldn’t croak the boyfriend.”
He stops her from leaving the room, realizing, “… now you’re going to put the finger on me.”
“I’m not going back,” Temple says. “I’ll never go back. I’ll just disappear.”
That changes after she kills him.
The Shame of Temple Drake was a working title for this film, and it would have proved accurate. The hero, Stephen Benbow, eventually gets Temple to testify, though he relents before exposing her shame to the court. Before he gives up, Stephen arouses Temple’s pride by invoking the long line of proud Drake family members. It’s only when Stephen stops questioning her—when he values Temple over his own values of justice—that Temple rescues him with a full confession that fingers the now departed Trigger and frees Lee Goodwin.
It’s a very different path from the novel.
There is no romantic attachment between Stephen and Temple in the book. He only knows her in relation to this case. When Temple takes the stand in Sanctuary, Popeye is still alive. And she doesn’t tell the truth. Lee Goodwin is convicted and would hang, if not for the lynch mob that burns him to death before he ever has a chance to face the noose. While Temple had to kill Trigger in the movie to free herself, Popeye doesn’t have to pay for Tommy’s death in the book, where he also gets away with murdering Red. Not directly, at least. Faulkner’s Popeye is done in by mere coincidence. He’s arrested in another town for a murder he didn’t commit. He accepts the charge, and is executed for a crime committed by somebody else.
... Random Louise Beavers sighting, working the door at Miss Reba's ...
“This book was written three years ago. To me it is a cheap idea, because it was deliberately conceived to make money,” William Faulkner famously wrote in his 1932 introduction to the Modern Library edition of Sanctuary.
“I took a little time out, and speculated what a person in Mississippi would believe to be current trends, chose what I thought was the right answer and invented the most horrific tale I could imagine and wrote it in about three weeks.”[21]
This sounds like a hack rushing something hot to market, but Faulkner isn’t referring to his finished product.
When he first sent Sanctuary to Harrison Smith at Cape & Smith publishers, Faulkner claims that Smith’s response was, “Good God, I can’t publish this. We’d both be in jail.”[22] Faulkner went to work on As I Lay Dying.
Faulkner wrote that he had all but forgotten about Sanctuary at this time, “just as you might forget about anything made for an immediate purpose, which did not come off.” He received the galleys for Sanctuary after As I Lay Dying was published. “I saw that it was so terrible that there were but two things to do: tear it up or rewrite it.”[23] He chose the latter action. It is that revised version of his manuscript that Cape & Smith published on February 9, 1931.
Faulkner did not want the Modern Library introduction included in future editions from Random House. The damage was done though, Sanctuary is forever labeled by many as “a cheap idea … deliberately conceived to make money,” but Faulkner was only applying those ideas to his original intention.
Faulkner’s dialects have always made him a difficult read for me. I had read Sanctuary several years ago, both because of its comparative brevity and its notoriety. It didn’t stick with me. In fact, my only memories were of a negative experience. I purchased another copy in anticipation of this essay, tackling it well in advance of revisiting the Paramount film, just in case it prove as difficult as I remembered. And it was not an easy book, but it did get through to me this time. It’s unpleasant, yet haunting. I’ve found myself dwelling on its details the past few weeks and am surprised to find that I enjoy my memories of Sanctuary better than I did the actual reading of it.
Above: Director Stephen Roberts, 1927 image.
What it also did was clarify some of my own misconceptions about the movie. He’s impotent? With a corn cob? She likes it? No, the movie is really an altogether different animal that—other than the corn cob, perhaps—presents a different message. The high quality of the resulting film is a credit to screenwriter Oliver H.P. Garrett and director Stephen Roberts, with exceptional contributions from cinematographer Karl Struss as well. The Story of Temple Drake, like most older movies (even from the pre-Code era), puts value on virginity and abstinence. Its loss is the price that movie Temple must pay on the way to conformity.
Temple is practically catatonic after Trigger rapes her. In the novel it leads to her encounters with Red, the stud Popeye supplies for his own entertainment. A stud Temple eventually seeks out for pleasure on her own. There is no pleasure in the movie. The only area of confusion in the movie comes when Trigger tells her she’s free to leave. Her shame keeps her from leaving, but is that enough of a reason to stay, without at least implying pleasure? It’s not how I view the scene. I don’t think she’s really free until after she kills Trigger. Which she doesn’t do in the novel.
The movie applies its just desserts to Temple by rewarding her only after she saves Stephen. Her reward, another movie standard, is Stephen’s protecting arms. Temple gives her testimony, her confession, and then faints. Stephen picks her up and carries her out of the courtroom with her concerned grandfather trailing along beside him. “Be proud of her, Judge. I am.”
The moral uproar surrounding The Story of Temple Drake extended beyond George Raft’s refusal to play Trigger. P.S. Harrison, founder of Harrison’s Reports and oftentimes a one-man moral watchdog, addressed his complaints directly to the head of Paramount, Adolph Zukor. He received and published replies from Zukor underling Russell Holman, who assured Harrison that Dr. James Wingate, former Chairman of the New York Censorship Board, approved Paramount’s script and added that “‘sexual perversion and degeneracy’ are utterly and entirely absent.” Harrison wasn’t satisfied, noting that Wingate was not the final word on what was or wasn’t acceptable, and further scolded Paramount for choosing material solely because of the “sordid notoriety” of its source material, adding, “There isn’t a single situation that can be pictured.”[24]
Above: From the June 1933 issue of Broadway and Hollywood Movies via Lantern.com search.
Harrison was far from the exception in panning the material as unacceptable. The Hollywood Reporter suggested “the Academy might create a special award for it. ‘The Most Unnecessary Picture of the Year.”[25] The New York Daily News despised the film, stating “it should never have been bought and never produced … the scrap heap is where the picture belongs.” Also from New York, the American called it “a shoddy, obnoxiously disagreeable melodrama.”[26]
New York’s Herald-Tribune picked up on some of the charms of the movie: “It is so daring a film, so frank and unabashed in its narrative and so maturely sinister in its implications that it possesses an undeniable fascination,” while other critics thought Paramount had done as well as it could, given the difficult source material. “The richness and atmosphere is somewhat missing as are the more spectacular elements of degeneracy,” said the New York Sun, “But as talkies go, Temple Drake is original and dramatic melodrama.”[27] Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times was impressed, “considering the changes that were to be expected in bringing this novel to the screen, the producers have wrought a highly intelligent production.” Hall admitted, “there are loopholes in the story as it comes to the screen, but the adroitly sustained suspense atones for such shortcomings.”[28]
Above: The shadow of La Rue.
Negative reviews didn’t impact The Story of Temple Drake, at least not upon its release. Hollywood Reporter said, “those pan reviews written by some of the local dailies … attracted people to the Paramount box office instead of keeping them away.” The Story of Temple Drake opened so strong at New York’s Paramount that it topped box office receipts for the entire previous week in just its first three days playing at the theater.[29]
When it ran into trouble with Catholics in Rhode Island, Providence’s police censor contacted exhibitors in Boston and New York to see if The Story of Temple Drake had caused them any trouble. He was told they faced “no opposition” to the film. The police censor held a preview for the press and clergy, and gave the film his approval afterward. The print shown in Providence supposedly had several cuts from what had played in New York, but the censor said he himself had made no deletions.[30]
Above: The shame of Gargan.
In an article about movie censorship in Modern Screen, published about a year after The Story of Temple Drake’s release, author James B.M. Fisher dedicated several paragraphs to New York’s notoriously tough film censors, but made a point of stating Temple Drake was released there without any cuts. Fisher added that “Pennsylvania sheared material amounting to three typewritten pages from it and Ohio two.”[31] The Pennsylvania mention is corroborated by Variety who reported the film “was passed through after a flock of eliminations had been made.” Ironically, Variety’s mention of The Story of Temple Drake was because it was replacing Bed of Roses (1933) at the Stanley Theatre after state censors rejected the latter film in its entirety.[32]
Charles S. Aaronson of Motion Picture Herald admired The Story of Temple Drake more than any other contemporary critic I could find. He began his review complimenting Paramount for its “grave courage” in even attempting to produce a film based on Sanctuary. Aaronson wrote:
“Paramount has done remarkably well by the material at hand, contriving, with care and intelligence, to disregard the numerous inherently objectionable features of the Faulkner novel, to avoid the motion picture pitfalls with which the original was crowded, and at the same time to turn out a motion picture of definitely strong dramatic power, containing much which should be found popularly appealing.”[33]
Temple Drake returned in William Faulkner’s sequel to Sanctuary, Requiem for a Nun, published in 1951. The rights to The Story of Temple Drake were purchased by Twentieth Century Fox, who used both Sanctuary and Requiem for a Nun as source material for their 1961 release Sanctuary, which was directed by Tony Richardson and starred Lee Remick, Yves Montand, and Bradford Dillman. This time around Remick’s Temple Drake is more responsive to the Popeye character—here dubbed Candy Man and played by Montand—but censors still proved too stringent for a truly faithful adaptation. The earlier movie remains superior.
Above: Trade ad for Sanctuary, sourced from Box Office magazine, February 27, 1961.
In celebration of Paramount’s sixtieth anniversary, Miriam Hopkins attended a showing of The Story of Temple Drake at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on July 12, 1972. According to MoMA’s website, Twentieth Century-Fox donated their original print of the film to them in 1974. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) got in touch with the Museum and they collaborated on a restoration that premiered at MoMA’s “To Save and Project” series in October 2010.[34] The movie first played on TCM September 14, 2011, and continues to play on the channel a few times each year. As of this writing The Story of Temple Drake is not yet available on home video.
The Story of Temple Drake ranks with releases such as Red-Headed Woman (1932), Baby Face, and I’m No Angel, (both 1933) as one of the more notorious releases of the pre-Code era. The reputation is deserved, though notoriety today translates to boldness. Unlike those other films, The Story of Temple Drake boasts important literary origins, and while the film is not nearly as daring as the story it is based on, it is a high quality release featuring superior writing, direction, cinematography, and acting. Jack La Rue is one of the most menacing screen scoundrels that you’ll ever encounter, and Miriam Hopkins gives a performance that underscores her reputation as one of the finest screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Above: Hopkins in your face.
This article first appeared more than one year ago in Classic Movie Monthly #5 for Kindle (no longer available). While there were only small changes to the text, most of the images (including all screen captures) are new to this post.
1. “New ‘Drake’ Treatment,” Hollywood Reporter, January 24, 1933, 3; “Temple Drake,’ Alias ‘Sanctuary’ Started,” Hollywood Reporter, January 31, 1933, 1.
2. “Raft Will Quit Rather Than Play in “Temple Drake,’” Hollywood Reporter, February 13, 1933, 1.
3. Dorothy Calhoun, "Will His First Big Role Make or Break Jack La Rue?" Movie Classic, May 1933, 58.
6. “Raft-Paramount Argument Settled,” Hollywood Reporter, March 18, 1933, 1.
7. Calhoun, 58.
8. "Yesterday's Stars: La Rue Doesn't Like Gangster Stereotypes," Pottstown Mercury (PA), November 8, 1975, 40.
9. Hubbard Keavy, “Screen Life In Hollywood,” Altoona Tribune (GA), April 26, 1933, 4.
10. Calhoun, 58.
11. John Kobal, People Will Talk (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 355.
12. William Faulkner, Sanctuary, in Novels 1930-1935 (1931; repr., New York: Library of America, 1985), 376.
13. “The Story of Temple Drake,” AFI: Catalog of Feature Films, accessed January 6, 2017, http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=4944.
14. Kobal, 356.
15. Erskine Johnson, “In Hollywood,” Gloversville and Johnstown Morning Herald (NY), August 25, 1950, 4.
17. George Eells, Ginger, Loretta and Irene Who? (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976), 101.
18. “Gable’s Paramount Film,” Film Daily, June 1, 1932, 6.
19. “Par Ditches ‘No Man’ After Story Troubles,” Variety, September 27, 1932, 4.
20. “For Legal Advice,” Variety, November 22, 1932, 6.
21. Faulkner, 1029-30.
24. P.S. Harrison, "The Case of 'Sanctuary,'" Harrison's Reports, March 18, 1933, 41.
25. “Best Example of Bad Taste Yet Seen” Hollywood Reporter, May 11, 1933, 4.
26. “New York Reviews,” Hollywood Reporter, May 10, 1933, 2.
28. Mordaunt Hall, “Miriam Hopkins and Jack LaRue in a Pictorial Conception of a Novel by William Faulkner,” New York Times, May 6, 1933, accessed December 27, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904E4DF1538E333A25755C0A9639C946294D6CF.
29. “‘Temple Drake’ OK At N.Y. Paramount,” Hollywood Reporter, May 10, 1933, 4.
30. “Severe Opposish, But ‘Temple’ OKed in Prov.,” Variety, May 23, 1933, 21.
31. James B.M. Fisher, “Here’s What the Censors Took Out,” Modern Screen, July 1934, 111.
32. “Penn. Censors Nix ‘Bed,’ But ‘Temple’ OK,” Variety, July 11, 1933, 6.
33. Charles S. Aaronson, "Showmen's Reviews: The Story of Temple Drake," Motion Picture Herald, May 13, 1933, 22.
34. Anne Morra, “Temple Drake: Was She Ever Lost?” Inside/Out: A MoMA/MoMA PS1 Blog, December 8, 2011, accessed January 5, 2017, https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2011/12/08/temple-drake-was-she-ever-lost/; Katie Trainor, "Out of the Vaults and onto the Screen," Inside/Out: A MoMA/MoMA PS1 Blog, October 14, 2010, accessed January 5, 2017, https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/10/14/out-of-the-vaults-and-onto-the-screen/.
Filed Under: Movie Reviews Tagged With: 1933, Adaptations, Arthur Belasco, Elizabeth Patterson, Florence Eldridge, Harlan E Knight, Irving Pichel, Jack La Rue, James Eagles, james mason, jobyna howland, Louise Beavers, Miriam Hopkins, oliver hp garrett, Paramount, pre-Code, Sir Guy Standing, Stephen Roberts, William Collier Jr, william faulkner, William Gargan
← 3 New Collectible Galleries Posted to the Site New Collectible Checklist & Gallery: 1935 Ardath Scenes from Big Films →
I hate issuing a "spoiler alert" for something that's been around so long, but specifics and key plot points for both William Faulkner's 1931 novel and Paramount's 1933 film adaptation are mentioned, compared, and contrasted throughout this article. If you’re at all familiar with the source material, it’s hard to believe this movie was even made. Familiarity with the production notes makes the existence of The Story of Temple Drake even more unlikely. The movie is based on William Faulkner’s Sanctuary, a novel in which the leading character’s sexuality is awakened after an impotent gangster rapes her with a corn…
The Story of Temple Drake. Paramount Pictures. Premiered at the Paramount Theatre in New York, NY, May 5, 1933. Released nationally, May 12, 1933. 70 minutes. Based on the novel Sanctuary by William Faulkner. Screenplay by Oliver H.P. Garrett. Directed by Stephen Roberts. Starring Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge, Sir Guy Standing, Irving Pichel, Jobyna Howland, William Collier Jr., Elizabeth Patterson, James Eagles, Harlan E. Knight, James Mason, Louise Beavers, and Arthur Belasco.
The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
My Rating - 8
Paramount Adapts Faulkner's Sanctuary
Pre-Code Links
My Pre-Code Reviews
The Production Code
Timeline of Pre-Code
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line505
|
__label__wiki
| 0.711985
| 0.711985
|
Cancer doctors reveal feelings on condolence letters
It is an overlooked chapter of the cancer story, but no less important to bereaved families. Doctors often write letters […]
By Paul Gallagher
It is an overlooked chapter of the cancer story, but no less important to bereaved families.
Doctors often write letters of condolence following a patient’s death but the practice varies widely and is poorly documented.
Researchers from the University of Leeds wanted to explore attitudes of oncologists and palliative care consultants towards the process, and whether institutions should consider raising condolence letters to a more official standing.
The results of their survey, published in ecancermedicalscience, indicate a majority of oncology professionals believe it is an important part of palliative care.
Dr Naveen Vasudev, of St James’s Institute of Oncology and Jessica Hayward, a medical student, surveyed 47 local oncologists and palliative care consultants to learn more about the situation.
“I was reflecting on my own practice, and I became aware that my colleagues all seemed to be doing different things when expressing condolences,” said Dr Vasudev.
“So, we thought it would be interesting to document this variation and try to understand the underlying reasons.”
Only one in three (30 per cent) used a standard template, suggesting that the majority routinely individualise their content.
“Any later than two weeks [following a patient’s death] may stir things up or aggravate grief. The letter is supposed to help.”
When asked about timing, the majority (62 per cent) indicated that they do this 3–6 weeks after the patient’s death, with the remainder sending them within two weeks. No participants waited beyond six weeks.
Notably, the majority of doctors surveyed (72 per cent) were not in favour of introducing policies to unify practices.
“Condolence letters are a matter of professional discretion and judgement and should not become a ‘policy’,” one doctor wrote in response to the survey.
Of the 11 participants who said they do not write letters, half said they did not see a need or were too busy, while the other half felt it “crossed a boundary” and was too personal.
Dr Vasudev said: “It would be interesting to document practice on a much wider scale, both increasing numbers and also perhaps to include other specialties beyond oncology and palliative care.
“It would also be important to find out the views of bereaved relatives themselves.”
Riot, insurrection or revolution? What the language of protest can tell us about our politics
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line507
|
__label__wiki
| 0.989668
| 0.989668
|
Labour denies its membership has plummeted by 150,000 since 2017
According to the party’s General Secretary, the figures are ‘total fabrication’
By Chloe Hamilton
Updated October 7, 2020 8:07 pm
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during the debate for the Government no confidence motion in the House of Commons, London. (PA)
Labour has denied reports that its membership has plummeted by 150,000 since 2017, saying the figures are “total fabrication”.
According to a report in the Sunday Times, Labour membership – which rose in 2017 to more than 500,000 – now stands at around 385,000.
The i politics newsletter cut through the noise
Party sources blamed the decrease in support on leader Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on a second EU vote.
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, talks during a no confidence debate
However, Labour’s General Secretary Jennie Formby said: “This is total fabrication. More people are joining Labour every week than resigning.”
The party was unable to provide i with the correct membership figures saying it doesn’t brief on such numbers and that the information was not publicly available.
However, a Labour spokesperson said: “This story is not true. The figures are completely made up.”
Peaks and troughs
Party membership always goes through peaks and troughs as subscriptions lapse and new people join, but it had been thought that members were deserting the party due to Corbyn’s position on Brexit.
A source told the Sunday Times: “Although there is always some drop off in membership after big events like general elections, or a leadership contest, this is more than you would ordinarily expect and has led many of us to think it’s linked to Jeremy’s unpopular stance on Brexit.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives speech in Hastings (Photo: Peter Nicholls/Reuters)
The Labour leader has thus far refused to support a new referendum for fear of losing Leave voters in the north of England and is instead pushing for a General Election after which he would hope to be in a position to deliver Labour’s version of Brexit.
But it seems his reluctance to take a strong position either way could be irritating party members.
Out of pocket?
The possible slump in membership, too, has reportedly left the party £6 million out of pocket.
A source revealed to the Sunday Times that, even if Corbyn succeeded in is bid to trigger a General Election, the party might not have the funds to pay for a costly election campaign.
“The party is skint. There have already been some recriminations about the amount spent on last summer’s botched music festival Labour Live,” the source said.
“A second referendum would be welcomed by much of the party’s remaining membership and help avoid a further drain on its dwindling coffers.”
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line508
|
__label__wiki
| 0.534396
| 0.534396
|
Google adds fact checking feature to search results to debunk fake news
Google has added a fact checking feature to its search results in an effort to debunk fake news articles. The […]
By Rhiannon Williams
Google’s new Fact Check feature has been rolled out into search results (Photo: Google)
Google has added a fact checking feature to its search results in an effort to debunk fake news articles.
The new Fact Check label will display what the company calls an authoritative result to search queries prominently at the top of the web page, alongside a summary of the claims and the body which has fact checked it, such as PolitiFact.
The amount of content published online each day can be “overwhelming,” with the sheer volume making it “hard for people to distinguish fact from fiction,” Justin Kosslyn, product manager at Google’s sister company Jigsaw wrote in a blog post.
(Photo: Pexels) Google, Facebook and Twitter have appeared before the Home Affairs Committee
“Even though differing conclusions may be presented, we think it’s still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree,” he added.
Don’t believe what you read: the worrying rise in fake news
Fact checking information will not be available for every search result, and fact checks which offer conflicting assessments will be displayed alongside each other.
Google, like Facebook, has come under increasing pressure to tackle the rise of fake news, which was credited with helping propel Donald Trump into office late last year.
The search giant recently hired 10,000 contractors to evaluate its search results in terms of relevance in order to improve Google’s algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) services in promoting fact and downgrading the prominence of untrue articles masquerading as fact.
They are provided with specific searches, such as ‘Is the Holocaust real?’ and ‘Did the Holocaust really happen?’, and rate the top results based on how closely they meet the needs of people searching those terms.
Google was criticised earlier in the year for promoting misinformation in its ‘featured snippets‘ highlighted box, which is displayed prominently above other results for certain queries.
(Photo; Getty) Facebook’s role as a platform for fake news was blamed for the election of Donald Trump
Googling ‘Who is King of the United States?’ previously returned the answer Barack Obama, when Mr Obama is no longer even the President. Ironically, the answer is drawn from a webpage criticising Google’s promotion of the term which was originally drawn from an article on Breitbart, the alt-right news organisation. Google has since amended the algorithm.
Facebook announced a raft of new tools earlier this week designed to better identify fake news and limit articles’ spread, and making it “as difficult as possible” for those posting fake news stories to buy adverts on the platform by updating its policies, cutting off the fake articles’ advertising lifeline.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line509
|
__label__cc
| 0.737282
| 0.262718
|
ORCID and the Safe Harbor Framework
October 6, 2015 By Laure Haak
Today, the European Court of Justice has struck down a treaty, called Safe Harbor, that governed the transfer of electronic data between Europe and the United States. How does this affect ORCID?
At ORCID, we have a fundamental commitment to our user’s privacy. Researchers expressly opt in to ORCID’s privacy practices when they create an ORCID record. Our system does not collect or store personally sensitive information. Starting with a strong privacy policy that describes your rights, our practices ensure you have control over what data are connected to your ORCID record and who has access to your data. At the end of the day, ORCID is about openness, access, discoverability, and transparency. We provide a public registry for use by the community, free of charge.
As a non-profit organization, ORCID was not eligible to formally participate in the Safe Harbor program. Instead of relying on self-certification under that program, we have gone through additional scrutiny by our European colleagues to ensure that our privacy policies are in line with European privacy requirements. In addition, we undergo an annual review and certification of our privacy policy and practices by an independent third party.
We will continue to engage with the international community to assess our privacy policy and practices and remain open to discussing, evaluating, and – as needed – amending, any of our policies and practices, in a transparent manner to ensure that we get it right as the situation evolves in Europe and elsewhere.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line510
|
__label__wiki
| 0.900537
| 0.900537
|
The Highlands Current (https://highlandscurrent.org/2014/11/20/quinns-jazz-sessions-hosts-mario-pavone/)
Quinn’s Hosts Mario Pavone Nov. 24
By Staff | November 20, 2014
Jazz veteran and band to play at Monday sessions
Bassist Mario Pavone, veteran of many noted ensembles over the five decades of his career — ranging from Paul Bley to Anthony Braxton to Thomas Chapin and countless others — performs as part of Monday Jazz Sessions at Quinn’s on Nov. 24 with his ensemble the Arc Quartet, featuring Ellery Eskelin on tenor saxophone, Dave Ballou on trumpet and Matt Wilson on drums.
Pavone never received formal music training and didn’t seriously encounter jazz until his freshman year at the University of Connecticut in 1958. He was playing professionally by 1965, though his full-time job was putting his industrial engineering degree to work for major corporations. Upon hearing the news about Coltrane’s death in 1967, he left his briefcase on his desk, got in the car and drove to the funeral, where he decided on the spot to dedicate the rest of his life to music. His discography now features 25 recordings as a leader/co-leader.
Quinn’s is located at 330 Main St. in Beacon. As with all Monday Jazz Sessions at Quinn’s, the performance begins at 8 p.m. and there will be no cover charge at the door, though donations for the artists are requested.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line513
|
__label__cc
| 0.603771
| 0.396229
|
The Highlands Current (https://highlandscurrent.org/2016/06/25/oscar-winning-songs/)
Oscar-Winning Songs
By Staff | June 25, 2016
Library to host performance of classics
Singer and pianist Mitch Kahn will perform songs that have won an Academy Award, including Lullaby of Broadway, Que Sera Sera and The Way We Were at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28, at the Howland Public Library in Beacon. He also will share anecdotes about the singers, actors and composers who made the tunes famous.
Kahn has performed at dozens of New York City’s notable venues, including The Rainbow Room, Sardi’s, Tavern on the Green and the Copacabana. The Howland library is located at 313 Main St.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line514
|
__label__wiki
| 0.773532
| 0.773532
|
There are now more than 3,500 and there are currently more than 9,300 examinations on preprint servers.
April 23, 2020 blog
November 22nd is scheduled for October 22. Trump fell ill with Covid-19 as a result of a coronavirus infection and was treated for three days in a military hospital. He returned to the White House on Monday.
He said now that he felt “” perfect “” again and could hardly wait to get fully back into the election campaign. He assumes that he is no longer contagious. The day before, his personal doctor had announced that the 74-year-old was now 24 hours without symptoms. Trump further said at Fox that he would soon hold large campaign events again. He would prefer to have an event on Thursday evening. Source: ntv.de, rpe / jwu / dpa “” “Neither free nor fair” “was the presidential election in Belarus according to the EU Commission.
The opposition does not recognize the results of the vote and calls for a new election. But was the election actually falsified three weeks ago? And if so, how? An initiative answers these questions – and provides clear evidence.
By Uladzimir Zhyhachou After the presidential election in Belarus, thousands of innocent people end up in prisons. Those who are now free again describe the horror they experienced. Their reports speak of senseless and sadistic violence, of despair and hope, of fear and death. By Uladzimir Zhyhachou We’ll stay at home. But it is precisely the distance that binds us together.
We help the neighbors and save our neighborhood, our neighborhood, our street. The crisis reveals how great we actually are. A declaration of love with useful links from Uladzimir Zhyhachou All over the world people from the former Soviet Union gather for memorial marches for those who fell in war. In Moscow alone there are more than a million in the “Immortal Regiment” campaign.
Right in the middle – President Putin with his guests. By Uladzimir Zhyhachou Putin begins his presidency again with the publication of a May decree. In it, he outlines the political goals for the next six years.
You are an assignment to the government. Putin had previously described it as deliberately exaggerated. By Uladzimir Zhyhachou Magnificent Soviet monuments, hip bars, a pulsating art scene – that’s one side of Minsk.
But the Belarusians live in a dictatorship. Still, they want the EU lifestyle. The few visitors experience a city in conflict.
By Uladzimir Zhyhachou, Minsk “” My tombstone should only say ‘lechz’ “” Herbert Feuerstein is said to have once said. And in fact this quote fits all too well with the man …… whose humor was always as dry as it was subtle. “” Lechz “”, that was just one of the onomatopoeic words whose invention he can claim. Also expressions like “” Würg “”, “” Hechel “” and “” Ächz “” go to his account, …… after all, from 1973 onwards, Feuerstein was editor-in-chief of the German edition of the satirical magazine “” MAD “for 20 years “.customer writing service
Under his aegis, the US-based magazine …… with Obernerd Alfred E. Neumann as a symbolic figure (on the magazine cover!) Also rose to a cult status in this country before it died in 2019 in the wake of the general death of the print media is pulped for all time. Perhaps … it is because of Feuerstein’s difficult childhood and youth that there are practically no pictures of him in the archives in his younger years. Born in 1937 in Zell am See, Austria, …… he suffers from his father, who has been a staunch National Socialist all his life.
In the mid-1950s, he escaped the confines of his parents’ home by studying music in Salzburg, which ended badly because of his rebellious disposition. After an insult to the university president …… he is thrown from the university. However, his passion for classical music will accompany him throughout his life, be it through his own participation in operettas in later years or as here in the moderation of a concert in Berlin in 2008.
In the early 1960s, Feuerstein was drawn into the distance because of his love for his first wife. In New York he works as an editor and correspondent for the German satire magazine “” Pardon “”, among others.
When the marriage breaks up, he comes back to Europe in 1969, …… where he soon brings the blessings of “” MAD “” closer to German-speaking readers. He made his first forays into the television business in the 1980s, as a talk show writer and with the parody format “Wild am Sonntag” on WDR. Really popular …… but he only becomes a member of the advice team in the game show “” Pssst … “” and of course …… as a sidekick of Harald Schmidt in the program “” Schmidtanders “”, the with her anarchistic humor from 1990 first conquered the hearts of the audience in WDR, before she also made the jump into the ARD main program in 1994.The only 1.65 meter tall Feuerstein …… mimes the role of the constant whipping boy in the show Schmidts, …… who always gets one pulled over his desk.
The concept of the show, …… which mixes stand-up comedy, skits, interviews and music into a wild mixture …… and prepares the breeding ground for Schmidt’s later career as a late-night talker,. ….. of course only one person came up with it: the modest and astute Feuerstein. No question about it, the native Austrian, …… who later took on German citizenship, will always be remembered as part of this congenial duo. But even after the end of “” Schmidtanders “” in the mid-1990s …… Feuerstein let off steam in a wide variety of TV formats. Be it in the television film “” Entführung aus der Lindenstrasse “”, …… as an adviser on “” What am I? “”, …… as a guest actor on “” SOKO Leipzig “”, … … as a policeman in the sitcom “” Salto Postale “”, …… in the fairy tale adaptation of “” Frau Holle “” …… or as a member of the comedy show “” Die Wochenshow “” .
And …… Horst Lichter (left) and Johann Lafer (here with singer Kim Fisher) also had “” Lafer! Lights! Delicious! “” Of course, always a place at the stove …… like Dolly Buster a place in her heart for flint. But not only on television …… Feuerstein stays with me. In 2009 and 2010, for example, he appeared as the devil at the Jedermann Festival in Berlin Cathedral. 2014 he published his biography “” The nine lives of Mr F. “”.
Feuerstein made one …… of his last public appearances in 2015 when recording the television program “” Olaf improves the world “” with comedian Olaf Schubert in Dresden. In …… the past few years the satirist has become increasingly silent. “” I want to be in peace “”, quoted the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” “in 2017 on the occasion of a report on his 80th birthday. Well … Herbert Feuerstein died at the age of 83.
This …… has his third wife Grit Bergmann announced on WDR. The station’s director, Tom Buhrow, pays tribute to Feuerstein …… for “” his clever humor, his wonderful silliness, the intelligently thought-out anarchism and many, many highly entertaining television and radio hours “”. Will …… Feuerstein’s tombstone really only read “” lechz “”?
In any case, he would have deserved much more unctuous words. “At the beginning of May, well over 1000 clinical corona studies were listed in a register. (Photo: imago images / Shotshop) The corona pandemic is driving research to top performance. Thousands upon thousands of studies are being published – at However, some of the quality leaves much to be desired, one analysis criticizes, dozen have already been withdrawn. What are the reasons? The corona pandemic is causing a flood of studies of sometimes questionable quality in science. Many studies are carried out on so-called preprint servers Katrina Bramstedt from the Australian Bond University complained in the “” Journal of Medical Ethics “” that were accessible or even already published in specialist journals have already been withdrawn.
The current high public pressure is partly responsible for this, writes Bramstedt, who is also Secretary General of the Agency for Research Integrity in Luxembourg. The sheer numbers are impressive: at the beginning of May – just a few months after the start of the pandemic – according to Bramstedt, well over 1000 clinical corona studies were already listed in a register. There are now more than 3,500 and there are currently more than 9,300 examinations on preprint servers.
Although these servers indicate that the work has not yet been checked, anyone can see the results. By the end of July, a total of 33 studies – 19 published articles and 14 unpublished studies on preprint servers – had been withdrawn or at least objected to, Bramstedt writes in the article. They even included papers published by the world’s two leading medical journals, “Lancet” and “New England Journal of Medicine”. More than half of the inadequate studies – 19 out of 33 – came from Asia and 11 of these came from China.
But the problem exists worldwide, emphasizes Bramstedt. “” No research team can escape the pressure and speed at which Covid-19 research is carried out, “” she writes. “And that can increase the risk of inadvertent mistakes as well as intentional misconduct.” “The latter includes manipulating data and concealing one’s own conflicts of interest. Such deficiencies are not only of academic interest, but can also be dangerous for patients. “The use of incorrect research results from preprints as well as published studies can result in important, permanent and irreversible damage to patients,” emphasizes Bramstedt. The reasons for the current development are, on the one hand, that many works that have not been reviewed by experts on preprint Servers are publicly accessible. In addition, many experts who review the studies for specialist journals on a voluntary basis are currently busy elsewhere. Bramstedt suggests streamlining the so-called peer review process without compromising the quality of the review. In addition, every study result must be published – regardless of the result. Violations of scientific standards should be clearly punished, she demands. “Research has the potential to flow into public life and be used by many stakeholders, including governments and policymakers,” “Bramstedt was quoted as saying in a press release. “So the data needs to be robust.” “Journal of Medical Ethics editor John McMillan of New Zealand’s University of Otago added that scientific integrity is critical.
Not only in view of the enormous pressure, for example with regard to successful therapies and vaccinations, but also because of the widespread misinformation. The public pressure as a result of the pandemic also has consequences for the approval process for drugs: as recently as the beginning of October, two leading US journals, “Science” ” and the “” New England Journal of Medicine “” (“” NEJM “”) accused the US Food and Drug Administration of negligence in monitoring clinical trials. Political pressure is influencing the FDA in approving possible coronavirus Vaccines, lamented an “” NEJM “” editorial. This can be seen in the emergency approval for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which was withdrawn after a few weeks, it says. The approval of convalescent plasma – blood plasma from former Covid-19 sufferers – for corona patients, which was granted in August, is based on “” opaque “” and “” unclear “” data. Without transparent and scientifically sound processes, the FDA would gamble away the trust that they built in the past century, it said. Doctors and patients should be able to rely on the fact that every approval is based on a careful evaluation of all available data and that the decisions of the authorities are well founded and objective when no other workstation is available. (Photo: Jens Kalaene / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa / Symbolbild) In the Corona crisis, many employees moved to the home office, at least temporarily.
Unlike the self-employed, they can hardly deduct the additional costs of working from home from their taxes. This could change soon. Financial politicians from the Union and the SPD want to relieve citizens of tax when working from home. The topic will be dealt with in the context of the talks on the annual tax law, said the financial policy spokeswoman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Antje Tillmann, and the financial policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group, Lothar Binding, of the “” Süddeutsche Zeitung “” (SZ) .
The law will be discussed on Thursday in the first reading in the Bundestag. Those who work at home because of health protection “should also be able to deduct their expenses from taxes,” “Binding told the SZ. One therefore wants to find ways “” how we can come to a practical consideration “” with the costs of the home office. The tax deduction should not “” lead to any unacceptable administrative expenses. CDU finance politician Tillmann advocated a “” general allowance for additional corona difficulties “”.
This should not only benefit workers in the home office, but “” relieve all taxpayers due to Covid-19 “”: “” In fact, every employee or entrepreneur has had additional burdens in the last few months, “” said Tillmann. In the Federal Ministry of Finance was called it, you always think about further help because of the corona pandemic. “” This also includes tax measures, “said a spokeswoman for the SZ. “” The work done by employees and, above all, by parents in the home office, requires special recognition. “” So far, most employees have barely been able to deduct additional expenses for work at home from tax, such as higher electricity costs. or heating costs. The prerequisite for this is a separate study that is used at least 90 percent for business purposes. Most employees should not have such a room at all. Source: ntv.de, ino / DJ “Even at the beginning of the Corona crisis, the hospitality industry in Belgium was closed for months. (Photo: imago images / Xinhua) Brussels has been more severely affected by the Corona pandemic than almost any other capital in the EU.
In order to get the rising number of cases under control, cafes and bars in the metropolis have to close again for a longer period of time. There are also strict rules for the citizens of the city: Due to the high Corona numbers, cafes and bars in the Belgian capital Brussels have to close again.
Intervju sa Dr Vladanom Domazetović
Upoznajte Dr Vladanu Domazetović, naučnicu iz Crne Gore koja se[...]
Precizno vinogradarstvo
Autor: Vesna Maraš Doktor poljoprivrednih nauka Kontakt: vesnam@t-com.me Precizno[...]
Eather One: električni avion koji vazdušno trenje pretvara u energiju
U današnje vrijeme, mnoge kompanije koje se bave pravljenjem aviona[...]
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line515
|
__label__cc
| 0.61898
| 0.38102
|
Zur deutschen Version geht's hier lang.
An Interview with Colours of Ostrava
Ostrava is not dark anymore, it's colourful
The Czech festival Colours of Ostrava is merging together with its city. The location, an old steel and coal factory, is once a year blooming in full colour and creates an interplay of the places history, music, arts and culture.
text Isabel Roudsarabi
redaktion Robin Hartmann
fotos Matěj Rumpa, Eva Dang, Michal Lukáč, Petr Piechowicz, Čestmír Jíra, Matyáš Theuer, Michal Augustini, Zdenko Hanout, Ivan Prokop
reading time 11 minutes
The festival has become an institution in the Czech festivallandscape. Every year it brings headliner like The Killers, Jamie Cullum oder Imagine Dragons in the former industrial city of Ostrava.
Additionally to the broad music program, visitors have a million of possibilities to for example learn about the culture of the region, inform themselves about the history of the location, visit discussions about politics or science or play with their kids in the family-friendly part of the festival.
At Eurosonic 2020, we talked to press manager Jiří Sedlák, who told us why the former black heart of the Czech Republic is now full of colour and why the side program is a crucial part of the event.
Hey Jiri! Can you tell us about your position at the festival and how you came to working for Colours of Ostrava?
I have been working for Colours of Ostrava for 17 years, since the second year of the festival – so I saw the festival grow from a local art and music festival to what it is today. We began trying to not only focus on World music, but also other genres and I accompanied its growth until it became one of the biggest festivals in the Czech Republic. During all this time I have been doing communication, PR, promotion and everything involved. These are my personal concerns, however, I do of course love the music we present. In the beginning of Colours of Ostrava there were some really great local and Balkan bands which were being booked at the time, which I loved, so when they approached me asking to start working for them all I could say was: „Yes, yes – of course!“ *laughs*
Today, Colours of Ostrava has become the most important job for me.
So they asked you to do the promotion, just like that, 17 years ago?
It happened through a mutual friend. He recommended me and my colleague to a PR agency from Prague, saying how we should join them because Colors of Ostrava was dependent on good and working PR in Prague, because that’s where all the national organisers, media partners and commercial partners are based. Ostrava needed to expand its local focus, since it is quite far from the capital, as you’ve maybe seen on the map. Ostrava is off to the East and used to be the black heart of the Czech Republic in terms of its steel, iron and coal industry. So the concept of „Colours“ was created because Ostrava was not that appealing to people from the Republic at the time. We had a saying that went:
Ostrava is not dark any more, it’s now colourful.
The concept then became a reality and the people of the Czech Republic are now really fond of Ostrava, because it has such an interesting history, even the region – which was really rough and polluted a few decades ago – but nowadays developed into a creative centre of the country. And I think Colours of Ostrava is part of that story and evolution.
Your festival site is very beautiful and has a very unique character to it. Can you tell me more about its history and how it developed into what it is today?
Sure. It’s a place where coal and steel mining and productions co-existed together. The proximity of both branches to each other is an advantage in the industry because for steel production you need coal etc. I am not an expert, but the tower was one of the centres of steel and iron production until very recently, 1998 maybe, I am not entirely sure.
But when production was stopped the owners of the company, factory and area had the idea not to tear the buildings down, but to turn them into cultural, scientific and technological centres. So back then the city council, regional council and the landlords began some kind of joint venture outlining the design of the area you see there today. Colours of Ostrava itself has been part of this cultural site since 2012, I believe. We were the first big event taking place in this specific area; beforehand we used to be situated in the very centre of Ostrava around a few parks and exhibition grounds. However, at some point the owner of the factory approached us saying: „Why don’t you move here, it’s a great venue?“
You have open air venues for 20.000 – 30.000 people for huge events; there are smaller venues; there are also venues with a closed roof for maybe 200 people, where you can have panels and discussions or a small club concert.
There’s also a very special one called „Gong Hall“, which used to be a gas reservoir and has now turned into a congress and concert hall.
It’s huge – it holds about 1.500 people. And it’s perfect for Jazz or World music concerts. We even had Tindersticks playing there once.
I think except for Black Metal, Hardcore or Hip-Hop we usually try to book and adequately facilitate all the different genres you could think of. We try not to narrow it down to one specific genre of music we support.
How did the festival develop over the years?
It started out as a World music festival because the director used to be a radio journalist, so she preferred presenting World music in the beginning. She looked up to Rudolstadt Festival in Germany, which was another city festival with many venues spread around town. We had several indoor venues and one or two open air stages in the park. But in the second year already the idea developed to have more than one genre represented at the festival, like Rock and Pop.
Nowadays it’s 24 stages, 9 of which are our so-called „Melting Pot Forum“ consisting of discussion stages for science, technology as well as cultural, spiritual and musical forms.
I actually wanted to ask you about that because I saw you had a huge side program. How did it come about and why is it important to you?
We always had one or two discussion stages and workshops where visitors could learn things like Salsa, Flamenco, African dances or drumming. So the idea has always been there and was very important to us.
I don’t want to say we were smarter than everyone else back then, but we were certainly very open-minded and wanted to incorporate new platforms into our festival program.
We want people to educate themselves, interact and learn something new
– even when it comes to maybe listening to music they don’t know or music that might not be their favourite genre. So we held open discussions in which you could participate if you were interested, and the attendance turned out to be quite high.
I think five years ago our director got the idea to really expand the whole discussion and workshop platform. Instead of 1-2 stages dedicated to this we then had 8. Since it all went so well and was well received, she started to get really fond of the idea of having these forums, so the Melting Pot Forum has now become one of her main interests. So far, we are really proud of having attracted people like Timothy Snyder and many other guests to give lectures here.
It has become part of the area, with its own distinct identity.
Usually, once the workshops and panels are over, these Melting Pot venues turn into clubs or party areas at night.
I also feel like the visitors are getting more interested in these kind of alternative festival experiences. They expect more. They don’t just want to be entertained with music, they want to engage with a cultural program, maybe even the political landscape of the area… so does become creating a festival more demanding under these circumstances?
Yeah, that’s true. I think you can also observe that festival audiences tend to become a bit older, like in between 25 – 35 on average. Which for us brings the challenge of including some family-friendly activities, too. I think the days of festivals being a hub for drunk people are somewhat over. *laughs*
Festivals used to carry this image of drunk audiences, fights and just some unpleasant behaviour. At Colours of Ostrava we try to encourage a very peaceful atmosphere, very open-minded.
What was your favourite act that played Colours of Ostrava so far?
Tricky question – way too many. Because that’s the core idea; we are trying to book bands we like ourselves and of which we know they are exciting to see in a live setting. That’s why – for example – many of our bookers are here [in Groningen] now to see some of these acts beforehand and really filter our booking according to live performances instead of just watching their YouTube videos etc.
Some of my favourites so far were Florence And The Machine, Woodkid and Sigur Rós and there’s several bands which names we really established in the Czech Republic like French singer ZAZ, LP or Jamie Cullum. Three years ago was one of my favourites, though; we had Jamiroquai, Norah Jones, Imagine Dragons, Midnight Oil and LP all in the same year and it was sold out for the first time in the new location.
And how many people are coming to visit you every year?
We usually don’t publicly proclaim our numbers, but it’s somewhere between 40.000 to 50.000 people. It’s not a boutique festival any more, at least not in terms of size. But it grew really organically, so I hope people like to come back to our festival because they feel like they’re treated well and are taken care of. In our experience what our visitors usually say is: „Okay, I didn’t know most of the names on the line-up but now I am a fan“.
Did you feel like you made the audience change their habits when you adjusted your booking and program? Did you have to break barriers or have they always been that open-minded?
I think the audience grew with us. In the beginning we couldn’t really attract such a huge audience.
I think one of the main reasons people attend any festival in general is that they get recommendations from friends. So if they’ve had a good experience, they want others to come with them. I don’t feel comfortable to say we educated or schooled our audience in any way – they still like to party, too – but we have our ideas of course and in the end it’s some kind of mixture. And I think it’s quite an advantage that Ostrova is far off, so we have lots of people travelling here from the big cities. We can provide this holiday feeling for them and also learn from them.
I think something that differentiates us from other festivals in the Czech Republic is that our posters only promote international acts and names, whereas the other 90% – except maybe a few exceptions -, they book and promote mostly Czech bands and the line-ups around the country are usually pretty similar to each other. I’m not saying that’s bad per se; it’s simply a different way of organising a festival.
Another part of our story is that Ostrava of course used to be home to many former miners and steel workers, so by presenting an alternative to maybe Hard Rock or Metal, which might be the favourites of these people, we are able to attract a broader spectrum. So Colours of Ostrava really became a part of the identity of Ostrava because our cooperation with the city is very close. When you ask people about Ostrava now, some of the first things they will say is: „Colours of Ostrava! I know that festival, even though I was never there.“ I think that’s something really precious.
Many governing bodies of cities where festivals take place are not too happy about it because it tends to get dirty and loud, and they might experience resident complaints. So I think it’s a huge deal for a city to be involved in creating this festival in such a positive way.
Yes, I think that’s because everyone realises it’s a great way to promote the city of Ostrava and the region. I mean, the name of the city is in the name of the festival. Maybe you even saw the Ostrava city logo; it has got three exclamation marks: „Ostrava!!!“. So Ostrava is a very proud city and self-identifying with a vision of progress. That’s why the relationship with the festival works so well. Of course, we need to obey regulations regarding noise at night, since we are only three tram stops away from the city centre. So in reverse, we offer a program called „Colours Plus“ that offers either free or reduced entry and discounts to city sightseeing and museums etc.
You can spend your day exploring an old mine, attend arts exhibitions or cafe’s and come back in the afternoon to see music.
We are part of the landscape here and we closely cooperate with all the regional tourist offices.
Sounds like you’re almost merging into the cityscape.
Yeah, we are trying. *laughs*
My impression really is that, of course, local businesses make good revenue from some of the tourists the festival attracts. There might be local residents downtown saying they don’t like all the tourists in the festival season coming here, but they still appreciate the attraction and charisma the festival brings to Ostrava. It’s great advertisement, but of course very busy. The hotels for example are completely packed.
Is there still things your want to change about the festival in the near future? Are there any new paths you want to explore?
I think so, yeah. We mostly want to focus on the practical side of things, though – like accommodation. We have camping as well, of course, but the prizes for accommodation in the city are skyrocketing each year during the week of the festival so it becomes really expensive to stay here if you decide to book last minute.
Regarding sustainability: the path of good will is the one we want to go. That means we’re slowly implementing new things; last year it we replaced plastic straws, for example. Then we have an important „without barriers“ program for disabled people who can seek assistance for free and gain accesibility to every venue by services driving or accompanying them. We’re also trying to become more family-friendly.
Generally, we would like to head into a direction where we become of a festival with lots of art installations. The surrounding area with all its structures is already art in itself, but we would like to complement that with visual arts.
Would you consider yourself a political festival in any kind of way? Because you have a lasting social relevance for the region and its people, it seems. Do you have any political programs?
No. We are trying to be not political. With our program, of course, we are supporting openness and the diversity is music, art, culture and science in a variety of topics to pay respect to many different groups of people. As I said before, some people come here to party, some to visit The Melting Pot. We try to carry out an open-mindedness toward ideas from all around the world, but we don’t proclaim open political statements.
Can you tell me a little bit about your team? Who’s working with you and how many people are you?
During the festival we have about 4.000 people working for us including security, volunteers and so on. During most parts of the year, however, our key team consists of 9 people in management, and maybe 20 to 30 people in the broader spectrum. We have two main offices. The main one in Ostrava, but also another one in Prague. I, for example, was based in Prague from the beginning.
But yeah, the core of people is maybe 20 – 25. However, some of the close people are freelancers so they’re taking on other jobs during the off-season as well like stage direction, event management and so on.
For somebody visiting Ostrava this year, what would you recommend they’d have to see or do at the festival that’s unlike anything else?
I think the first thing you would need to to is just walk the festival area.
Somebody once said it’s like an unreal city from a Jules Verne book.
You can have a guided tour up the black furnace tower, it’s pretty amazing.
The second impression would be of the line-up and acts. I think we have an especially great crowd that’s always dedicated to the bands playing. Many bands tell us so – maybe they do to every festival. *laughs*
So if you want to enjoy the music in full, with a great sound and stages equipped with the latest technology and in a very peaceful environment, very family-oriented with people immersing themselves, you are right here.
And – that’s maybe interesting to people travelling from Western Europe – we are a bit cheaper than what you’re used to.
We sell beer for 1€ or 1,50€ – a big one, too.
That’s a minor advantage, of course. But mostly the feedback from our international audience is that they want to return.
Right now, for 2020, we have announced some of our headliners, for example we’ve got Twenty One Pilots, The Lumineers, Tindersticks, Sigrid…
Is there anything else you really want people to know about the festival?
Just come and you will be surprised. You will enjoy the stay in terms of music and atmosphere of the industrial area.
Colours of Ostrava 2020
15. – 18. Juli – Ostrava, Tschechien
Themen: 2020 Colours of Ostrava Czech republic ESNS Eurosonic Imagine Dragons Interview Jamie Cullum Jiri Seldak liktree LP Meute Norah Jones The Killers Tindersticks Tschechien Tschechische Republik Zaz
Colours of Ostrava im Interview: Ostrava ist nicht mehr dunkel, sondern bunt. „This kind of work never fails to give me goosebumps“: An Interview with Metronome Festival „Und was bedeutet Corona jetzt?“ – Björn Kagel vom Immergut Festival im Gespräch über die aktuelle Situation
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0005.json.gz/line516
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.