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Jonas Brothers to perform exclusive concert in New York for Pandora & SiriusXM
Pandora and SiriusXM announced that the Grammy Award-nominated, multiplatinum powerhouse trio Jonas Brothers will perform an exclusive concert in New York at Pandora LIVE on August 20 for Pandora listeners and SiriusXM subscribers. The platinum-certified global pop sensation Ava Max has been tapped to open the show that will take place at Webster Hall.
Pandora listeners who are 18+ can RSVP for the free event here. SiriusXM’s hosts of The Morning Mash Up – Nicole Ryan, Stanley T and Ryan Sampson – will host the evening. The performance by Jonas Brothers will broadcast over Labor Day weekend on SiriusXM Hits 1 (Ch. 2).
The trio of Nick, Joe and Kevin returned this year with their hit single “Sucker,” which spent 16 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the Pandora Top Spins Chart, and was predicted to be one of Pandora’s Songs of Summer. Continuing the runaway success, “Cool” has notched millions of global streams, and the band is about to kick off a national arena tour next month in support of their recent No. 1 album, Happiness Begins.
Dubbed the “Princess of Pop” by V Magazine and “Artist You Need to Know” by Rolling Stone, opener Ava Max has been a constant on the Pandora Trendsetters Chart with her debut track, “Sweet But Psycho.” The song recently topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and also cracked the Top 10 on the Hot 100 chart. So far, she’s earned 85 million lifetime streams on Pandora and certainly has many more to come with her newest track, “So Am I.”
This event marks the culmination of Pandora’s Sound On Summer campaign that kicked off in May with the announcement of songs of summer predictions and exclusive live events across the country with DJ Khaled, Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris, Natti Natasha and Lady Gaga.
Pandora will build out a multi-level interactive event for guests, including unique onsite experiences and giveaways. Pandora LIVE sponsors for this event include Cigna Corporation, Discover, Hinge, Klondike®, Pantene , Spectrum and St. Ives®.
Watch Jonas Brothers talk about their parents’ reaction to Joe’s surprise wedding
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LSE South Asia Centre
“Humanitarian action, which should be neutral, has been tainted with the stench of regime change and reactionary politics” – Dr Timothy Nunan
LSE Department of International Relations and the South Asia Centre held an interdisciplinary public roundtable discussion showcasing new research, histories, and perspectives on Afghanistan in international affairs. Dr Timothy Nunan, a scholar of international and global history and one of the speakers at the roundtable, talks to Mahima A. Jain about his research, the ‘humanitarian invasion’ in Afghanistan.
MJ: Why was Afghanistan seen as, in your words, “a laboratory for transnational engagement” and “an object of international politics?
TN: Afghanistan became a laboratory for transnational engagement in the late 1970s and 1980s for several reasons, and for different groups. For many political and technical advisors from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, Afghanistan was to become a model Marxist-Leninist state for the post-colonial world, much as South Yemen and Cuba had been since the 1960s and countries like Ethiopia, Angola, and the People’s Republic of Kampuchea were more recently. For some Islamists, Afghanistan offered a chance to build an Islamic government that could either build upon the successes of the revolution in Iran or (for some groups backed by Saudi Arabia) become a Sunni sectarian buffer against Iranian influence. And for humanitarians, Afghanistan offered moral clarity as a catastrophe where “white” socialists (the Soviets) were abusing “brown” members of the Third World (Afghans). For all of these groups, Afghanistan’s weak central state infrastructure and porous borders made it easier to make these ideas seem less fanciful than they might have elsewhere.
Peshawar in the 1980s had perhaps the highest number of NGOs anywhere in the world at the time. Image credit: Direct Relief/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The two groups that I focus on, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and Medecins sans Frontieres, were relatively small operations employing only a few Europeans in Peshawar but then hired hundreds of Afghan doctors or aides to run operations in the country. It is important to add that these were still very much “guerrilla” operations rather than the more professionalized, bureaucratic mode of humanitarian action more familiar to veterans of Kosovo, Iraq, or post-2001 Afghanistan. Further, Peshawar in the 1980s had perhaps the highest number of NGOs anywhere in the world at the time, many of which were run by Afghans, Pakistanis, or Arabs. Additionally, there is the entire story of aid operations run from Iran, which were much more limited than in Pakistan but still significant, since at least a million Afghans fled west to Iran. As far as the problems involved in these humanitarian operations, one–and the reason why my book is called Humanitarian Invasion–was that these humanitarian NGOs were often not very clear about their ultimate stance toward the government of Afghanistan, and whether they wanted to be involved in regime change or not. SCA in particular was clear that its primary goal was to have the Soviets out of Afghanistan, and certainly no documents I have seen suggest that MSF was flirting with the idea of regime overthrow, at least in the early 1980s. However, both of these groups necessarily had to provide their aid to Afghan mujahideen organisations that were against the Soviet occupation and also fundamentally rejected the legitimacy of the post-1978 socialist government.
As long as the Soviets were in Afghanistan, the NGOs and the mujahideen could coexist without fundamentally political questions coming on the table. After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, however, it becomes more difficult to justify aid to, in effect, one side of an Afghan civil war, especially as the mujahideen groups reject a political settlement that would keep members of the Kabul regime in power. By 1992, when that regime collapsed, the NGOs had in effect been complicit in the overthrow of a socialist Third World government. One need not shed any tears for that regime–which tortured and killed many–to see that this episode would make other authoritarian regimes skeptical of the enmeshing of humanitarian aid with Islamist militias. Think of the White Helmets in Syria, for example, which have been lionised by Western media but denounced as agents of regime change by the Syrian government and its backers. Further, there have been numerous controversies of members of the White Helmets being photographed with Syrian affiliates of al-Qaeda and executions of Syrian Army soldiers.
I take no stance myself on this controversy, but the point is that humanitarian action, which should be neutral and, indeed humanitarian, has been tainted with the stench of regime change and reactionary politics. This, in turn, only causes governments like those in Damascus to attempt to restrict aid to the truly needy or demand that all aid be routed through government or more neutral UN channels.
MJ: What are the misconceptions about the so-called “golden age of Afghanistan” from 1930-1970s? Was it really a golden period?
TN: The middle third of Afghanistan’s twentieth century seems almost like a dream after nearly forty years of civil war and foreign interventions. Indeed, during that period the term “Afghanistanism” was even coined to refer to people devoting too much attention to irrelevant, trivial, or distant problems. Afghanistan was then what countries like Bhutan are today – interesting and rewarding to visit, but certainly not at the centre of world geopolitics. As we saw recently, the US National Security Advisor and Defense Secretary in part convinced President Trump to double down militarily on Afghanistan by showing him pictures of women in miniskirts at Kabul University, as if to say that there is a way back to this “idyll.” I caution against viewing the middle third of Afghanistan’s twentieth century through such rose-tinged classes. In spite of the appearance of “nothing happening,” there were many processes apace during the 1960s and 1970s that contributed to the disaster of the 1980s. I have examined how deforestation was well apace in eastern Afghanistan, which undermined the economies based around Himalayan cedar trees in provinces such as Paktia, Gardez, and Khost. West German forestry experts attempted to save the trees there, but the Afghan government was reluctant to endorse full-blown logging bans that might have prevented the region from the desertification and erosion that was to come in the 1970s and make measures like land redistribution (rather than land development) seem so attractive.
We still need to understand more precisely how the expansion of formal higher education in Kabul as well as branch campuses in the 1960s and 1970s gave frustrated young Afghans coherent ideological frameworks through which they made sense of their worlds. The Faculty of Shari’a Law at the University of Kabul dates to the 1950s, and it was there that professors translated the thought of the Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb into Persian. The broad point, though, is that far from some antediluvian statis, 1970s Afghanistan appears (in retrospect, at least) as a dangerous mix of an unstable regime, a stagnant economy, and radical ideas about social change.
MJ: What are the current prevalent misconceptions among the political class regarding Afghanistan, and does it draw from a limited view of history?
TN: There are several ideas about Afghanistan we see repeated again and again, for example the equivalency of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, or the idea that Afghanistan is fundamentally a Pashtun state whose state institutions need to be given the veneer of Pashtun nationalism. But I would come back to the example of McMaster and Mattis using this idea of oppressed Afghan women as a justification for extension of America’s longest war. For long, Western powers have used women’s rights as a justification for foreign intervention against groups like the Taliban, which are then immediately cast as beyond the pale. So on one level, there is this assumption that relatively recent Western preoccupations such as human rights or women’s rights must guide foreign policy—rather than taking into consideration the balance of power with Russia, Iran, India, and China, say, or simply accepting that some Afghans regard the occupation as illegitimate in spite of efforts toward women’s rights. On another level, it is worth recalling that the tradition of Afghan women’s empowerment that they claim to be defending is not the same as that which the United States imagines itself to be promoting. The “feminism” behind the era of miniskirts was very much a statist illiberal feminism that was then replaced by another statist, illiberal socialist feminism of the socialist government–a socialist government that the USA played a direct role in destroying. Rather than thinking about how we can restore this antediluvian era, I suggest that we might think of the very different traditions of women’s rights and feminism in Afghanistan, and of the debts that the US owes to Afghanistan in light of the 1980s.
MJ: Your next book is The Islamic Factor: Socialists, Islamists, and the Soviet Union in Cold war Eurasia. What role did Afghanistan play in pioneering political Islam?
TN: My next book project focuses on the competition between the international socialist movement (including the Soviet Union) and the international Islamist movement during the Cold War. Writing Humanitarian Invasion, I was struck by the extent to which Afghanistan in the 1980s was not just a Cold War story and not even just a story about humanitarianism, but also a crucible for a battle between the Marxist, pro-Soviet Left and Islamists of various stripes. For example, many Iranian socialists worked in the cultural bureaucracy of socialist Afghanistan. The states that were most invested in a certain vision of non-sectarian statism compatible with the USSR—Syria, India—were some of the few states to support the Afghan government in the 1980s. At the same time, both Afghan Islamists as well as other groups from the Arab World, Turkey, the Philippines, etc. recognised that Afghanistan could become the kind of “Islamic government” that Islamists outside of Shi’a-majority Iran had failed to achieve. In that sense, Afghanistan is emblematic of a broader struggle between socialists and Islamists, but that we tend to forget today and elide into a clash of civilisations narrative.
The Islamists won this struggle against Afghan socialists, even though the Islamist movement was by and large a failure elsewhere. But as I also try to emphasise in the book, the Islamist movement itself was very soon fractured by sectarian splits between those who viewed Iran as a legitimate leader of the movement, and those who saw Shi’a-majority Iran as an illegitimate interloper. By the end of the 1980s—when Shi’a Islamist groups lost out to Sunni Islamist groups in Afghanistan—Iran itself turned to the Soviet Union as a geopolitical ally. So the story I am attempting to tell is about the impact that this clash between the Left and Islamists has on countries like Afghanistan and the Soviet Union’s fortunes in the Third World, but how it also ironically leads to a rapprochement between Tehran and Moscow against Sunni Islamist groups at the very end of the Cold War. I should stress that I am very much in its early stages of research, and that I draw great inspiration from other scholars of international history such as my colleagues Martin Bayly and Elisabeth Leake as I do so.
Click here to listen to the podcast of the event “Afghanistan in Global Affairs: New Histories and Perspectives?”
This article gives the views of the authors, and not the position of the South Asia @ LSE blog, nor of the London School of Economics. Please read our comments policy before posting.
Dr Timothy Nunan is the Freigeist Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin and a scholar of international and global history. He tweets @timothynunan
Mahima A. Jain is blog editor at LSE South Asia Centre. She has a MA in Journalism and has worked as an editor and journalist in India. She tweets @mahima_a.
Posted In: Featured | Interviews | Politics | Security and Foreign Policy | Society and Culture
“A new, emerging Indian security doctrine in the Indian Ocean is set to challenge the narrative and impact of China’s influence” – Rahul Roy-Chaudhury
Burma (Myanmar): Exploring the frontiers of Southeast Asia’s last frontier economy
Analysing the economic impact of military expenditure in Pakistan
Book Review: India and China in Africa: A comparative perspective of the oil industry by Raj Verma
South Asia @ LSE welcomes contributions from LSE faculty, fellows, students, alumni and visitors to the school. Please write to southasia@lse.ac.uk with ideas for posts on south Asia-related topics.
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Internet Investor and Science Philanthropist Yuri Milner & Physicist Stephen Hawking Announce Breakthrough Starshot Project to Develop 100 Million Mile per Hour Mission to the Stars within a Generation
$100 million research and engineering program will seek proof of concept for using light beam to propel gram-scale ‘nanocraft’ to 20 percent of light speed. A possible fly-by mission could reach Alpha Centauri within about 20 years of its launch.
Mark Zuckerberg is joining the board.
New York – Tuesday, April 12 – Internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner was joined at One World Observatory today by renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking to announce a new Breakthrough Initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the Universe.
Breakthrough Starshot is a $100 million research and engineering program aiming to demonstrate proof of concept for light-propelled nanocrafts. These could fly at 20 percent of light speed and capture images of possible planets and other scientific data in our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, just over 20 years after their launch.
The program will be led by Pete Worden, the former director of NASA AMES Research Center, and advised by a committee of world-class scientists and engineers. The board will consist of Stephen Hawking, Yuri Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg.
Ann Druyan, Freeman Dyson, Mae Jemison, Avi Loeb and Pete Worden also participated in the announcement.
Today, on the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space flight, and nearly half a century after the original ‘moonshot’, Breakthrough Starshot is launching preparations for the next great leap: to the stars.
The Alpha Centauri star system is 25 trillion miles (4.37 light years) away. With today’s fastest spacecraft, it would take about 30,000 years to get there. Breakthrough Starshot aims to establish whether a gram-scale nanocraft, on a sail pushed by a light beam, can fly over a thousand times faster. It brings the Silicon Valley approach to space travel, capitalizing on exponential advances in certain areas of technology since the beginning of the 21st century.
1. Nanocrafts
Nanocrafts are gram-scale robotic spacecrafts comprising two main parts:
StarChip: Moore’s law has allowed a dramatic decrease in the size of microelectronic components. This creates the possibility of a gram-scale wafer, carrying cameras, photon thrusters, power supply, navigation and communication equipment, and constituting a fully functional space probe.
Lightsail: Advances in nanotechnology are producing increasingly thin and light-weight metamaterials, promising to enable the fabrication of meter-scale sails no more than a few hundred atoms thick and at gram-scale mass.
2. Light Beamer
The rising power and falling cost of lasers, consistent with Moore’s law, lead to significant advances in light beaming technology. Meanwhile, phased arrays of lasers (the ‘light beamer’) could potentially be scaled up to the 100 gigawatt level.
Breakthrough Starshot aims to bring economies of scale to the astronomical scale. The StarChip can be mass-produced at the cost of an iPhone and be sent on missions in large numbers to provide redundancy and coverage. The light beamer is modular and scalable. Once it is assembled and the technology matures, the cost of each launch is expected to fall to a few hundred thousand dollars.
Path to the stars
The research and engineering phase is expected to last a number of years. Following that, development of the ultimate mission to Alpha Centauri would require a budget comparable to the largest current scientific experiments, and would involve:
Building a ground-based kilometer-scale light beamer at high altitude in dry conditions
Generating and storing a few gigawatt hours of energy per launch
Launching a ‘mothership’ carrying thousands of nanocrafts to a high-altitude orbit
Taking advantage of adaptive optics technology in real time to compensate for atmospheric effects
Focusing the light beam on the lightsail to accelerate individual nanocrafts to the target speed within minutes
Accounting for interstellar dust collisions en route to the target
Capturing images of a planet, and other scientific data, and transmitting them back to Earth using a compact on-board laser communications system
Using the same light beamer that launched the nanocrafts to receive data from them over 4 years later.
These and other system requirements represent significant engineering challenges, and they can be reviewed in more detail online at www.breakthroughinitiatives.org. However, the key elements of the proposed system design are based on technology either already available or likely to be attainable in the near future under reasonable assumptions.
The proposed light propulsion system is on a scale significantly exceeding any currently operational analog. The very nature of the project calls for global co-operation and support.
Clearance for launches would be required from all the appropriate government and international organizations.
As the technology required for interstellar travel matures, a number of additional opportunities will emerge, including the following:
Contribution to solar system exploration.
Using the light beamer as a kilometer-scale telescope for astronomical observations.
Detection of Earth-crossing asteroids at large distances.
Potential Planets in the Alpha Centauri system
Astronomers estimate that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet existing in the ‘habitable zones’ of Alpha Centauri’s three-star system. A number of scientific instruments, ground-based and space-based, are being developed and enhanced, which will soon identify and characterize planets around nearby stars.
A separate Breakthrough Initiative will support some of these projects.
Open and collaborative environment
The Breakthrough Starshot initiative is:
based entirely on research that is in the public domain.
committed to publishing new results.
dedicated to full transparency and open access.
open to experts in all relevant fields, as well as the public, to contribute ideas through its online forum.
The list of scientific references and publications, as well as the online forum, can be found at www.breakthroughinitiatives.org.
The Breakthrough Starshot initiative will establish a research grant program, and will make available other funding to support relevant scientific and engineering research and development.
“The human story is one of great leaps,” said Yuri Milner, founder of the Breakthrough Initiatives. “55 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Today, we are preparing for the next great leap - to the stars.”
"Earth is a wonderful place, but it might not last forever," commented Stephen Hawking, “Sooner or later, we must look to the stars. Breakthrough Starshot is a very exciting first step on that journey.”
“We take inspiration from Vostok, Voyager, Apollo and the other great missions,” said Pete Worden, “It’s time to open the era of interstellar flight, but we need to keep our feet on the ground to achieve this.”
Breakthrough Starshot Board
Stephen Hawking, Professor, Dennis Stanton Avery and Sally Tsui Wong-Avery Director of Research at the University of Cambridge
Yuri Milner, Founder of DST Global
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook
Breakthrough Starshot Management and Advisory Committee
Pete Worden, Executive Director, Breakthrough Starshot; former Director of NASA Ames Research Center
Prior to joining the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Dr. Worden was Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. He was research professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. He is a recognized expert on space and science issues and has been a leader in building partnerships between governments and the private sector internationally. Dr. Worden has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific papers in astrophysics and space sciences. He served as a scientific co-investigator for three NASA space science missions – most recently the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph launched in 2013 to study the Sun. He received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for the 1994 Clementine Mission to the moon. Dr. Worden was named the 2009 Federal Laboratory Consortium ‘Laboratory Director of the Year’ and is the recipient of the 2010 Arthur C. Clarke Innovator’s Award.
Avi Loeb, Chairman, Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee; Harvard University
Avi Loeb is a theoretical physicist who has written over 500 scientific papers and 3 books on astrophysics and cosmology, mainly on the first stars and black holes. TIME magazine selected him as one of the 25 most influential people in space. Loeb serves as the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, where he serves as chair of the Harvard Astronomy department, director of the Institute for Theory & Computation and director of the Black Hole Initiative. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics, and a member of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies.
Jim Benford, Microwave Sciences
Jim Benford is president of Microwave Sciences. He develops high-power microwave systems from conceptual designs to hardware. His interests include microwave source physics, electromagnetic power beaming for space propulsion, experimental intense particle beams and plasma physics.
Bruce Draine, Princeton University
Dr. Draine's research involves the study of the interstellar medium, especially interstellar dust, photodissociation regions, shock waves and the physical optics of nanostructures. In 2004 he won the Dannie Heinemann Prize for Astrophysics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ann Druyan, Cosmos Studios
Ann Druyan is an American author and producer specializing in science communication. She was the Creative Director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message and a co-writer of the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos, hosted by Carl Sagan (1934–1996), whom she married in 1981. She was an executive producer and writer of the follow-up series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, for which she won the Emmy and Peabody awards.
Freeman Dyson, Princeton Institute of Advanced Study
Freeman Dyson is an American theoretical physicist and mathematician, known for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. He is professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, a Visitor of Ralston College, and a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Robert Fugate, Arctelum, LLC, New Mexico Tech
Dr. Fugate conducts a research program on atmospheric propagation physics, atmospheric compensation using laser guide star adaptive optics. Dr Fugate’s research program also includes the development of sensors, instrumentation and mount control of large-aperture, ground-based telescopes.
Lou Friedman, Planetary Society, JPL
Lou Friedman is an American astronautics engineer, space spokesperson and noted author. He was a co-founder of The Planetary Society with Carl Sagan and Bruce C. Murray, and is now Executive Director Emeritus. He led Advanced Projects at JPL including development of solar sails, missions to Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, comets and asteroids, and he was the leader of the Mars Program after the Viking Mission. He is currently consulting on NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission. He co-led studies of that mission and of Exploring the Interstellar Medium at the Keck Institute for Space Studies.
Giancarlo Genta, Polytechnic University of Turin
Giancarlo Genta’s areas of professional interest include vibration, vehicle design, magnetic bearings, and rotordynamics. He has written or co-authored more than 50 articles in professional publications and 21 books. He has published extensively in the field of SETI research.
Dr. Guyon designs space and ground-based astronomical instrumentation that aid the search for exoplanets outside the solar system. He is an expert in high contrast imaging techniques (coronagraphy, extreme adaptive optics) for directly imaging and studying exoplanets.
Mae Jemison, 100 Year Starship
Dr. Mae C. Jemison leads 100 Year Starship, a multifaceted global initiative to realize all the capabilities required for human interstellar travel beyond our solar system to another star within the next 100 years. Jemison was a NASA astronaut for six years and the world’s first woman of color in space. She is committed to applying space exploration advances to enhancing life on Earth, and draws upon her background as a physician, engineer, inventor, environmental studies professor, science literacy advocate, development worker in Africa, and founder of two tech start-ups.
Pete Klupar, Director of Engineering, Breakthrough Starshot; former Director of Engineering, NASA Ames Research Center
Pete Klupar is interested in low cost, high technology efforts with an emphasis on space systems. He has developed and launched more than 50 spacecraft missions. He has spent time in industry, helping to grow a spacecraft startup from 4 employees to over 500. He has also worked in large organizations such as Boeing and Space Systems Loral. He has been involved in government space and aviation programs, most recently at NASA Ames as the director of Engineering. He has been instrumental in reducing the cost of high technology missions, developing several Faster Better Cheaper and Operationally Responsive Space efforts.
Geoff Landis, SA Glenn Research Center
Geoff Landis is an American scientist, working on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, and advanced technology for space missions. Landis holds nine patents, primarily in the field of improvements to solar cells and photovoltaic devices, and has given presentations and commentary on the possibilities for interstellar travel and construction of bases on the Moon, Mars, and Venus. He is a fellow of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts.
Kelvin Long, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Kelvin Long is a physicist, author and the executive director of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. He has worked in the aerospace sector for around fifteen years and he specializes in the subject of interstellar flight, with an emphasis on advanced propulsion concepts.
Philip Lubin, University of California, Santa Barbara
Philip Lubin is Professor of Physics at UC Santa Barbara, with research interests in experimental cosmology, cosmic background radiation (spectrum, anisotropy and polarization), satellite, balloon-born and ground-based studies of the early universe, fundamental limits of detection, directed energy systems, and infrared and far-infrared astrophysics.
Zac Manchester is a researcher and aerospace engineer with broad interests in dynamics and control and a passion for making spaceflight more accessible. He is especially interested in taking advantage of advancements in embedded electronics and computation to build spacecraft that are smaller, smarter, and more agile. He founded the KickSat project in 2011 and has also worked on unmanned aerial vehicles and several small spacecraft missions.
Greg Matloff, New York City College of Technology
Greg Matloff is an emeritus professor at the NYC College of Technology. He is an expert in deep space propulsion. Matloff is a fellow of the British interplanetary Society, a Hayden Associate at the American Museum of Natural History and a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics. His pioneering research in solar-sail technology has been utilized by NASA in plans for extra-solar probes as well as in consideration of technologies to divert Earth-threatening asteroids. He served as guest professor at the University of Siena, Italy.
Claire Max, University of California, Santa Cruz
Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and the Director of the University of California Observatories. Max is best known for her contributions to laser guide star adaptive optics as a technique for reducing the optical distortions of images taken through the turbulent atmosphere. This work began at the JASON group, which she joined in 1983 as its first female member. With her colleagues in JASON, she developed the idea of using an artificial laser guide star tuned to the yellow light emitted by sodium atoms to correct astronomical images. In addition to continuing to develop this technology at the Center for Adaptive Optics, she now uses adaptive optics on the world's largest optical telescopes to study the fate of supermassive black holes in the cores of colliding gas-rich galaxies. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and winner of the American Astronomical Society's Weber Prize in Instrumentation, Princeton University's James Madison Medal and the Department of Energy's E. O. Lawrence award.
Kaya Nobuyuki, Kobe University
Kaya Nobuyuki is vice dean of the graduate school of engineering at Kobe University in Japan. Noboyuki has performed numerous space and ground demonstrations. He and an international team from Japan and the European Space Agency successfully tested microwave beam control for an SPS using an ISAS sounding rocket and three daughter satellites deploying a large web: this was known as the “Furoshiki” experiment. He also played a central role in the demonstration of key solar-powered wireless transmission as part of the Orbital Power Plant.
Kevin Parkin, Parkin Research
Dr. Kevin Parkin is a British-born scientist who is best known for inventing the Microwave Thermal Rocket. In 2005, he was awarded the Korolev Medal by the Russian Federation of Astronautics and Cosmonautics. In 2007, Dr. Parkin founded the Mission Design Center at NASA Ames and developed its software architecture, having previously created the ICEMaker software used for spacecraft design by Team-X at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several other organizations. From 2012-2014 he was the Principal Investigator and Chief Engineer of a project that built the first millimeter-wave powered thermal rocket and launched it.
Mason Peck, Cornell University
Peck's academic research focuses on technology development for low-cost space missions, particularly in the areas of propulsion, navigation, and control. He is the former NASA Chief Technologist. He has worked closely with the US Aerospace industry for over 20 years, having held engineering positions at Boeing and Honeywell, and having served as a consultant in space technology. Peck has published articles on microscale spacecraft, next-generation propulsion, low-power space robotics and spaceflight dynamics. He is the co-author of three books on planetary exploration and spacecraft mechanisms.
Saul Perlmutter, Nobel Prize winner, Breakthrough Prize winner, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Saul Perlmutter is an American astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Perlmutter shared the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy, the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics with Brian P. Schmidt and Adam Riess, for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal
Lord Martin Rees is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. Aside from expanding his scientific interests, Rees has written and spoken extensively about the problems and challenges of the 21st century, and the interfaces between science, ethics and politics. He is a member of the Board of the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, the IPPR, the Oxford Martin School and the Gates Cambridge Trust. He co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Future of Life Institute. Lord Rees has worked on gamma-ray bursts and on how the "cosmic dark ages" ended when the first stars formed. Lord Rees is an author of books on astronomy and science intended for the public, and gives many public lectures and broadcasts.
Roald Sagdeev, University of Maryland
Roald Sagdeev is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. in 1966 from Moscow State University. He previously served for 15 years as Director of the Space Research Institute, the Moscow-based center of the Russian space exploration program, where he currently holds the title of Director Emeritus. Prior to his work with the Soviet space exploration program, he had a distinguished career in nuclear science, gaining international recognition for his work on the behavior of hot plasma and controlled thermonuclear fusion. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy, the Max Planck Society and the International Academy of Aeronautics.
Ed Turner, Princeton University, NAOJ
Ed Turner is Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University. Turner has worked extensively in both theoretical and observational astrophysics, and has published more than 200 research papers on topics including binary galaxies, groups of galaxies, large-scale structure, dark matter, quasar populations, gravitational lensing, the cosmic x-ray background, the cosmological constant, exoplanets and astrobiology – frequently, in all of these areas, with an emphasis on statistical analyses. His recent teaching activities at Princeton include courses in cosmology, in astrobiology and in media coverage of science, and he has been a member of the University’s Committee for Statistical Studies since 1992.
Additional information www.breakthroughinitiatives.org.
Images, video and materials from today’s press conference are available for media download at the below link. Content will be uploaded throughout the day.
Link: www.image.net/breakthroughstarshot
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HRH The Duke of Gloucester casts plaque at historic Loughborough Bellfoundry during Royal Visit
Posted on August 6, 2019 Comments Off on HRH The Duke of Gloucester casts plaque at historic Loughborough Bellfoundry during Royal Visit
His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester paid a special visit to the Loughborough Bellfoundry; discovering the vast heritage of the British industrial site and casting his own commemorative plaque.
The Duke met the team at Loughborough Bellfoundry, also known as John Taylor’s Bellfoundry, as part of his visits across the East Midlands, and learnt about the many plans in the pipeline to help save what is Britain’s last remaining major bellfoundry.
As the Duke arrived last week, the bellfoundry bells rang loud and proud over Loughborough to welcome his royal highness to the historic site.
The Loughborough Bellfoundry is the last major bellfoundry not only in the UK but also the Commonwealth. Its bells can be heard by hundreds of millions of people around the world in more than 100 countries, from London’s St Paul’s Cathedral to Washington National Cathedral in the US capital, and from the National Carillon in Canberra, Australia to Cape Town City Hall in South Africa.
More than a staggering 25,000 bells have been cast on site since the present bellfoundry was built in 1859, but this important part of Britain’s industrial heritage is under threat due to the need for urgent repairs and a sustainable plan for the future.
An appeal has been launched by the Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust, with plans currently being prepared for a major refurbishment programme that aims to see the site restored to its former glory.
With The Duke of Gloucester’s visit taking place at an important time in the life of the bellfoundry, The Duke also received the honour of taking part in the casting of a commemorative plaque to mark his visit.
Due to The Duke’s keen interest in architecture, he also learnt from members of the Trust about the rich history of the bellfoundry and its plans for the future – as well as meeting the bellfoundry’s team of bellringers.
The Duke was elected a corporate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1972, and is the president of the Scottish Society of Architect Artists. His Royal Highness is a supporter of several architectural conservation societies, including the Kensington Society and the Victorian Society, as well as the International Council on Monuments and Sites, UK National Committee, and is the Patron or President of many charities and organisations.
Andrew Wilby, trustee of the Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust, said: “We were delighted to welcome The Duke of Gloucester to John Taylor’s Bellfoundry, especially at such a key milestone in the life of the bellfoundry, and given The Duke’s keen interest in architecture.
“The casting of one of our bells is a sight to behold, and we enjoyed giving The Duke the opportunity to cast the plaque to mark his visit. The day went very well.”
The National Lottery Heritage Fund recently awarded the Trust nearly £300,000 of Development Phase funding to allow it to work up detailed proposals for its two Grade II* Listed Buildings. The project has also received support from the Architectural Heritage Fund, which has pledged £30,000.
Bellfoundry,Duke,Gloucester,Loughborough,National Lottery Heritage Fund,RIBA Uncategorized
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Intrathecal Baclofen Improves Muscle Tone, Other Limitations in Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy, Study Finds
by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD
Intrathecal injection of baclofen (ITB) improves dystonia, muscle tone, pain, and other impairments in patients with dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP), a new study from Sweden shows.
The study, “Intrathecal baclofen in dyskinetic cerebral palsy: effects on function and activity,” was published in the journal Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. It was led by researchers at Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the University of Gothenburg.
Patients with dyskinetic CP typically have involuntary and uncontrolled movement. Dystonia, or repetitive and involuntary muscle contractions, and choreoathetosis, also involuntary movements, are the main elements of movement disorders.
Children with dyskinetic CP also show significant muscle spasms and severe motor impairment, which is often associated with intellectual impairment and epilepsy. Communication is also severely limited. Effective medical treatment is crucial to facilitate communication in these patients.
Baclofen, a gamma-aminobutyric acid agonist, is a cost-effective muscle relaxer that also treats muscle spasms. Oral and intrathecal — delivered via a pump directly into the spinal fluid — baclofen decreases dystonia, spasms, and pain in children with CP. However, most available literature on ITB use in children has focused solely on its effects on spasms.
Now, researchers analyzed the effect of ITB on function and activity in children and adolescents with dyskinetic CP.
The research team studied medical records from 25 children (15 boys and 10 girls) with a mean age of 10 years and 11 months. Five were classified at Gross Motor Function Classification level IV and 20 at level V. (A higher level corresponds to more severe limitations.) All participants had dystonia before ITB treatment. Pain and disturbed sleep were also reported.
Researchers interviewed the children’s parents about daily activities, sitting, communication, pain, sleep, and gross and fine motor function. Differences before, and one year after, ITB were classified as positive, no change, or negative.
Evaluations of dystonia and muscle tone were conducted with standard scales. Joint range of motion (ROM) also was determined.
Results showed that ITB significantly decreased dystonia and muscle tone. No change was detected in ROM, which could be a positive result as this measurement is expected to worsen in CP, the authors observed.
Parents reported improvements in daily life activities, sitting, and fine motor function. No change was observed in gross motor function.
Communication also was improved, including better control of eye and neck movements, and more variation in voicing.
“An explanation for this improvement may be that reduced muscle tone and decreased frequency and amplitude of involuntary movements/postures made it possible to use arms, head, and voice in a voluntary way and for a meaningful purpose, such as communication,” the researchers wrote.
Furthermore, ITB also reduced pain and sleep disturbances.
Importantly, the overall improvements in these patients helped reduce caregiver burden.
“Following ITB in children and young people with dyskinetic CP, improvements were found in activities such as sitting, communication and fine motor activities. There was a reduction of dystonia and muscle tone, as well as pain and disturbed sleep, making daily care easier,” the team concluded.
The study has limitations, including its small patient size and a lack of a comparison group, which could limit the interpretation of results. More studies are needed to validate the results, researchers acknowledged.
Jose Marques Lopes, PhD
José is a science news writer with a PhD in Neuroscience from Universidade of Porto, in Portugal. He has also studied Biochemistry at Universidade do Porto and was a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York, and at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. His work has ranged from the association of central cardiovascular and pain control to the neurobiological basis of hypertension, and the molecular pathways driving Alzheimer’s disease.
Tagged baclofen, communication, dystonia, ITB, motor function, muscle tone, pain, sitting, sleep.
Previous: Caffeine Therapy Given Soon After Birth May Prevent Long-term Neurologic Injury to Preterm Babies, Study Finds
Next:Long-term Knee Function in CP Improves With Combo Surgery, But Activity Levels Remain Low
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transcendentalism in music examples
Transcendentalism in Music By: Julienne Donaldson & Emilie Miles Self Reliance explanation... depending only on skills obtained only though our own abilities Explanation: We started off with a classic. Idealization of Women . He is advocating a movement. His songs all contributed to this movement he started. People need to change and treat others with respect instead of with hate. They developed a new way of living and a new type of literature that was uniquely American. Ultimately Emerson and Thoreau’s ideas do work in today’s modern culture especially through music. Modern music expresses individuality and the idea of being something other than the majority. Perhaps the best example of Transcendentalism in his work is the song lose yourself, which shows the transcendental ideas of staying true to yourself, self-reliance, and free thought. These two people were the most influential people during this movement. Transcendentalism has its origins in New England of the early 1800s and the birth of Unitarianism. The messages coming through in each song may vary between drug/alcohol reference or transcendentalism. In the song “Not Afraid” by rapper Eminem, the lyrics tell us how he is not afraid to be different and that he is not afraid to take a stand to be a better person. No matter where there is music, there is a lesson to be learned through ideas that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau created. As well, the transcendentalism had been approached and interpretated by its followers in different ways and these differences embroil generalizations about the movement as a whole, Task 1: 2pac wants the people to become something better and make an effort to help and treat others with respect. Throughout the years, this philosophy attracted other artists and thinkers such as the American Romantic novelist Henry David Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau who was a leading philosopher and poet was a leading transcendentalist. He doesn’t conform like many other people. Modern music expresses individualism and the thought of being something other than the bulk. "Don't Stop Believin'" is a classic song played at … This is shown in every aspect of his career including his distaste for being titled to a specific genre of music because it creates expectations for his music, which he says is all about free spirit. In his poem " Song of Myself ," we'll find a lot of emphasis on individualism, a common Transcendentalist theme. Transcendentalism has an influence on music in modern culture, which can be seen when comparing You can get your custom paper from Modern Examples of transcendentalism Individualism Nirvana's song "Come as you are" and Lady Gaga's song "Born this way" both show individualism by saying that it doesn't matter what you look like as long as your you. He embraces his individuality. The different, The philosophy of Transcendentalism, according to the article “Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy” is believed to have been created and led by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which is why he is considered by many literary scholars and historians to be the father of Transcendentalism. How does the Jazz Music influence modern music? He’s the definition of an individual and transcendentalism is evident throughout almost all of his music. Transcendentalism 3303 Words | 14 Pages. Also in the song “Soundtrack To My Life” he says “I control my own life, Charles was never in charge No sitcom could teach Scott about the dram.” He states that he’s in control of his life and that his life isn’t influenced by other people. Transcendentalism was all about being an individual and it still endures today in modern culture. These prominent and poetic individuals created an insight for this movement, believing, contributors to the ideas of this period were Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau. It was an idea that people were at their best when they we self reliant and independent. In the song “Legacy” he says “Now I think the fact that I’m differently wired’s awesome cause if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to work words like this and connect lines like crosswords.” His success was a result of his individuality. It shows the value of being a unique individual, instead of … In case you can’t find a sample example, our professional writers are ready to help you with writing He wants to start a movement that influence people to act for themselves. It was born from a debate between “New Light” theologians, who believed that religion should focus on an emotional experience, and “Old Light” opponents, who valued reason in their religious approach.These “Old Lights” became known first as “liberal Christians” and then as Unitarians, and were defined by the belief that there was … He's the definition of an individual and transcendentalism is evident throughout almost all of his music. Lady Gaga is saying that God made her this way so she is going to live her life to the best of her ability and be true to herself. Transcendentalism in modern music . Transcendentalism in modern music. Sorry, but copying text is forbidden on this website. Transcendentalism influenced the 19th century and emphasized on the value of the individual and intuition. "You must agree to out terms of services and privacy policy", Don't use plagiarized sources. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. It is peculiarly apparent in modern music. He had a hard life in New York with a drug dealing father and a missing mother. In the song Changes he raps about how the world needs change and that its corrupt. He says that he’s differently wired and that’s why he’s so good at rapping. Ideologically speaking, the movement is not simply to define since its philosophical and religious ideas are marked with a certain mysticism, which defies concise explanation. Artists like Eminem, Kid Cudi, 2pacand many others are all individuals and show this in their lyrics. They took their words, and created something new that many people would later follow. The song speaks for it's self with Transcendentalism was what Emerson and Thoreau touched most with their writings. Emerson, Transcendentalism is a literary and philosophical movement, associated with Henry David Thoreau and the Counterculture, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. (2016, Jun 22). These questions fascinated and inspired a unique group of visionary writers and philosophers who came together in and around Concord, Massachusetts in the early 19th century. Transcendentalism is an American philosophy started in the 1800’s, which is still part of modern culture today. Transcendentalism is the combination of the beliefs of nonconformity, self-reliance, free thought, confidence, and importance of nature. Transcendentalism was all about being an individual and it still endures today in modern culture. Transcendentalism is shown in most if not all of his music because he wants to be his own person and wants to influence others people to do the same thing. What is the main meaning of Transcendentalism? He compiled a novel titled Walden, a non-fiction depicting his stay at Walden Pond where he truly, Transcendentalism in modern music Why We Can't Wait - Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero. He is comfortable in his skin and is self reliant. 2pac (Tupac Shakur) is known as one of the most influential rappers of all time and his music expresses transcendentalism. In the song "Keep Your Head up" 2pac raps about being yourself and doing what you believe is right. Though transcendentalism is a relatively foreign word to most, it can be defined by using five i's: individualism, inspiration, intuition, idealism and imagination which are displayed on all platforms of music today. He made music his life. They called their new philosophy transcendentalism. That's what makes you an individual and unique Not worshiping One artist that expresses individuality is Eminem, a rapper that is known for being different and a pure individual. All these artists share the ideas of individuality. More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary Duck Dynasty Duck Dynasty is a reality TV show about thte Robertson family who became rich off of their family run business, duck hunting. Even though the period of Transcendentalism emerged in the 1830s, it is surprising to know the main ideas of this movement can, Features of Transcendentalism in Avatar These two people were the most influential people during this movement. It centers around the belief that spirituality cannot be achieved through reason and rationalism, but instead through self-reflection and intuition.In other words, transcendentalists believe spirituality isn’t something you can explain; it’s something you feel.A transcendentalist would argue that going for a walk in a beautiful place would be … Ralph Waldo Emerson's use of it and Jimmy Cliffs way of using Transcendentalism. Strange music video aside, "I Am Not A Robot" by Marina & the Diamonds is a great example of transcendentalism. It’s a play on words because Kid Cudi’s name is also Scott and he is in total control of his character. Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that happened in the late 1800s to 1830s in the Eastern United states. That’s exactly what Eminem has done. In the song it says “It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.-Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live-and let’s change the way we treat each other.” 2pac wants the people to become something better and make an effort to help and treat others with respect. It was an idea that people were at their best when they we self reliant and independent. https://graduateway.com/transcendentalism-in-modern-music/, Get your custom He seized that moment and captured it. Transcendentalism : Transcendentalism And Transcendentalism 1801 Words | 8 Pages. He is comfortable in his skin and is self reliant. He is known as one of the best rappers of all time. Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It. Not to mention tons of self-celebration, whether you think that's an ego trip or some real pretty verse. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the movements most important figure along with his main follower Henry David Thoreau. Modern music expresses individuality and the idea of being something other than the majority. Transcendentalism is often represented in modern day pop-culture; a strong example of this is The Hunger Games. It was an idea that people were at their best when they we self reliant and independent. This new philosophy is known as transcendentalism. The roots of Transcendentalism can be traced back to the early 19th century to a religious movement called Unitarianism. Transcendentalism was a short-lived philosophical movement that emphasized transcendence, or “going beyond.” The Transcendentalists believed in going beyond the ordinary limits of thought and experience in several senses: 1. transcending society by living a life of independence and contemplative self-reliance, often out in nature 2. transcending the physical world to make contact with spiritual or metaphysical realities 3. transcending traditional religion by blazing one’s own spiritual trail 4. even transcending Tran… Realism emphasized the, Transcendentalism and The Hunger Games Transcendentalists believe in self-reliance, non-conformity, individualism, simplicity, the greatness of nature, and God being within oneself. In the song it says "It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.-Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live-and let's change the way we treat each other." A movement where people will be influenced to change and treat others better like his song “changes.” He wants to make a difference and is doing so through his music. It began in the 1830s in America and was heavily influenced by German philosophers including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Immanuel Kant, along with English writers like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. You must — there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one that’s only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.. Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to America's largest dictionary, with: . It is particularly evident in modern music. Transcendentalism is a lifestyle in which one strives to rise above and reach a level of perfection. In another one of Eminem’s song he excepts that he’s different from everyone. All you need to do is fill out a short form and submit an order. This song embodies one of the most encouraged and preached tenet of transcendentalism, which is individuality, non- conformity, and free thought. Romantic writers often addressed their emotions and personal experiences in their writings. Modern music expresses individuality and the idea of being something other than the majority. One famed example of modern transcendentalism is the song, “Get Up, Stand Up,” by Bob Marley. It was an idea that people were at their best when they we self reliant and independent. Love words? A movement that is dedicated to peace. Through the eyes of transcendentalism Eminem is a great example of how transcendentalism is still embraced in modern music. He's the definition of an individual and transcendentalism is evident throughout almost all of his music. Many musicians and artists on modern culture express transcendentalism through their lyrics. Kid Cudi easily pushes conformity away and doesn’t let judgment affect him because in a song called “Up Up and Away” he says ” I’ll be up, up, and away- Up, up, and away-Cause they gonna judge me anyway, so whatever.” It doesn’t bother him he excepts his individuality and doesn’t let it change him or influence him to change. In the song Changes he raps about how the world needs change and that its corrupt. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the movements most important figure along with his main follower Henry David Thoreau. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy, The input space is limited by 250 symbols. These transcendentalist believed in nonconformity and confidence. One artist that expresses individuality is Eminem, a rapper that is known for being…show more content…. He is advocating a movement. Transcendentalism in modern music Transcendentalism influenced the 19th century and emphasized on the value of the individual and intuition. 2pac (Tupac Shakur) is known as one of the most influential rappers of all time and his music expresses transcendentalism. They’re their own people and don’t let others dictate how they live/lived their lives. Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way" portrays the transcendental ideas of being confident and a non-conformist. He spoke for black rights, this book is about the predigous held against them and how they cannot be treated as abominations anymore. Using the ideas of these figures many movies, music, television, Transcendentalism, Realism, and Naturalism are literary movements, among many, that were cultivated over time by many artists, poets, and writers that shaped America’s literature over the years. The book depicts the life of Katniss Everdeen, a character who possesses many transcendental qualities, Transcendentalism is an American literary, political and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. He is famous for, and characterized, by free thought. Realism was a repercussion against Romanticism. Although he had an awful life he was optimistic and hopeful this is shown in all of his music. Get Your Custom Essay on, By clicking “Write my paper”, you agree to our, American Literary, Philosophical, Religious, Transcendentalism: Protest against the General Culture. our expert writers, Hi, my name is Jenn More than 250,000 words that are n't in our free dictionary transcendentalism 3303 words | 8 Pages confidence... Hunger Games of services and privacy policy '', do n't use sources. Philosophy attracted other artists and thinkers such as the American dream a lot of emphasis on individualism,,! & the Diamonds is a great example of what the two figures preached, Emerson! This song embodies one of the American dream, and self knowledge s definition. Jr. is a philosophy that began in the song “ Keep Your Head up ” 2pac raps transcendentalism in music examples being and... '' — Journey confident and a new type of literature that was uniquely American Marina & the Diamonds is good... Thinkers such as the American Romantic novelist Henry David Thoreau uniquely American like and! Nature, and God being within oneself that its corrupt cookies to give you the rappers! Aside, `` I Am not a Robot '' by Marina & the Diamonds is a philosophical movement influence. We 'll find a lot of emphasis on individualism, simplicity, input! In each song may vary between drug/alcohol reference or transcendentalism a drug dealing father and a mother! 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Samuel Haig
Russian officials must now declare crypto holdings
The move reverses a 2018 decision that officials did not have to declare crypto holdings.
Russia's public officials will be mandated to declare all private crypto assets holdings from New Year’s Day, 2021.
The requirements were announced on Oct. 20 by the office of Russian prosecutor general, Igor Krasnov, following a meeting with 15 fellow prosecutor generals representing member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
“Starting next year, civil servants will be required to declare [virtual] currencies on an equal basis with other assets,” Krasnov said.
In 2018, Russia’s labor ministry announced that public officials would not need to declare virtual asset holdings in their tax reports due to the unregulated status of crypto. As such, concerns have lingered that crypto assets may be the financial instrument of choice for bribery and corruptions
Over the past three years, the Prosecutor General’s Office claims to have confiscated more than $440 million worth of undisclosed, non-crypto assets from public officials.
The new requirements follow new laws signed by President Vladimir Putin in July that will classify crypto assets as akin to physical commodities from 2021 — recognizing virtual currencies in the country for the first time.
While the laws do not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, they will legitimize crypto-related activities across Russia.
Alongside SCO member states Russia, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, the prosecutor generals of Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Armenia — which are non-member partners and observer states to the SCO — were also present at the meeting. The gathering centered on the topic of combating corruption.
The Russian announcement on crypto reporting suggests similar laws may soon be enacted across the Eurasian region.
In August, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service claimed it had developed a way to “partially” de-anonymize transactions using Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and the popular privacy coin Monero (XMR). The agency also noted that several “overseas countries have also shown interest in the system,” suggesting it is looking to sell the system to allied nations.
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Unqualified investors can buy up to $8K of crypto, says Bank of Russia
Russia's proposed crypto amendments have a major blind spot
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William Henry Pyne, 1769–1843, British, Woodmen, from "Picturesque Groups for the Embellishment of Landscape in a series of above 1000 Subjects..."
William Henry Pyne, 1769–1843, British, Woodmen, from "Picturesque Groups for the Embellishment of Landscape in a series of above 1000 Subjects...", Etching and aquatint on wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, B1994.4.1319
William Henry Pyne, 1769–1843, British
Woodmen, from "Picturesque Groups for the Embellishment of Landscape in a series of above 1000 Subjects..."
Etching and aquatint on wove paper
Sheet: 9 x 11 1/2 inches (22.9 x 29.2 cm) and Plate: 9 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches (24.1 x 34.3 cm)
Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection
B1994.4.1319
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Allan Ramsay, 1713–1784, British, Mary Adam, 1754
Allan Ramsay, 1713–1784, British, Mary Adam, 1754, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1981.25.513
Allan Ramsay, 1713–1784, British
Mary Adam
Support (PTG): 37 x 28 inches (94 x 71.1 cm)
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1981.25.513FR
book | chair | dress (costume) | fichu | linen (material) | mourning | mourning | pince-nez | portrait | ruffle | spectacles | woman
Associated People:
Adam, Mary
Allan Ramsay 1713-1784 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1992-08-01 - 1992-09-27)
Allan Ramsay 1713-1784 (National Portrait Gallery, 1992-10-16 - 1993-01-16)
Geoffrey W. Beard, The work of Robert Adam, J. Bartholomew, Edinburgh, 1978, p. 35, no. 3, NJ18 Ad3 B43 1978 (YCBA)
David Bindman, The History of British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, pp43-45(v.2), fig. 15, N6761 +H57 2008 Oversize (YCBA)
Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 50, ND466 G67 (YCBA)
Paintings and drawings by Allan Ramsay, 1713-1784, painter-in-Ordinary to George III., London County Council, London, 1958, p. 12, no. 8, NJ18 R1884 P25 1958 (YCBA)
Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Robert Adam and Scotland, portrait of an architect , Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Edinburgh, 1992, p. 12, NJ18 Ad3 S25 1992 (YCBA)
Alastair Smart, Allan Ramsay, painter, essayist, and man of the Enlightenment , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, CT, 1992, pp. 107-08, no. 87, NJ18 R1884 S62 1992 (YCBA)
Alastair Smart, Allan Ramsay, 1713-1784, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK, 1992, pp. 10, 23-24,, no. 41, NJ18 R1884 S53 1992+ (YCBA)
Alastair Smart, Allan Ramsay, a complete catalogue of his paintings , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, CT, 1999, pp. 69-70, 332, no. 4, fig. 444, NJ18 R1884 A12 S52 1999 (YCBA)
Ellis Waterhouse, Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters in Oils and Crayons, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1981, pp. 294-96, ND466 +W38 Oversize (YCBA)
Ellis Waterhouse, An Impressive Panorama of British Portraiture, Apollo, v. 105, no. 182, April 1977, p. 243, 245, fig. 13, N1 A54 + (YCBA) Another copy of this article may be found in a separately bound and catalogued copy of this issue located on the Mellon Shelf [call number : N5220 M552 A7 1977 + (YCBA)]
Paul Mellon's Legacy, a passion for British art. [large print labels] , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 +P381 2007, Mellon Shelf (YCBA)
Yale Center for British Art, Selected paintings, drawings & books, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1977, p. 18, N590.2 A82 (YCBA)
Doreen Yarwood, Robert Adam., J.M. Dent, London, 1970, pp. 38-39, fig. 3, NJ18 Ad3 Y37 1970 (YCBA)
British Art at Yale, Apollo, v.105, no. 182, April 1977, pp. 243, 245, fig. 13, N5220 M552 A7 1977 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Published as April 1977 issue of Apollo; all of the articles may also be found in bound Apollo Volume [N1 A54 105:2 +]
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:997
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In the documentary film “Crude,” director Joe Berlinger follows one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits in the world, a David and Goliath story that pits 30,000 rainforest dwellers from the Ecuadorian Amazon against the oil giant Chevron.
The plaintiffs allege that Texaco (which was bought by Chevron in 2001, hence Chevron’s involvement) dumped oil — at least 10 times the amount seen in the BP spill — into their water supply, causing birth defects and increased rates of cancers and other illnesses. In the film, Chevron denies the allegations and argues that the Ecuadorian rainforest dwellers and their lawyers are in it for the money.
Now, Berlinger is fighting his own battle with Chevron. This past May, the company subpoenaed him to turn over 600 hours of outtakes from the film.
“Little did I know that I would be dragged into my own David and Goliath struggle,” Berlinger said.
Chevron claims that Berlinger’s footage could help the company show corruption and misconduct on the part of the plaintiffs. Berlinger argues that his outtakes are protected by journalistic privilege, which shields reporters from revealing confidential sources or divulging confidential material. A Federal District Court judge in New York ruled in favor of Chevron, saying that the filmmaker did qualify for journalistic privilege but that conditions for overcoming that privilege had been met.
On Wednesday, Berlinger takes his case to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
“To me this is a battle about the First Amendment,” Berlinger said. “If we lose, if the appeal is rejected and this decision to turn everything over remains in place, this will have a chilling precedent on investigative reporters, on documentaries, on anybody who digs into a story for the long hall.”
Labels: environment
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Cats – Marketing Recap
How Universal Studios is selling a big screen adaptation of an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical with no discernible story.
Here’s the official synopsis for Cats, directed by Tom Hooper:
A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
What the hell does that even mean? It’s some sort of twisted cat-themed snuff film where a group of felines play God and choose who deserves to live based on what, dancing ability? Overall popularity? Fur texture? What kind of messed up dystopian power dynamic is in place here?
Regardless, Universal is hoping to capture the same audience that made The Greatest Showman a massive hit two years ago. To that end it has enlisted an all-star cast that includes Taylor Swift, James Corden, Rebel Wilson, Idris Elba, Judi Dench and others to dress in cat costumes and in tomcat tomfoolery in what’s being sold as a bright, glitzy spectacle. They’re all lead by newcomer Francesca Hayward in a movie tracking somewhere around $15 million for opening weekend and with a lowly 17 percent “Rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Posters
The “You will believe” copy used on the first poster from July (by marketing agency Concept Arts) seems relatively generic for a movie with such a specific brand identity. A cat is shown walking toward a set of ornate doors, light glowing from the inside. Hooper’s name is prominently displayed not once but twice along with the names of the director’s previous popular films and the impressive cast list.
The second poster didn’t come out until November, showing Victoria (Hayward) with her back arched in dance as feathers fall all around her and honestly I don’t know what’s happening here. Whatever it is, the movie is labeled “The most joyful event of the holiday season.” Another poster (by marketing agency BOND) from early December has just Victoria’s head lit from behind.
The Trailers
The first trailer (13.3 million views on YouTube), released in mid-July, certainly fulfills the promise of showing off the look of the movie and the fact that it features a variety of human-shaped cats. Only the barest of information about the story is offered here as the focus is on the all-star cast while Hudson’s performance of “Memories” plays in the background the whole time.
In November the second trailer (8.6 million views on YouTube) caused a lot of buzz by showing more of the story of how it’s the night where the cat who deserves a new life is chosen as well as that the cats are actually cat-sized, with human-scaled objects around them. Other than that, the same flashy film is on display here, but it’s conspicuously devoid of any of the musical numbers.
Online and Social
The movie’s official website has all the usual marketing materials, but when you first load the site the front page is an interactive version of the neighborhood where the story takes place. Clicking the characters that appear in the scenery lets you play Cats-themed games and explore more about the characters and the world they inhabit.
Notably, the “Story” section doesn’t actually discuss the story of the movie at all. Instead it’s about establishing the movie’s credentials, including mentioning the musical it’s based on, the star power involved in making it and so on. Even the studio can’t explain what’s going on, or doesn’t think the audience will care.
There are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram profiles, of course, But in a clear sign Universal understands what the target audience is looking for and actually does online there’s also a Giphy profile promoted here, something most movies fail to do.
Advertising and Publicity
There had been lots of conversations and updates about the movie before April, 2019, but when Universal showed off a batch of behind-the-scenes footage at CinemaCon things really kicked off as buzz and anticipation grew. More footage was shown two months later at CineEurope.
In mid-July a first look featurette was released that included comments from many members of the cast, including Swift and others, about what drew them to the project and what their history with Cats was. It showed some behind-the-scenes footage as well as a few brief glimpses at the film itself. The timing of that featurette was meant to set the stage for the first trailer, released just a few days later.
Another short behind the scenes featurette came out in September that had the cast talking about moving and dancing like cats. In October another video was released that focused on Swift writing an original song for the film with Weber. A lyric video for that song, “Beautiful Ghosts,” came out the week before Thanksgiving.
Red carpet premiere events were held in New York and Hollywood earlier this week, with those events streamed live online for those who couldn’t attend in person. Those came at the tail (I’m so sorry) end of an international press tour that had the cast and crew talking about the elaborate production.
There were pre-roll ads and TV spots, all of which eliminated whatever pretenses were made to explain the movie’s threadbare story and just focused on the fact that you could see Swift and other dancing around in cat costumes. Outdoor ads used imagery pulled from the key art and more while online ads did likewise, often with video elements added in.
CATS marquee is back in Times Square! pic.twitter.com/k7UIURMzqI
— Jeremy West (@JeremyWest) November 26, 2019
Promotional partners included:
Harry and David, which offered a line of movie-themed gift baskets you could send to someone you…have…feelings? about/for.
Kate Spade, which created a line of accessories inspired by the movie.
Piper-Heidsieck, which offered a limited edition champagne in a movie-branded bottle and box.
Pure Barre, which offered those who bought tickets to the movie a free fitness class.
Wolford, which ran a sweepstakes awarding the winner a free custom body suit like those seen in the movie as well as a private screening and promoted similar products they sell.
A short after CinemaCon, the movie’s choreographer was interviewed about the production and what it was like working with some of the bigger, more unexpected talent on the set.
Elba and other members of the cast talked about the movie earlier in the cycle while promoting other projects.
An interview with Hooper following the first trailer’s release allowed him to comment on people’s reactions while clarifying that some of the graphics weren’t quite finished yet, so everyone should calm down a bit.
Both Cordon (taking a break from his own show) and Hayward appeared on “Kimmel” in early December to promote the film and talk about working with Swift.
The influence Swift’s father had on her portrayal and new song was covered in this interview.
Hudson appeared on “The Today Show” to talk about the movie and her performance of “Memories,” a song she sang on a recent episode of “The Voice.” Corden also dropped by “Today.”
At the premiere the cast and crew spoke more about making the movie as well as the controversy that has swirled around the movie, based mostly in how it used computer effects for some of the costumes and other effects, something that’s apparently a big deal.
Cats is horny.
Hudson appeared on “The Late Show” to talk about her role in the film, while another interview with her allowed her to talk about performing such an iconic song as “Memory.”
A good recap here of the problems that bedeviled the filming lead to Universal making the unusual move of sending a new version of the movie to theaters with updated effects.
Author Chris ThilkPosted on 2019-12-19 2020-01-29 Categories Marketing Recap, Movie MarketingTags cats, francesca hayward, idris elba, james corden, judi dench, rebel wilson, taylor swift, tom hooper, universal pictures
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What is the difference between the CDC and the FDA?
Clinical Supplies USA Oct 15, 2020
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a national public health institute, and the main objective of CDC is to protect the health of the public and keep the public safe through protection and prevention of the disease, outbreak, or infection, not in the United States of America (USA) but also internationally.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works on the protection and safety of the people around the world by giving numerous suggestions to control or prevent certain diseases. The CDC also researches various topics like non-infectious diseases, obesity, viral diseases, and a plethora of other topics as well to ensure the safety of the citizens.
It comes under the Department of Health and Human Services. And it is a founding member of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes. It researches the aforementioned topics and tries to work on numerous things like environmental health, health promotion, injury prevention, infectious disease, and educational activities. All of these things are designed to promote and improve the health and safety of the citizens of the United States of America (USA).
The main objective of the United States food and drug administration (FDA) is to protect the normal public by ensuring the safety and security of vaccines, drugs, food safety, tobacco products, medications, medical devices, cosmetics, biopharmaceuticals, and plenty of veterinary products as well.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) controls the aforementioned products to ensure the safety and protection of the normal public so that they do not face any negative reactions when they use these products. This creates a safer environment for the normal public, and the protection of the normal public is ensured.
The FDA operates on a few laws set forth by acts like the FD&C act. It checks whether a certain product is healthy for an individual or not by operating on these laws. If it has been proved by the FDA officials that the product is healthy for the individual, the product is sent to the market for the use of a normal individual.
Role of FDA during COVID-19
During COVID-19, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has played a crucial role. The FDA checks the quality, breathability, and seal of
N95 masks to ensure whether the N95 mask keeps an individual protected from harmful airborne particles or not.
Through regulation, the FDA checks the effectiveness of an N95 mask and then the product is sent to the markets for normal public use.
Role of CDC during COVID-19
The role of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) has been indispensable since the pandemic began. The CDC has been learning many ways on how to prevent and control the spread of this fatal disease; and how the disease affects the people. It learns numerous ways to deal with COVID-19 progressively. The CDC had suggested that one of the ways to combat the pandemic would be to use N95 respirators.
The primary objective of the CDC is to protect people’s lives and to keep the public safe from this fatal and deadly pandemic. As COVID-19 wreaks havoc around the world, the CDC is learning numerous ways to cope with this conundrum, and the CDC has learned that COVID-19 does not only affect lungs; there are numerous ways this disease can adversely affect the health of an individual.
The N95 mask is a particulate filter or a respirator that filters out or blocks 95% of hazardous airborne particles; these hazardous airborne particles include pollutants, contaminants, dirt, mist, dust, infectious agents, and other life-threatening diseases as well. The N95 mask protects the wearer from inhaling life jeopardizing airborne particles that could cause the user numerous diseases like lung cancer, heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and a plethora of other health-detrimental diseases as well.
The primary reason why the N95 masks are inferior to other masks or respirators is that the N95 masks can filter out 95% of airborne particles like infectious agents, dust, and dirt particles, i.e. 0.3um; droplets that are caused after a person talks or coughs. The N95 masks also prevent the wearer from contracting life-threatening diseases than other masks or respirators.
The best Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
The N95 mask is the best Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) because it provides the most protection at an affordable price. The weight of N95 masks is light, and the overall cost of the product is quite affordable; it is available at any local store for the normal public. Moreover, it provides the maximum amount of protection at an affordable cost.
The primary difference between the CDC and the FDA:
Hence, the primary difference between CDC and FDA is that the CDC operates on curbing the magnitude of disease and focuses on controlling and preventing the disease by studying it whereas the FDA checks the quality and breathability of products like N95 respirators to ensure the safety and security of the normal public so that the normal public does not get infected by the disease.
The N95 respirators are approved by the FDA to ensure the security and safety of the individuals. The N95 respirators have been quite indispensable for the normal people because of COVID-19, which is a fatal pandemic that has been wreaking havoc around the world.
3M 9205+ mask | N95 mask x 20 | NIOSH 48 reviews
3M 1870+ mask | surgical N95 mask x 15 | NIOSH 8 reviews
3M 8210 mask | N95 mask x 20 | NIOSH 503 reviews
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Filters: Tags: critical habitat (X)
71 results (5ms)
Downloadable (24)
Journal Citation (2)
Final Critical Habitat for Navarretia Fossalis (Spreading Navarretia) within Jurisdiction of the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (CFWO)
These data identify, in general, the areas where 2010 final critical habitat for Navarretia fossalis (spreading navarretia) occur.
Tags: california, carlsbad, critical habitat, habitat, occurrence, All tags... species, spreading navarretia, u.s. fish and wildlife service, usfws, Fewer tags
USFWS Critical Habitat Linear Features
These data identify, in general, the areas where final critical habitat exist for species listed as endangered or threatened.
Tags: critical habitat, final rule, u.s. fish and wildlife service, usfws
Critical Habitat for the Oregon Coast Coho Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU)
These GIS data contain stream reaches that were designated as "critical habitat" for the Oregon Coast coho salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) for the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The critical habitat is defined in the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NOAA Fisheries) final rule to designate critical habitat for this ESU on February 11, 2008 (73 FR 7816). The fish distribution in this data set was compiled from data gathered from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Additionally, we received comments from the public, federal agencies, and state and tribal salmon co-managers during the rule making process. Additional information regarding the process for designating critical habitat for...
Tags: critical habitat, evolutionarily significant unit, oregon coast coho salmon
Habitat requirements for Erigeron kachinensis, a rare endemic of the Colorado Plateau
Erigeron kachinensis is a rare endemic of the Colorado Plateau in southeastern Utah. This perennial composite grows in small, isolated populations at seeps and alcoves arising along canyon walls in Cedar Mesa Sandstone substrates. Characteristics of six Erigeron kachinensis sites in Natural Bridges National Monument, San Juan County, Utah, were studied to determine habitat requirements for this species. Sites were analyzed with respect to geology, soil chemistry, physical properties, and vegetational characteristics. The alcoves studied were very saline, often with soil surfaces covered with a white crust of salt. Living cover was enhanced by perennially moist soils, diminished amounts of solar radiation, soil salinity,...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Colorado Plateau, Erigeron kachinensis, Western North American Naturalist, critical habitat
Critical Habitat Proposed for the Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi), California
These data identify the areas (in general) of critical habitat proposed for the tidewater goby (76FR64996). These data reflect revisions to the final rule published in the Federal Register on January 31, 2008 (73FR5920). Critical habitat for the species consists of approximately 12,1570 acres from San Diego County northward to Del Norte County, California.
Tags: california, critical habitat, del norte, eucyclogobius newberryi, san diego, All tags... tidewater goby, Fewer tags
Final Critical Habitat for Casey's June Beetle (Dinacoma Caseyi) within Jurisdiction of the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (CFWO)
These data identify, in general, the areas where Final critical habitat for the Casey's June Beetle (Dinacoma caseyi) occur.
Tags: california, carlsbad, carlsbad fish and wildlife office, casey's june beetle, critical habitat, All tags... dinacoma caseyi, occurrence, species, u.s. fish and wildlife service, usfws, Fewer tags
Critical Habitat, Pacific Southwest Region 8
When a species is proposed for listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must consider whether there are areas of habitat believed to be essential the species’ conservation. Those areas may be proposed for designation as “critical habitat.” Critical habitat is a term defined and used in the Act. It is a specific geographic area(s) that contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may include an area that is not currently occupied by the species but that will be needed for its recovery. An area is designated as “critical habitat” after the...
Categories: Data; Types: ArcGIS REST Map Service, ArcGIS Service Definition, Downloadable, Map Service; Tags: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Biota, All tags... California, Colorado, Critical Habitat, Endangered species, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Listed species, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Threatened species, US Fish and Wildlife Service, United States, Utah, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, biota, critical habitat, environment, ngda, Fewer tags
Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Critical Habitat, Proposed 2011, Southwest USA
Polygon shapefile depicting the critical habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher. The geographic extent includes counties in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
Tags: critical habitat, southwest, southwestern willow flycatcher, u.s. fish and wildlife service, usfws
Final Critical Habitat (Linear Features) for the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative
The Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC, http://www.greatplainslcc.org/) is a partnership that provides applied science and decision support tools to assist natural resource managers conserve plants, fish and wildlife in the mid- and short-grass prairie of the southern Great Plains. It is part of a national network of public-private partnerships — known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs, http://www.fws.gov/science/shc/lcc.html) — that work collaboratively across jurisdictions and political boundaries to leverage resources and share science capacity. The Great Plains LCC identifies science priorities for the region and helps foster science that addresses these priorities to support wildlife...
Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Colorado, Critical Habitat, Final Rule, GPLCC, Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, All tags... Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS, United States, Wyoming, Fewer tags
USFWS Critcal Habitat -All Shapefiles
Critical habitat are areas considered essential for the conservation of a listed species. These areas provide notice to the public and land managers the importance of these areas to the conservation of this species. Special protections and/or restrictions are possible in areas where federal funding, permits, licenses, authorizations, or actions occur or are required
Tags: ESA, critical habitat, endangered species, fish, wildlife
BLM REA NGB 2011 Final Critical Habitat Streams for the Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus)
These data identify (in general) the areas where critical habitat for the bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) occur.
Types: Downloadable; Tags: BLM, Bull Trout, Bureau of Land Management, Critical Habitat, DOI, All tags... Geospatial, NGB 2011, Northern Great Basin, REA, Rapid Ecoregional Assessment, Wildlife, biota, inlandWaters, Fewer tags
BLM REA CBR 2010 Final Critical Habitat (Linear Features) Line
Types: Downloadable; Tags: BLM, Bureau of Land Management, CBR 2010, Central Basin and Range, Critical Habitat, All tags... DOI, Final Rule, Geospatial, REA, Rapid Ecoregional Assessment, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS, Wildlife, biota, Fewer tags
FWS Critical Habitat - Chinook Salmon
Categories: Data; Types: ArcGIS REST Map Service, ArcGIS Service Definition, Citation, Downloadable, Map Service; Tags: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Biota, All tags... California, Colorado, Critical Habitat, Endangered species, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Listed species, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Threatened species, United States, Utah, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, biota, environment, ngda, Fewer tags
Critical Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species (lines)
Quino checkerspot butterfly Critical Habitat
These data identify, in general, the areas of Final critical habitat for Euphydryas editha quino (Quino checkerspot butterfly).
Categories: Data; Types: ArcGIS REST Map Service, ArcGIS Service Definition, Downloadable, Map Service; Tags: Euphydryas editha quino, Pacific Southwest Region, Quino checkerspot butterfly, USFWS, butterfly, All tags... critical habitat, quino, Fewer tags
Critical Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species (polygons)
These data identify, in general, the areas where final critical habitat exist for species listed as endangered or threatened. This dataset was updated with new data from the USFWS Critical Habitat Portal on 9/8/2011. This includes fixes to incorrect attribution of species names to polygons evident in previous versions of this dataset.
Critical Habitat for Ambrosia Pumila (San Diego Ambrosia) within Jurisdiction of the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (CFWO)
These data identify, in general, the areas where critical habitat for Ambrosia pumila (San Diego ambrosia) occur.
Tags: critical habitat, san diego ambrosia, u.s. fish and wildlife service
Critical Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species - Fish (2008)
These data identify the areas where final critical habitat has been mapped by the USFWS for fish species. These data were compiled by the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) from a series of individual shapefiles published by the USFWS (http://criticalhabitat.fws.gov/). For more information on the process for mapping the critical habitat for each species, please see the metadata for each species listed on the USFWS web site. This particular dataset contains the fish species critical habitat areas that are represented by lines. Critical habitat represented by polygons are contained in a separate dataset. Critical habitat designations have not been made for all listed endangered species. Where critical habitat...
Tags: critical habitat, endangered species, fish, fishes, habitat
BLM REA MBR 2010 Final Critical Habitat (Polygonal Features)
This USFWS data set has been clipped by NatureServe to include critical habitat only within the Central Basin and Range, and Mojave Basin and Range ecoregions, and extracted to include only the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) critical habitat areas. These data identify, in general, the areas where final critical habitat exist for species listed as endangered or threatened.
Types: Downloadable; Tags: BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Critical Habitat, DOI, Desert tortoise, All tags... Final Rule, Geospatial, Gopherus agassizii, MBR 2010, Mojave Basin and Range, REA, Rapid Ecoregional Assessment, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS, Wildlife, biota, Fewer tags
BLM REA CBR 2010 Final Critical Habitat (Linear Features) Poly
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Social Media: It’s a Credibility Strategy. Not a Business Strategy.
Ethical Practice | HR Expertise (HR Knowledge) | Leadership & Navigation
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Dates 22
Do you need to be on social media? Maybe. How we communicate in the digital landscape impacts how potential clients find us, how word-of-mouth-referrals review us, and how existing customers connect with us. In this session we’ll discuss the choice to be on social, how to manage social media should you choose to embark on this plan, and you’ll learn how—in a single day—you can create a social strategy that will last for an entire year.
Understand how being on social and not being active is harming, not helping, your business.
Learn a strategy for rapidly creating content that will make your business consistent in the social space.
Gain tools and insights to help your business utilize social media and the digital space in the way that fits your organization best.
Slides Handout (3.3 MB) Available after Purchase
Jill Schiefelbein Related seminars and products: 7
Jill Schiefelbein, The Dynamic Communicator(R), thrives at the intersection of communication, education, and technology. From analyzing classified documents obtained from military raids of terrorist camps to assess jihad messaging strategies, to teaching business communication for 11 years at the largest university in the country, to starting and managing an online education office serving 60,000+ students, to her own award-winning entrepreneurial ventures, Jill successfully creates and executes communication strategies help people and companies solve problems, retain and develop consumers, and enhance the bottom line.
Jill is co-author of the textbook Business and Professional Communication in the Global Workplace, has a widely viewed presence on YouTube, and is an official video partner and contributing writer for Entrepreneur(R). Her next book, Dynamic Communication: Strategies to Grow, Manage, and Lead Your Business, will hit bookstores in May 2017. Learn more at http://thedynamiccommunicator.com and follow Jill on Twitter @dyanmicjill.
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You are here: Home / Latest News / Parliament passes condominium law
Parliament passes condominium law
January 27, 2016 by Thiha
Mired in legislative gridlock until the dying days of the outgoing government, the condominium law finally squeaked through parliament on January 22 after years of back-and-forth argument between the upper and lower houses.
The president still has to approve the law, but in principle foreigners will now have the right to buy up to 40 percent of condominium apartments in any given block, provided the apartments are on the sixth floor or above.
Experts say the long-awaited measure could give a much-needed boost to the stagnant property market, as well as bringing in up to US$1 billion in foreign currency, and a healthy tax revenue.
The news will also be welcome to property developers considering developments along Myanmar’s borders – in Dawei, for example, they will now be able to build and sell projects to Thai buyers, and in Shan State to buyers from China.
The bill, drafted by the Ministry of Construction, has been in limbo for the past three years, the victim of a standoff between the lower and upper houses. The Pyithu Hluttaw wanted to let foreigners buy up to 50pc of high-rise apartments, while the Amyotha Hluttaw said the figure should be 40pc. The final bill puts the figure at 40pc, meaning foreign buyers can buy four apartments out of every 10 on sale.
U Khin Shwe, Amyotha Hluttaw MP for Yangon Region, said the new law could cut Myanmar’s trade deficit by up to one-quarter. “The deficit is over $4 billion. Now that foreigners can buy condominiums, that could bring in at least $1 billion,” he said.
Apartment sales could also bring in commercial tax of 5pc. “This is a legal way of acquiring dollars,” he added.
U Khine Maung Yee, Pyithu Hluttaw MP for Yangon Region, said the new law would strengthen the property market. “This will be of great interest to foreign investors doing business here. It will also strengthen our currency, as well as stimulating the market,” he said.
Foreigners are still barred from buying land and houses, said U Thein Tun Oo, MP for Mandalay Region’s Amarapura township. “Foreigners are not allowed to own or manage the land on which the building stands,” he said.
U Khin Shwe said there were about 4000 or 5000 condominium units in Myanmar. “The number of Myanmar citizens who can afford an apartment worth K400 or K500 million is under 1000. Now, foreigners will be allowed to buy the rest,” he said.
The news was a relief for U Maung Maung, chair of Shwe Kabar Construction. “There is no domestic demand for condominiums at the moment and there are many condos to sell, so hopefully sales will pick up,” he said.
Condominium sales have come to a near-halt over the past year after a deluge of off-plan sales were launched in 2014. Without a mortgage market, local demand is limited to a very small buyer pool and demand soon waned. Fear that some developers would be unable to complete their projects, which are funded through off-plan sales, dampened demand further still.
“Local people could not buy all the units in the market,” said U Maung Maung. “Now we can sell them all to foreigners.”
Details of the law will be announced once it is approved by the president. For now, it is not clear whether it will also be applied to existing condominiums, said U Sit Han Kyi who lives in Yangon’s Pearl Condominium, one of the city’s oldest.
“I’m glad the law has been approved, but I’m worried it will only apply to new buildings,” he said.
Source: Myanmar Times
To learn more about the impact of the condominium law on the condominium market in Yangon click here
Filed Under: Latest News, Property Report Tagged With: Amyotha Hluttaw, Amyotha Hluttaw MP, Apartments, condominium, Foreign Buyers, foreign currency, MInistry of Construction, Pearl Condominium, president, Pyithu Hluttaw MP, tax revenue, U Khin Shwe, U Khine Maung Yee
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CCFB News» January 2019
From the Farm Desk
01/04/2019 @ 7:00 am
PRITZKER NAMES AG ADVISORY TEAM (Pantagraph) – Govenor-elect J.B. Pritzker named 22 ag leaders to his ag advisory committee. Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert, Jr. was named to the committee, as well as Illinois Soybean Association CEO Craig Ratajczyk, Illinois Corn Growers Association Executive Director Rodney Weinzierl, and ADM CEO Juan Luciano. Committee co-chairs are Colleen Callahan, former state director for USDA Rural Development, and former state senator John Sullivan.
CLIMATE CHANGE BAD NEWS FOR MIDWEST (Chicago Tribune) – The Midwest could face a grim long-term agricultural forecast due to climate change. Rising temperatures in the Midwest are projected to be the largest contributing factor to declines in U.S. agricultural productivity, with extreme heat wilting crops, upping incidence of crop disease, and posing a threat to livestock. In fact, temperatures are projected to climb more in the Midwest than in any other region.
CARGILL TESTING ROBOTIC CATTLE DRIVER (NPR’s The Salt) – Working with livestock is dangerous, but Cargill is hoping to remove some of that danger by hiring some new employees: robots. Developed by a Russian tech company for security purposes, Cargill has redesigned robots to include a tougher metal exterior and an MP3 player which whistles, or a device which produces a gust of air, to move cattle forward. The robot has been tested at plants in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
FUEL INFORMATION ON CAR/TRUCK ENGINES (Illinois Corn Growers Association) - Whether you have a new model year vehicle, or you have a new-to-you vehicle, you should know if it can flex. The Renewable Fuels Association has released their updated chart of passenger vehicles that are FlexFuel compatible, meaning that you can fill up year-round with any ethanol blend from regular, unleaded E10 all the way up to E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent petroleum-based gasoline. The FlexFuel fleet is an important bridge to the fuels of the future. IL Corn is investing checkoff dollars in developing new fuels and engines that to be high efficiency and with an improved emissions profile, will require high-octane gasoline. Corn-based ethanol is the best option to provide octane.
U.S. POULTRY PRODUCTION GROWING, MARKET EXPANSION CRUCIAL (FarmWeek) - Chickens grow out in six to eight weeks and a little longer for turkeys. “Hormones are something we can’t and don’t use in the poultry industry. It’s banned,” Tyler noted recently. “Regardless, you get people talking about growing chickens so fast in six to eight weeks using hormones. “That’s far from the truth,” he added. “It’s just good genetics and the grain we’re feeding them. We’ve got a great system for producing the product.” The poultry industry consumes about one-third of the corn produced in the U.S.
About 20 percent of chicken and 14 percent of turkey produced in the U.S. gets exported each year. Trade issues in China remain a major issue for the poultry industry. China previously imported about $800 million in U.S. poultry products, including about $300 million worth of chicken paws, before blocking that market due to concerns about avian influenza. Elsewhere, the poultry industry made a huge breakthrough this year with entrance into another market about the size of China (1.3 billion people) – India. The U.S. poultry industry gained access to India in March and started shipping containers of poultry products there in April.
The US has about 120 poultry markets worldwide.
INDUSTRIAL HEMP CHANGES COMING (FarmWeekNow). “The farm bill would redefine marijuana in the Controlled Substance Act and remove hemp from that definition,” said David Williams, Ph.D., agronomist with the University of Kentucky. “So, at least theoretically, it would legalize hemp, but it will remain under a state-regulated structure.”
Williams attracted a roomful of interested Illinois farmers at the recent annual meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) in Chicago. Since passage of the last farm bill in 2014, Kentucky has initiated an industrial hemp research pilot program that has allowed some farmers in that state to grow the crop.
Williams noted industrial hemp has a long history for use as rope and fiber. It closely resembles its cousin, marijuana, and became tangled with it in the federal law passed nearly five decades ago that also classified industrial hemp as a ‘controlled substance.’ Industrial hemp contains only low-levels of the chemical that intoxicates marijuana users.
Illinois farmers had several questions for Williams about growing industrial hemp. Some of his responses included:
Herbicide residuals in a corn and soybean rotation can be a problem
As of now, there is no place in Illinois where you can receive a check for hemp fiber
Bees and other pollinators love industrial hemp (and, no, industrial hemp pollen does not contain intoxicant cannabinoids.
At present, pesticide application in industrial hemp is illegal, but use of pesticides is one item being evaluated in U of K production trials.
Earlier this year, the Illinois General Assembly passed and Governor Bruce Rauner signed legislation legalizing industrial hemp production in the state. The Illinois Department of Agriculture is currently in the process of developing new rules on growing and processing industrial hemp.
According to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, farmers there planted 3,200 acres of industrial hemp this year. The department’s figures show licensed hemp processors paid Kentucky growers $7.5 million in 2017 and created more than 80 full-time jobs. Licensed industrial hemp processors in Kentucky reported capital investments in 2017 of more than $25 million and gross product sales of close to $17 million.
NEW RULES FOR DICAMBA USE (FarmWeek) - Planning to use crop protection products containing dicamba in 2019? The new label means some changes for those who apply the product. You have to be a certified applicator in 2019. If you have a private applicator’s license or commercial applicator’s license, you are good to go heading into 2019. Dicamba specific training is also now an annual requirement for applicators.
About “From the Farm Desk”: There are a lot of farm-related news items that cross the Editor’s desk to share with area farmers and farm supporters. This collection of news briefs is gathered from both mainstream and agriculture media and is designed to keep farmer members and leaders up-to-date. The articles are not intended to represent Cook County Farm Bureau policy or positions.
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Tag Archives: Rowman & Littlefield
Book Review: REFOCUSING CHAPLIN
The Little Tramp off into the sunset. Illustration by Henry Chamberlain
Aristotle speaks of the mimesis of the first order and the mimesis of the second order. When creating art, the goal is to distance oneself from the source. Mimesis of the first order is simply art imitating nature. Mimesis of the second order is art perfecting nature and turning it into something transcendent. That rule is certainly at play in the work of Charlie Chaplin. As Marco Grosoli points out in his essay on Chaplin, this was an artist keenly aware of his myth and in a unique position to go on to make great art from that myth. Marco Grosoli’s fascinating essay is part of a collection of essays from various writers on one of the masters of cinema, “Refocusing Chaplin,” published by Rowman & Littlefield.
There may never be another artist quite like Charlie Chaplin. However, his influence and relevance continues to evolve. And so that gives this collection of essays a great sense of urgency. In the same way that an artist of the first rank like Ray Bradbury could have anticipated social media some fifty years ago, so too did Charlie Chaplin foresee the power of a meme in a career that began over one hundred years ago. To say that Charlie Chaplin was beyond famous is an understatement. He reached the level of myth. It is not short of phenomenal that he continued to grow as an artist through a career that spanned the evolution of cinema.
Chaplin in 1940’s “The Great Dictator”
In Marco Grosoli’s essay, he examines the friction between two formidable myths in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” from 1940. By then, Chaplin was more than ready to leverage some of his celebrity for the sake of his art. The timing could not have been more perfect. The difference between the myth of Hitler and Chaplin could not have been more extreme. As Grosoli indicates, Chaplin was not merely imitating Hitler. Chaplin was channeling the myth of Hitler. In that respect, Chaplin was getting at a greater truth. In a work that deeply explores the power of meme, Chaplin plays both the role of Dictator Adenoid Hynkel and a Jewish barber who looks identical to Hynkel. Dictator and barber are, in a sense, interchangeable. In the proper costume and context, everyone accepts whatever the Jewish barber has to say, dressed as Hynkel, even if it is the total opposite of what Hynkel would say. Push two extremes together, Grosoli suggests, and they strangely equate each other, form a perfect nothingness.
“Refocusing Chaplin: A Screen Icon Through Critical Lenses”
Essays in this collection feature a wide spectrum of themes including Marxism, feminism, gender studies, deconstruction, psychoanalytic criticism, new historicism, performance studies, and cultural criticism. This critical study covers a wide reach of films including The Circus (1928), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931) Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952). This collection proves to be a valuable resource on one of the leading masters of cinema.
“Refocusing Chaplin: A Screen Icon through Critical Lenses” is a 250-page hardcover, published by Rowman & Littlefield. Visit them right here.
Filed under Art, Book Reviews, Books, Charlie Chaplin, Critical Studies, film, Hollywood, movies, pop culture, Rowman & Littlefield
Tagged as Art, Artists, Book Reviews, Books, Celebrity, Charlie Chaplin, Cinema, Entertainment, Film, Hollywood, Media, Meme, Movies, Pop Culture, Rowman & Littlefield
Review: ‘A Year of Movies: 365 Films to Watch on the Date They Happened’ by Ivan Walters
Watching “Groundhog Day” on Groundhog Day! Illustration by Henry Chamberlain
On February 2nd, Groundhog Day, if it’s cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its burrow, spring will come early. If it’s sunny, then the groundhog will see its shadow and there will be six more weeks of winter. So goes the folktale. What better way to celebrate this holiday than by viewing 1993’s “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell? It’s an idea that totally makes sense to author Ivan Walters. He takes that even further by offering you a movie for every single day of the year. He provides vital info on his featured choice, a synopsis, plus an alternate pick. The book is entitled, “A Year of Movies: 365 Films to Watch on the Date They Happened,” published by Rowman & Littlefield.
It’s quite a brilliant concept. The trick is to find an explicit mention of a date in a movie. Inevitably, the date is either crucial to the plot or is part of a pivotal moment in the movie. For instance, say you wanted to view a movie that has a significant attachment to the day that this review is posted, January 18th. That date leads you to 1976’s “Logan’s Run.” and a pivotal scene. To quote the book: “Logan, Jessica, and the old man return to the city on January 18th, 2274 (1:43:40 to 1:56:39), for a confrontation that will change their world forever.”
This book has a high fun factor to it. Many of the movies are within the last 20 to 30 years with a generous helping of older classics like 1941’s “Citizen Kane.” It is a refreshing and entertaining way to look at movies. It becomes an offbeat game anyone can enjoy while also providing insight. I like how the book kicks off with 1976’s “Rocky.” January is so symbolic, full of hope and fresh starts. I think of “Rocky” as that quintessential shaggy dog story about self-empowerment and beating the odds. Great idea to have set the big fight on New Years Day, January 1st, 1976. Not all the dates are so easy to spot. In the case of “Citizen Kane,” for example, it is attached to December 4th 1919, the date that Kane’s mistress-turned-wife has a nervous breakdown and ends her floundering career as an opera singer. Kane’s world steadily darkens from that point onward.
“A Year of Movies: 365 Films to Watch on the Date They Happened” is a 454-page hardcover. For more details, visit our friends at Rowman & Littlefield right here.
Filed under Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Groundhog Day, Hollywood, Illustration, Logan's Run, Movie Reviews, movies, pop culture, Rowman & Littlefield
Tagged as Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Groundhog Day, Hollywood, Illustration, Media, Movies, Pop Culture, Publishing, Rowman & Littlefield
Review: ‘Reading Richard Matheson: A Critical Survey’
“I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. Illustration by Henry Chamberlain.
The work of Richard Matheson (1926-2013) is certainly suitable for in-depth analysis. It is through an academic lens that you can plumb such insights as the one about the recurring nemesis in Matheson’s groundbreaking novel, “I Am Legend.” As Charles Hoge describes, in this first survey of its kind, the neighbor-turned-vampire who repeatedly taunts the protagonist is part of a literary tradition dating back hundreds of years. Instead of being hidden away in Bavarian castles, vampires were known to call out their victims from their own village. It is a simple distinction like that which Matheson runs with to create one of the most influential books in pop culture.
It was this seismic shift from monsters in castles to monsters in the suburbs that would change everything and influence everyone from George Romero to Stephen King. Yes, you can thank Richard Matheson for the zombie apocalypse. He essentially invented it with his 1954 horror novel, “I Am Legend.” Well, there’s more to it. And you can dig deeper in this first ever substantial study, “Reading Richard Matheson: A Critical Survey,” edited by Cheyenne Mathews and Janet V. Haedicke, published by Rowman & Littlefield.
The original “I Am Legend” novel is an elegant and tightly written work. Our protagonist, Robert Neville, must figure out, with Sherlockian exactitude, what has brought about a world-wide pandemic of vampires. It is a prime example of work from the first phase of Matheson’s career. The theme here is man as victim of his own environment. By the time of Matheson’s work on the landmark television series, The Twilight Zone, his theme has broadened to man as victim of his own making. Within these two themes, a multitude of work can be examined. It is with this survey that we receive an essential collection of serious thought on a writer who Stephen King has ranked with Poe and Lovecraft.
In a piece that focuses on the noir character of The Twilight Zone, Cheyenne Mathews demonstrates both Matheson’s artistry and how well The Twilight Zone holds up to critical scrutiny. Cheyenne writes: “Through science fiction tropes of time travel, alternate realities, and new technologies, Matheson emphasizes the physical and social displacement that afflicted both men and women during the attempted postwar return to normality.” And, in describing what is considered the most noir Twilight Zone episode, “Night Call,” Mathews writes: “The second act of the episode conflates Elva’s personal anxieties with her social alienation, as she becomes increasingly disconnected from the other characters, who attempt to downplay her distress.” Of course, there is Matheson’s most celebrated TZ episode, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” but, as Mathews makes clear, it is part of a bigger picture. Outside of Rod Serling, who wrote the majority of scripts, Matheson wrote the most episodes and they were all gems.
A man of his time, and ahead of his time, Richard Matheson has secured a place for himself within not only great science fiction, horror, and fantasy, but great fiction in general. Ultimately, Matheson’s work strikes a universal chord. We can explore the specific era he worked in and how he spoke to concerns of postwar paranoia and shifting gender roles; and, like Kafka, we can place him within some of the most eloquent writers on the human condition. Matheson was weary of being labeled a genre writer. Perhaps one of his fellow writers and friends, George Clayton Johnson, summed it up best when he said of Matheson that he was one of the “serious storytellers whose works were artful gems of wisdom fiction.”
“Reading Richard Matheson: A Critical Survey” is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the origins of today’s pop culture at a deeper level and gaining a greater appreciation of the work of Richard Matheson.
“Reading Richard Matheson: A Critical Survey” is a 262-page hardcover published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Filed under fantasy, George Clayton Johnson, Horror, Richard Matheson, Rowman & Littlefield, Sci-Fi, science fiction, The Twilight Zone
Tagged as Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Richard Matheson, Rod Serling, Rowman & Littlefield, Science Fiction, The Twilight Zone, Writers, Writing
Review: CYBER REALM and SP4RX by Wren McDonald
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How Media Can Help
What People Expect
West Africa Ebola epidemic
Nepal earthquake
Somalia drought
Preparing to Communicate
Bangladesh Rohingya refugee crisis 2017-2019
In late 2017, Bangladesh rapidly became home to the world’s largest population of displaced people, as over 700,000 people from Myanmar’s Rakhine state fled to Bangladesh after an escalation of violence. By the end of 2018, more than 900,000 people from the Rohingya community were living in 34 camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, including families who arrived before the 2017 influx.
From the beginning of the unfolding emergency in November 2017, BBC Media Action took a leading role in ensuring that Rohingya people in refugee camps had access to information, and that humanitarian agencies and government actors listened to their needs and concerns.
BBC Media Action carried out a variety of projects with different partners and donors to support Rohingya people living in refugee camps. These included:
Mentoring two local radio stations, Bangladesh Betar (part of the state broadcaster) and Radio Naf (a community radio station that reached the camps) to produce weekly Lifeline programmes. This project was funded by Unicef and began in November 2017. Since then, these programmes have been broadcast to Rohingya audiences four times a week.
The Common Service for Community Engagement and Accountability project, funded at different stages by the UK Department for International Development, International Organization for Migration and ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations). BBC Media Action worked with Internews and Translators without Borders to help humanitarian agencies communicate with Rohingya communities more effectively through diverse activities including staff training, creating audio-visual content, tracking rumours in the camps, and a weekly bulletin to communicate community needs and priorities to agencies.
Helping to establish and run information centres in the camps, in collaboration with Action Against Hunger.
Developing a radio drama tackling gender-based violence issues such as child marriage and intimate partner violence, funded by Norwegian Church Aid and International Organization for Migration.
This case study predominantly focuses on the Lifeline radio programming support funded by Unicef, which has been most robustly evaluated at audience level.
In line with BBC Media Action’s goals relating to this humanitarian emergency, both Lifeline radio programmes Begunnor Lai (on Bangladesh Betar) and Shishur Hashi (on Radio Naf) aimed to provide Rohingya people with critical information to help keep themselves and their families safe, healthy and informed.
Rapid audience feedback exercises were conducted every couple of months to ensure the programmes were engaging, culturally appropriate and met the needs of Rohingya listeners in the camps. These involved in-depth interviews with listeners recruited from listener groups. Production teams used this feedback to make the programmes more relevant to listeners.
Qualitative evaluations involving Begunnor Lai and Shishur Hashi audience members took place in March and December 2018. BBC Media Action researchers, along with local Chittagonian-speaking interpreters, conducted in-depth interviews with some home listeners and listener group members.
A July 2018 quantitative research study as part of the Common Service project measured the radio programmes’ reach among Rohingya people in the camps. As part of other projects, BBC Media Action carried out extensive research to understand more about Rohingya communities’ needs and priorities, as well as their lives and traditions before arriving in Bangladesh. This was to inform BBC Media Action’s programmes, like the Lifeline programmes and the radio drama, and to help humanitarian agencies understand more about the community so they could design appropriate programmes to serve their needs.
Platform – Rohingya refugees’ access to radio was a significant challenge throughout this project. A quantitative study carried out by BBC Media Action in July 2018 found that only 13% of people said someone in their household had listened to the radio in the preceding week. The same study found that 11% of the Rohingya community had listened to Begunnor Lai and 7% had listened to Shishur Hashi. A November 2018 study by Translators without Borders found that radio listenership had increased to 18% following the distribution of 57,000 radios in refugee camps.
In order to increase access to its programming, BBC Media Action set up over 300 listener groups in 21 refugee camps and provided audio content to other NGOs to share in their community-based activities. Qualitative research found that people appreciated the opportunity to discuss and ask questions at these groups. Initial rapid audience feedback found that women were struggling to access listener groups as they were not allowed to leave their homes. Women-only listener groups were set up within residential blocks so they could attend.
Despite these challenges, research participants universally said they shared the information they learned from the programmes with their friends and relatives, suggesting that the programmes’ content spread through the Rohingya refugee community even if their immediate audience was limited.
The July study found that people’s access to information had increased. Nine months into the emergency, 84% of respondents said they had enough information to make good decisions for themselves and their families compared with 23% in a similar study conducted by Internews at the beginning of the emergency. This was likely as a result of multiple initiatives. For example, the July study found that 21% of Rohingya people had visited one of the information hubs, and 26% of people had seen some of the informative audio-visual content.
Content – Due to Bangladeshi government restrictions, the radio programmes had to be broadcast in Chittagonian (the local dialect of Cox’s Bazar), which is similar to the Rohingya language. Listeners repeatedly said they understood the programmes, and they especially mentioned the female presenter of Begunnor Lai, who had learned which Chittagonian words were most similar to the Rohingya language and consciously made the content easier for Rohingya people to understand.
Listeners found the programmes’ content relevant, and their advice practical and useful. They valued the programmes as they learned practical information about how to keep themselves and their families safe.
Listeners were engaged with the programmes as they felt they were made for them, in a language they could understand. They enjoyed hearing Rohingya voices on the radio and hearing Rohingya songs. They recognised that the programmes covered different topics each episode, depending on what the community needed, which kept people engaged.
Having both men’s and women’s voices helped to engage people with the show. Women said they liked hearing women’s voices on the programmes, alongside male voices, and appreciated the female presenters asking questions about issues that particularly affected women. Some said they felt the female presenters helped them understand key issues in a way that men could not.
I like to listen to the voices of men, but I like to listen to the women in the show more. This is because women are speaking about their problems by themselves and so are the men. Both Rohingya women and village women speak in the show and I like that.
Female listener group member, Teknaf, Bangladesh
Listeners trusted the information in both programmes because they found it to be consistent with information from other sources, and many listeners said they had followed some of the advice and found that it worked. The fact that listeners felt the programmes were made for their benefit also contributed to this trust.
I can see that those who don’t follow the good advice have fallen sick. And those who follow or trust this information are living a healthy life. So I trust all the information.
Male Begunnor Lai and Shishur Hashi listener, Kutupalong , Bangladesh
Knowledge and discussion
The programmes made for Rohingya refugees by BBC Media Action’s partners both reinforced listeners’ existing knowledge and taught them many new things. Listeners recalled many topics covered by the shows, but particularly seemed to retain and share information on how to prevent disease through hygiene. They appreciated advice they could implement at home, such as handwashing and purifying water, which they felt helped to keep their families safe.
While some information was totally new to them, listeners said the way the presenters shared information clarified some concepts they previously struggled to understand.
We didn’t listen to this in Burma [Myanmar]. We heard the show and later, many benefits came. Before we didn’t cover our water pots, and flies and mosquitos came on them and we used to drink that water. Then we ate stale food and used to get sick. Now we don’t drink uncovered water. We don’t have stale food any more.
Male Begunnor Lai listener, Teknaf , Bangladesh
All research participants said they shared what they had learned with family members and neighbours, especially on hygiene and cleanliness, and there were many examples of participants encouraging others to take action. Female participants shared information at women-friendly spaces, and one man said he talked about the programme at the tea shop.
I tell everybody to listen to this show, I tell them to go near the radio at 11:30am and if they have no radio then go to someone else’s radio and listen to this. It is more important than what I will tell you.
Male listener, Kutupalong camp, Bangladesh
Motivation and actions
Listeners of both programmes said they felt motivated to take action as a result, particularly in keeping their area and their children clean. Most research participants said they now systematically wash their hands after using the toilet and before cooking, and that they try to make sure their children and other family members do so too. Many also gave concrete examples of non-hygiene actions they had taken as a result of information from the programmes, such as making a saline solution to treat diarrhoea at home, or taking better care of pregnant women.
Listeners highlighted the importance of accurate information about where to find resources or access help. They noted instances when a programme had mentioned water purification tablets or sanitary towels, but not where listeners could access these items, preventing them from taking action.
Before, if a child got diarrhoea we would think that it is a very serious disease and would take him/her to a traditional healer but the child would die on the way. After learning about how to cure diarrhoea, we can now feed the children appropriately.
Female listener, Kutupalong camp, Bangladesh
I have learned from [the programme] that, inside my wife, my child is growing so I should take care of her. I shouldn’t pressure her to do any kind of heavy work and after childbirth, we should look after that newborn. Specifically, we need to protect him/her from the warm and cold. If he/she starts sweating during the warm season, that can cause a sore throat and runny nose. We also learned what a mother should eat [well to be able] to feed her child properly.
Male listener group member, Balukhali camp, Bangladesh
Connecting people and giving them a voice
Listeners felt connected with others through the programmes. They liked to hear the voices of other Rohingya people, particularly those living in other camps, and learn how they were coping with similar challenges.
They also appreciated the phone-in session in Begunnor Lai, but it was not clear how accessible this option was to all listeners, particularly to women who are less likely to have access to a phone. Almost all research participants said they would ask a question on the programme if they had the opportunity, but only two male participants said they had done so.
In the show, Rohingya people are asked questions and I like to hear their voices. I like it because I am able to hear about their problems and their queries. I also like how I can get news from camps like those in Kutupalong, Balukhali. I can learn how they are living too.
Female Listen Again listener, Teknaf , Bangladesh
There was evidence to suggest that both programmes have played a role in improving people’s emotional well-being. Many research participants mentioned feeling happier as a result of listening to the programmes, as a result of hearing Rohingya voices or Rohingya songs. They also mentioned that the programmes made them smile, improved their mood and helped to reduce their pain.
If I don’t listen to the programme, I don’t feel at peace. But after listening to the show I feel peaceful.
Evaluation methods used include a quantitative survey in June 2018 and continual qualitative evaluations. This project is ongoing and further evaluation is being conducted in 2019.
Copyright © 2019 BBC Media Action.
BBC Media Action is registered in England & Wales under charity number 1076235 and company number 3521587.
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Hague Convention on Int’l Protection of Adults to Enter into Force
September 20, 2008 /16 Comments/in /by Gilles Cuniberti
The Hague Conference on Private International Law reports that the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults will enter into force on January 1st, 2009.
This is because a third country, France, has ratified the Convention on September 18th, 2008. There are thus three countries which ratified the Convention: France, Germany in 2007 and the U.K., but for Scotland only, in 2003. Pursuant to article 57 of the Convention, this is what was necessary to trigger the entry into force in those states on the first day of the third month after the third ratification.
On the same date, the Convention was also signed by five new states: Finland, Greece, Poland, Ireland and Luxembourg.
There are now ten signatories altogether. They may eventually all ratify the Convention. If they do not, will someone assess the efficiency of the whole enterprise? This is a lot of transaction costs for harmonizing the law of three states only.
UPDATE: for a discussion of whether the Convention applies in England and Wales irrespective of the fact that the UK only ratified the Convention for Scotland, see below the comments of Michelle S. de Bruin.
https://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.png 0 0 Gilles Cuniberti https://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.png Gilles Cuniberti2008-09-20 20:37:342008-09-22 09:53:30Hague Convention on Int’l Protection of Adults to Enter into Force
Richard Frimston says:
This is great news.
The Hague website has still not included the fact that in addition to Scotland in the UK, England & Wales ratified the convention by virtue of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 with effect from 1 October 2007.
It is good to know that the introduction of the mandat de protection future in France will coincide with the ratification of the Hague Convention.
Gilles Cuniberti says:
I must say that it is quite surprising to hear that England can ratify a treaty by virtue of a mere domestic act. From an international law perspective, wouldn’t at least a notification to the Hague Conference be needed?
Michelle S de Bruin says:
Gilles is correct. Article 53 of the 2000 Convention provides the usual clause in relation to the ratification of a Hague Convention. It states:
1. The Convention shall be open for signature by the States which were Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law on 2 October 1999.
2. It shall be ratified, accepted or approved and the instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, depositary of the Convention.
The status table (see http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.status&cid=71 )
for the Convention shows that Scotland ratified the Convention in 2003, but states ‘ratification for Scotland only.’
England and Wales have not yet deposited instruments of ratification.
It may well be the case, however, that the same (or similar) provisions have been inserted in the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 in advance of the deposit of the said instruments. Can anyone provide clarification on this?
The preamble to the 2005 Act states that it is:
An Act to make new provision relating to persons who lack capacity; to establish a superior court of record called the Court of Protection in place of the office of the Supreme Court called by that name; to make provision in connection with the Convention on the International Protection of Adults signed at the Hague on 13th January 2000; and for connected purposes.
The explanatory notes on the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (available at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2005/en/ukpgaen_20050009_en.pdf shed some more light on the issue.
Section 63: International Protection of Adults
This introduces Schedule 3 which makes provision as to the private international law of England and Wales in relation to persons who cannot protect their interests. For example it determines which jurisdiction should apply when a national of one country is in another.
Schedule 3: International protection of adults
This makes provision as to the private international law of England and Wales in relation to persons who cannot protect their interests. In particular, it gives effect in England and Wales to the Convention on the International Protection of Adults signed at the Hague on 13th January 2000 (Cm. 5881) (the “Hague Convention”) (the text of which is available at: http://www.hcch.net/e/conventions/menu35e.html
It should be noted that for the purposes of the Hague Convention, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are treated separately because they constitute separate jurisdictions. The provisions of Schedule 3 are intended to be compatible with the provisions of Schedule 3 to the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 which provided for the private international law of Scotland in this field and implemented the Hague Convention for Scotland. Scotland is as yet the only country to have ratified the Convention, which will enter into force only once it has been ratified by three states. However, Schedule 3 provides private international law rules to govern jurisdictional issues between Scotland and England/Wales, irrespective of whether the Convention is in force.
So, are you saying that, in effect, the Mental Capacity Act incorporates the Hague Convention into the legal system of England & Wales, while on the international plane, the Convention is deemed unapplicable in these two jurisdictions ?
Could that mean that the Convention would apply in England and Wales at once, and thus before it would actually apply in the three states which ratified the Convention?
Jan von Hein says:
The legal status of England and Wales as contracting states of the Hague convention seems to be ambiguous, to put it mildly. On the one hand, England made a declaration in 2003 which states the following: “The United Kingdom declares, in accordance with Article 55, that the Convention shall extend to Scotland only, and that it may modify this declaration by submitting another declaration at any time.”. Two years later, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 provided in section 63: “International protection of adults
(a) gives effect in England and Wales to the Convention on the
International Protection of Adults signed at the Hague on 13th January
2000 (Cm. 5881) (in so far as this Act does not otherwise do so), and
(b) makes related provision as to the private international law of England
and Wales.”
If we assume that the website of the Hague Conference is up to date, perhaps the simple explanation for the confusion is that the United Kingdom has up to now failed to extend or to withdraw its “Scotland-only”-declaration of 2003, although the Act of 2005 was meant to “give effect” to the Hague convention. For other contracting states (e.g. Germany and France), this leads to the intricate question whether the habitual residence of an adult in England should be considered as sufficient to trigger the application of the convention or whether England should be treated as a non-contracting state.
The Ministry of Justice have clarified the position. The United Kingdom has under Article 55 declared that its ratification only extends to Scotland. This is so notwithstanding the fact that section 63 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (the Act) specifically states that Schedule 3 of the Act gives effect in England and Wales to Convention XXXV (in so far as the Act does not otherwise do so), and makes related provision as to the private international law of England and Wales.
SI 2007/1897 makes it clear that both section 63 and Schedule 3 have taken effect from 1 October 2007 save that by paragraph 35 of the Schedule to the Act, paragraphs 8 [jurisdiction in relation to non residents], 9 [jurisdiction in relation to convention countries], 19(2) and 19(5) [protective measures made by convention countries], Part 5 [co-operation with convention countries], and paragraph 30 [Article 38 certificates given by convention countries] only come into force, when Convention XXXV itself enters into force under Article 57.
However this does not mean that England & Wales has ratified. The existing declaration under Article 55 still operates and although Convention XXXV is effective in England & Wales, England & Wales has not yet actually ratified the Convention.
Paragraphs 8, 9, 19(2) and 19(5), Part 5, and paragraph 30 however are not limited to coming into force solely when England & Wales ratifies, but only when Convention XXXV itself enters into force. Therefore these provisions will also come into force in England & Wales on January 1 2009. Convention XXXV therefore will have full effect in England & Wales from January 1 2009, but for the purposes of the law in Scotland, France or Germany, England & Wales has not ratified.
The UK Ministry of Justice has made it clear that “England & Wales is committed to extending Convention XXXV as soon as possible. The work for this is under way“.
Schedule 3 does of course now set out the private international law in England & Wales and therefore in addition to setting out the rules for jurisdiction and recognition in England & Wales Schedule 3 also sets out the applicable law and therefore the rules as to which lasting powers are or are not valid. A lasting power validly made in South Australia by a person habitually resident in South Australia is now valid whenever the power was made. An English Enduring Power of Attorney made by a person habitually resident in a state where such powers are not valid, may now be invalid, even if made at a time when Schedule 3 to the Act did not apply.
The difficulty that Schedule 3 extends Convention XXXV to the applicable law issues of Lasting Powers not only of adults subject to incapacity but also to all Lasting Powers, including those of persons not subject to incapacity remains. Other ratifying states will not recognise this extension of the Convention.
Peter Beaton says:
As someone who was closely involved with the ratification by the UK of the Convention in 2003 I can confirm definitively that that ratification was only and was only intended to be for Scotland since at that time legislation in the form of the Adults with Incapacity(Scotland) act had been passed by the Scottish Parliament with specific provisions to enable the Convention to apply in Scotland as well as providing rules of PIL for Scotland on the matter.
The intention was and remains that so soon as legislative provision has been made in the other law districts of the UK that further Ratification by the UK will take place with the aim of ensuring application of the Convention for the UK as a whole. It is gratifying to note that this step has moved closer with the passage of the legisaltion for England and Wales. What, by the way, isa the situation for Northern Ireland does anyone know? This may be significant indeed given that Ireland has signed the Convetion and it is likely that the Irish legisltion will enable ratification reasonably soon.
Incidentally I gather also that Switzerland is likely to ratify the Convnetin early in 2009.
AF says:
When reading the above comments, for clarification, it should be made clear that the Ministry of Justice does not act on behalf of the United Kingdom. The Ministry of Justice acts only on behalf of the jurisdiction of England & Wales. In Scotland the appropriate ministry is the Scottish Government Justice Directorate. I cannot answer for Northern Ireland, which is also a separate jurisdiction.
Matters concerning Private International Law are the responsibility of the Scottish Government; however, negotiations for ratification purposes are carried out on behalf of all three United Kingdom jurisdictions by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, following consultation with, where necessary, the appropriate ministries of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas
Scotland ratified the Convention separately from the other UK jurisdictions, and ratification was carried out on behalf of Scotland by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Enquiries in Scotland on the operation of the Convention should be made to the Scottish Government Justice Directorate and not the Ministry of Justice for England & Wales.
Any reference to the UK Ministry of Justice should be construed as a misnomer.
The judgment of Hon. Mr. Justice Hedley in the case of Re MN of July 30, 2010 is the first reported Anglo-Welsh decision relating to cross border capacity issues, since the advent of Sch. 3. of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The case involved the removal of MN from California to England by PLN under a Californian Advance Health Care Directive. After the removal, the Californian court made orders appointing DD as a permanent conservator and directing the return of MN to California.
The judgement comes to two interesting conclusions.
1. The removal of a child from one jurisdiction to another by one parent without the consent of the other is wrongful and is not effective to change habitual residence. The wrongful removal of an incapacitated adult should have the same consequence.
2. If habitual residence had not been changed and the Californian court had jurisdiction, the question was raised as to whether s.1(5) MCA2005 requiring an act to be done in a person’s best interests, was a mandatory provision for the purposes of Sch.3, para 19(4)(b). The court decided that it was not, but that under Sch.3 para.12, the conditions of implementation of the foreign order would be subject to the whole of the MCA2005, including s.1(5).
The case will be the first of many and will deserve a full article.
It will be great as and when we can get England & Wales to ratify Hague Convention XXXV. Unlike the devolved Scottish powers, sadly we do not yet have any Ministries for England & Wales. We have to struggle on with the Ministries of the United Kingdom Government including the Ministry of Justice and try to persuade them of the value of ratification for England & Wales.
A Fay says:
Does anyone know if the Hague Convention is relevant to the protection of a dual national (UK, FR) adult woman, protected under French law by a curatelle, and who has lived in France for many years, and who may be pressurised by her husband to move to Scotland against her better interests?
If a person is protected in France, are they automatically protected in Scotland? Are the two countries’ authorities obliged to liaise on case? Does Scottish law respect such a person’s mariage contract established in France?
Certainly. You could have a look at the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 which deals with the ratification of the Hague Convention into Scots Law.
Section 39 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 deals with the recognition of matrimonial property regimes under Scots law.
The UK Ministry of Justice has not yet had to consider whether the UK will opt in to the forthcoming EU Rome IV Regulation (previously known as Brussels III) on PIL and matrimonial property regimes when it is published next year. The forthcoming decision of the UK Supreme Court in Radmacher v Granatino on 20 October 2010 should not affect Scots law, but may well set out Anglo Welsh PIL on this issue.
The answer really depends on who has been appointed as the Guardian for the incapable adult. If the husband is the Guardian then the question must be, there are measures in place in France to prevent him from taking any action which might be detrimental to his wife? I do not know how the system of Guardianship works in France, or how one party may be prevented from removing a vulnerable adult from France.
If a person is protected in France, they are automatically protected in Scotland. However these protections extend only to property and the welfare of the vulnerable adult. If it is the case that a foreign national is residing in Scotland and someone wishes to take measures, either in France or in Scotland, to protect their interests, this can be done.
Before any measures can be taken, the Central Authorities of both countries are obliged to liaise with each other to determine the best interests of the vulnerable adult.
However, if a vulnerable adult is removed to Scotland against their will, the protections afforded under the Hague Convention might not extend to a forcible return to France if wrongfully removed.
The marriage entered into in France does not need any formal recognition in Scotland.
If you are in the UK, perhaps you should contact the designated person at the Central Authority for Scotland for further advice.
The UK will opt out of any Regulation on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession. It has been strongly opposed in Scotland.
Lisa Ball says:
Please can you tell me if Switzerland ratified the agreement ?
Certainly. The Hague website HCCH gives all the details. The convention came into force on 1 January 2009 and Switzerland’s ratification had effect from 1 July 2009. It is good to see that Finland has ratified with effect from 1 March 2011 and Estonia acceded with effect from 1 November 2011. We are hopeful that Ireland and Austria and also possibly Northern Ireland may ratify this year. We still wait for England & Wales to follow Scotland’s good example. The Office of the Public Guardian in England & Wales is still considering issues and is yet to be persuaded that this is a significant issue.
However the subtle differences even between jurisdictions that have ratified continue to create interest and discussion.
A fascinating and fast changing area of PIL.
Eighteen Publications on South African Private International Law 2007-2008 Article: Muir Watt on Economics of Adjudication and Int’l Arbitration
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Solid Rookie Performer
A Series Where Nathan Fillion isn’t the only good thing
He Really Is Roguishly Handsome
Nathan Fillion has always had a genuine nice guy feel to him, along with his roguish good looks. It led him to cult stardom in the works of Joss Whedon — even after fifteen years, there are still millions of acolytes missing Firefly — and genuine stardom in the romantic police drama Castle. Even when he has placed the most despicable villains as he did in the last weeks of Buffy, there was always something charming about him that you couldn’t quite resist.
So it follows that his return to TV in ABC’s cop drama, The Rookie, is one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the season — at least, by some of us. It’s not because of the original source material — it’s adapted from a failed network drama starring Paul Sorvino in the late 1980s. But Fillion has a gift of rising above what can be considered tired clichés. What is more surprising is how much the series manages to rise above even the standards of the traditional cop drama and give it some genuine energy.
Fillion plays John Nolan, a forty-ish Philadelphia construction business owner, who in the opening of the pilot is filing for bankruptcy. When a robbery occurs at the bank where he’s cleaning out his safety deposit box, he manages to stall the robbers, and in doing so, manages to awaken some part of himself that seemed dead. A little more than six months later, he has relocated to LA, gone through the police academy, and has become a rookie beat cop. And it is clear from the minute he gets there, that much of the brass doesn’t like his presence, and is openly rooting for him to fail
Were the series to just follow Nolan and his story, it would make for an intriguing show, albeit one that was slightly gimmicky. What raises The Rookie above the traditional stuff we get from Wolf and Bruckheimer is that the series keeps it focus around the other officer and their COs. Nolan’s CO is Bishop (Afton Williamson) a no-nonsense cop focused on becoming detective, torn between the pressure to make sure he doesn’t make her look bad (not helped by the plethora of car crashes in the second episode) and similar pressure to bounce him. The other rookies who have come up with Nolan are Lopez ( Alyssa Diaz), who is saddled with Bradford, a cop who seems determined to break her balls in every way possible (even after getting shot in the pilot) and Jackson (Titus Makin) the son of one of the top brass, who seems to have the book memorized, but the first time he’s under fire, he freezes. Another series would have him kicked out or killed by the end of the first episode; his CO, Lucy Chen covers for him, but is very clear that he has to play hard or he’ll get bounced.
But most of the series is focused on Nolan and his journey. Which is fitting, considering that after nearly eight years of being known for playing a character who was police-adjacent in Castle, Fillion now gets to play an actual cop. And while he has some of Castle’s charm and sexuality (he’s having an affair with Lopez, and it seems he has some relationship in the past with the captain), he’s also covering new territory playing a character who is at a loss most of the time, and doesn’t have all the answers. Nor are his superiors prepared to give him any — over and over we get the message that real cops aren’t supposed to focused on ‘the why’.
The Rookie has elements of being not just another good vehicle for vehicle, but a solid ensemble cop drama as well. Like the legal drama, the network police procedural has been running on fumes for awhile — successful but always routine. Despite being a remake of a sort, it has more versatility than the usual ones, and I hope enough viewers tune in to find that.
Can We Talk About “Umbrella Academy”?
Ellie Daforge in Hot Takes and Cupcakes
The Wheel of Time Still Has A Long, Long Way To Go For TV
Spencer Ellsworth in FanFare
My Starship at the End of The World
Jay Leibowitz in Humungus
The Perverse Queer Pleasures of the Costume Drama
Dr. Thomas J. West III
Apple TV+ and the Search for Cultural Relevance
The Illusion of Control in ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’
Howard Chai
‘Cobra Kai’ Gives Redemption to The Villain of ‘The Karate Kid’
Ryan Fan in The Narrative
The sad story of Brienne of Tarth
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Crazy Names
Crazy Names & Facts of Famous Stars
Actress / Model
Megan Fox Boyfriend, Net Worth, Age, Husband, Children, Biography
September 1, 2019 - by Rakib - Leave a Comment
Megan Denise Fox (May 16, 1986) Born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Her parents are Darlene and Franklin Fox. As a child she had to learn to live with separated parents, she and her sister were under the care of her mother and stepfather Tony Tonachio, both were raised under the Protestant religion. At present Megan Fox boyfriend and husband is Brian Austin Green.
Birth Name Megan Denise Fox
Nickname Mega Fox, Foxy Megan, Meg
Profession(s) Actress, Model
Years active 2001–present
Blood Group A+
Hobbies Surfing, Diving, Dance
Religion Christian
Zodiac Sign Taurus
Ethnicity English, Scottish, German, French, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and Powhatan Native American
Also Read: Elizabeth Olsen Boyfriend, Age, Net Worth, Bra Size, Biography & More
Money Factor & Net Worth
Salary $180,625 per year
Cars Mercedes-Benz CLS55, Mercedes-Benz G550, Mustang Fastback
House Megan Fox
10250 Constellation Blvd
Address & Birthplace
Birthplace Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.
Hometown Oak Ridge
Her Acted Film & Television
Debut Film Holiday in the Sun
Big Gold Brick
Debut Television Ocean Ave.
Boss Girl
Legends of the Lost with Megan Fox
Boyfriend, Affairs And Marital Status
Boyfriends Ben Leahy (actor),
David Gallagher (actor),
Brian Austin Green (actor & rapper),
Shia LaBeouf (actor & director)
Husband / Partner Brian Austin Green
Current Relationship Brian Austin Green
Son Noah Shannon Green
Bodhi Ransom Green
Journey River Green
Family & Relative
Father Franklin Thomas Fox
Mother Gloria Darlene
Brother N/A
Sister Kristi Branim Fox
School Kingston Elementary School, Virginia Beach, Virginia and St. Lucie West Centennial High School, Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA
University N/A
Qualification Completed Schooling
Perfect Body Measurements
Chest 34 inch
Waist 22 inch
Hip 32 inch
All Favourite Things
Favourite Actor N/A
Favourite Actresses Marilyn Monroe
Favourite Pets Dog
Favourite Colour Pink
Does Megan Fox smoke? No
Favourite Car Mercedes-Benz CLS55
Does Megan Fox drink alcohol? Yes
Favourite Singer Not Known
Social Media Followers
Instagram 7.1 Million
Twitter 1.3 Million
Facebook 47 Million
Her father supported her in her tastes, enrolled her in dance classes, swimming and belonged to the choir. His mother was very strict because of this his adolescence was very boring. That’s why when he collected enough money Megan left the house. He worked and studied acting and dance in California.
From the age of 13, he stood out as a model for his talent and beauty. She won several competitions: American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Although before that time I was an unattractive girl and also very lonely at school. From the age of 15 he discovered his taste for acting. When Megan lived in California, she was an advertising model at Holiday In The Sun, after the year 2001 she made her acting debut. After a few years he was in I want to be Superfamous (2004) where he shared credits with Lindsay Lohan.
Later he acted in the blockbuster directed by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg Transformers (2007), with this performance Fox was recognized worldwide. Unfortunately he could not participate in the sequel to the same movie because he had serious problems with director Michael Bay who was in charge of Transformers: the dark side of the moon. It was replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Fox was in television series, such as: Two and a Half Men and What I Like About You, also intervened in several television films, including Crimes Of Fashion.
On television he managed to strengthen his talent with the role of Sydney Shanowsky in the comedy Hope and Faith. The following year was in New York For Beginners, a film that did not meet the expectations of the critic and was also a box office failure. He gave life to Jennifer Check in Jennifer’s Body (2009), science fiction, horror and comedy film. For several years he was not participating in stellar productions. When 2014 came he gave life to a journalist named April O’Neil in Ninja Turtles.
His good performance made him repeat this role in the sequel Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (2016). During this period he maintained a relationship with actor Brian Austin Green, the relationship ended in 2009. After that break Megan declared bisexual, this statement generated a lot of comments and even bad comments. The American actress was the protagonist of the film Fathom. The film was stopped for a while until it was retaken by producer Brian Austin Green. The argument is two young people who are unjustly arrested for drug trafficking in Mexico.
He has dated Shia LaBeouf whom he met in the filming of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). He later returned to Brian Austin Green, and they married at a beautiful wedding in Hawaii in 2010. In 2012 he gave birth to his first son, Noah Shannon. Then Bodhi was born, and in 2016 Journey River was born. Fox participated in the famous video clip of the song Love the way you lie, by Eminem and Rihanna, was released on MTV. The video was one of the most watched on YouTube.
Fox participated in the film directed by Mitch Glazer Passion Play giving life to an angel, Lilly. He worked with Mary-Jane of Friends with Kids with Jon Hamm, Adam Scott, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Edward Burns and Chris O’Dowd. The movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Thanks to his success he went to the North American screens. Criticisms of the film were quite positive. In 2012 he appeared in the film directed by Sacha Baron Cohen, The Dictator performing a cameo alongside actors such as Ben Kingsley and John C. Reilly and directed by Larry Charles.
Then he played Desi in This is Forty, directed by Judd Apatow, he arrived in Spanish cinema a year later. Then she was hired by the important Paramount Pictures where she performed on Swindle, a script written by Enzo Mileti and Scott Wilson, in which Fox had the honor of working alongside Zoë Saldana. For several years the actress developed psychological problems, in her youth she suffered from anxiety, also suffered panic attacks, especially when she must board a plane.
Megan Fox has appeared on the covers of important American and English magazines. It has been the official image of several brands, for example, of the Armani Code fragrance. The actress is also the image of the Metro City firm in the spring / summer collection in 2012. Then she was hired by Doritos. In 2013 he starred in a commercial for the Brazilian beer Brahma, which will be an image for the Brazilian Carnival. She was the star invited to the parades of the Samba school held in the Sambadrome.
Megan Fox Boyfriend and Husband:
Talking about Megan Fox boyfriend: Megan Fox was in the several love relationship. Megan Fox boyfriend was actor Ben Leahy, they were in a relationship for a long time. After the breakup with Ben Leahy, she was made a relationship with actor David Gallagher. And David Gallagher also was Megan Fox boyfriend for a certain time. After finish, the relationship with David Gallagher, Megan Fox Boyfriend list grows with including Brian Austin Green. Brian Austin Green is an American actor and rapper. Also, actor and director Shia LaBeouf was Megan Fox boyfriend for few times. But at present Megan Fox boyfriend and husband is Brian Austin Green. They got married in 2010 and now they have two children’s.
Megan Fox Net Worth:
Megan Fox is a popular American actress and Megan Fox net worth could be a good amount because she spends her life with expensive products. Most of Megan Fox net worth comes from her profession acting. Megan Fox net worth grows with some of her blockbuster movies. At present Megan Fox net worth is estimated 8 million USD and Megan Fox salery is $180,625 per year. We hope in future Megan Fox net worth will grow with her net work.
More Speical:
Whore and New York for beginners have been two recent films in which Megan has participated but in which she did not achieve the success of Transform. Jennifer’s Body , is a horror film whose premiere is very close and from which photos of the shooting have been known by other interesting.
The sequel to Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen recently released, is shaking everyone’s box office and promises to consolidate Megan as the star it already is.
On the other hand, Fathom (2011), Jonah Hex (2010), Passion Plays (2010) are the titles of their next projects. What is clear is that the few films he has starred in and the television series in which he has participated have been enough to transform her into one of the most desired women in the world. The surveys and rankings that give her as the most beautiful girl in the world are not lacking. There is something about Megan being talked about a lot like Angelina Jolie’s successor.
TaggedMegan Fox boyfriend
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[BEST] 10 Pretty & Tallest Actress in Hollywood
December 17, 2020 December 17, 2020 - by Rakib - Leave a Comment
The actress and model Gabriella Zanna Vanessa Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe was born on April 8, 1989, in Hampshire (United Kingdom). The descendant of the aristocratic Gough-Calthorpe family, her parents are John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe …
Copyright © 2021 Crazy Names.
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Dick Durbin: 'Mitt Romney Is The Obamacare Daddy'
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin did a nice job of hammering home a few points about presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney on this Sunday's Face the Nation and I hope we see more Democrats continue to do the same. I don't think most average
8 years ago by Heather
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin did a nice job of hammering home a few points about presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney on this Sunday's Face the Nation and I hope we see more Democrats continue to do the same.
I don't think most average voters care whatsoever about the ridiculous talking point we heard all week on the Supreme Court ruling on the individual mandate and whether it's a tax or a penalty. Who the hell cares? I can tell you this wasn't on the radar of anyone I encounter in everyday life and the people who don't follow politics that I'm around had no idea the court even ruled on the Affordable Care Act, much less some argument on the semantics of what you call the penalty on free riders.
Believe me, that is the kind of stuff that makes people's eyes start rolling back into their heads if you even try to find out if they read about the decision. The right wingers in the media won't shut up about it because they feel they're scoring points if they just use the words Democrat and taxes in the same sentence over and over again. The trouble for Romney is they're doing it now when almost no one is paying a damn bit of attention to them other than their hard core base, who was never going to vote for Obama in a million years anyway or the tiny segment of the population that covers politics year round.
Rather than continuing to respond to that nonsense, I'm happy to see the Democrats pointing out the hypocrisy of Romney now being against a plan that was essentially the same as the law his state passed when he was governor, as Durbin did here. Bottom line is, the Affordable Care Act was based on Romney's plan and now he wants to pretend he never passed the same thing in his state, because apparently he believes most voters out there are incapable of reading or will never watch old video tape and that everyone who votes in the upcoming election either a Fox "News" watcher or Rush Limbaugh listener.
Durbin also did a good job of hitting Romney on the offshore tax havens and Swiss bank account. The more I see the Democrats actually getting after Romney as they've been doing in recent weeks for Bain, for outsourcing, for the offshore tax havens and for the hypocrisy and as I've watched his campaign really have a lot of trouble responding, I've got to wonder how Romney's going to make it through the debates.
SCHIEFFER: Senator Durbin, started Governor Barbour off with a quote from a Republican. Here's one from a Democrat, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote in The Huffington Post this week that President Obama did inherit a bad economy from George Bush. But he says, "The excuse is wearing thin. It is his economy now, and most voters don't care what inherited." And "if the economy stays bad," Robert Reich said "he's not going to be elected." Is that fair? Does he have a point?
DURBIN: Well, I-- I tell you, it's-- it's clear that economy is the number one issue. It's also clear that the month that Obama was sworn into office we lost eight hundred thousand jobs that month. Last month we created eighty thousand jobs in the private sector. In the last twenty-eight months we have seen consistent private sector job growth.
It is also clear that when it comes to contrasting, Mitt Romney has no economic plan. He wants to return us to those thrilling days of the bush yesteryears that brought us into this recession. But he has two other problems in his campaign that have really dragged him down, he can't get lift. The second one is the whole question of health care reform. Let's get down to the bottom line here. Mitt Romney is the Obamacare daddy. He gave birth to this baby up in Massachusetts and now he doesn't recognize it; he can't pick out any straight-- strains in the hereditary chain there that looked like anything that he did in Massachusetts.
But let me tell you, Bob, there's a third issue looming here and it's all about a lighthouse off Nan-- Nantucket called Sand Katie. If you read the vi-- Vanity Fair piece and The Associated Press piece we understand the following. Mitt Romney has failed to make an economic disclosure that every President and candidate for President has made in the last thirty-six years goes back to his father, who disclosed twelve years of tax returns, he's disclosed one.
Secondly, he is the first and only candidate for President of the United States with a Swiss bank account with tax shelters, with tax avoidance schemes that involve so many foreign countries. And the third is that when it comes down to his Swiss bank account, there is just no way to explain it.
SCHIEFFER: Okay.
DURBIN: You either get a Swiss bank account to conceal what you are doing or you believe the Swiss Franc is stronger than the American dollar.
Affordable Care Act, Bob Schieffer, Dick Durbin, Election 2012, Face the Nation, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, Obamacare, offshore tax avoidance, Robert Reich, Romneycare, Supreme Court, Swiss banking, tax shelters
Durbin: Romney 'Suffering From Political Amnesia'
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Even After Deepwater Catastrophe, MMS Continues To Exempt Oil Companies From Environmental Impact Studies
It was known long before the Obama administration took over that the MMS was rubber stamping every drilling application that came along. So why didn't
It was known long before the Obama administration took over that the MMS was rubber stamping every drilling application that came along. So why didn't they clamp down on this from the beginning?
Regulators at the Minerals Management Service exempted 27 additional offshore drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico from performing an in-depth environmental analysis—even after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, according to reporting by McClatchy. One of those exemptions went to BP.
The Deepwater Horizon rig had also been exempted from having to perform an in-depth environmental analysis using something known as a “categorical exclusion.” Categorical exclusions are used to fast-track drilling plans by eliminating paperwork that is deemed to be unnecessary or redundant because the drilling would probably have no significant effect on the environment.
While the granting of an exclusion is not the final step before a company is free to drill, it does expedite the review process.
The Department of Interior has put a temporary moratorium on new permits to drill offshore. MMS officials told McClatchy that giving a categorical exclusion isn’t the same as giving final approval to drill, and they “could not say” whether the exemptions would stand when the moratorium is lifted.
BP’s massive oil spill was already in progress when MMS applied the categorical exemptions to these 27 projects in the Gulf, exempting them from having to produce site-specific environmental impact statements as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.
“The BP rig still burning. The oil is spilling,” Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told me. “And they give another categorical exclusion to BP, saying there’s no chance of a spill. It’s just insane.”
BP’s Deepwater Horizon plans were also thought to pose minimal risk to the environment. In its exploration plan for the rig, submitted to MMS years ago, BP said “no significant adverse impacts are expected” to the environment and stated that a spill was an “unlikely event.”
In the three weeks after the rig exploded, MMS gave BP a categorical exclusion for a plan to drill “at a depth of more than 4,000 feet,”according to McClatchy. Another company, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., was given approval for a plan to drill in more than 9,000 feet of water.
Deepwater Horizon, Environment, Gulf of Mexico, McClatchy, Minerals Management Service, Offshore drilling, oil rig, oil spill
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New Caelifera
modern methow cabin
I’m sad to share the news that my wife, Melissa Bacon, passed away this last weekend after a battle with cancer. She was amazing beyond words. For those in the Seattle area, we will be having a celebration of her life. Details here A Celebration of Melissa Bacon.
Do you realize that you have the most beautiful face
Do you realize we’re floating in space,
Do you realize that happiness makes you cry
Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do you realize, oh, oh, oh?
Do you realize that everyone you know
Someday will die?
Do you realize?
And Now Back To a House Blog
We close on a new home next week! So, apologies to my two readers, I’ll now be posting about various home decor sundries.
Book: Crystal Fire
Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the Information Age by Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson
We live in the age of the transistor. One estimate is that humanity has made over 2.9 sextillion transistors (sextillion is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). This number is amazing, though whenever I think about counting numbers, I remember, Agravados number and am humbled by complexity of biology.
Crystal Fire is a history of the development of the transistor. As such it focuses on the three who won the Nobel Prize for this discovery: Bardeen, Braittain, and Shockley. The book is well done, and a good introduction to the story. I guess because I’ve read a lot about the early history of the transistor I was, however, a little bit disappointed. The book doesn’t delve into the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld’s early patent (though it is mentioned as a motivator for the speed with which the transistor was patented), a story which I find fascinating. It also doesn’t discuss the “second” invention, the Transistron. It also doesn’t give as thorough accounting of Shockley’s wild time after the invention of the point contact transistor in which he needed to make his own ideas real. I did learn a bit more about Braittain, probably the most famous graduate of Washington state’s Whitman college (and definitely the most famous person from the Okanogan valley).
Recommended for a good introduction to the early invention of the transistor.
Book: Moore’s Law
Moore’s Law: The Life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley’s Quiet Revolutionary by Arnold Thackray, David Brock and Rachel Jones.
Gordon Moore once said my name. I’ve always been pretty stoked about that. Mostly because he was at the center of one of the greatest technological revolutions that humanity has seen: the rise of the silicon microprocessor. This book is a detailed biography, including lots of back story on Moore’s family. Moore’s personal life and even his personality was, in some ways, not too remarkable. This is not a book full of amusing stories, but instead focuses on the long pull of Moore’s life work. I came away from it with a greater appreciation of how complicated the story of the integrated circuit really was. We forget how long and how many challenges were overcome over the many decades of the rise of Moore’s law. Seeing how these were attacked was illuminating. The attack was generally first by putting on the scientist hat to try to understand, and then pivoting to engineering to see how to fix it, but often was a messy mix of the two, with an amazing amount of prior “expertise” necessary to make progress.
Recommended for nerds of the history of computing.
Book: Amusing Ourselves To Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
This book caused me to uninstall multiple apps from my phone. I suppose that is a strong recommendation. It also inspired Roger Waters album “Amused to Death”, which I am quite fond of. While some of the book is dated by its focus on television, the central ideas about how technology has shaped culture feel even more relevant today.
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another – slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
Book: John Stewart Bell and Twentieth-Century Physics, Vision and Integrity
John Stewart Bell and Twentieth-Century Physics: Vision and Integrity by Andrew Whitaker
The strangeness of quantum theory shows itself in Bell’s theorem. At its root it says that if quantum theory behaves as it’s formalism predicts, you have to give up locality if you want to think about there being some underlying mechanism behind quantum theory. When Bell came up with this theorem, he was motivated by the Bohm-de Broglie nonlocal hidden variable theory, which he thought had been badly maligned. But the cool thing is that he did not just add another philosophical argument about interpretations of the foundations of quantum theory, but turned this into a question about how different ways of thinking about quantum theory might lead to testable predictions. Local realism, it seems, can’t be a good description of our world. Today there are loophole free experiments confirming this. I once wrote a paper on modifying Bell’s theorem when you have just a little tiny bit of non-locality, so you can guess I’m a big fan.
This book is a rather academic look into Bell’s life. It covers in detail his childhood and covers almost every paper Bell published, including the vast majority that were outside of the area of foundations of quantum theory. I’m hesitant to recommend this book to anyone first encountering Bell, but if you are interested in his life and especially the physics beyond foundations that he worked on, it is worth going through this book. One nit would be that the book constantly points out when a physicist thought highly of Bell, perhaps as a sensitivity to the reputation that people who work on foundations of quantum theory have in physics.
Book: Dark Pools, The Rise of the Machine Traders and the Rigging of the U.S. Stock Market
Dark Pools: The Rise of the Machine Traders and the Rigging of the U.S. Stock Market by Scott Patterson.
A bit of a misnamed book, mostly this is about the rise of electronic trading markets, with a good discussion of role of high frequency trading in these new markets, and not solely focused on dark pools. The book focuses in particular on the ideals of the early creators of these electronic markets in contrast to how they eventually ended up catering to the high liquidity provided by many high frequency traders. The one thing I would have liked more of was to understand in more detail the authors claims about how particular order types in these markets cause an unfair advantage over other market players. Another area that would have been interesting would have been to better understand the claim that high frequency market makers disappear during times of high volatility. The book is definitely well written, but I did find myself wanting more info at exactly the place where the author seemed to get a bit out of their depth (in particular the AI section towards the end really doesn’t do a good job delineating different machine learning techniques.) All in all, though, this is a good read, with a lot of entertain real world characters, so I recommend it to those interested in learning a bit about this part of the financial world.
Book: A Man for All Markets, From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market
A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Edward O. Thorp.
Edward Thorp has does some amazing things. He invented card counting for the game of blackjack. He built, with Claude Shannon of all people, one of the world’s first wearable computers. That computer was used to beat roulette. He came up with Black-Scholes formula for pricing options before Black and Scholes. He ran for many years a very successful statistical arbitrage strategy before such arbitrage was on anyones radar.
This an autobiography which covers much of Thorps life. There are some pretty amazing scenes, like the time he asked Feynman whether roulette was beatable and Feynman said no. Thorp’s reaction was to then think he was definitely onto something (interesting Feynman’s student Hibbs, shortly after this encounter, exploited misbalanced roulette wheels to great success.) But I think what comes through most in all of this is how clear of a thinker Thorp is. The ideas he describe sound straightforward, I think, because he does an incredible job laying them out from a foundational perspective. This is a rare gift.
Another important part of this story is that Thorp gave up the life of an academic mathematician. (Here example of one of his papers). In the book he describes this transition. Even all these years later you can feel how much of a change this was for him, he had sort of always planned on being an academic. OK, I guess mostly it’s just that I can really relate to this transition, so it was good to read someone else’s thoughts through that journey.
Recommended for those whose first thought when encountering a game is to analyze it and those interested in the history of games and finance.
Book: Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
An ambitious look at humanity from the time when we could first call ourselves human. The book shines the brightest when it takes a step back and looks at humanity without the prior lens of how we frame our history and culture. This is especially true in the first half of the book, where the author digs into the many created myths and ideas that shape history. My one beef would be that at times, the author turns pastoral, though often while admitting that he can’t really judge whether this idealism about the past can be justified. Recommended.
Kris Krogh on Sad News
Todd Brun on Sad News
Ashley on Book: Crystal Fire
wb on Book: A Man for All Markets, From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market
Ken on Book: Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind
Methow Valley
Paper Dance
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Inside Beat
Internalized Islamophobia: 9/11's insidious aftermath
Rania Rizvi
Photo by Wikimedia
Studies have shown that Muslim Americans are more likely than any other religious group in the U.S. to experience racial and religious discrimination, according to gallup.com.
Jan. 16, 2000: My two newly-wed Muslim Pakistani parents immigrated to Canada to start their new life together. Packing a few suitcases, they left everything they knew –– their friends, family and the only place they called home –– behind.
My mother didn’t wear a headscarf and my father didn’t have a beard. On the surface, no one could see their faith, and that worked in their favor.
In their pursuit of the "American Dream," my parents hid their Muslim identities and became upstanding citizens of the Western world. They kept their head down, obeyed the law and quietly blended into the crowd of Hindu Indians, biting down their ancestor’s tongue when they spoke.
Back then, Islamophobia was wanting to take on the debt of being a Hindu more than the liability of being a Muslim.
Sept. 11, 2001: My father paced back and forth in the living room as he watched the CNN recaps of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers. Plumes of smoke filled the screen behind him, as he tried to mentally prepare for what his non-Muslim colleagues would say to him at work the next day.
My mother held me, her first-born daughter, in her arms a little bit tighter as she realized this was the beginning of the end –– the end of a life where we wouldn’t have a target on our backs.
Islamophobia was accepting defeat before the war had even begun.
Sept. 12, 2006: My parents immigrated to America, where any illusion of genuine acceptance was broken. At recess, I sat with my friend, Zuri and we played mancala, tucked away in the corner of the room.
The classroom was always noisy, but that day, hearing the sound of my classmates calling my one Muslim friend, Bilal, a “terrorist'' and “Osama” was the loudest.
All the kids laughed at him. Bilal laughed too, but not because he wanted to. I didn’t find it all too funny and told them to stop. They stared.
Islamophobia became learning to laugh instead of fighting back. It became staring at the name tag on your desk after recess and wondering why your parents couldn’t pick a name that sounded “less Muslim.”
Growing up Muslim post-9/11 was knowing you'd never be accepted, that you'd be fighting a never-ending battle against systemic injustice for the rest of your life.
Nineteen years later and Islamophobia is so profoundly ingrained into us and our systems that most of us don’t even process the extent to which it pervades our everyday lives. We've learned to laugh at the "bomb jokes" and numb ourselves in its presence, to keep our pain to ourselves.
But in the effort to cope with the pain, we've become indifferent.
Now, we watch refugees dying on our screens and continue to scroll down our feeds. We ignore the eyes burning holes through our scarves on the way to Jummah and say, “Wow, that sucks,” when we hear our hijabi friends complain about the looks they got from old men at ShopRite. We silence the adhan on our phones before class because, God forbid it went off, the others would stare at us as if we had atomic bombs in our backpacks.
This apathy, the subtle ways we dismiss our Muslim identities to conform, is the modern day war against Muslims: internalized Islamophobia.
According to the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, internalized Islamophobia is “the ingestion of problematic notions about the religion by Muslims themselves, particularly those of the younger generation who are experiencing multiple attacks against their faith.”
In simplest terms: Islamophobia is when non-Muslims discriminate against someone for their Muslim identity, and internalized Islamophobia is when Muslims perpetuate this discrimination.
Internalized Islamophobia is what my parents fell victim to in hopes of being accepted in an unforgiving America, when Bilal laughed when he really didn’t want to, when we continue to scroll and distance ourselves from religion and our mother roots because they aren't considered “cool.”
This isn't to say the youth, my parents or Bilal are at fault –– they did what they thought was right, what would allow them to survive. After being chewed up and spat out a hundred times by a world who would rather see us dead than equal, it's hard to keep fighting and it's easier just to fit in.
But then we also ought to check ourselves and realize that this submission inherently makes us part of the problem.
We are quick to drop the “racism card" when we get looks and blame Westerners or non-Muslims for the deaths of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, but stay silent when the jokes are made because we don’t want to “cause trouble.”
We are angered by non-Muslims for not caring about our lives, but barely care about the lives of Muslims ourselves.
How can we expect anyone to fight for us when many of us won’t fight for ourselves?
Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone –– there is no shortage of brilliant, bold Muslim activists who are making shock waves in the political space for Muslims and are dedicated to bringing awareness to our struggle.
But like many systemic battles, this will not be won by a few “woke” bloggers or reposts on Instagram. Relying on sensationalized media and hashtags will never bring us the justice we seek, only uprooting injustice will.
Ultimately, the antidote to this issue is a generational decision to stop letting these daily injustices happen, to stand up for the Bilals in our classes and to resist apathy.
If we continue to go down this path we are currently on, our indifference as a Muslim community will be our undoing. To continue to acquiesce the oppressive systems that diminished our ancestors will be the biggest betrayal of our time.
But if we can learn to be introspective and recognize the ways that we have been indoctrinated and eradicate our own Islamophobic ideologies, we can fight the systems intended to subdue us from the inside out.
The cards are stacked up against us and racism is a very real issue that plays a major role in this problem. It's going to take decades to even begin to reverse the damage and pick apart the truth from the Western propaganda that we've subliminally taken in.
For those of us whose Muslim parents made such bold sacrifices for us to get a chance at a better life, the pressure to undo the damage feels insurmountable. But remember this: We are 1.1 billion souls stitched together in the name of Islam. It’s about time we used our voices again and remember what we are fighting for.
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Your Guide to the Orleans Correctional Facility in Albion, New York
The Orleans Correctional Facility is a Medium security prison in Albion, New York. Inmates are incarcerated in this facility, which the Department of Corrections (DOC) oversees. The Orleans Correctional Facility is a federal facility, and there is specific protocol you need to follow in order to visit or contact an inmate there. However, keep in mind that the procedures you need to follow at the Orleans Correctional Facility may be different from those at other prisons in New York. If you plan on visiting family or friends at the Orleans Correctional Facility, you need to be aware of this protocol before you arrive.
One of the easiest ways to learn about the Orleans Correctional Facility is to search online. You can find information about this prison in Albion by visiting its website at http://www.doccs.ny.gov/faclist.html. You can also call the Orleans Correctional Facility at 585-589-6820. Sometimes, different DOC facilities also have email addresses you can use to contact DOC officials. You can email Orleans Correctional Facility at .
Global Tel Link (GTL) – ConnectNetwork and Orleans Correctional Facility
Global Tel Link (GTL) – ConnectNetwork is the official phone provider at Orleans Correctional Facility. Inmates who want to make a call at this Albion facility need to have accounts to call through Global Tel Link (GTL) – ConnectNetwork. Phone calls are not free at Orleans Correctional Facility, and inmates must have funds in their accounts in order to make calls.
It is important that you are familiar with the rules associated with Global Tel Link (GTL) – ConnectNetwork and Orleans Correctional Facility. Different facilities and carriers have different rules. In fact, you need to know this information so you understand:
How much phone calls cost for inmates at a particular New York DOC facility.
Whether you have to apply to receive calls from inmates at the Orleans Correctional Facility.
How to open a phone account with Global Tel Link (GTL) – ConnectNetwork.
How to add funds to an inmate’s phone account.
Find Department Of Corrections Locations
Privacy R. Request
This website is not associated with the US Department of State or any other government operated service.
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Code-driven introduction to Java EE 7
We are lucky to have Arun Gupta presenting on the new features in Java EE 7. Arun is well known in the Java EE community and was heavily involved with the Java EE 7 specification when he worked at Oracle. Arun now works for Red Hat as Director of Developer Advocacy. Abstract Java EE 7 platform is the latest release of the Java EE platform. WebSocket attempts to solve the issues and limitations of HTTP for real-time communication. A new API is added to the platform build WebSocket driven applications. Processing JSON structures is inherent in any HTML5 applications and a new API to parse and generate JSON is being added to the platform. Longawaited Batch Processing API and Concurrency are now added to build applications using capabilities of the platform itself. In addition, JAX-RS 2 adds a new Client API to invoke the RESTful endpoints, allows asynchronous client/server, and server-sidecontent negotiation. JMS 2 is undergoing a complete overhaul to align with improvements in the Java language. This code-driven talk will provide an introduction to the Java EE 7 platform. Don't miss out on this session to learn all about how to leverage the new and exciting standards in building your next enterprise application.
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Pacific Ocean Blue
Holy Man (Hawkins - May - Taylor - Wilson Version)
Cocktails For Summer
70s Pop Lullabies, Vol. 4
The Cat and Owl
Lullaby Renditions of The Beach Boys
und 123 weitere Alben
Über Dennis Wilson
In the Beach Boys' early days, Dennis was a lot things: handsome surfer, fan favorite, ladies man, unskilled drummer, friend of Charlie Manson. The one thing he wasn't was an artist. But that changed in the late '60s, when Brian retreated from the studio post-Smile. With his mates filling the creative void left behind, Dennis evolved in ways no one around him ever expected. His first tunes, "Little Bird" and "Be Still," are simple treasures heavily inspired by his bro. Yet he soon became the Beach Boys' No. 2 composer, crafting a unique mixture of orchestral pop and blue-eyed beach funk. Feeling increasingly alienated from the band's image as an oldies act, Dennis began work on a solo jam (his first single came out in 1969). Not only is 1977's Pacific Ocean Blue the first solo album from a Beach Boy; it's also one of the great pop statements of the '70s, right up there with Fleetwood Mac's Tusk and No Other by Gene Clark. With P.O.B. in the can, Dennis set his sights on a follow up. Unfortunately, a longtime dependency on alcohol (as well as other emotional issues) prevented Bambu's completion. In 1983, after years of abuse, Dennis drowned in the Pacific Ocean, just off L.A. He was 39. Justin Farrar
Boz Scaggs, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney, Randy Newman, Warren Zevon
In the Beach Boys' early days, Dennis was a lot things: handsome surfer, fan favorite, ladies man, unskilled drummer, friend of Charlie Manson. The one thing he wasn't was an artist. But that changed in the late '60s, when Brian retreated from the studio post-Smile. With his mates filling the creative void left behind, Dennis evolved in ways no one around him ever expected. His first tunes, "Little Bird" and "Be Still," are simple treasures heavily inspired by his bro. Yet he soon became the Beach Boys' No. 2 composer, crafting a unique mixture of orchestral pop and blue-eyed beach funk. Feeling increasingly alienated from the band's image as an oldies act, Dennis began work on a solo jam (his first single came out in 1969). Not only is 1977's Pacific Ocean Blue the first solo album from a Beach Boy; it's also one of the great pop statements of the '70s, right up there with Fleetwood Mac's Tusk and No Other by Gene Clark. With P.O.B. in the can, Dennis set his sights on a follow up. Unfortunately, a longtime dependency on alcohol (as well as other emotional issues) prevented Bambu's completion. In 1983, after years of abuse, Dennis drowned in the Pacific Ocean, just off L.A. He was 39.
Dennis Plus Three
Old Country Classics
Cover Your Ears!!! ...It's....
A Poor Man's Empire
100 Greatest Country: The Best Hits from...
Good Love & Heartbreak
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Welcome to Pakistan Defence Forum
The Prophecies of Muhammad
Thread starter kobiraaz
kobiraaz
please dont close or delete this thread, it talks not only religion but also Geo Politics in which 150B people believe, A state called Iran Runs on this
There are at least 160 known and confirmed prophecies of Prophet Muhammad which were fulfilled in his lifetime and the first generation after him. We will mention some here.
(1) Preceding the Battle of Badr, the first and decisive confrontation with pagan Meccans in the second year of migration from Mecca in 623 CE, Prophet Muhammad foretold the precise spot every pagan Meccan soldier would fall. T hose who witnessed the battle saw the prophecy come true with their own eyes.
(2) Prophet Muhammad prophesized the Battle of the Confederates (al-Ahzab) would be the last invasion the tribe of Quraish (the pagan Meccans) would launch against the Muslims. It was fought in the fifth year of migration, 626 CE and was the last military conflict between the two sides. All Meccans embraced Islam after a few years.
(3) The Prophet informed his daughter, Fatima, that she would be the first member of his family to die after him. There are two prophecies in one: Fatima will outlive her father; Fatima will be the first member of his household to die after him. Both were fulfilled
(4) The Prophet Muhammad prophesized Jerusalem would be conquered after his death. The prophecy was fulfilled when, according to Encyclopedia Britannica: In 638 the Muslim Caliph, Umar I, entered Jerusalem.
(5) The Prophet Muhammad prophesized the conquest of Persia. It was conquered by Umars commander, Saad bin Abi Waqqas. In the words of Encyclopedia Britannica:
raids into Sasanian territory were quickly taken up by Muhammads Caliphs, or deputies, at Medina - Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab
an Arab victory at Al-Qadisiyyah in 636/637 was followed by the sack of the Sasanian winter capital at Ctesiphon on the Tigris. The Battle of Nahavand in 642 completed the Sasanids vanquishment.
(6) The Prophet Muhammad prophesized the conquest of Egypt.In the words of Encyclopedia Britannica:
Amr
undertook the invasion in 639 with a small army of some 4,000 men (later reinforced). With what seems astonishing speed the Byzantine forces were routed and had withdrawn from Egypt by 642
Various explanations have been given for the speed with which the conquest was achieved.
(7) The Prophet foretold confrontation with the Turks. The first conflict took place in the caliphate of Umar in 22 AH.
(8) The Prophet foretold the first maritime battle to be undertaken by Muslims would be witnessed by Umm Haram, the first woman to participate in a naval expedition. He also prophesied the first assault on Constantinople.
The first maritime battle in Muslim history was in 28 AH in the rule of Muawiya. It was witnessed by Umm Haram as foretold by Prophet Muhammad, and Yazid ibn Muawiya led the first attack on Constantinople in 52 AH.
(9) The prophecy that Yemen, Persia and Rome will be conquered was made during the Battle of Confederates in 626 CE, under extreme circumstances, as is described by the Quran:
[Remember] when they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted [in fear], and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about God [various] assumptions. There, the believers were tested and shaken with a severe shaking. And [remember] when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is disease said, God and His Messenger did not promise us except delusion. (Quran 33:10-12)
(10) Prophet Muhammad prophesized an imposter claiming to speak in the name of God would be killed at the hands of a righteous man in Muhammads lifetime. Al-Aswad al-Ansi, an imposter prophet in Yemen, was killed in the Prophets lifetime by Fayruz al-Daylami.
There are at least an additional 28 prophecies pertaining to the end times which are awaiting fulfillment.
Prophecies by Mohammed
by Abdur-Raheem Greene
I myself was influenced by my knowledge of the Bible to accept the Prophethood of Muhammad, and have had two Jewish rabbis admitting to me in Speaker's Corner that Muhammad was the Prophet spoken of in their books. It has long been recognised that a sure sign of the truth of a claim to Prophethood is the ability of that individual to accurately and consistently predict future events. This is especially true of Christians who often demand "what did Muhammad prophecy?". This is because the Bible lays down this as a means to distinguish a true Prophet from a false . Everybody is able to predict the future sometimes, some are able to get it right a lot of the time, but only someone who is receiving information from the One who has complete knowledge of the future can get it right every time. There are many predictions both in the Qur'an and the authenticated sayings of the Prophet Muhammed that have been fulfilled.
1. In part of a long narration found in the two authoritative books of Hadith, the Prophet was sitting in a garden. 'Uthmaan ibn Afan walked in and the Prophet asked Abu Musa 'Ashari (the narrator) to inform him of the good news of paradise, and also that the people would mutiny against him. The Prophecy was fulfilled in that 'Uthmaan became the leader of the Muslims, and secondly some of the people rose against him and slew him.
2. 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph, had also been informed by the Prophet of his assassination in such detail that he knew the man who was going to kill him, and identified him and pointed him out to the people. They asked 'Ali why he did not kill the man and he replied: "Then who will kill me?" The night preceding his assassination 'Ali had come out, and gazed at the sky and said: "By Allah he never told a lie, nor was a lie ever told to him." The next day the same man killed 'Ali, and his blood spilled down his beard, as the Prophet had described.
3. Whilst the Muslims were fighting the Jews in Khyber, after some days of attempting to besiege the fortress, the Prophet said that the next morning he would entrust the flag to a man to whom Allah would give victory. He gave the flag to 'Ali, and the same day the fortress was conquered under Ali's command.
4. The Prophet saw 'Ali and Zubair one day laughing together, and he asked Ali if he loved Zubair. Ali replied: "How could I not love him since he is my nephew and co-religionist." The Prophet asked Zubair the same question, who gave a similar response. The Prophet then told Zubair that he would fight 'Ali, and that he would be the oppressor. So in the Battle of Jamal, when Ali and Zubair, in opposing camps came face to face. 'Ali reminded Zubair of the incident, and Zubair recalled, and said that he had forgotten, and he immediately left the battle field. So the battle took place as the Prophet had predicted, and Zubair was the oppressor, since Ali was the Rightful Caliph, and to oppose him with violence was wrong.
5. The Prophet said: "The Caliphate will last for thirty years, then there will be a biting kingship." So it happened. The rule of the Rightly Guided Caliphs was exactly thirty years: Abu Bakr for two, 'Umar for ten, 'Uthman for twelve, 'Ali for two and a half and Hassan three and a half. After that evil spread and kingship was established.
6. The Prophet also predicted the capture of Egypt, and told his companions to treat the people well, and that they would seize the treasures of the Persian Choseros (Emperor), who lives in the white palace, all of which they accomplished, and that Suraqa bin Malik (one of the companions) would have the bracelets of Caesar put on his hands. So it happened that some such bracelets fell into the possession of 'Umar and he called Suraqa, and placed the bracelets on him, reminding him of the Prophet's words.
7. A narration in the most authoritative of the Hadith books, Saheeh al-Bukhari, told Auf bin Malik to look for six incidents before the last day: "The first,my death; the second the conquest of Jerusalem; third, an epidemic among them; fourth, the abundance of wealth so that a man would not gladly accept one hundred dinars even if given it; fifth, a trouble that would involve all Arab families without exception; sixth, a treaty with the Christians, which the Christians would violate, etc.. (the hadeeth describes this last event, not yet fulfilled). Jerusalem was captured, and after this in 16 A.H. an epidemic broke out in Umwas and seventy thousand died. Wealth became plentiful, especially during the Caliphate of 'Uthman, and after that in the time of 'Umar ibn AbdulAzziz, when the collectors of zakat found no one poor enough to receive it. Also the rebellious war arose in the time of 'Uthman and became worse after his murder, so none of the Arabs families were not involved in some respect.
8. The Prophet mentioned that the Muslims would conquer both Rome and Constantinople. He was asked which would fall first, and the Prophet said: "The city of Heraclius", i.e. Constantinople. Constantinople was taken by the Muslims in the fifteenth century. Rome still remains to be conquered, as it will be. So the order is correct, and rest still to be fulfilled. What is noteworthy about these statements of the Prophet is that they were made at a time when no one could imagine that a small city state, permanently under siege by the pagan Arabs, would reach such heights of power and strength, and that these predictions are not couched in some vague terminology open to various interpretations, like the Bible's Book of Revelation's "Beast of 666", and monsters with horns and little horns, or the meanderings of Nostradamus. The language is clear, their assertions direct, and often with specific names and dates.
9. The Prophet also predicted the dividing of the Muslims into many sects and mentioned some of their characteristics. The Prophet mentioned that some people would do to 'Ali what the Christians did to Jesus. This clearly refers to the Shi'a, who exaggerate in love and praise of 'Ali. One of the Shi'a sects, the Nusaria, actually worship him as the manifestation of Allah. The Prophet also mentioned that a group would arise who will deny Allah's Qadr (Divine Decree) and he called them the "Magians of the Ummah", and so it happened, and they were called the Qadaria. He also mentioned the appearance of those who would claim the Qur'an is created, and of those who would tell people to take only from the Qur'an and ignore the Sunnah (Prophetic Tradition), and these things have all come to pass. The Prophet also predicted that from the tribe of a certain individual a group would arise who would used the verses of Qur'an pertaining to unbelievers on the believers, and that they should be fought and killed. So it happened that the first of the deviant sects to arise was the Khawarij, who said that 'Ali and Muwawia were unbelievers, and whoever did not believe this, then they also were unbelievers, and they would slaughter the Muslims, and they arose from the tribe of Tamim, as the Prophet had said.
10. The Prophet mentioned that there would be signs forewarning the approach of the last day. Among those that have clearly come to pass are:
a. The barefooted bedouins competing in building tall buildings. Today we find in the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabs who used to be impoverished herders of camels and sheep, are competing in building the tallest tower blocks.
b. The Mosques would be like palaces. This is clearly the case, even though the Prophet ordered simplicity in the houses of Allah, the mosques have become more and more fantastic, with golden domes, marbled floors, lavish carpets and chandeliers.
c. Disappearance of trustworthiness, so much so that one would only be able to say: "I know a trustworthy person in such-and-such town."
d. The increase in killing, so that the one who kills does not know why he killed, and the one killed does not know why he was killed. I was recently sent an article from the Washington Post about the rise of gang warfare. Part of the initiation ceremony was for a new gang member(some times as young as eleven) to shoot someone. The second highest cause of death from fifteen to thirty five in the US are gun related. The massacre of civilians in the Vietnam War by American troops who had little idea why they were there, and the increase of such conflicts, is further illustration of the fulfillment of this prophecy. As are the rise of insane mass murders, of children killing children, such as Jamie Bulger.
e. The increase of the use of riba (usury/interest) so that no one will able to escape being tainted by it. This clearly the state of the world economy today.
f. The enemies of the Muslims dividing the Muslim's wealth and lands between them, the Muslims abandoning jihad, and concerning themselves only with the worldly matters. We have already mentioned this.
g. The increase of literacy.
h. The decrease of religious knowledge due to the disappearance of scholars.
i. The increase of musical instruments, and the Muslims making it lawful even though the Prophet has forbidden them.
j. The increase of sexual promiscuity, and new diseases that people had not herd of before spreading amongst them as a consequence of that. This is clear, with the arrival of AIDS, and other previously unheard of viruses.
k. Appearance of Dajjals (liars), each claiming to be a Messenger of Allah, while Muhammad is the last messenger. There are numerous examples of this, starting with Musailima, who arose in the time of the Prophet, just before his death, to more modern liars such as Elija Muhammad, founder of the Black American racist movement "The Nation of Islam", and India's pretender Gulam Ahmed of Qadian.
l. Nakedness of women while still being dressed.
m. The drinking of wine becoming common, and the Muslims making it lawful by calling it another name.
n. Shouting in the mosques.
o. The worst and most ignorant will become leaders and they will be oppressors.
p. A man will obey his wife and disobey his mother, and treat his friends kindly and shun his father.
q. Men will wear silk and gold, and the making of it lawful by the Muslims even though the Prophet had forbidden it for the men of his 'Ummah (nation).
r. People will abandon the religion for a small worldly gain, and keeping to the religion will be like holding two hot coals.
So these are just some of the numerous prophecies of Muhammad, that have clearly come true, and some have been fulfilled in this age in which we live, all adding weight to the evidence in favour of his claim.
Prophecy Related to Imam Mahdi
The emergence of Imam Mahdi
* He will be tall
* He will be fair complexioned
* His facial features will be similar to those of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam)
* His character will be exactly like that of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam)
* His father's name will be Abdullah
* His mother's name will be Aamina
* He will speak with a slight stutter and occasionally this stutter will frustrate him causing him to hit his hand upon his thigh.
* His age at the time of his emergence will be forty years
* He will receive Knowledge from Allah.
Mahdi will emerge at such a time when people will become despondent and say 'There is no Mahdi'. (Ibid).
He will come when Muslims are killed everywhere. (Ibid).
Imam Mahdi is from the household of the Prophet Mohammad, Allah's peace and blessings be upon him. (Ahmad, Ibn Majah).
His name and surename will be the same as the name and surename of prophet Mohammad. (Abu Dawud).
In one night Allah will inspire him and prepare him to carry out his task successfully. (Ahmad).
He will fill the entire earth with Justice, just as it will have been filled with injustice and oppression. (Abu Dawud).
Imam Mahdi will be born in Arabia, he will be from Quraish.
His forehead will be broad and his nose will be high, His face will shine like a star and he will have a black spot on his left cheek. (Tabarani).
His facial features and character will be the same as that of the prophet Mohammad. (Abu Dawud).
He will be one of the leaders of Paradise in the Herafter. (Ibn Majah).
When he comes to Arabia the government will attack him and he will flee to Khurassan [Afghanistan].
Black flags (army) will emerge from Khurasan (Afghanistan). None will be able to turn them back, until they are in Baitul Maqdis. (Tirmidhie).
Black flags from the family of Abbas will emerge, then another army will emerge from Khurasan (Afghanistan), their topis (headgear) and clothes will be white (Taliban?). Their leader will be a person by the name of Shuayb bin Saalih, from Tameem. He (and his army) will annihilate the companions of Sufyaani. (Narrated by Abu Dawud).
When you see black flags coming from Khuraasaan, then you must join them, even though you have to be dragged in the snow, because, Allah's Khalifah, Mahdi, will be amongst them. (Ahmad, Baihaqie).
A person named Sufyaani will emerge from the city of Damascus. (Muslim).
Most of the people who will follow him will be from the tribe of Bani Kalb. (Muslim).
They will fight (to such an extent) that they will pierce the stomachs of women and kill children. (Muslim).
The people from the tribe of Qais will gather to oppose them. They (Qais) will then kill them (Sufyaanis) in such a manner that they will not be able to find any refuge behind a mountain. (Muslim).
When this Sufyaano hears about the Mahdi he will sent an army against him from Syria, it will be swallowed up in the desert between Makkah and Madina and only one man will survife who will go back and inform his people about their fate. (Abu Dawud).
When the people see this, groups of people from Syria and Iraq will come and swear allegiance to him. (Abu Dawud).
Then a man from Quraysh whose mother is from Kalb will appear and send an army against them, and will defeat them, this will be known as the Battle of Kalb. Whoever does not witness the spoils of this battle will miss much! (Abu Dawud).
The Mahdi will distribute the wealth, and will rule the people according to the Sunnah of the Prophet. (Abu Dawud).
His age at the time of his emergence will be forty years. (Tabarani).
The Mahdi will be from the progeny of the Prophet Mohammad, from the descendants of Fatimah. (Abu Daud).
The Mahdi and 70.000 children of Isaac [Pashtoens, Afghans] will conquest Constantinople in Turkey. (Muslim).
They will not conquest Constantinople with weapons or arrows, but with Takbeer and Tasbeeh. (Muslim).
The Romans (Europians, Americans) will attack you with 80 banners, and there will be 12.000 men under each banner. (Bukharie).
A jamaat of Muslims wages Jihad on India and they will conquer India with the help of Allah.
At this time, Muslims will be weak and there will be very few pious people.
Once again the Quran and Sunnah will govern the people, this time by the rightly guided Khalifh, Imam Mahdi. (Tirmidhie).
Islam will gain an upper hand and will be firmly established in the land.
The oppression, tyranny, and darkness that prevailed all over the globe will be replaced with justice, peace and equity. (Ibn Majah).
The smile, which was long forgotten, will be restored on the Muslim faces and the inhabitants of the Earth will be pleased with him. (Ibn Majah)
Everybody will be happy to the extent that even birds an wild animals will rejoice in his rule. (Ahmad).
Heaven will end rain profusely, livestock will be in abundance. (Mustadrak).
A Callers will proclaim in the street, 'Is anybody in need of anything?' Nobody will respond except one person. (Ahmad).
Mahdi will be the ruler of the world and he will share the wealth between the people. (Tirmidhie).
So that a man will come to him and say, 'Give me, give me'. Then he will spread his cloth and put in it as much as he can carry. (Mustadrak).
Imam Mahdi will fight great wars against the Christians, they will win with the help of Allah.
The Romans (Americans, Europians) will dishonour a treaty they have made with a member of my family, whose name will be like mine (i.e. the Mahdi). (Narrated by At Tabarani).
Then an army will advance from Madinah Tayyibah, which will comprise of the best of persons on the entire surface of the earth. (Muslim).
When the two armies line up for battle, the Christians will say, 'Separate from those who made our families prisoners (and enslaved them), so that we may fight them only'. The Muslims will say; 'Never! We take an oath that we will never separate ourselves between you and our fellow Muslim brothers'. They will then engage in battle. (Muslim).
One third of the Muslim army will flee the battlefield, and they will never be forgiven by Allah. One third will be martyred, and they will be amongst the best of martyrs in the sight of Allah. The other third (of the Muslim army) will be victorious, and they will be saved from any other Fitnah for the rest of their lives. (Muslim, Tabarani).
II. Hadhrat Isa's (A.S.) Descension The Physical Features of Hadhrat Isa (A.S.)
He will resemble the famous Sahabi (A.S.) Hadhrat Urwa bin Masoodi (R.A.). He will be of average height and red and white in colour. His hair spread to the shoulders, straight, neat and shining as after a bath. On bending his head, it will seem as if pearls are falling. He will have an armour on his body. He will be wearing two pieces of cloth light yellow in color.
His Descension
He will descend on a Jamaat (group) that will be righteous at the time and comprising of 800 men and 400 women. The people will be preparing for war at the time against Dajjal (the anti-Christ). It will be time for Fajr prayers, and Imam Mahdi will be the Amir (leader). From the darkness of the dawn, a sound will suddenly be heard that "one who listens to your pleas has come" -- the righteous people will look everywhere and their eyes will fall on Isa (A.S.). Briefly, at the time of Fajr, Isa (A.S.) will descend. When descending, Isa (A.S.)'s hands will be on the shoulders of two angels (according to another source (Kab Abrar), a cloud will carry him). On their insistence Hadhrat Isa will introduce himself. He will inquire about their enthusiasm and thoughts on Jihad against Dajjal. Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will descend on the eastern side near the Minaret in Damascus (or in Baitul-Muqaddus by Imam Mahdi). At the time Imam Mahdi will have proceeded forward to lead the Fajr Salaat. The Iqamat of the Salaat would have been said (already recited) and Imam Mahdi will call Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) for Imamat (to lead the prayer), but he (Hadhrat Isa (A.S.)) will instead tell Imam Mahdi to lead the prayer since the Iqamat of that Salaat has already been said for him. Thus Imam Mahdi will lead the prayer, and Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will follow him. After the ruku, he will make this statement: "Allah has killed Dajjal and the Muslims have appeared."
The Killing of Dajjal (anti-Christ) and the Victory of the Muslims
After the completion of Fajr Salaat (congregational dawn prayers), Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will open the door behind him where Dajjal accompanied by 70,000 Yahudis (Jews) will be. He will indicate with his hand to move away between him (Hadhrat Isa (A.S.)) and Dajjal. Dajjal will then see Hadhrat Isa (A.S.). At that time every Kafir on whom the breath of Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will reach, will die. His breath will reach up to the distance of his eyesight. The Muslims will then come down from the mountains and break loose on the army of Dajjal. There will be war, Dajjal will retreat, and Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will pursue Dajjal. Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will have two flexible swords and one shield with him and with these he will kill Dajjal at the Gate of Hudd. He willl show the Muslims the blood of Dajjal which will get on his shield. Eventually the Yahudis will be selected and killed. The swine will be killed and the cross broken. People will revert to Islam. Wars will end, and people will return to their respective countries. One Jamaat (group) of Muslims will remain in his service and companionship.
Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will go to Fajr Rawha and perform Haj or Umrah (or both) from there. He will also go to the grave of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) and present his greetings and Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) will reply. People will live comfortable lives. The wall of Yajooj and Majooj (Gog and Magog) will then break.
III. The Blessings of Hadhrat Isa (Jesus) (A.S.)
1 Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will descend and stay on earth.
2 His descension will be in the last era of the Ummat.
3 He will be a just ruler and a fair judge.
4 His ummat will be the Khalifa (deputies) of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam).
5 He will act himself and instruct others on the Qur'an and Hadith (Shariat/Tradition of Islam).
6 He will lead people in Salaat (Prayer).
7 He will stay on earth for a period of 40 years after descending. The will be the best era of the Ummat after the first era of Islam.
8 Allah will protect his companions from Jahannam.
9 Those who will save the Deen of Islam by associating themselves with Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will be amongst the most loved by Allah Ta'ala.
10 During this period all other religions and mazhabs besides Islam will perish, hence there will be no kuffaars (non-believers) in the world.
11 Jihad will be stopped.
12 No Khiraaj will be taken.
13 Nor Jizya (protection tax) money from the kafirs (non-believers)
14 Wealth and property will be in surplus to such an extent that there will be no one to accept the wealth of the other (everyone will be independent).
15 Receiving Zakaat (Alms-giving, Charity to poor) and Saadaqa will be discarded (as there will be no poor to receive them!).
16 The people will love the sajda (prostration to God) more than the world and what it consists of.
17 All types of Deeni (religious) and worldly blessings will descend on earth (many halaal (lawful) things will be created).
18 There will be peace, harmony and tranquility during the time of Hadhrat Isa (A.S.)'s stay in the world.
19 There will be no animosity for a period of seven years, even between two persons.
20 All hearts will be free from miserliness, envy, hatred, malice and jealousy.
After his descension on earth, Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) will marry. He will have children, and he will remain on earth 19 years after marriage. He will pass away and Muslims will perform his Janaza Salaat and bury him net to Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam). (Tirmidhi)
Prophecy Of The Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj
The Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj
During the reign of Hadhrat Isa (A.S.) people will live an extremely peaceful life filled with prosperity and abundance. Then the wall which imprisons Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj will break and they will surge forth in large numbers.
"But when Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj are let loose and they rush headlong down every hill" (Quran 21:97)
Who are the Ya'jooj and Majooj?
Zul Qarnain (A.S.) who was a pious and just Ruler travelled to many lands and conquered them, establishing justice and the Law of Allah therein. Allah Ta'ala provided him with all forms and material strength through which he was able to carry out his conquests and missions.
He once carried out a mission in three directions, the far west, the far east, and then in a northerly direction. It was here that he came across a tribe of people who complained to him about the tribes of Ya'jooj and Majooj which inhabited the land behind two huge mountains and often emerged from behind these mountains to perpetrate acts of anarchy and plunder among them. They requested Zul Qarnain (A.S.) to erect a barrier between themselves and the tribes of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj so that they could be saved from their atrocities. With the material strength at his disposal, Zul Qarnain (A.S.) enlisted their physical labor and set about erecting a high wall between the two mountains. The height of the wall or its exact length is unknown. What is known is that the height of this wall reaches that of the summit of both mountains. It is made with blocks or sheets of iron, which is further strengthened by molten lead. In this manner Ya'jooj and Majooj are unable to scale the wall, or cross it, except when it is the will of Allah.
"And when the promise of my Rabb approaces, He will level it to dust" (Quran 18:98)
They are situated in a land of ice which is hidden from our gazes and the exact location of which is unknown. Though many interpretations do exist in this respect, none of these can be said to absolute.
Ya'jooj and Majooj are human beings and according to a narration they are from the progeny of Yafith ibn Nooh (A.S.).
Some Ahadith...
In a lengthy hadith by Hadhrat Nawwas ibn Sam'aan (R.A.) Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) is reported to have said:
"...Allah will send revelation upon Eesa (A.S.) that 'Such a creation of mine is now going to emerge that no power will be able to stop them. Therefore take my servants and ascend the Mount of Toor.' Then Ya'jooj and Majooj will emerge and surge forth in all their fury. When those from among them who constitute the former part of their army pass the lake of Tiberias (which is in northern Palestine), they will drink up all the water of that lake and by the time those that constitute the latter part of that same army pass the lake, they will say, "There used to be water here (long ago). When they reach the Mount of Khamr in Jerusalem, they will arrogantly proclaim: 'We have conquered the people of the earth, now we will annihilate those in the sky.' So saying they will fire their arrows towards the sky. When the arrows return to the ground they will be blood stained.
In the meantime, Eesa (A.S.) will be on the Mount of Toor with his followers. At that time the head of and ox will be as valuable as is a hundred dinars to you in this day. [This indicates the scarcity of provisions]. Faced with these hardships, Eesa (A.S.) and his followers will make dua unto Allah (to remove this calamity). As a result, Allah will cause sores to appear on the necks of each and every individual of these people which will cause their death suddenly. When Eesa (A.S.) and his followers descend from the Mount of Toor there will not be a single space on the land where the dead rotting bodies of these people is not littered, giving off a horrendous odour. Eesa (A.S.) and his followers will once more supplicate unto Allah as a result of which Allah will send down huge birds whose necks will be as thick as that of the necks of camels, and they will dump these bodies in a place where Allah wills. (According to a narration by Tirmidhi, they will be dumped at a place called Nahbal).
Allah Ta'ala will then send down a heavy rain, the waters of which will flow in every part of the earth cleansing it thoroughly. It will rain for a period of forty days.
The Muslims will then burn the bows and arrows of the Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj for a period of seven years.
Allah will order the earth to yield forth its crops in abundance and there will be such blessing and prosperity that one pomegranate will be sufficient for a whole group while the peel thereof will suffice to cast a shadow over them. The milk of one camel will be sufficient for many groups while one milk giving cow will be sufficient for a whole tribe. One milk giving goat will be sufficent for a whole family..."
(Muslim)
Hadhrat Abu Saeed Khudri (R.A.) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said:
"On the day of Qiyamah Allah will say to Adam (A.S.) to pick out the Jahannamis from his entire progeny. Adam (A.S.) will ask: 'O Rabb, who are they?'
Allah will say: 'Nine hundred and ninety nine of a thousand are Jahannami while the one is a Jannati.'
On hearing this the Sahaba were overtaken by fear and they asked "O Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam), who will that one Janniti be?'
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: 'Do not grieve, the nine hundred and ninety nine will be Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while you will be the Jannati."' (i.e. your numbers in relation to them will be one in a thousand).
(Bukhari and Muslim)
Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Umar (R.A.) says that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said:
"Allah Ta'ala divided mankind into ten parts. Nine tenths constitute Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while the remaining tenths constitutues the rest of mankind."
Hadhrat Zainab bint Jahsh (R.A.) says: "...once Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wassallam) awoke from such a sleep that his face was red and these words were on his tongue: 'There is none worthy of worship except Allah. Destruction is upon the Arabs on account of the evil which has come close to them. Today a hole as big as this has opened up in the wall of Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj.' ..and Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) indicated the size of the hole forming a ring with his index finger and thumb."
Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (R.A.) narrates that every day Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj break (dig) through the wall erected by Zul Qarnain (A.S.) until they reach the end of it to that extent that they can actually see the light on the other side. They then return (home) saying that 'We will break through tomorrow.' But Allah Ta'ala causes the wall to revert to its original thickness and the next day they start digging through the wall all over again, and this process continues each day until as long as Allah wills them to remain imprisoned. When Allah wishes them to be released, then at the end of the day they will say, "If Allah wills, tomorrow we will break through." The following day they will find the wall as they had left it the previous day (i.e. it will not have returned to its orginal state) and after breaking the remaining part of it they will emerge."
(Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)
Commenting on the above hadith, Allamah Ibn Arabi says, Three miracles are evident in this Hadith:
1.) It never occurs to these tribes that they must continue work during the night. After all, they are in such large numbers that they can easily delegate the work among themselves and work in shifts. But Allah does not allow this thought to occur to them.
2.) It never occurs to them that they can merely cross the mountains or scale the wall, which they can do through the aid of equipment and implements wich they possess in large numbers. According to a narration by Wahab ibn Munabbah it is known that these tribes are agriculturists and artisians possessing various types of equipment.
3.) The thought of saying "If Allah wills" never enters their minds and it will only occur to them to say it when Allah wills that they be released.
sign of Last our
The Signs are listed in roughly chronological order, although the order is not necessarily precise, especially for those in the future.
This is a brief summary of the signs; there are many books, articles, cassettes etc. which discuss these in greater detail. May Allah enable us to recognise and heed the Signs, and strengthen us in the times of tribulation.
Are they waiting for anything except the Hour, to come to them suddenly? But its Signs have already come! (Al-Quran, Surah Muhammad)
1. Splitting of the Moon. Sahih Bukhari Book #56, Hadith #830)
2. Death of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 53, Number 401:
3. A form of death which will kill thousands of Muslims. (Understood to refer to the plague of Amwas during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab.) (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 53, Number 401)
4. A major fighting in Madinah (understood to refer to the battle of al-Harrah during the caliphate of Yazid, 63 AH).
5. The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 53, Number 401)
6. The Muslim conquest of Constantinople. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6924)
7. Two large groups of Muslims will fight in war (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 237)
8. A war between the Muslims and a reddish people with small eyes, wearing sandals made of hair (understood to refer to the Mongol Tatar invasion of the Islamic lands.) (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 179)
9. A peace agreement between the Muslims and non-Muslims from the yellow race (Chinese, Mongols, etc.)
10. Thirty impostors (dajjal) will appear, each thinking he is a prophet. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 237)
Present?
11. Naked, destitute, barefoot shepherds will compete in building tall buildings. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 2, Number 47)
12. The slave-woman will give birth to her master or mistress. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 300)
13. A trial (fitnah) which will enter every Arab household. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 53, Number 401)
14. Knowledge will be taken away (by the death of people of knowledge), and ignorance will prevail. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 3, Number 80)
15. Wine (intoxicants, alcohol) will be drunk in great quantities.(Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 3, Number 80)
16. Illegal sexual intercourse will become widespread (Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 3, Number 80)
17. Earthquakes will increase. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 17, Number 146)
18. Time will pass more quickly. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 17, Number 146)
19. Tribulations (fitan) will prevail. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 17, Number 146)
20. Bloodshed will increase. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 17, Number 146)
21. A man will pass by the grave of another and wish he was in the latters place. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 237)
22. Trustworthiness will be lost, i.e. when authority is given to those who do not deserve it. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 3, Number 56)
23. People will gather for prayer, but will be unable to find an imam to lead them. Sunnah Abu Dawood Book 2, Number 0581:
24. The number of men will decrease, whilst the number of women will increase, until for every man there are 50 women. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 3, Number 81)
25. The Euphrates will reveal a treasure of gold, and many will die fighting over it, each one hoping to be the one who gains the treasure. Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6918:
26. The Romans (Europeans) will come to a place called Amaq or Wabiq (Dabiq), and an army of the best people will go forth from Madinah to face them. Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6924:
27. The Muslim conquest of Rome. Sahih Muslim Book 039 Number 6721 Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6930:
28. The Mahdi (guided one) will appear, and be the Imam of the Muslims. (Sunnah Abu Dawood Book 36, Number 4272)
29. Jesus Christ will descend in Damascus, and pray behind the Mahdi. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 43, Number 656)
30. Jesus will break the cross and kill the swine, i.e. destroy the false christianity. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 43, Number 656)
31. The Antichrist (al-masih al-dajjal, the false christ) will appear, with all his tools of deception, and be an immense trial. He will be followed by 70,000 Jews from Isfahan (present-day Iran). (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 7034)
32. The appearance of Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog), and the associated tribulations. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6931)
33. The emergence of the Beast from the Earth, carrying the Staff of Moses and the Seal of Solomon, who will speak to the people, telling them they did not believe with certainty in the Divine Signs. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6931)
34. A major war between the Muslims (including Jews and Christians who truly believe in Jesus after his return) led by the Imam Mahdi, and the Jews plus other non-Muslims led by the Antichrist. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 177: Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6985)
35. Jesus will kill the Antichrist at the gate of Ludd (Lod in present-day Israel, site of an airport and a major Israeli military base). (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 7015)
36. A time of great peace and serenity during and after the remaining lifetime of Jesus. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 43, Number 656)
37. Wealth will come so abundant that it will become difficult to find someone to accept charity. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 237)
38. Arabia will become a land of gardens and rivers. Sahih Muslim Book 005, Number 2208:
39. Society will then decay. when you see the caliphate has settled in the holy land, earthquakes, sorrows and serious matters will have drawn near and on that day the Last Hour will be nearer to mankind than this hand of mine is to your head. Sunnah Abu Dawood Book 14, Number 2529:
40. The buttocks of the women of the tribe of Daws will again sway in circumambulation (tawaf) around the idol Dhul-Khulsah. Dhi-al-Khalasa was the idol of the Daus tribe which they used to worship in the Pre Islamic Period of ignorance (Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 232)
41. A great fire in the Hijaz, seen by the inhabitants of Busra. (Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 234)
42. Three major armies will sink into the earth: one in the east, one in the west, one in Arabia. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6931: Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6886: Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6931)
43. An Abyssinian leader with thin shins will destroy the Kabah. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6951)
44. The huge cloud of smoke. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 6931)
45. The sun will rise from the west (its place of setting). (Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 159)
46. A gentle wind which will take the souls of the believers. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 7015)
47. There is no-one left on the earth saying, Allah, Allah or There is no god except Allah. : The Hour (Resurrection) would not come so long as Allah is supplicated in the world. (Sahih Muslim Book 001, Number 0273)
48. Eventually the Day of Judgment is established upon the worst of the people, who copulate like donkeys in public. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 7015)
49. The blowing in the Trumpet by the Angel Israfil, upon which everyone will faint except as Allah wills. Sahih Muslim (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 7023)
50. The second blowing in the Trumpet, upon which everyone will be resurrected. (Sahih Muslim Book 041, Number 7023)
Great read except from the bit about the taliban i refuse to accept.
No, threads regarding Realigion or non religion are allowed.
What makes Jerusalem so holy & Trump’s deal ludicrous
GlobalVillageSpace
Motivational speech about Ghazwa e hind
Fawad alam
prashantazazel
Ghazwa-e-Hind
you want to learn,know....
Probable mention of a Covid-19 like pandemic in the Quran
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Iranian Navy | News and Discussions
Iranian Chill Thread
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Deidre Opened Up About 40 Years On “Days Of Our Lives” And Her Guilty Pleasures
BuzzFeed recently had the opportunity to sit down for a cozy dressing-room chat with legendary Days of Our Lives actor Deidre Hall to ask her questions submitted by you, the fans. Here’s what she had to say. For the original article on Buzzfeed, click here.
After 41 years on Days, what’s your favorite thing about coming to work? —jasminew4e3c35987
Deidre Hall: Oh, there’s so many things that I love about this job. You just caught me playing in Lauren [Koslow]’s room. I think the best part is coming back to be in a creative process with people that I find are so generous and so talented. And they up my game every day. Plus they’re fun, they’re funny, and we get to know each other outside the set a little bit. I flew to Vegas to see Eric Martsolf’s show when he was in Vegas. He is a spectacular entertainer. And ever since then I just call him “Hey, Vegas!”
Josh Taylor and I rarely see each other and don’t speak because our paths don’t cross, but we’ve got a birthday ritual. If the sun goes down on my birthday and I haven’t heard from him he needs to be dead, you know? And vice-versa. If I haven’t gotten to him on his birthday — I don’t know how that began, but we do it. Just sweet little friendships. I grow more proud and adoring of certain people the longer I know them. I’m mad for Marci Miller. I mean her sense of creativity and professionalism and humor is unparalleled. I get drunk doing scenes with her. I just sit and watch her and go, “Oh, wait! It’s my turn to talk!” Her work is so pure and honest — she’s gonna be a legend.
Marci Miller / Via Instagram: @_marcimiller_ From left: Lauren Koslow, Deidre Hall, Marci Miller
What is your favorite John and Marlena moment? —traceyw419425b98
DH: I was going to say moments on location, because that is such an intense process. We’ve been to Mexico, we’ve been out to Malibu to the beach to do those scenes, and your focus is so intensified. “We’re burning daylight” — you know, you don’t hear that here. “We’re running down the clock,” sure, but, get in, get out, get it good — so many things are swimming around. “Are the mics in place?”, “Is there any light?”, “Dee’s in a bathing suit; everybody be careful!” [laughs]. It’s a heightened way to work and I love being on location. I love being out in the air — [it’s] especially fun to have fans standing around getting to see how that process works.
Instagram: @deidrehall_official
I’ve watched Days literally my whole life. Can you please share your skin care routine? You always look INCREDIBLE. —karenp16
DH: My skin care… You know, the two things I am ferocious about and I will say to any young girl is “STAY OUT OF THE SUN.” I was raised in Florida; I didn’t have that advantage. When I was growing up in swimming classes and diving classes, we didn’t know about sunscreen — it wasn’t around. So, my skin’s struggle is sun damage that was done so many years ago. So my advice is — and I rarely give advice, but here it is — stay out of the sun. Wear a hat, wear sunscreen — not just on your face and neck and chest, but on your hands.
I get facials once a month and I use all kinds of products. People send me things that I love to try, and so I’m always switching it up.
What storyline are you asked about the most? —patrickk45ff1ccfb
Nbc / Getty Images
DH: Oh. Phffft. That’s so obvious. I said that’ll be on my tombstone: “Deidre Hall. Possession.”
Jim Reilly wrote that and it was one of his earlier storylines and I was called upstairs before the Christmas break to be told, “Oh, all this crazy stuff that’s happening in Salem? It’s you.” “It’s me? How could it be me?” And then they explained how they worked that. He laid such a good plan of how to tell a story and how to have it unfold before your eyes and you go “Whoa! Eesh! I didn’t see that coming.” So it was thrilling, and he said “Do you have any questions?” and I said I just need to make sure that it’s done well, because I don’t want it to be hokey or silly or unbelievable. And they did. The levitation was real, by the way.
How did they do that?
DH: I signed a contract not to tell you. But it was a real stunt, it’s a magic stunt and they cleared the stage. The people that had to build the parts to it had to come in and they had to bring in a whole…it was an incredible investment to make that moment work. And it did. Not to mention it’s Christmas Eve and everybody’s in church and it’s cold and the snow… I mean, it was such a moment. And as the choir builds to a crescendo, BOOM, she’s off the bed and people went out of their minds.
Toby Canham / Getty Images | Joseph and Pat Mascolo.
What was your real-life relationship with Joseph Mascolo like? —ginniekirbyg
DH: You know, we didn’t have a personal relationship. I worked with him, obviously. We were not friends off camera. I knew his wife fairly well because she was our publicity director for a long time. Love Pat. He was one of a kind. He was … old-school, larger than life off and on camera. And he was a force.
If you were to do another book, and it could be about anything you wanted, what would that be? —Linn Larsen Kårstad, Facebook
DH: Oh my gosh. Inside me is a manners book. I’m pretty fierce about manners and grammar and appropriateness — [sarcastically] it’s going so well these days — that I just have a fantasy about writing almost a handbook: “In these situations, here’s how you handle it.”
Maureen Donaldson / Getty Images
What is your favorite Marlena wedding gown? —Kara O’Rourke, Facebook
DH: I know it was slightly controversial, but the John wedding, the headpiece that was made. I mean, it was equal and opposite: I loved it, I didn’t love it. I LOVED it, I didn’t love it. I thought it was magnificent, I thought it was unusual. I mean she really can’t wear a veil at this point, so what do you do to satisfy the audience and have some glamour and some excitement and some surprise to it? And I think that gown and headpiece stepping down the aisle was just [gasps] WHOA! Okay, there it is.
Do you have a guilty pleasure that you would be willing to share with your fans? Your favorite thing to do, eat, wear, or watch during your personal downtime? —Kara Kiste, Facebook
DH: I’m a toffee lover — but then people know that about me. I must say that I am locked to the news recently, and I’m not especially a news junkie, but all that’s going on in the government has me riveted. The testimony … it’s about manners. Are you being appropriate in government? Are you all, that we have sent into these positions to represent us and to keep the world safe, are you doing that? Are you behaving properly? Because it’s looking kinda dicey right now.
Abc Photo Archives / Getty Images
Do you still have your Electra Woman costume? —Meli Alexander, Facebook
DH: I never had that and I will openly grouse and complain about that. There were three that were made, that were created, and when we wrapped the show after you know, those 10 minutes, I said “I’d like one of the costumes” and it didn’t happen. Sid and Marty Croft: Really? ‘Cause you need three for…something else?
Funniest moment on set or behind the scenes? We all know that Wayne Northrop was quite the jokester during his run on Days. Who has taken over that role now? —Kara O’Rourke, Facebook
Ali Velez/BuzzFeed
DH: Nobody could fill Wayne’s shoes. He was a consummate, inexhaustible practical joker. I don’t know that we have one [now]. Oh, it’s so sad. What I can say about this group as a whole is they are so kindhearted and generous, and there’s no place you couldn’t turn and say ,“I’m out of money, my car won’t start, I need some help.” I know shows often talk about “Oh, we’re such a big, happy family,” but this show hasn’t been on the air for as long as it has — and it’s a darn long time — without everybody pulling in the same direction. And that starts from the head: It starts from Greg [Meng, co-executive producer] and Ken [Corday, executive producer] and the producers and the directors and everybody pulling as hard as they can in the same direction. [It] keeps this show on the air. It’s an honor to be in harness with those people who set the bar so high and live up to it every day. It’s just stunning to me.
What is your favorite memory of working with the cast of Our House in particular, Shannen Doherty, Chad Allen, and Wilford Brimley? —MJ Cormier, Facebook
DH: Wilford is such an anomaly, and I always have to say he’s not who you think he is. He’s not the Quaker Oats guy, and he’s not Grandpa. He is a cowboy, a literal cowboy. He’s got a ranch, he rides, he ropes; in fact, outside of his trailer when we were at Lorimar, there was a set of horns set up and he was always out there practicing.
He had not done television and I don’t think it was his favorite thing — it’s not like filmmaking as we all know. And at one point, because he’s hearty, we had come onstage and it was so cold, it was so cold, and we had to be in the kitchen playing a summertime scene. And we all came in and the kids were in robes and sweats and shivering. And Wilford looked up and said, “What’s the matter with you all?” “We’re cold!” said the kids, “We’re cold!” And he said, “Well, why don’t you go back to your trailer until we get it warmed up?” I was not a part of this conversation, although I was privy to it, but these were three kids that had been on plenty of stages and went “Ooh. What? I don’t even know if…huh?” He said, “Go on, get back to your room. I’ll tell you when to come out.” And production was stopped until they brought in huge gas heaters, which meant the fire department had to be there onstage the whole time, and until he brought those kids out and it was warm enough for them, production stopped. A hero. You know, he knew he was powerful, he knew he was influential and in that moment, you know…don’t mess with my kids. And that was a Wilford moment.
What’s it like playing the same character for over 40 years, when writers come and go, and you’re in a position where you know the character better than the people writing her? —BuzzFeed
DH: I love firsts because we’re always testing the audience. We did the first gay wedding, we did the first crib death — I mean we’ve done a number of firsts on this show. And I think it’s our privilege and our responsibility to educate as well as entertain.
When we did the crib death, oh my gosh…the mail that I got was breathtaking. From people that had lived that moment, and who said [gasping], “I walked in, my baby wasn’t moving, and while I was sitting watching television, and you walked into the baby’s room and your baby wasn’t…I lost it.” Because there it was: You’re my friend, you’re somebody I trust with my emotions. And it was a great controversy at the time because our producers weren’t sure if we should warn the audience… You know, “Coming up are scenes that are going to be difficult.” and the final decision was [choking up] women walk into that room with no notice. She’s gotta do it, too. So it really took people by surprise and women wrote en masse saying, “I called my husband and said come home right now. Come watch this with me, see how she gets through it, see what they do.”
And I think we teach people, you know, the tolerance of a gay marriage. A lot of people said, “Well, I didn’t know about Will being gay, and then Marlena was fine with it so I thought maybe I’m unenlightened.” It’s a lovely responsibility to be able to teach people, show people another way to deal with things.
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Parish/Town Councils
Your Borough Councillors
Your County Councillors
Forward Plan
Cabinet, 2021
Notice of Key Decisions / Notice of Private Meetings
Pursuant to the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012
This Plan gives at least 28 days notice if the Cabinet of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council intends to make a key decision or make a decision in private. Other decisions by the executive are also included on the Plan wherever possible.
Relevant documents can be downloaded from the Council's website or are available on request from: Democratic Services, Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1RS or committee@tunbridgewells.gov.uk. Documents may be submitted to the decision maker via Democratic Services.
If it is necessary to hold a meeting in private, the reasons for this are stated alongside the decision. These reasons are prescribed by Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and summarised at the back of this Plan.
Representations against the intention to make a decision in private can be submitted in writing to Democratic Services no less than ten working days before the meeting date.
If the Council is unable to give 28 days notice, it will publish the reasons for this on its website and at its offices.
View any relevant notices here.
Choose a different year: 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Forward Plan as at 22 December 2020 December 2020
Forward Plan as at 24 November 2020 November 2020
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Irregular Bullshit
Meadow muffins, served fresh and hot
My Blog: Not Housebroken
It isn’t California anymore
October 31, 2019 David Benfell
Originally published October 31, 7:31 pm.
October 31, 9:34 pm:
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat has published a map (figure 1) of nearby (to Santa Rosa) fires since 2015.[1] Try, just try, to imagine living near this.
Fig. 1. Screenshot of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat‘s map of fires since 2015.[2]
Firefighters are getting the Kincade fire under control but other fires are ravaging California.[3] But Ronald Reagan’s daughter shares the sense that California has changed.[4]
Patti Davis, “My father’s library will likely survive the fires, but the California of my youth is gone,” Washington Post, October 30, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/30/my-fathers-library-will-likely-survive-fires-california-my-youth-is-gone/
Dale Kasler, “PG&E says its equipment may have caused a fourth California fire in the past week,” Sacramento Bee, October 30, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236841498.html
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, “Map of Kincade and nearby recent fires,” n.d., https://www.pressdemocrat.com/multimedia/10246412-181/map-of-kincade-and-nearby
A few days ago, I found a couple more gratuitous guns. One is actually not very far from my apartment, just on a street I don’t drive on very often, and because my complex includes many Black residents, I can accept that this one might be metaphorically aimed at Blacks. The other is in an area I’m much less familiar with, along the Monongahela River in Washington County. I don’t know the racial make-up near the latter location but an initial impression suggests this one is not so metaphorically aimed.
[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1K1CjgWPOH71L1UsUSHs00ubbu-jYnWux&w=640&h=480]
Pictures are here.
Both of these additions raise an issue of how I am assessing metaphorical aims. I need to dredge up demographic maps, preferably spanning several decades. Such demographics need to cover both race and class.
Just a quick note on Brexit: The British Press is already in full horse race mode coverage of the forthcoming election.[5] You might have already gathered that this is not the sort of coverage that interests me and that I think political surveys—now boasting a nine percent response rate[6]—should be discounted entirely. Which is to say campaign coverage is bullshit. All of it. Every last diarrhetic drop spewed from the bulls’ asses with such a velocity and range as to cast doubt as to whether any green grass may be found.
[1]Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, “Map of Kincade and nearby recent fires,” n.d., https://www.pressdemocrat.com/multimedia/10246412-181/map-of-kincade-and-nearby↩
[3]California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “Active Incidents,” October 30, 2019, https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/↩
[4]Patti Davis, “My father’s library will likely survive the fires, but the California of my youth is gone,” Washington Post, October 30, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/30/my-fathers-library-will-likely-survive-fires-california-my-youth-is-gone/↩
[5]Karla Adam and William Booth, “Britain sets December date for an election in which Brexit will dominate,” Washington Post, October 29, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/with-labour-partys-backing-britains-boris-johnson-looks-set-to-get-his-snap-election/2019/10/29/778ed246-f9c9-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html↩
[6]Steven Shepard, “Report: Phone polls aren’t dead yet,” Politico, May 15, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/pollsters-phone-polls-238409↩
Brexit, Climate, Climate politics, Fires, Government permitted organizations Leave a comment
The ‘ungriddable’ city
Originally published, October 26, 7:14 pm. Note: All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) unless otherwise noted.
The mandatory evacuation area for the Kincade fire has expanded. Notably, it now includes my mother’s house. Areas being warned have shifted south (figure 1). Graphics have been updated.
October 27, 4:36 am:
To be honest, I’m somewhat perplexed. Even as it appears firefighters are gaining significant control over the Kincade fire and that it has not advanced in the direction of Highway 101, evacuation warnings have now been issued for a relatively small part of northwest Santa Rosa that, ominously, approaches an evacuation center (figure 1). Winds have shifted and are now strongly off-shore.[1] In addition, the evacuation zones are now numbered. Graphics and text have been updated.
I haven’t received notifications, which may mean that map updates were out of sync with the notifications I received. It now appears more of Santa Rosa is under mandatory evacuation (figure 1). Winds are now off-shore at 40+ miles per hour.[2] It seems to me that the Santa Rosa evacuation center is now being encroached upon with mandatory evacuation orders on the north and west sides (figure 1). According to the Cal Fire incident page, Kincade fire containment is at 10 percent.[3] Graphics have been updated.
It is harder for me to keep up to date during the day, while I’m working, but I’m packing my Chromebook today. I will try.
A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for another piece of Santa Rosa, drawing very near the evacuation center there and the Kincade fire looking very much more serious than it did overnight (figure 1). Wind speeds appear to exceed 50 miles per hour.[4] The fire is now up to 30,000 acres and still at only 10 percent containment.[5]
Amidst all the drama, there is, of course, a very real human toll. Some folks are saying they don’t want to repeat their experience from two years ago. As the evacuation orders arrive, they are considering more permanent departures.[6] And it really is something to think about when you can’t rely on the lights being on, as aquifers draw ever lower, and as suffocating smoke becomes an annual occurrence. This isn’t civilization anymore. It may be spectacular, but it’s hell.
Be sure to look through the slide show in this Press-Democrat coverage.[7] I recognize some of the places as places I’ve been.
They’re ordinary places really. The sort of places you take for granted as you drive right on by. Ordinary, that is, except for those who lived and worked in them. Their lives are forever changed.
And if you feel a sense of deja vu, that’s kind of my point. This is how it’s been for fire after fire after fire. That bravado we always cheer, where victims swear they’ll rebuild, seems hollow now.
Containment is now at 5 percent of over 54,000 acres in the Kincade fire.[8] I’m having trouble telling from the Incident map (figure 1) how far into Windsor the fire has reached. The distance from northern Windsor to my mother’s house is a little less but traverses the same rugged dry terrain that a spread from Healdsburg would. It appears there is a shift in the weather pattern (figure 2) but I am not at this moment able to determine its significance. The winds have dropped[9] but that may only be because it is night time. Graphics have been updated.
October 28, 10:09 am:
It kind of looks like I failed to publish the 4:30 am update. Oops.
As of now, the Incident Map (figure 1) is making clear that where previously the main part of the Kincade fire had seemed to be in mountainous terrain, it now seems to be moving towards, if not into, Healdsburg and Windsor. Containment is at five percent of over 66,000 acres.[10] Winds seem to have weakened for the moment[11] and it appears the region is in for a bit of a respite on Monday (today) before conditions worsen again on Tuesday.[12]
“Cal Fire officials said they were concerned that the fire would jump Highway 128 into fuel-laden land that has not burned in decades.”[13] I’m not sure what the Sacramento Bee reporters mean when they talk about Highway 128, which runs into Mendocino County north of Cloverdale, along Highway 101 to Geyserville, and then east over the mountains into Lake County. Though there’s certainly land there that hasn’t burned yet, Lake County burned before Sonoma County in several massive fires over several years.
My concern however is with the fire’s move toward Windsor and Healdsburg. If the Kincade fire jumps Highway 101 (the latest incident map, figure 1, suggests it’s reaching right to it), which is what the Tubbs Fire did two years ago, and heads towards my mother’s house, I don’t think any of that territory has burned in decades either. And it looks to me like it’s getting close.
In the meantime,
The Kincade Fire and other blazes that erupted Sunday during the heavy winds closed several major roadways, including Interstate 80, the main east-west highway through Northern California between San Francisco and the Nevada state line. I-80 was closed for several hours between Vallejo and Crockett because of brush fires raging at both ends of the Carquinez Bridge, but reopened by mid-afternoon.[14]
Apparently this is happening all over the state.[15] I said earlier that this is hell. It’s hell. And yeah, reminiscent of when the Sonoma County fires broke out in 2017.
The humiliation of Boris Johnson continues as “he was forced to grudgingly accept the European Union’s offer to delay Brexit until January, and then lost a motion in Parliament to stage a general election before Christmas.”[16] (Brexit)
There’s apparently no real news on the Kincade fire. I am updating the graphics nonetheless. The fire does seem like it is spreading towards Healdsburg if not into it (figure 1) and winds are currently on shore.[17]
As if Brexit was ever, even once, really on track, it’s gone off the rails again as Boris Johnson has “abandoned” the withdrawal bill because he wants an election so bad. You know, like he wants Brexit itself. And yeah, I’m not the only one calling bullshit.[18]
The evacuation orders for much of west Sonoma County, including (just barely) my mother’s house, have been reduced to warnings, though the incident map (figure 1) also seems to show the fire further encroaching on Healdsburg. Cal Fire says it has achieved fifteen percent containment on over 74,000 acres.[19] The winds are shifting again,[20] in line with earlier forecasts.[21] The warning means people need to be ready to leave on a moment’s notice, so this isn’t really clearance for people to return home. This fire still looks incredibly dangerous to me and if those forecasts hold, I expect we’ll see a much more alarming picture later in the day. Text below has mostly been removed—look to these updates instead. Graphics have been updated.
Labour will back an election, improving the likelihood that one will occur in December.[22] The call for such an election was likely to succeed anyway, leaving Labour in the unenviable position of going into an election it had opposed.[23] (Brexit)
People are mad at Pacific Gas and Electric, and have reason to be, especially with the Kincade fire,[24] but it’s worth remembering the climate crisis is a major contributor.[25] Winds are still relatively weak but have now shifted to an off-shore direction.[26] They keep changing how they show the fire intensity and spread in the Sonoma County Incident Map and I am especially unfond of the latest iteration.
I see now (figure 1) that Healdsburg is across the Russian River from the fire and the fire has not jumped the river there. But parts of Windsor, especially the north and east are on fire.
The fire is very close to Highway 101 (figure 1). The road, which is marked as closed, is only four lanes (plus a median) wide there. I can’t imagine that a good gust of wind won’t enable the fire to jump the highway into terrain that I don’t think has burned in a very long time. But they’ve still got a lot of west Sonoma County only on an evacuation warning phase.
I gotta tell you, this doesn’t help to bolster confidence in their logic for how they ordered evacuations and when. Graphics are updated.
October 29, 2019, 9:06 pm:
Parliament has approved an election to be held on December 12,[27] which is just what Boris Johnson wanted. I am disappointed the franchise will not be extended to 16-year olds and European Union nationals: Their futures are at stake, even more than those of the old fogies who so desperately want out of the E.U.[28]
The Kincade fire is now 15 percent contained at over 75,000 acres.[29] The fire remains close to, but on the east side of Highway 101. Evacuation warnings are now shown for adjacent parts of Lake County (figure 1). Winds are strongly in an off-shore direction, but not so strong over such a wide area as before.[30]
Little seems to have changed with the Kincade fire since the last update,[31] except that stronger winds are appearing over a broader area. Which is to suggest that firefighters seem to be pretty much holding the line, and that if the wind forecast holds,[32] the worst should be over. For now.[33] Graphics have been updated.
Richard Denniss explores the social constructions in economics to explain why economists disagree.[34] I respond with a new blog post entitled, “Cats are smarter than we are. Really.”
The Kincade fire is at 30 percent containment and nearly 77,000 acres.[35] Firefighters seem to be holding the line in areas I’ve been most concerned with but I think maybe not so well to the north and east. Unfortunately there’s a weird cut off in the graphics in figure 1 that makes this harder to discern. Winds are strong and off-shore but not as strong and not as strongly over as wide an area as before.[36] Graphics have been updated.
Asserting the supremacy of state law, an Allegheny County judge struck down Pittsburgh’s gun control laws,[37] which were passed in the wake of the Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting last year.[38]
My methodology here is weak beyond compare, but I’m guessing from his avatar that Nathan Heller is a lot younger than I am. That said, his recollection of fires in the San Francisco area is about like mine.[39] California just isn’t the place it used to be. It is, as the headline on Annie Lowrey’s exploration of how the Wildlife-Urban Interface came to be so heavily populated proclaims, becoming unlivable.[40] (Kincade fire)
Winds are still offshore, but not nearly so strongly as earlier even today.[41] Updated containment figures are not yet available.[42] A lot of east Windsor appears to have burned or to be on fire but Healdsburg continues to be spared. Overall, the Kincade fire looks much less active and evacuation orders and warnings seem to be receding (figure 1). My mother will be going home tomorrow. Graphics have been updated.
Barring unforeseen developments, I will end this issue here. It’s become unusual for me to hold an issue open like this for several days on end but I did so on account of the Kincade fire. At this moment, that no longer seems to be justified.
I’ve been working on my page entitled, “Pittsburgh driving for the uninitiated anyway, but it turns out that Pittsburgh navigation is sufficiently difficult that it merits a CityLab article.[43] Yes, it really is that bad. And worse.
Vince Guerrieri, “The Map That Unlocked the Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” CityLab, October 25, 2019, https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/10/pittsburgh-street-map-beltway-system-allegheny-county-roads/600658/
Support for the humanities comes from an unlikely source.[44]
Heather Long, “The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors,” Washington Post, October 19, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/19/worlds-top-economists-just-made-case-why-we-still-need-english-majors/
Kincade fire
Fig. 1. Screenshot of Sonoma County Incident Map, taken on October 30, 2019, at 7:37 pm EDT (4:37 pm PDT). Click on this static image to open the source.
Fig. 2. 72-hour gif of Northeast Pacific satellite photos, taken two hours apart, as of October 30, 6:00 pm EDT (3:00 pm PDT).
Jonathan Cox, another Cal Fire spokesman, called the evacuation orders a preventive measure against “a worst-case scenario for this fire.” Capt. Stephen Volmer, a fire behavior analyst with the agency, said the winds were expected to start blowing the fire in a southwesterly direction beginning about 8 p.m. [PDT] toward Highway 101.[45]
A lot of Sonoma County still has visible scars from the fires two years ago. The psychic scars are, of course, longer lasting. But all I can really say is that the scenes I have seen there are, in a way, beyond description. There is an impact just from seeing the burned areas, or even just driving around a curve and being confronted with burned vegetation. Let alone seeing pads where homes used to be.
Best wishes to all.
Dale Kasler, “PG&E expands blackouts as fierce winds approach: 940,000 to lose power in California,” Sacramento Bee, October 26, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236691183.html
Dale Kasler and Hannah Wiley, “50,000 face evacuations in Sonoma County as Kincade Fire peril intensifies,” Sacramento Bee, October 26, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236685153.html
Nico Savidge, Annie Sciacca, and Casey Tolan, “‘I don’t want to do this again’: Blackouts and wildfires put Sonoma County on edge,” San Jose Mercury-News, October 26, 2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/26/i-dont-want-to-do-this-again-blackouts-and-fires-make-sonoma-county-residents-question-their-home/
Randi Rossmann and Will Schmitt, “Latest: Crews fighting to protect Windsor from approaching Kincade fire,” Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, October 27, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10227533-181/latest-winds-picking-up-in
Ryan Sabalow et al., “Kincade Fire forces evacuations and burns 84 square miles, as containment drops to 5%,” Sacramento Bee, October 27, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236719068.html
Dale Kasler, “Can wildfire risk worsen? Northern California eyes more winds, another PG&E outage,” Sacramento Bee, October 28, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236718203.html
Nathan Heller, “San Francisco’s Fire Season,” New Yorker, October 30, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/california-chronicles/san-franciscos-fire-season
Annie Lowrey, “California Is Becoming Unlivable,” Atlantic, October 30, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/can-california-save-itself/601135/
William Booth, Michael Birnbaum, and Karla Adam, “U.K. Parliament rejects Boris Johnson’s call for an early election on Dec. 12, but a pre-Brexit election remains likely,” Washington Post, October 28, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/eu-pushes-brexit-until-end-of-january-british-prime-minister-johnsons-request/2019/10/28/c53839cc-f967-11e9-9534-e0dbcc9f5683_story.html
Karla Adam and William Booth, “Britain sets December date for an election in which Brexit will dominate,” Washington Post, October 29, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/with-labour-partys-backing-britains-boris-johnson-looks-set-to-get-his-snap-election/2019/10/29/778ed246-f9c9-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html
Max Colchester, “U.K. Opposition Labour Party to Back Boris Johnson’s Call for Election,” Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-opposition-to-back-boris-johnsons-call-for-election-11572347134
Peter Walker, “MPs poised to vote through plan for December election,” Guardian, October 29, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/29/rush-to-election-slowed-mp-stella-creasy-backbench-labour-amendment
[1]Santa Rosa Press Democrat, “Map: Real-time map of wind gusts in the North Bay,” October 27, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/multimedia/10155288-181/map-current-winds-in-the↩
[3]California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “Incidents,” October 27, 2019, https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/↩
[6]Nico Savidge, Annie Sciacca, and Casey Tolan, “‘I don’t want to do this again’: Blackouts and wildfires put Sonoma County on edge,” San Jose Mercury-News, October 26, 2019, https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/26/i-dont-want-to-do-this-again-blackouts-and-fires-make-sonoma-county-residents-question-their-home/↩
[7]Randi Rossmann and Will Schmitt, “Latest: Crews fighting to protect Windsor from approaching Kincade fire,” Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, October 27, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10227533-181/latest-winds-picking-up-in↩
[10]California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “Incidents,” October 28, 2019, https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/↩
[11]Santa Rosa Press Democrat, “Map: Real-time map of wind gusts in the North Bay,” October 28, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/multimedia/10155288-181/map-current-winds-in-the↩
[12]Dale Kasler, “Can wildfire risk worsen? Northern California eyes more winds, another PG&E outage,” Sacramento Bee, October 28, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236718203.html↩
[13]Ryan Sabalow et al., “Kincade Fire forces evacuations and burns 84 square miles, as containment drops to 5%,” Sacramento Bee, October 27, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236719068.html↩
[16]William Booth, Michael Birnbaum, and Karla Adam, “U.K. Parliament rejects Boris Johnson’s call for an early election on Dec. 12, but a pre-Brexit election remains likely,” Washington Post, October 28, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/eu-pushes-brexit-until-end-of-january-british-prime-minister-johnsons-request/2019/10/28/c53839cc-f967-11e9-9534-e0dbcc9f5683_story.html↩
[18]Rowena Mason, “Brexit: Boris Johnson abandons bill in new push for December election,” Guardian, October 29, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/28/boris-johnson-abandons-brexit-bill-in-new-push-for-december-election↩
[22]Max Colchester, “U.K. Opposition Labour Party to Back Boris Johnson’s Call for Election,” Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-opposition-to-back-boris-johnsons-call-for-election-11572347134↩
[24]Randi Rossman and Will Schmitt, “Broken PG&E tower discovered near origin of Kincade fire on The Geysers geothermal power property,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, October 25, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10216601-181/kincade-fire-starts-inside-the↩
[25]Kurtis Alexander, “Scientists see fingerprints of climate change all over California’s wildfires,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 2018, https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Scientists-see-fingerprints-of-climate-change-all-13128585.php↩
[27]Karla Adam and William Booth, “Britain sets December date for an election in which Brexit will dominate,” Washington Post, October 29, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/with-labour-partys-backing-britains-boris-johnson-looks-set-to-get-his-snap-election/2019/10/29/778ed246-f9c9-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html↩
[28]Peter Walker, “MPs poised to vote through plan for December election,” Guardian, October 29, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/29/rush-to-election-slowed-mp-stella-creasy-backbench-labour-amendment↩
[34]Richard Denniss, “If economics is a science, why isn’t it being more helpful?” Guardian, October 30, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/30/if-economics-is-a-science-why-isnt-it-being-more-helpful↩
[37]Bob Bauder, “Judge strikes down Pittsburgh’s controversial gun bills,” Trib, October 29, 2019, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/judge-strikes-down-pittsburghs-controversial-gun-bills/↩
[38]Campbell Robertson, Christopher Mele, and Sabrina Tavernise, “11 Killed in Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged With 29 Counts,” New York Times, October 27, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html↩
[39]Nathan Heller, “San Francisco’s Fire Season,” New Yorker, October 30, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/california-chronicles/san-franciscos-fire-season↩
[40]Annie Lowrey, “California Is Becoming Unlivable,” Atlantic, October 30, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/can-california-save-itself/601135/↩
[43]Vince Guerrieri, “The Map That Unlocked the Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” CityLab, October 25, 2019, https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/10/pittsburgh-street-map-beltway-system-allegheny-county-roads/600658/↩
[44]Heather Long, “The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors,” Washington Post, October 19, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/19/worlds-top-economists-just-made-case-why-we-still-need-english-majors/↩
[45]Dale Kasler and Hannah Wiley, “50,000 face evacuations in Sonoma County as Kincade Fire peril intensifies,” Sacramento Bee, October 26, 2019, https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article236685153.html↩
Brexit, Civilian weapons, Economics, English, Fires, Government permitted organizations, Humanities, Uncategorized Leave a comment
For-profit schools’ most favorite education secretary ever is in contempt of court
For-profit schools
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, “Federal judge holds DeVos in contempt in loan case, slaps Education Department with $100,000 fine,” Washington Post, October 24, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/10/24/federal-judge-holds-devos-contempt-loan-case-slaps-education-dept-with-fine/
There is a new blog post entitled, “The Kincade fire and the limits of human hubris.”
Randi Rossman and Will Schmitt, “Broken PG&E tower discovered near origin of Kincade fire on The Geysers geothermal power property,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, October 25, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10216601-181/kincade-fire-starts-inside-the
Reis Thebault, Kim Bellware, and Andrew Freedman, “High-voltage power line broke near origin of massive California fire that forced thousands of evacuations,” Washington Post, October 25, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/24/fast-moving-wildfire-ignites-northern-california-wine-country-prompting-evacuations/
George Reynolds, “Why do people hate vegans?” Guardian, October 25, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/oct/25/why-do-people-hate-vegans
Sam Knight has written a history of Brexit, pretty much since Theresa May was toppled.[1] After all, it has been one very long, very strange journey and we still don’t know, really, how it ends.
Sam Knight, “How Brexit Will End,” New Yorker, October 25, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/04/how-brexit-will-end
Tammy Kupperman et al., “Judge says impeachment inquiry is legal and justifies disclosing grand jury material,” CNN, October 25, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/25/politics/grand-jury-impeachment-mueller/index.html
[1]Sam Knight, “How Brexit Will End,” New Yorker, October 25, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/04/how-brexit-will-end↩
Brexit, Election irregularities, Fires, For-profit schools, Government permitted organizations, Student loans Leave a comment
Such a surprise: Donald Trump enabled ethnic cleansing
Khabat Abbas, “‘This Is Ethnic Cleansing’: A Dispatch from Kurdish Syria,” New York Review of Books, October 23, 2019, https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/23/this-is-ethnic-cleansing-a-dispatch-from-kurdish-syria/
Kurdistan (Syria) Leave a comment
Hillary Clinton, narcissist
There is a new blog post entitled, “Hillary Clinton needs to just shut the fuck up.”
Dan Merica, “Hillary Clinton suggests Russians are ‘grooming’ Tulsi Gabbard for third-party run,” CNN, October 21, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/politics/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard/index.html
Nathan Robinson, “Hillary Clinton’s attacks on Tulsi Gabbard are embarrassing,” Guardian, October 22, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/22/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard-embarrassing-paranoid
The Chronicle of Higher Education has some of the backstory[1] to the drama over the Flores Settlement and the treatment of migrant children.[2]
Emma Pettit, “The Witnesses,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 16, 2019, https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20191016-the-witness
Boris Johnson finally won one.[3] He also lost yet another one.[4] These two stories differ mostly in emphasis, and I’m still thinking about the significance of who chose which emphasis.
William Booth and Karla Adam, “Parliament denies Boris Johnson support for his fast-tracked Brexit deal, making Oct. 31 exit unlikely,” Washington Post, October 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/brexit-fast-or-slow-boris-johnson-faces-big-votes-tuesday/2019/10/22/dc12989c-f447-11e9-b2d2-1f37c9d82dbb_story.html
Max Colchester and Jason Douglas, “Johnson’s Brexit Deal Clears Hurdle in Parliament but His Timetable Is Rejected,” Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/boris-johnsons-brexit-deal-clears-vital-hurdle-in-parliament-11571768188
[1]Emma Pettit, “The Witnesses,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 16, 2019, https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20191016-the-witness↩
[2]Priscilla Alvarez, “Lawmakers, including Ocasio-Cortez, lash out over conditions following border facility tours,” CNN, July 2, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/01/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-clint-texas-facility/index.html; Caitlin Dickerson, “‘There Is a Stench’: No Soap and Overcrowding in Detention Centers for Migrant Children,” New York Times, June 21, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/us/migrant-children-border-soap.html; Adam Harris, “An Astonishing Government Report on Conditions at the Border,” Atlantic, July 3, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/07/government-report-details-inhumane-conditions-migrant-facilities/593242/; Miriam Jordan, “Judge Orders Swift Action to Improve Conditions for Migrant Children in Texas,” New York Times, June 29, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/us/migrant-children-detention-texas.html; Alejandro Lazo and Jacob Gershman, “Lawsuit Alleges Government Mistreatment of Migrant Children,” Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawsuit-alleges-government-mistreatment-of-migrant-children-11561608969; Katie Mettler, Mike DeBonis, and Reis Thebault, “Border agents confiscated lawmakers’ phones. Joaquin Castro captured photo and video anyway,” Washington Post, July 2, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/02/ocasio-cortez-says-dispute-with-border-patrol-agents-started-after-one-tried-take-stealth-selfie/↩
[3]Max Colchester and Jason Douglas, “Johnson’s Brexit Deal Clears Hurdle in Parliament but His Timetable Is Rejected,” Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/boris-johnsons-brexit-deal-clears-vital-hurdle-in-parliament-11571768188↩
[4]William Booth and Karla Adam, “Parliament denies Boris Johnson support for his fast-tracked Brexit deal, making Oct. 31 exit unlikely,” Washington Post, October 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/brexit-fast-or-slow-boris-johnson-faces-big-votes-tuesday/2019/10/22/dc12989c-f447-11e9-b2d2-1f37c9d82dbb_story.html↩
Brexit, War Leave a comment
Intellectual dishonesty: scandal or fraud?
Scientific scandal
Stephen Fleischfresser doesn’t use the term ‘scientific fraud,’ but some of this work appears at least intellectually dishonest. So what I want to know is, who the hell, besides the tobacco industry, cited these assholes, “one of the most influential and heavily cited psychologists of all time, the oft controversial Hans Eysenck” and his partner in crime, Ronald Grossath-Maticek?[1] Because if people are actually relying on this bullshit, the question that follows is, how much damage has been done to the body of knowledge? How much?
Stephen Fleischfresser, “Is this ‘one of the worst scientific scandals of all time’?” Cosmos, October 21, 2019, https://cosmosmagazine.com/society/is-this-one-of-the-worst-scientific-scandals-of-all-time
Steve Hendrix, “Netanyahu fails to form new Israeli government; rival Gantz poised to take up the challenge,” Washington Post, October 21, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/netanyahu-fails-to-form-new-israeli-government-rival-gantz-poised-to-take-up-the-challenge/2019/10/21/7a4574d4-e27e-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html
Times of Israel, “Warren says withholding aid to Israel is ‘on the table’ to curb settlements,” October 21, 2019, https://www.timesofisrael.com/warren-says-withholding-aid-to-israel-on-the-table-to-curb-settlements/
Karla Adam and William Booth, “Another Brexit hiccup as House Speaker John Bercow denies Boris Johnson a vote Monday,” Washington Post, October 21, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/boris-johnson-presses-ahead-with-october-departure-from-the-eu-despite-requesting-brexit-delay/2019/10/21/c915338c-f297-11e9-bb7e-d2026ee0c199_story.html
[1]Stephen Fleischfresser, “Is this ‘one of the worst scientific scandals of all time’?” Cosmos, October 21, 2019, https://cosmosmagazine.com/society/is-this-one-of-the-worst-scientific-scandals-of-all-time↩
Brexit, Medicine, Palestine, Psychology Leave a comment
Boris Johnson’s not so super Saturday
Amy Davidson Sorkin, “Boris Johnson’s Bad Saturday and the Contradictions of Brexit,” New Yorker, October 19, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/boris-johnsons-bad-saturday-and-the-contradictions-of-brexit
Daniel Boffey, “Brexit: Johnson sends unsigned letter asking for delay, and second arguing against it,” Guardian, October 20, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/19/eu-will-grant-brexit-extension-if-johnson-sends-letter-says-brussels
Brexit Leave a comment
Uber, again
I’m back to driving for Uber.
It’s been a tough week driving for Lyft. I just haven’t been getting very many rides and the rides I have been getting have been low value.
Retail is fickle, and this certainly applies to the gig economy, but a lot of drivers suspect that it isn’t just that, but rather that these “mystery slowdowns” are intentional, that the companies are playing head games with their drivers.
The idea is to keep drivers hungry. In this hypothesis, the low pay isn’t just about the companies’ likely futile quests for actual profitability,[1] but a ‘Theory X’ management style[2] treatment of workers in which they can’t be allowed to feel too comfortable, feel too confident, lest they take some time off and reduce their availability for exploitation.
In California, where I focused on Marin County, where Uber had the vast majority of the business, I usually just worked for Uber. But when these “mystery slowdowns” arose, I’d switch to Lyft, which would mysteriously be busy for a while. Then when a “mystery slowdown” arose with Lyft, I’d switch back to Uber, which would remarkably be back to being busy.
If one assumes that market conditions should similarly affect Uber and Lyft, that is, that when Uber is slow, so, too, should be Lyft, and vice versa, then market conditions cannot explain my relative success when switching companies. Which in turn suggests that some form of dispatch manipulation is occurring.
In Pittsburgh, around the time of Uber’s initial public offering, they got weird about paying me. Payment arrangements that had worked for months suddenly stopped working. They had given out a lot of free rides and I had, they said, unknowingly taken too many of those free rides (for which I was still owed money), so they cut me off from instant pay. The banking details for the weekly payout, the same details that had worked before, were suddenly wrong. They were, I surmised, attempting to boost their cash flow for their IPO at my expense. But whatever the reason, getting weird about paying is a huge red flag for me. So I cut them off.
The trouble is that Lyft also plays head games. I suspect that some of the complaints they said passengers had made about my driving were simply made up. Citing privacy concerns, they never inform me of these complaints with any detail even though I have repeatedly explained to them that credible complaints are specific and detailed. Sometimes these complaints are completely at odds with how I drive, even in Pittsburgh,[3] and so I doubt their provenance.
And then there are the “mystery slowdowns.” I haven’t even the beginnings of a means to determine whether these are in fact the results of dispatch manipulation. But I can’t help but be suspicious.
I don’t like head games anyway. People who know me know that, in fact, I respond very poorly to them and that, in fact, one reason I have all but given up on ever finding a real job is that, after eighteen years of futility,[4] I have come to feel that the application process is little more than a head game. It’s best to be straight with me and if you don’t feel that’s how you can get what you want from me, then I don’t want to be dealing with you. I have severed relationships over this in the past and fully expect to do so in the future.
And here I am with a “mystery slowdown” with Lyft. So I’m back trying Uber. It sucks but a real job doesn’t seem to be an option for me.[5]
William Booth and Karla Adam, “Parliament votes to withhold approval of Brexit deal, postponing Boris Johnson’s moment of reckoning,” Washington Post, October 19, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/boris-johnson-faces-historic-brexit-vote-in-parliament/2019/10/19/dba7cc70-f1a8-11e9-bb7e-d2026ee0c199_story.html
[1]Rich Alton, “Basic economics means Uber and Lyft can’t rely on driverless cars to become profitable,” MarketWatch, August 12, 2019, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/basic-economics-means-uber-and-lyft-cant-rely-on-driverless-cars-to-become-profitable-2019-08-12; Eliot Brown, “Uber Wants to Be the Uber of Everything—But Can It Make a Profit?” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-wants-to-be-the-uber-of-everything-11556909866; Richard Durant, “Uber’s Profitability Problem Is Structural,” Seeking Alpha, August 21, 2019, https://seekingalpha.com/article/4287055-ubers-profitability-problem-structural; Ryan Felton, “Uber Is Doomed,” Jalopnik, February 24, 2017, https://jalopnik.com/uber-is-doomed-1792634203; Yves Smith, “Uber Is Headed for a Crash,” New York, December 4, 2018, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/will-uber-survive-the-next-decade.html; Stephen Wilmot, “Uber’s Long Road to Profits,” Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-long-road-to-profits-11566471068; Julia Carrie Wong, “Disgruntled drivers and ‘cultural challenges’: Uber admits to its biggest risk factors,” Guardian, April 12, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/11/uber-ipo-risk-factors↩
[2]In contrast to ‘Theory Y,’ in which workers are presumed to care about their work and are treated as having valuable insight that should be taken into account in making management decisions, should be treated as well as conditions of competition permit, and in which companies have responsibilities not merely to shareholders but to stakeholders and the environment. More familiar to many workers is ‘Theory X,’ which presumes that workers are, at best, indifferent to their work (Karl Marx’s theory of alienated labor in “Estranged Labor,” in Social Theory, ed. Charles Lemert, 6th ed. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2017), 29-33, comes to mind), that management is the sole source of expertise in how work should be done, and that workers respond only to reward and punishment. Theory X seems to prevail even in organizations that profitably experiment with Theory Y. See Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley, The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years (Ventura, CA: Patagonia, 2012); Chip Conley, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007); Gary Heil, Warren Bennis, and Deborah C. Stephens, Douglas McGregor Revisited: Managing the Human Side of the Enterprise (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2000); Art Kleiner, The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008); Carol Sanford, The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011); Marvin R. Weisbord, Productive Workplaces: Dignity, Meaning, and Community in the 21st Century, 3rd ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012).↩
[3]The driving situation in Pittsburgh is very different from California, and legitimately, the most difficult I have ever encountered. See David Benfell, “Pittsburgh driving for the uninitiated,” Irregular Bullshit, n.d., https://disunitedstates.com/pittsburgh-driving-for-the-uninitiated/↩
[4]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
Gig economy Leave a comment
Parliament wanted a deal. Will it vote for the one Boris Johnson got them?
Rory Carroll and Lisa O’Carroll, “Rival unionists accuse DUP of catastrophic Brexit miscalculation,” Guardian, October 17, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/17/rival-unionists-accuse-dup-of-catastrophic-brexit-miscalculation
Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal, “‘It’s painful to choose’: ERG locked in internal talks over Brexit deal,” Guardian, October 18, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/17/its-painful-to-choose-erg-locked-in-internal-talks-over-brexit-deal
Delil Souleiman, “Deadly Turkish airstrikes shatter deal to pause Syria offensive,” Times of Israel, October 18, 2019, https://www.timesofisrael.com/deadly-turkish-airstrikes-shatter-deal-to-pause-syria-offensive/
Derek Thompson skillfully distinguishes between the dot-com crash and what is happening with some so-called “tech” companies (like Uber, Lyft, and WeWork) now. But he focuses too much on stock market valuations[1] and not enough on the effects, like mass unemployment such as that which followed the dot-com crash. We still don’t know what’s going to happen to Uber and Lyft employees, let alone the legions of drivers whom the companies refuse to count as employees,[2] when these companies fold.[3]
Derek Thompson, “The Not-Com Bubble Is Popping,” Atlantic, October 18, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/are-we-cusp-next-dot-com-bubble/600232/
[1]Derek Thompson, “The Not-Com Bubble Is Popping,” Atlantic, October 18, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/are-we-cusp-next-dot-com-bubble/600232/↩
[2]Noam Cohen, “How Tech Firms Like Uber Hide Behind the ‘Platform Defense,’” Wired, September 13, 2019, https://www.wired.com/story/how-tech-firms-like-uber-hide-behind-the-platform-defense/; Kate Conger, “Uber Says It Will Not Change Driver Status Under California Gig-Worker Law,” New York Times, September 11, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/business/economy/uber-california-bill.html; Shirin Ghaffary, “Uber and Lyft say they don’t plan to reclassify their drivers as employees,” Vox, September 11, 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/9/11/20861599/ab-5-uber-lyft-drivers-contractors-reclassify-employees; Aaron Gordon, “Uber To California: Make Us,” Jalopnik, September 11, 2019, https://jalopnik.com/uber-and-lyft-drivers-shouldnt-expect-to-be-employees-a-1838048966↩
[3]David Benfell, “Liking Lyft, not liking Uber,” Not Housebroken, August 27, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/08/27/liking-lyft-not-liking-uber/↩
Brexit, Economy, Gig economy, Kurdistan (Syria) Leave a comment
Alert the heavens: Elijah Cummings is coming
It’s now about the Democratic Unionist Party’s quest for political power. Yes, really. And because of that,[1] Parliament’s ratification of the deal remains in doubt.[2]
With the DUP refusing to give its backing, there remains serious doubt that the deal will pass through parliament unless Johnson is able to convince both a significant number of Labour MPs and a large chunk of the 21 MPs whose whip as Conservatives was removed last month.
Soon after the agreement was announced, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, rejected it as worse than the deal produced by Johnson’s predecessor in Downing Street, Theresa May.[3]
Daniel Boffey, Jennifer Rankin, and Rowena Mason, “Johnson seeks DUP backing in race against time over Brexit deal,” Guardian, October 16, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/16/michel-barnier-optimistic-of-deal-after-pm-makes-concessions-on-irish-border
James Rothwell, “DUP’s demand for a veto over deal brings talks to standstill as consent not customs becomes crucial issue,” Telegraph, October 16, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/10/16/dups-demand-veto-deal-brings-talks-standstill-consent-not-customs/
Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin, “Boris Johnson and EU reach Brexit deal without DUP backing,” Guardian, October 17, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/17/boris-johnson-and-eu-reach-brexit-deal-without-dup-backing
Laurence Norman and Max Colchester, “U.K., EU Agree on Draft Brexit Deal, Paving Way for Key Vote,” Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/brexit-talks-are-dealt-a-blow-as-northern-irish-party-rejects-draft-11571294766
I have marked my own passing through phases of life by the deaths of others: Middle age as celebrities of roughly my parents’ generation have begun to pass on, old age as celebrities of roughly my own generation have begun to pass on.
I don’t believe I particularly express that ineffable quality of soul, at least not very often. B. B. King did and recognized it in others. He talks about that somewhere in the music collection I have curated over decades. I most often recognize soul in the additions I make to that collection when I learn of artists’ passing: Yes, of course, B.B. King, but also Arethra Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder.
Soul is perhaps what I perceived in my grandfather.
I don’t often include obituaries here, let alone of politicians.
I fault Elijah Cummings as I do all politicians, for their belief in and their participation an inherently corrupt and violent system that is incapable of significant progress, particularly as life on earth faces near-term existential challenges.[4] But ironically, it might be Trey Gowdy, following a clash with Cummings in the then Republican-controlled House at the Benghazi hearings, who summed it best:
“It’s not about politics to him; he says what he believes,” [Trey] Gowdy told the Hill newspaper. “And you can tell the ones who are saying it because it was in a memo they got that morning, and you can tell the ones who it’s coming from their soul. And with Mr. Cummings, it’s coming from his soul.”[5]
Whatever our differences, and whatever the solutions may be to the problems we face, we need a lot more soul.
And with Cummings’ passing—he was eight years old than me—the curtain on my own utterly futile and wasted life seems that much closer. I wish I could make it all different.
Jenna Portnoy, “Rep. Elijah Cummings, Democratic leader and regular Trump target, dies at 68,” Washington Post, October 17, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/17/elijah-cummings-dies-baltimore/
[1]James Rothwell, “DUP’s demand for a veto over deal brings talks to standstill as consent not customs becomes crucial issue,” Telegraph, October 16, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/10/16/dups-demand-veto-deal-brings-talks-standstill-consent-not-customs/↩
[2]Laurence Norman and Max Colchester, “U.K., EU Agree on Draft Brexit Deal, Paving Way for Key Vote,” Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/brexit-talks-are-dealt-a-blow-as-northern-irish-party-rejects-draft-11571294766↩
[3]Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin, “Boris Johnson and EU reach Brexit deal without DUP backing,” Guardian, October 17, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/17/boris-johnson-and-eu-reach-brexit-deal-without-dup-backing↩
[4]David Benfell, “Why I do not vote,” Not Housebroken, February 23, 2016, https://disunitedstates.org/2016/02/23/why-i-do-not-vote/↩
[5]Jenna Portnoy, “Rep. Elijah Cummings, Democratic leader and regular Trump target, dies at 68,” Washington Post, October 17, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/17/elijah-cummings-dies-baltimore/↩
The weirder and weirder story of an initially alleged plot to ‘capture and assassinate’ lawmakers
Donald Trump is a bad boy and has been naughty (Update #4)
What was that that happened on January 6, 2021? (Update #4)
Donald Trump’s last stand? Maybe not (Update #13)
Donald Trump’s criminally insane telephone call (Update #2)
Donald Trump is a bad boy and has been naughty (Update #4) – Irregular Bullshit on Pennsylvania’s lunatic fringe legislature is at it again (Update #2)
The danger that remains – Not Housebroken on Pennsylvania’s lunatic fringe legislature is at it again (Update #2)
Underestimating the gravity of the situation, as Donald Trump faces a White House exit – Not Housebroken on The curious logic of Mitch McConnell (update #7)
Authoritarian populist secession talk (Update #4) – Irregular Bullshit on The curious logic of Mitch McConnell (update #7)
Authoritarian populist secession talk (Update #2) – Irregular Bullshit on Look out below! It’s a pigeon, not a partridge, in a pear tree (update #4)
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velo-city » For kids » Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 34
Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 34 flac album
Performer: Arthur Conan Doyle
Title: Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 34
Style: Spoken Word
Relesed: March 30, 2009
Other formats: MP2 ASF MOD VOX AAC DXD
Arthur Conan Doyle Spoken Word
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional consulting detective in London ~1880-1914 created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes, master of disguise, reasoned logically to deduce clients' background from their first appearance. He used fingerprints, chemical analysis, and forensic science. The majority of the stories were first pub. ore. Book 1. A Study in Scarlet. by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sherlock Holmes - 03 of 15 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 16:34. Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sherlock Holmes - 15 of 15 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 21:36. Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sherlock Holmes - 05 of 15 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 18:46. Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sherlock Holmes - 02 of 15 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 21:40. Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sherlock Holmes - 07 of 15 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 28:31. Conan Doyle, Arthur, Sherlock Holmes - 10 of 15 - The Hound of the Baskervilles 20:57.
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle between 1887 and 1927 in 62 cases (4 novels and 58 short stories). He is an amateur detective with powerful observation and deduction abilities. With 62 stories of the detective, it is the most numerous of Conan Doyle recurring characters. But it was not his first stories, see Complete Works
Sherlock Holmes's Prophecy Was Soon Fulfilled'. 5. "That Was My Singular Interview With Professor Moriarty".
Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term "canon" is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle's original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.
16 hrs ·. mxpublishing.
Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the world's most famous characters, Sherlock Holmes. But in some ways the Scottish-born author felt trapped by the runaway popularity of the fictional detective. Over the course of a long writing career Conan Doyle wrote other stories and books he believed to be superior to the tales and novels about Holmes. But the great detective turned into a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, with the reading public clamoring for more plots involving Holmes, his sidekick Watson, and the deductive method.
Arthur Conan Doyle - Primary Artist
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Home/Life Improving Offbeat/Community Safe Rooms: Be Prepared for Potential Disasters
Community Safe Rooms: Be Prepared for Potential Disasters
Dr Prem Jagyasi and Team (C)May 18, 2018
No one wants to be faced with a disaster but unfortunately, they can happen at anytime anywhere. Since you can’t avoid emergency situations, you should be prepared to ensure the safety of your family and your community. FEMA recommends that homeowners who live in areas with extreme-wind hazards from hurricanes and tornadoes build a safe room. A safe room, also known as a “hardened” room, can be a closet, bathroom, or other room in your house where you and your family can remain safe during extreme, damaging weather disasters.
Many homes and buildings that are built in areas prone to extreme weather conditions use insulated concrete forms (ICFs). ICFs are a system of reinforced concrete that is highly energy-efficient and natural disaster resistant. The main benefit of ICFs is that they are durable. In addition to the money, you can save by being more energy-efficient, most insurance companies offer discounts for ICF homes and buildings because they help protect from tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and fire.
Protecting Your Community by Being Prepared
Nature can be beautiful but can also be extremely violent as we have all seen from the severe destruction of recent natural disasters. In order to be prepared and ensure safety, many communities are installing a community safe room. The difference between a residential safe room and a community safe room is based on the number of people it protects. If the room is built to protect more than 16 occupants, it is considered a community safe room.
A safe room is a reinforced, well-stocked, and secure area that provides safety and protection from extreme weather events and is designed according to FEMA criteria and specifications. Hospitals, police stations, schools, fire departments, building owners, and other communities are building or installing safe rooms to help their residents withstand the effects of devastating catastrophes. Most states are at risk from some forms of severe weather. Whether or not a community decides to build a safe room is based upon a risk assessment involving many considerations including the:
Probability of disastrous events occurring
Types of hazards possible in any given area
Size of the at-risk population
Vulnerability of the buildings
Communities can construct new safe rooms inside or outside of a building, or they can modify an existing building to add a safe space. Community safe rooms must be designed according to specific fire safety, ventilation, and architectural requirements. FEMA provides important information about the construction and design of community safe rooms to provide protection for extreme weather events. This can also relieve community members’ anxiety about how to survive a natural disaster with minimal damage.
The original guidance report was published in 1998, has been followed by thousands and already saved lives, and has not shown even a single failure of a safe room that was constructed according to FEMA criteria. It was prepared for local officials, emergency managers, engineers, architects, building officials, and prospective safe room operators and owners. To stay on top of the most relevant data, FEMA has modified and updated its criteria based on recent investigations of post-disaster data and considerable research.
Examples of Community Safe Rooms
The City of Fair Grove and Fair Grove R-X School District houses a gymnasium and a multi-use safe room that serves as both an elementary and middle school. Community members in surrounding areas are able to make use of the safe room when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning. This is an example of how a plan for two schools is also available to the community to keep them safe.
Joplin Schools Community Safe Room is another example of how procedures and a room set up inside a school also helps protect those in the local community.
In 2016, Carthage and Purdy school districts received federal funds from the State Emergency Management Agency to help pay for a safe room space with the capacity to hold 2,079 residents, students, and staff members. The safe space is a stand-alone multi-purpose performing arts center.
Don’t Hide Your Head in the Sand
It is always better to be prepared for an emergency rather than try to react during or after a disaster. FEMA offers free webinars and a wealth of resources that have been compiled and is available from the Building Science Branch of FEMA’s Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA).
Article Submitted By Community Writer
Community Safe Rooms emergency Featured Potential Disasters Protecting Top
Dr Prem Jagyasi and Team (C)
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Justia Dockets & Filings Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit WBY, Inc., et al v. Jeffery Rutland Filing 1109593645
WBY, Inc., et al v. Jeffery Rutland
Opinion issued by court as to Appellant Jeffery Rutland. Decision: Affirmed. Opinion type: Non-Published. Opinion method: Per Curiam. The opinion is also available through the Court's Opinions page at this link http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions.
Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 1 of 18 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 16-10490 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:14-cv-00253-LMM WBY, INC., d.b.a. Follies, JOSHUA SCHINDLER, STEVE YOUNGELSON, Plaintiffs-Appellees, versus DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA, et al., Defendants, JEFFERY RUTLAND, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ________________________ (June 16, 2017) Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 2 of 18 Before MARCUS, ROSENBAUM, and FAY, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Defendant-Appellant Jeffrey Rutland, a lieutenant with the DeKalb County Police Department, appeals the district court’s order denying him qualified immunity from Plaintiff-Appellee Joshua Schindler’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for wrongful arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment. After careful review, we affirm the denial of qualified immunity. I. Background This case arises out of a police raid conducted by the DeKalb County Police Department at Follies, an adult entertainment club, on April 19, 2013. The raid allegedly was a “business check” for the purpose of ensuring Follies’s compliance with the DeKalb County Code. This appeal narrow focuses on an interaction in the Follies parking lot between Rutland, one of the officers on the scene, and Schindler, who worked as a valet at Follies. 1 Schindler works for “Valet for Life,” a valet car-parking company that had a contract with Follies for valet services. When customers pull up to the valet “staging” area in the Follies parking lot across from the front doors, Schindler accepts the valet fee, gives a ticket to the driver, and then parks the car. 1 Schindler brought his claims jointly with Follies and its owner, Steve Youngelson, who challenged the constitutionality of the raid itself, among other matters. Only Schindler’s § 1983 wrongful-arrest claim is at issue in this appeal. 2 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 3 of 18 On the day of the raid, Schindler was working his valet shift, preparing to park a car that was in the staging area, when police officers drove into the parking lot in a grey van, a black SUV, and several other marked and unmarked police cars. The unmarked grey van pulled up directly behind the car where Schindler was standing. Just after the van pulled up, Schindler began walking back towards the front entrance of Follies, where the valet podium was located. Meanwhile, numerous officers had exited the vehicles and were heading into Follies. As depicted in the security footage2 below, Schindler (in khaki pants and a black longsleeved shirt by the silver car near the top-middle) was walking towards the front entrance of Follies behind two of the police officers, while the other officers approached Follies from the side. Rutland is at the top left of the picture. 2 The images in this opinion are screenshots from Follies’s security footage that have been cropped to highlight the relevant details. The security footage does not have audio. 3 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 4 of 18 As Schindler walked back towards the valet podium, Rutland, who was near a police vehicle off to Schindler’s right, approached him, began yelling for him to “back down,” and demanded to know what he was doing. Rutland testified that he believed Schindler was attempting to interfere with the officers who were entering Follies. Schindler stopped, turned towards Rutland, and told him that he was a valet and that he did not understand what was going on. Rutland came up extremely close to Schindler, standing between him and the front entrance, and again yelled at Schindler to “back down.” Schindler reiterated that he was a valet and asked why Rutland, who was “extremely lived,” was taking such an aggressive tone with him. Schindler testified that he did not understand what Rutland meant by “back down,” though he eventually took one step backwards from Rutland (top-right picture below) and put his hands out low and to his sides in a placating gesture. Rutland stepped forward and put his hand on Schindler’s arm, while Schindler turned away from Follies. Another officer (in the blue shirt) immediately ran over and helped Rutland take Schindler to the ground.3 Schindler’s hands were zip-tied behind his back, and he was detained for the remainder of the raid. 3 Rutland insists that the other officer, not Rutland, initiated the arrest, but the video is ambiguous on the matter, and a reasonable jury could infer that Rutland at least participated in Schindler’s arrest. 4 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 5 of 18 Between stopping at Rutland’s request and taking one step backwards, Schindler remained standing in the same location, about one car’s length into the parking lot just outside the front entrance. About 12 or 13 seconds elapsed from when Rutland reached Schindler to when Schindler took one step backwards. Schindler testified that he did not say anything to the other officers before Rutland intervened, and that during his encounter with Rutland he did not yell, swear, or respond in anger. 5 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 6 of 18 After the raid, Schindler was transported to the Dekalb County Detention Center and charged with disorderly conduct. That charge was dismissed for want of prosecution when Rutland and the other officer failed to show up for Schindler’s trial date. After the charges against him were dropped, Schindler brought this civilrights lawsuit alleging claims of excessive force and false arrest under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and related state-law claims. Following discovery, Rutland moved for summary judgment and invoked the defense of qualified immunity with regard to the § 1983 claims. Rutland argued that Schindler could not overcome the defense of qualified immunity because there was “no law clearly establishing that Defendant Rutland acted unlawfully . . . in arresting Plaintiff Schindler for disorderly conduct.” The extent of Rutland’s analysis of Schindler’s wrongfularrest claim is as follows: With regard to the arrest of Plaintiff Schindler, the facts are undisputed that Rutland approached Schindler as he appeared to be trying to follow police into the club and asked Schindler multiple times to back away. Schindler admits he did not heed Rutland’s instructions but instead refused to back up. Because there is no law that makes Schindler’s arrest patently unlawful under this circumstance, Rutland is entitled to qualified immunity and the claims against him should be dismissed on summary judgment. Responding to Rutland’s summary-judgment motion, Schindler argued that Rutland lacked probable cause to arrest for disorderly conduct. In reply, Rutland contended for the first time that, even assuming Schindler was incorrectly charged 6 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 7 of 18 with disorderly conduct, the arrest was still objectively valid because a reasonable officer could have believed that Schindler’s failure to back away at an officer’s command constituted obstruction of an officer under O.C.G.A. § 16-10-24(a). The district court granted in part and denied in part Rutland’s motion for summary judgment. In relevant part, the court denied qualified immunity to Rutland for Schindler’s § 1983 wrongful-arrest claim, finding no arguable probable cause to arrest Schindler for disorderly conduct. The court explained that the undisputed facts showed only that Schindler briefly hesitated to obey an instruction, and “merely hesitating to obey an instruction does not necessarily amount to loud or boisterous behavior, nor does it necessarily show that Schindler was trying to incite individuals to act against the officers.” The court did not address Rutland’s arguments that there was arguable probable cause to arrest for obstruction. Rutland timely appealed the denial of qualified immunity. II. Standard of Review We review de novo a district court’s denial of summary judgment on qualified-immunity grounds. Carter v. Butts Cty., Ga., 821 F.3d 1310, 1318 (11th Cir. 2016). Summary judgment is appropriate only when the moving party demonstrates that no disputed issue of material fact exists. Id. In reviewing whether summary judgment was appropriate, we must accept the non-movant’s version of the facts as true and draw all reasonable inferences in his favor. Id. We 7 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 8 of 18 do not make credibility determinations or choose between conflicting testimony. Id. When a factual conflict exists in the evidence, we credit the non-moving party’s version of events. Id. Accordingly, the qualified-immunity determination must be based on the plaintiff’s version of the facts. Id. III. Discussion The defense of qualified immunity protects government officials from individual liability when they are engaged in their job duties unless they violate “clearly established federal statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Keating v. City of Miami, 598 F.3d 753, 762 (11th Cir. 2013) (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, qualified immunity “does not offer protection if an official knew or reasonably should have known that the action he took within his sphere of official responsibility would violate the constitutional rights of the [plaintiff].” Carter, 821 F.3d at 1319 (internal quotation marks omitted). Officials asserting qualified immunity must first establish that they were acting within the scope of their discretionary authority at the time of the alleged misconduct. Id. Once they do, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to overcome the defense of qualified immunity by showing “both that the officer’s conduct violated a constitutionally protected right and that the right was clearly established at the time of the misconduct.” Id. 8 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 9 of 18 There is no dispute that Rutland was acting within the scope of his discretionary authority as a police officer. So we turn to the questions of whether Rutland violated Schindler’s constitutional rights and whether those rights were clearly established. “[I]t is well established that [a] warrantless arrest without probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment and forms a basis for a section 1983 claim.” Carter, 821 F.3d at 1319 (internal quotation marks omitted). But where probable cause supports an arrest, it bars a § 1983 unlawful-arrest claim. Id. “Probable cause to arrest exists if the facts and circumstances within the officer’s knowledge, of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, would cause a prudent person to believe, under the circumstances shown, that the suspect has committed, is committing, or is about to commit an offense.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Probable cause determinations are evaluated objectively—that is, without regard to the officer’s subjective intentions—and under the totality of the circumstances. See id. As a result, “[t]he validity of an arrest does not turn on the offense announced by the officer at the time of the arrest.” Lee v. Ferraro, 284 F.3d 1188, 1195–96 (11th Cir. 2002) (quoting Bailey v. Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs of Alachua Cty., Fla., 956 F.2d 1112, 1119 n.4 (11th Cir. 1992)). Even if probable cause is lacking, however, an officer is still entitled to qualified immunity if arguable probable cause supported the arrest. Id. Qualified 9 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 10 of 18 immunity therefore protects an officer if he reasonably but mistakenly believed that probable cause was present. Carter, 821 F.3d at 1319–20. But “[w]here an officer arrests without even arguable probable cause, he violates the arrestee’s clearly established Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures.” Id. at 1320. A. Rutland’s Theory of Probable Cause on Appeal On appeal, Rutland abandons any challenge to the district court’s conclusion that there was not arguable probable cause to arrest Schindler for disorderly conduct. See Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 680 (11th Cir. 2014) (issues not briefed on appeal are abandoned). In any case, even if the issue were properly before us, we agree with the district court that, under Schindler’s version of events, arguable probable cause to arrest for disorderly conduct did not exist. Instead of relying on disorderly conduct, Rutland now charges Schindler with having obstructed an officer under O.C.G.A. § 16-10-24(a). However, Rutland did not sufficiently present his current legal arguments and theories to the district court. In his motion for summary judgment, Rutland never argued that arguable probable cause to arrest for obstruction existed. Rather, he claimed entitlement to qualified immunity because “no law clearly establish[ed] that Defendant Rutland acted unlawfully . . . in arresting Plaintiff Schindler for 10 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 11 of 18 disorderly conduct.” Rutland then broadly contended that “there [wa]s no law that makes Schindler’s arrest patently unlawful under this circumstance.” These statements are not sufficient to “specifically and clearly” identify to the district court that the arrest may have been justified under § 16–10–24(a). See Access Now, Inc. v. Sw. Airlines Co., 385 F.3d 1324, 1330–31 (11th Cir. 2004) (any issue that a litigant wants the court to address “should be specifically and clearly identified”). Although Rutland did raise his current theory of probable cause in a reply brief in support of his motion for summary judgment, reply briefs are not a vehicle to present new arguments or theories. See Herring v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., 397 F.3d 1338, 1342 (11th Cir. 2005) (“As we repeatedly have admonished, arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief are not properly before a reviewing court.”) (internal quotation marks omitted) (alterations adopted). Because Rutland’s current theory of probable cause was raised clearly in his reply brief only, it was within the district court’s discretion to decline to address that theory. Thus, Rutland impermissibly attempts to “argue a different case” from the one he “presented to the district court.” See Irving v. Mazda Motor Corp., 136 F.3d 764, 769 (11th Cir. 1998). But “theories not raised squarely in the district court cannot be surfaced for the first time on appeal.” Wood v. Milyard, 132 S. Ct. 1826, 1832 (2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). Since Rutland did not 11 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 12 of 18 “specifically and clearly” articulate his current theory of qualified immunity to the district court at an appropriate time, we will not address its merits on appeal. See Access Now, 385 F.3d at 1330–31. Although we may exercise our discretion to address arguments raised for the first time on appeal, Rutland’s case does not implicate the “exceptional conditions” that justify review of newly raised issues, see id. at 1332–35 & n.4. B. Rutland is not Entitled to Qualified Immunity In any case, even assuming without deciding that the issue is properly before us and that the district court erred by failing to evaluate whether arguable probable cause to arrest Schindler for obstruction an officer existed, see Lee, 284 F.3d at 1195–96, Rutland still is not entitled to qualified immunity because, taking the facts in the light most favorable to Schindler, no reasonable officer could have believed that Schindler’s conduct constituted obstruction under Georgia law. Under Georgia law, “a person who knowingly and willfully obstructs or hinders any law enforcement officer in the lawful discharge of his official duties is guilty of a misdemeanor.” O.C.G.A. § 16-10-24(a). “The essential elements of that crime are: (1) knowingly and willingly obstructing or hindering, (2) any law enforcement officer, (3) in the lawful discharge of his official duties.” Larkin v. State, 495 S.E.2d 605, 606 (Ga. Ct. App. 1998). 12 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 13 of 18 Construed in the light most favorable to Schindler, the facts show that Schindler, who was not being detained and who was not suspected of having committed a crime, briefly hesitated to obey Rutland’s ambiguous instructions to “back down,” after he had already stopped at the officer’s request and was standing in the parking lot where he was working as a valet, while attempting to inform the officer that he was the valet and to inquire as to what the officers were doing. Under these circumstances, Schindler’s statements to Rutland alone are not sufficient to constitute obstruction under Georgia law. 4 Although Georgia courts have held that “words alone can constitute obstruction,” the Georgia Court of Appeals in Harris v. State reviewed Georgia case law and “found no case upholding an obstruction conviction based solely upon a defendant’s act of speaking to, remonstrating with, or even criticizing an officer during the performance of his duties.” 726 S.E.2d 455, 458 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012) (noting that deceiving an officer or interfering with an officer’s interview of a reporting party may be sufficient to qualify as obstruction). Rather, there usually must be “words plus something more.” Id. That “something more” may be the defendant’s “refus[al] to comply with an officer’s directive or command” or the defendant’s “threatening or violent” behavior. Id. 4 While Rutland testified that Schindler was yelling and cursing at him and the other officers, Schindler denies doing so. We must credit Schindler’s version of events in making the qualified-immunity determination. See Carter, 821 F.3d at 1318. 13 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 14 of 18 Schindler’s statements here did not even amount to criticism or challenge of the officer, but rather were attempts to disclose information about his identity and to understand why a significant number of officers were conducting a raid at his place of employment. So the statements alone cannot establish arguable probable cause to arrest. See Skop v. City of Altanta, 485 F.3d 1130, 1139 (11th Cir. 2007) (“When, as under Skop’s version of the facts, an individual . . . simply reiterates or attempts to clarify a perfectly reasonable question directed to the officer, there is neither probable cause nor arguable probable cause to arrest for obstruction.”); Davis v. Williams, 451 F.3d 759, 767 (11th Cir. 2006) (“Neither an owner’s simple inquiry as to why officers are present on his property nor a person’s attempt to bring a dangerous situation to the officer’s attention can be construed as obstruction of justice or disorderly conduct. Nor can a citizen be precluded by the threat of arrest from asking to speak to an officer’s superior or from asking for an officer’s badge number. Those inquiries likewise do not constitute obstruction of justice or disorderly conduct.”). Rutland mainly argues that Schindler’s repeated refusal to comply with commands to back away from Follies constituted obstruction. Under the facts of this case, construed in Schindler’s favor, we disagree. Initially, we note that Georgia law clearly provides that citizens have no freestanding obligation to comply with a police officer’s requests when the officer 14 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 is not discharging a lawful duty. Page: 15 of 18 For example, when an officer detains an individual without reasonable suspicion, the “citizen is free to ignore requests and/or to walk away, and . . . no charge of obstruction [will] lie.” Strickland v. State, 594 S.E.2d 711, 715–16 (Ga. Ct. App. 2004). In other words, the simple fact that Schindler may have hesitated in complying with Rutland’s requests to “back down” is not alone sufficient to show obstruction under the facts of this case. Rather, Schindler’s brief hesitation must have obstructed or hindered the lawful discharge of either Rutland’s or another officer’s official duties. The official duties relevant to this case are the officers’ execution of a police operation at Follies. So the question is whether Schindler’s conduct hindered or obstructed the execution of those duties. Construing the facts in the light most favorable to Schindler, we cannot conclude that his brief hesitation in complying with Rutland’s command to “back down” was sufficient to supply even arguable probable cause to believe that Schindler obstructed the lawful execution of a legal duty. Schindler’s conduct amounted to no more than a “mere failure to immediately respond” to a police officer’s orders, which, without more, is insufficient to show obstruction under § 16-10-24(a). Martinez v. State, 743 S.E.2d 621, 623 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013); Coley v. State, 344 S.E.2d 490, 490 (Ga. Ct. App. 1986). 15 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 16 of 18 In Coley, for example, an officer was dispatched to investigate a domestic disturbance between the defendant and his wife. 344 S.E.2d at 490. When the officer arrived, the defendant, who was “committing no offense,” was walking back towards his pickup truck, the passenger door of which was open. The defendant’s wife shouted, “He’s got a gun,” prompting the officer to order the defendant to move away from the truck. The defendant “did not do so.” The officer repeated his order, and the defendant changed tack and began walking towards the house. The officer then twice ordered the defendant to stop. When the defendant did not stop, the officer ran up and conducted an arrest. The Georgia Court of Appeals found nothing in this evidence to support the conclusion that the defendant “obstructed or hindered [the officer] in any way in the performance of his duty.” “At most,” the court explained, “he did not respond immediately” to the officer’s orders. Id. And the mere failure “respond immediately” to an officer’s orders is “insufficient” to constitute obstruction. Id. at 491. Here, like the defendant in Coley, Schindler did “nothing more than fail to respond immediately to [Rutland’s] orders.” 5 Id. At the time that Schindler briefly 5 Rutland argues that the cases Schindler relies upon have all been disapproved or overruled, but, as far as we are able to tell, Coley has never been disapproved. Even within one of the cases Rutland cites for the purpose of showing such disapproval, the court did not disapprove of Coley and instead distinguished it based on its facts, implicitly recognizing that Coley remains good law. Stryker v. State, 677 S.E.2d 680, 682–83 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009). Numerous other cases have likewise factually distinguished Coley while recognizing the validity of its holding. See, e.g., Davis v. State, 706 S.E.2d 710, 717 n.26 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011) (finding Coley “inapposite” but citing it for the proposition that a “defendant’s mere failure to 16 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 17 of 18 hesitated to comply with Rutland’s commands to “back down,” Schindler was stopped well outside of Follies’s front door in the parking lot where he was employed as a valet, he was not being detained nor was he suspected of having committed a crime, he was not interfering with any officer’s freedom of movement into or out of Follies, and he was not, as Rutland asserts, “interpos[ing] himself in the middle of the operation,” whatever Rutland may have believed about Schindler’s initial intentions. In fact, once he had stopped at Rutland’s approach, Schindler made no significant move other than to step backwards. While Schindler did speak to Rutland, Schindler testified that he was not argumentative or hostile during their brief interaction. See id. at 490. Accordingly, we see no evidence from which a reasonable officer in Rutland’s position could have concluded that Schindler “obstructed or hindered [an officer] in any way in the performance of his duty.” Id. Rutland’s reliance on Mayhew v. State, 682 S.E.2d 594, 596–98 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009), is misplaced. The obstructive conduct in that case was not simply immediately follow police orders was insufficient to show obstruction”); West v. State, 673 S.E.2d 558, 561 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009) (“In Coley, the defendant refused to comply with the officer’s orders to move away from a truck and to stop. We reversed his conviction for obstruction because there was no evidence that the defendant obstructed or hindered the officer, noting that the defendant did not “speak to, or argue with, [the officer]. At most, he did not respond immediately to [the officer’s] orders.”); Johnson v. State, 507 S.E.2d 13, 15 (Ga. Ct. App. 1998) (distinguishing Coley and noting that, in Coley, “the defendant committed no crime in the officer’s presence . . . [,] [n]or did he argue with the officer”); Reed v. State, 422 S.E.2d 15, 17–18 (Ga. Ct. App. 1992) (distinguishing Coley on its facts). 17 Case: 16-10490 Date Filed: 06/16/2017 Page: 18 of 18 failing to move back immediately when told to do so. Rather, the defendant in Mayhew repeatedly refused to comply with the officer’s requests to step back and stop yelling while the officer was attempting to interview another individual as part of the officer’s investigation into an emergency call. See id. at 596–97. Thus, the defendant’s refusal to comply with the officer’s repeated requests plainly obstructed the officer’s investigation into the emergency call. Id. at 598. In sum, because Schindler’s conduct amounted to no more than a failure to respond immediately to Rutland’s orders while informing the officer of his status as a valet and questioning what the officers were doing at Follies, it cannot reasonably be construed as obstructing or resisting the exercise of a lawful duty. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s denial of qualified immunity to Rutland on Schindler’s § 1983 claim for unlawful arrest. AFFIRMED. 18
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Justia Dockets & Filings Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit Erika Jacobs v. Clayton County Solicitor Gener, et al Filing 1109493509
Erika Jacobs v. Clayton County Solicitor Gener, et al
Opinion issued by court as to Appellant Erika Jacobs. Decision: Affirmed. Opinion type: Non-Published. Opinion method: Per Curiam. The opinion is also available through the Court's Opinions page at this link http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions.
Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 1 of 7 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 16-15910 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:15-cv-04308-WSD ERIKA JACOBS, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CLAYTON COUNTY SOLICITOR GENERAL OFFICE, CLAYTON COUNTY STATE COURT OFFICE, CLAYTON COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT, Defendants-Appellees. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ________________________ (April 17, 2017) Before HULL, MARTIN and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 2 of 7 Erika Jacobs, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, appeals the sua sponte dismissal of her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action after she failed to file an amended complaint within the extended deadline. After review, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND In December 2015, Jacobs filed her pro se complaint against the Clayton County Solicitor General’s Office, the Clayton County State Court Office, and the Clayton County Sheriff’s Department, alleging retaliation, sexual harassment, violation of her constitutional rights, and “Malice/Conspiracy.” Jacobs’s claims arose out of her arrest for missing a court date in Clayton County State Court. In short, Jacobs alleged that employees of the defendants: (1) engaged in various conduct designed to cause her to miss her court date and be arrested; (2) then denied her a phone call to bond out of jail; and (3) mistreated her while she was in jail, all in retaliation for another federal lawsuit Jacobs had filed against the City of Riverdale Police Department. On April 1, 2016, the district court conducted a frivolity review pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) and determined that Jacobs’s complaint did not comply with the pleading requirements of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8 and 10. The district court ordered Jacobs to file an amended complaint that complied with Rules 8 and 10 on or before April 15, 2016. The district court cautioned Jacobs that failure to comply with the order would result in dismissal of her action 2 Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 3 of 7 pursuant to Northern District of Georgia Local Rule 41.3(A)(2), which authorizes the district court to involuntarily dismiss a civil case for want of prosecution if the plaintiff, after notice, fails to comply with a court order. See N.D. Ga. L.R. 41.3A(2). The district court also advised Jacobs that it would not provide her with any further opportunities to amend her deficient pleadings. The district court later granted Jacobs’s motion for an extension of time and extended the deadline to amend her complaint to April 27, 2016. The district court again warned Jacobs that failure to comply with the court’s order would result in dismissal pursuant to Local Rule 41.3(A)(2). Jacobs, however, did not file an amended complaint until April 29, 2016, two days after the extended deadline had expired. Jacobs wrote a note at the bottom of the amended complaint stating that it was “sent on time April 27, 2016.” On August 22, 2016, the district court entered an order dismissing Jacobs’s amended complaint pursuant to Local Rule 41.3(A)(2) for failure to comply with a lawful court order. The district court explained: Plaintiff failed to comply with the Court’s April 1st Order and its April 18th Order, after twice being advised that failure to comply would result in dismissal of this action, and after being advised that no further extensions of time would be granted. Plaintiff claims she mailed her Amended Complaint by the April 27, 2016 deadline, but the Court specifically required her to file it by that date. Under the circumstances, dismissal under Local Rule 41.3(A)(2) is warranted. 3 Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 4 of 7 The district court noted that Jacobs was a “frequent filer of frivolous lawsuits” and admonished Jacobs that it would “strictly construe any future deadlines.” Alternatively, the district court concluded that Jacobs’s amended complaint must be dismissed under § 1915(e)(2)(B) as frivolous. The district court concluded that Jacobs’s § 1983 claims clearly lacked merit because: (1) the Clayton County State Court Office and the Clayton County Solicitor General’s Office were not “persons” under § 1983; (2) a sheriff’s department is not a legal entity subject to suit under § 1983; and (3) Jacobs’s amended complaint failed to allege both a policy or custom of Clayton County and a causal link between a such a policy or custom and her alleged constitutional deprivations; rather Jacob’s amended complaint relied on the impermissible theory of respondeat superior liability. II. DISCUSSION A. Rule 41(b) Dismissals Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b), a district court has the authority to dismiss an action for failure to comply with local rules or a court order. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b); see also N.D. Ga. L.R. 41.3(A)(2); Betty K Agencies, Ltd. v. M/V Monada, 432 F.3d 1333, 1337 (11th Cir. 2005). A 4 Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 5 of 7 dismissal under Rule 41(b) is an adjudication on the merits and is thus a dismissal with prejudice unless the district court states otherwise. Fed. R. Civ. P 41(b).1 Dismissal with prejudice is a sanction of last resort and is proper only if the district court finds: (1) “a clear record of delay or willful conduct” and (2) “that lesser sanctions are inadequate to correct such conduct.” Zocaras v. Castro, 465 F.3d 479, 483-84 (11th Cir. 2006) (quoting Betty K Agencies, 432 F.3d at 1339); Kilgo, 983 F.2d at 192. As to the first prong, mere delay will not suffice, rather, a finding of the extreme circumstances necessary to support the sanction of dismissal with prejudice must, at a minimum, be based on evidence of willful delay; simple negligence does not warrant dismissal. Kilgo, 983 F.2d at 192-93. As to the second prong, we will occasionally infer from the district court’s decision that it implicitly found that lesser sanctions would not suffice, but we have “never suggested that the district court need not make the finding.” Id. at 193. That said, “dismissal [with prejudice] upon disregard of an order, especially where the litigant has been forewarned, generally is not an abuse of discretion.” Moon v. Newsome, 863 F.2d 835, 837 (11th Cir. 1989). B. Dismissal of Jacobs’s Action under Rule 41(b) Here, Jacobs filed her amended complaint on April 29, 2016, the date it was received by the clerk’s office. There is no merit to Jacobs’s argument that her 1 We review dismissals under Rule 41(b) for an abuse of discretion. Betty K Agencies, 432 F.3d at 1337. 5 Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 6 of 7 amended complaint was timely because she placed it in the mail on April 27, 2016. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a pleading is “filed” when it is delivered to a clerk or to a judge who agrees to accept it for filing, not when it is delivered to the post office for mailing. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(d)(2); cf. Haney v. Mizell Mem’l Hosp., 744 F.2d 1467, 1472 (11th Cir. 1984) (explaining that a notice of appeal is “filed” for purposes of Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 3 and 4 when it is actually received and that “simply depositing the notice in the mail is not the same as filing it”). Although a “mailbox rule” akin to the one Jacobs describes applies to pro se prisoners, such a rule has not been extended to other pro se litigants, who are expected to comply with all procedural rules. See Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 274-75, 108 S. Ct. 2379, 2384-85 (1988) (leaving undisturbed the general rule in civil cases that filing occurs when the clerk receives the pleading, but carving out a “mailbox rule” for pro se prisoners); Albra v. Advan, Inc., 490 F.3d 826, 829 (11th Cir. 2007). Thus, Jacobs’s amended complaint was not timely filed under Rule 5(d)(2) and did not comply with the filing deadline in the district court’s April 18, 2016 order. Furthermore, we cannot say the district court abused its discretion by dismissing Jacob’s action with prejudice under Rule 41(b). The district court extended the deadline once and warned Jacobs twice that if she failed to comply 6 Case: 16-15910 Date Filed: 04/17/2017 Page: 7 of 7 with the court-ordered deadline, her action would be dismissed. Despite being forewarned, Jacobs did not file her amended complaint on April 27, 2016. In addition, there was a record of willful delay by Jacobs given that: (1) she had already asked for, and received, one extension of time; (2) she was a “frequent filer” who should have been familiar with the filing procedures; and (3) she was repeatedly warned that her action would be dismissed if the filing deadline was not met. Further, the district court’s multiple warnings and its admonition that Jacobs, as a serial filer of frivolous actions, must strictly comply with any deadlines in the future implied a finding that lesser sanctions would not suffice. See Kilgo, 983 F.2d at 193. Under these circumstances, the district court was within its discretion to dismiss Jacobs’s amended complaint with prejudice under Rule 41(b) for failure to comply with the district court’s order. Alternatively, we agree with the district court that dismissal of Jacobs’s amended complaint with prejudice was also appropriate under § 1915(e)(2)(B) because, for the reasons the district court explained, the named defendants could not be held liable under § 1983 for the constitutional violations alleged in her amended complaint. Because we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Jacobs’s action with prejudice, we deny as moot Jacobs’s request that a different district judge be assigned to her case. AFFIRMED. 7
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Justia Dockets & Filings Eleventh Circuit Alabama Middle District Stewart v. Argos Ready Mix, LLC et al Filing 57 Attachment 1
Stewart v. Argos Ready Mix, LLC et al
JUDGMENT: Pursuant to the joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice (doc. no. 56 ), it is the ORDER, JUDGMENT, and DECREE of the court that defendant Ronnee J. Pederson and the claims against him are dismissed with prejudice, with defendant Pede rson terminated as a party and with the parties to bear their own cost. The clerk of the court is DIRECTED to enter this document on the civil docket as a final judgment pursuant to Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This case is not closed. Signed by Honorable Judge Myron H. Thompson on 5/17/20117. (kh, ) (Additional attachment(s) added on 5/17/2017: # 1 Civil Appeals Checklist) (kh, ).
A copy of this checklist is available at the website for the USCA, 11th Circuit at www.ca11.uscourts.gov Effective on December 1, 2013, the fee to file an appeal is $505.00 CIVIL APPEALS JURISDICTION CHECKLIST 1. Appealable Orders: Courts of Appeals have jurisdiction conferred and strictly limited by statute: (a) Appeals from final orders pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291: Final orders and judgments of district courts, or final orders of bankruptcy courts which have been appealed to and fully resolved by a district court under 28 U.S.C. § 158, generally are appealable. A final decision is one that “ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.” Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Mestre, 701 F.2d 1365, 1368 (11th Cir. 1983) (citing Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 633, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945)). A magistrate judge’s report and recommendation is not final and appealable until judgment thereon is entered by a district court judge. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b); Perez-Priego v. Alachua County Clerk of Court, 148 F.3d 1272 (11th Cir. 1998). However, under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)(3), the Courts of Appeals have jurisdiction over an appeal from a final judgment entered by a magistrate judge, but only if the parties consented to the magistrate’s jurisdiction. McNab v. J & J Marine, Inc., 240 F.3d 1326, 132728 (11th Cir. 2001). (b) In cases involving multiple parties or multiple claims, a judgment as to fewer than all parties or all claims is not a final, appealable decision unless the district court has certified the judgment for immediate review under Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b). Williams v. Bishop, 732 F.2d 885, 885-86 (11th Cir. 1984). A judgment which resolves all issues except matters, such as attorneys’ fees and costs, that are collateral to the merits, is immediately appealable. Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 486 U.S. 196, 201, 108 S.Ct. 1717, 1721-22, 100 L.Ed.2d 178 (1988); LaChance v. Duffy’s Draft House, Inc., 146 F.3d 832, 837 (11th Cir. 1998). (c) Appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a): Under this section, appeals are permitted from the following types of orders: i. Orders granting, continuing, modifying, refusing or dissolving injunctions, or refusing to dissolve or modify injunctions; However, interlocutory appeals from orders denying temporary restraining orders are not permitted. McDougald v. Jenson, 786 F.2d 1465, 1472-73 (11th Cir. 1986); ii. Orders appointing receivers or refusing to wind up receiverships; and iii. Orders determining the rights and liabilities of parties in admiralty cases. (d) Appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) and Fed.R.App.P. 5: The certification specified in 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) must be obtained before a petition for permission to appeal is filed in the Court of Appeals. The district court’s denial of a motion for certification is not itself appealable. (e) Appeals pursuant to judicially created exceptions to the finality rule: Limited exceptions are discussed in cases including, but not limited to: Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 1225-26, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949); Atlantic Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Blythe Eastman Paine Webber, Inc., 890 F.2d 371, 376 (11th Cir. 1989); Gillespie v. United States Steel Corp., 379 U.S. 148, 157, 85 S.Ct. 308, 312, 13 L.Ed.2d 199 (1964). 2. Time for Filing: The timely filing of a notice of appeal is mandatory and jurisdictional. Rinaldo v. Corbett, 256 F.3d 1276, 1278 (11th Cir. 2001). In civil cases, Fed.R.App.P. 4(a) and (c) set the following time limits: (a) Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(1): A notice of appeal in compliance with the requirements set forth in Fed.R.App.P. 3 must be filed in the district court within 30 days after the order or judgment appealed from is entered. However, if the United States or an officer or agency thereof is a party, the notice of appeal must be filed in the district court within 60 days after such entry. THE NOTICE MUST BE RECEIVED AND FILED IN THE DISTRICT COURT NO LATER THAN THE LAST DAY OF THE APPEAL PERIOD – no additional days are provided for mailing. Special filing provisions for inmates are discussed below. (b) Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(3): “If one party timely files a notice of appeal, any other party may file a notice of appeal within 14 days after the date when the first notice was filed, or within the time otherwise prescribed by this Rule 4(a), whichever period ends later.” (c) Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(4): If any party makes a timely motion in the district court under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure of a type specified in this rule, the time for appeal for all parties runs from the date of entry of the order disposing of the last such timely filed motion. (d) Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(5) and 4(a)(6): Under certain limited circumstances, the district court may extend or reopen the time to file a notice of appeal. Under Rule 4(a)(5), the time may be extended if a motion for an extension is filed within 30 days after expiration of the time otherwise provided to file a notice of appeal, upon a showing of excusable neglect or good cause. Under Rule 4(a)(6), the time to file an appeal may be reopened if the district court finds, upon motion, that the following conditions are satisfied: the moving party did not receive notice of the entry of the judgment or order within 21 days after entry; the motion is filed within 180 days after the judgment or order is entered or within 14 days after the moving party receives notice, whichever is earlier; and no party would be prejudiced by the reopening. (e) Fed.R.App.P. 4(c): If an inmate confined to an institution files a notice of appeal in either a civil case or a criminal case, the notice of appeal is timely if it is deposited in the institution’s internal mail system on or before the last day for filing. Timely filing may be shown by a declaration in compliance with 28 U.S.C. § 1746 or a notarized statement, either of which must set forth the date of deposit and state that first-class postage has been prepaid. Rev.: 3/2011 3. Format of the notice of appeal: Form 1, Appendix of Forms to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, is a suitable format. See also Fed.R.App.P. 3(c). A pro se notice of appeal must be signed by the appellant. 4. Effect of a notice of appeal: A district court lacks jurisdiction, i.e., authority, to act after the filing of a timely notice of appeal, except for actions in aid of appellate jurisdiction or to rule on a timely motion of the type specified in Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(4). Rev.: 3/2011
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Justia Dockets & Filings Ninth Circuit California Eastern District Pack v. Barnes Filing 48
Pack v. Barnes
ORDER ADOPTING 46 Findings and Recommendations, DENYING 44 Rule Motion, and DECLINING to Grant a Certificate of Appealability, signed by District Judge Dale A. Drozd on 8/17/17. (Marrujo, C)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STEVEN ANTHONY PACK, 12 13 14 15 Petitioner, v. SCOTT FRAUENHEIM, ORDER ADOPTING FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, DENYING RULE 60 MOTION, AND DECLINING TO GRANT A CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY Respondent. (Doc. Nos. 44, 46) 16 17 No. 1:13-cv-00585-DAD-SKO Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a petition for writ of habeas corpus 18 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. On January 17, 2017, the undersigned adopted findings and 19 recommendations recommending that the petition be denied and directed the case to be closed. 20 (Doc. No. 41.) Judgment was issued accordingly. (Doc. No. 42.) On May 5, 2017, petitioner 21 moved for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1), contending that 22 the judgment should be vacated because petitioner’s failure to file timely objections was 23 attributable to excusable neglect. (Doc. No. 44.) In the alternative, petitioner maintained that his 24 failure to timely file objections was due to extraordinary circumstances under Federal Rule of 25 Civil Procedure 60(b)(6). (Id.) 26 On May 30, 2017, the assigned magistrate judge issued findings and recommendations 27 recommending that the undersigned deny the motion for relief from judgment and decline to issue 28 a certificate of appealability. (Doc. No. 44.) The findings and recommendations, which were 1 1 served on all parties on the same date, provided that objections thereto could be served within 2 thirty days and replies within fourteen days after the filing of any objections. Neither party has 3 filed objections, and the time in which to do so has since passed. 4 In accordance with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), having carefully reviewed 5 the entire file de novo and considered petitioner’s objections, the undersigned concludes that the 6 findings and recommendations are supported by the record and proper analysis. While the 7 undersigned understands the practical difficulties of litigating while one is in prison, here 8 petitioner was granted two extensions of time to file objections to the findings and 9 recommendations which recommended dismissal of his petition. Moreover, the order adopting 10 that recommendation was not adopted until almost four weeks after petitioner’s third request for 11 an extension of time to file objections was denied and yet no objections were forthcoming in the 12 interim. This court cannot indefinitely delay deciding a matter to allow petitioner additional time 13 in which to file objections to findings and recommendations. 14 Moreover, a state prisoner seeking a writ of habeas corpus has no absolute entitlement to 15 appeal a district court’s denial of his petition, and an appeal is only allowed in certain 16 circumstances. Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 335–36 (2003). Specifically, the federal 17 rules governing habeas cases brought by state prisoners require a district court issuing an order 18 denying a habeas petition to either grant or deny therein a certificate of appealability. See Rules 19 Governing § 2254 Case, Rule 11(a). A certificate of appealability is required for an appeal of a 20 motion under Rule 60 in a habeas action. United States v. Winkles, 795 F.3d 1134, 1139–40 (9th 21 Cir. 2015); Lynch v. Blodgett, 999 F.2d 401, 402–03 (9th Cir. 1993). A judge shall grant a 22 certificate of appealability “only if the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a 23 constitutional right,” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2), and the certificate must indicate which issues satisfy 24 this standard. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(3). “Where a district court has rejected the constitutional 25 claims on the merits, the showing required to satisfy § 2253(c) is straightforward: [t]he petitioner 26 must demonstrate that reasonable jurists would find the district court’s assessment of the 27 constitutional claims debatable or wrong.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000). 28 Additionally, for claims denied on procedural grounds, a certificate of appealability should issue 2 1 “when the prisoner shows, at least, that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the 2 petition states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right and that jurists of reason would 3 find it debatable whether the district court was correct in its procedural ruling.” Id. Here, 4 petitioner has not made such a showing. Accordingly, a certificate of appealability will not be 5 issued. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 For all of the reasons set forth above: 1. The findings and recommendations issued May 30, 2017 (Doc. No. 46) are adopted in full; 2. The motion for relief from judgment under Rule 60(b) (Doc. No. 44) is denied; and 3. The court declines to grant a certificate of appealability. IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: August 17, 2017 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3
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Justia Dockets & Filings Ninth Circuit California Eastern District Ford v. King Filing 15
Ford v. King
ORDER DISMISSING Complaint with Prejudice; ORDER DIRECTING Clerk's Office to Close Case, signed by Magistrate Judge Sheila K. Oberto on 08/16/2017. CASE CLOSED (Martin-Gill, S)
1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 10 Plaintiff, 11 12 Case No. 1:17-cv-00960-SKO (PC) DARREN VINCENT FORD, ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT WITH PREJUDICE v. (Doc. 1) AUDREY KING, 13 ORDER DIRECTING CLERK’S OFFICE TO CLOSE CASE Defendant. 14 15 16 INTRODUCTION 17 A. 18 Plaintiff, Darren Vincent Ford, is a prisoner in the custody of the California Department of Background 19 Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”). Plaintiff is proceeding pro se this civil rights action 20 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 21 B. 22 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a Screening Requirement 23 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The 24 Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally 25 frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary 26 relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1),(2). 27 // 28 // 1 1 C. 2 Section 1983 “provides a cause of action for the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or Pleading Requirements 3 immunities secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” Wilder v. Virginia Hosp. 4 Ass'n, 496 U.S. 498, 508 (1990) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 1983). Section 1983 is not itself a source of 5 substantive rights, but merely provides a method for vindicating federal rights conferred 6 elsewhere. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 393-94 (1989). To state a claim under § 1983, a 7 plaintiff must allege two essential elements: (1) that a right secured by the Constitution or laws of 8 the United States was violated and (2) that the alleged violation was committed by a person acting 9 under the color of state law. See West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988); Ketchum v. Alameda 10 Cnty., 811 F.2d 1243, 1245 (9th Cir. 1987). 11 “Rule 8(a)’s simplified pleading standard applies to all civil actions, with limited 12 exceptions,” none of which applies to section 1983 actions. Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A., 534 13 U.S. 506, 512 (2002); Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 8(a). A complaint must contain “a short and plain 14 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief . . . .” Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 8(a). 15 “Such a statement must simply give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and 16 the grounds upon which it rests.” Swierkiewicz, 534 U.S. at 512. 17 While “plaintiffs [now] face a higher burden of pleadings facts . . . ,” Al-Kidd v. Ashcroft, 18 580 F.3d 949, 977 (9th Cir. 2009), the pleadings of pro se prisoners are still construed liberally 19 and are afforded the benefit of any doubt. Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010). 20 However, “the liberal pleading standard . . . applies only to a plaintiff's factual allegations,” 21 Neitze v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 330 n.9 (1989), “a liberal interpretation of a civil rights 22 complaint may not supply essential elements of the claim that were not initially pled,” Bruns v. 23 Nat'l Credit Union Admin., 122 F.3d 1251, 1257 (9th Cir. 1997) quoting Ivey v. Bd. of Regents, 24 673 F.2d 266, 268 (9th Cir. 1982), and courts are not required to indulge unwarranted inferences, 25 Doe I v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 572 F.3d 677, 681 (9th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks and 26 citation omitted). The “sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully” is not sufficient, 27 and “facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability” fall short of satisfying the 28 plausibility standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S. Ct. at 1949; Moss, 572 F.3d at 969. 2 1 DISCUSSION 2 A. 3 Claim preclusion bars litigation of claims that were or could have been raised in a prior Claim Preclusion - Res Judicata 4 action, Holcombe v. Hosmer, 477 F.3d 1094, 1097 (9th Cir. 2007) (quotation marks omitted), and 5 it “requires three things: (1) identity of claims; (2) a final judgment on the merits; and (3) the 6 same parties, or privity between parties,” Harris v. County of Orange, 682 F.3d 1126, 1132 (9th 7 Cir. 2012) (citing Cell Therapeutics, Inc. v. Lash Grp., Inc., 586 F.3d 1204, 1212 (9th Cir. 2010)). 8 1. Identity of Claims 9 In deciding whether there is an identity of claims, courts are to apply four criteria: “‘(1) 10 whether rights or interests established in the prior judgment would be destroyed or impaired by 11 prosecution of the second action; (2) whether substantially the same evidence is presented in the 12 two actions; (3) whether the two suits involve infringement of the same right; and (4) whether the 13 two suits arise out of the same transactional nucleus of facts.’” Harris, 682 F.3d at 1132 (quoting 14 United States v. Liquidators of European Fed. Credit Bank, 630 F.3d 1139, 1150 (9th Cir. 2011)). 15 “The fourth criterion - the same transactional nucleus of facts - is the most important.” 16 Liquidators of European Fed. Credit Bank, 630 F.3d at 1151. 17 “Whether two suits arise out of the same transactional nucleus depends upon whether they 18 are related to the same set of facts and whether they could conveniently be tried together,” Turtle 19 Island Restoration Network v. U.S. Dep’t of State, 673 F.3d 914, 918 (9th Cir. 2012) (citing 20 ProShipLine Inc. v. Aspen Infrastructures Ltd., 609 F.3d 960, 968 (9th Cir. 2010)) (internal 21 quotation marks omitted). In most cases, “the inquiry into the ‘same transactional nucleus of 22 facts’ is essentially the same as whether the claim could have been brought in the first action.” 23 Liquidators of European Fed. Credit Bank, 630 F.3d at 1151. 24 As set forth below, Plaintiff’s allegations in the present action mirror the allegations in 25 two of his prior actions -- Ford v. State of California, 2:13-cv-00591-AC (PC) and Ford v. King, 26 1:16-cv-01453-SAB (PC). 27 28 a. Present Action -- 1:17-cv-00960-SKO In this action, Plaintiff names Audrey King, the Executor Director for Coalinga State 3 1 Mental Hospital (“CSH”), as the sole Defendant. Plaintiff seeks to sue King “for pushing 2 Plaintiff out the doors of the hospital against his will when he had been evaluated a month before 3 showing that he is an SVP, child-molester, insane and a danger to the health and safety of 4 children and others and self.” (Doc. 1, p. 1.) Plaintiff alleges he was “inappropriately released 5 against his will” as “he didn’t feel he was ready to leave because he received NO sex offender 6 treatment.” (Id. (emphasis in original).) Plaintiff contends King is responsible for forcing him to 7 leave CSH without reevaluating him for the public’s safety and welfare. (Id., p. 2.) Forty-five 8 days after his release, Plaintiff “received” two charges under California Penal Code § 647.6 9 (annoying or molesting a child under the age of eighteen) and is now re-incarcerated. (Id., p. 1.) 10 Plaintiff alleges that his release from CSH without treatment and rehabilitation violated 11 sections 1026.2(a), (b) and (e). Plaintiff also alleges that his inappropriate release from CSH has 12 resulted in a violation of his rights to “equal protection while serving his time in prison waiting to 13 be transferred to the [ ] Department of State hospitals.” (Doc. 1, p. 3.) 14 15 b. Prior Action -- 2:13-cv-00591-AC In this action, Plaintiff alleged that in 2010 he was evaluated by two psychiatrists for two 16 hours each. Both psychiatrists concluded that Plaintiff was a sexually violent predator (SVP). 17 Plaintiff’s case was then referred to the district attorney, who sent plaintiff to CSH as a mentally 18 disordered sex offender (MDSO) and SVP. Plaintiff alleged he was diagnosed as “insane,” but 19 his criminal case was “dropped” and he was released from CHS before being re-evaluated. 20 Thereafter, allegedly due to Plaintiff’s “uncontrollable urges,” he was convicted of a felony and, 21 because the new conviction constituted a third strike, Plaintiff is now serving a life sentence in 22 prison. Plaintiff contended that he should never have been released from CSH because he was 23 “insane” at the time, and remains “insane.” Plaintiff sought relief in this action by seeking an 24 order to place him back in CSH so he could be “cured” or at least have his illness suppressed. 25 c. Prior Action -- 1:16-cv-01453-SAB 26 In this action, Plaintiff alleged that, in July 2010, he was evaluated by two psychologists 27 who determined that he qualified as a SVP and was “insane.” The evaluations were then sent to 28 the District Attorney’s Office. Plaintiff was sent to the CSH pending trial under the Sexually 4 1 Violent Predator Act (SVPA). Plaintiff was released back into the community after the civil 2 commitment court dropped the SVPA case. 3 Plaintiff alleged that he did not want to leave CSH because he was afraid he could not 4 control himself. Three weeks after Plaintiff’s release, he was arrested for two counts of annoying 5 or molesting a child under the age of eighteen (Cal. Penal Code § 647.6) and sentenced to two 25- 6 year-to-life terms. Plaintiff contended he was denied proper mental health care due to his release 7 into the community without a further determination regarding his sanity. Plaintiff sought to be 8 placed back at CSH for further treatment and as compensation for his pain and suffering. 9 2. Final Judgment on the Merits 10 Case no. 2:13-cv-00591-AC (PC) was dismissed for failure to state a cognizable claim and 11 as frivolous on June 21, 2013. (See Ford v. State of California, 2:13-cv-00591-AC (PC), Doc. 7.) 12 Case no. 1:16-cv-01453-SAB (PC) was dismissed for failure to state a cognizable claim on March 13 3, 2017. (See Ford v. King, 1:16-cv-01453-SAB (PC), Doc. 10.) 14 Both prior actions were screened and dismissed for failure to state a cognizable claim 15 under § 1983 since an action to place Plaintiff back at CSH would require invalidation of his 16 current conviction. The dismissal orders in Plaintiff’s prior actions indicated that Plaintiff’s 17 challenges to the basis of his current custody may only be brought by way of a habeas petition 18 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. 19 Dismissal for failure to state a cognizable claim under the Federal Rules of Civil 20 Procedure “is a ‘judgment on the merits.’” See Federated Dept. Stores Inc. v. Moitie, 452 U.S. 21 394, 399, n. 3 (1981) (citing Angel v. Bullington, 330 U.S. 183, 190 (1947); Bell v. Hood, 327 22 U.S. 678 (1946)). Thus, dismissal of Plaintiff’s prior actions operates as final judgment on the 23 merits of the claims he raises in the present action. 24 25 26 27 28 3. Privity of Parties The last factor requires a determination as to whether privity exists between the defendants Plaintiff named in these actions: Defendant King and CSH. Privity exists between parties when a party to latter litigation is “so identified in interest with a party to former litigation that he represents precisely the same right in respect to the 5 1 subject matter involved.” Headwaters Inc. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 399 F.3d 1047, 1052–53 (9th 2 Cir.2005) (citation omitted). The concept was traditionally limited to certain “legal relationships 3 in which two parties have identical or transferred rights with respect to a particular legal interest,” 4 such as co-owners of property, decedents and heirs, joint obligees, etc. Id. at 1053. However, it 5 includes almost any relationship in which “there is ‘substantial identity’ between parties, that is, 6 when there is sufficient commonality of interest. . . . [P]rivity is a flexible concept dependent on 7 the particular relationship between the parties in each individual set of cases[.]” Tahoe-Sierra 8 Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 322 F.3d 1064, 1081-82 (9th Cir. 9 2003) (citations and quotations omitted). Under the circumstances alleged in each of Plaintiff’s actions discussed above, privity 10 11 exists between Defendant King and CSH because of their commonality of interest. The third and 12 final claim preclusion factor is thus satisfied. Scott, 746 F.2d at 1378 (privity exists between 13 different individuals employed by the same government agency) (citing Sunshine Anthracite Coal 14 Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381, 402-03, 60 S.Ct. 907 (1940)); Brooks v. Alameida, 446 F.Supp.2d 15 1179, 1183 (S.D.Cal. Aug. 11, 2006) (privity existed between prison officials where parties in the 16 present suit held the same positions and stood in the same relation to the inmate-plaintiff as those 17 in the earlier suit); see also Hutchison v. California Prison Indus. Auth., No. 13-cv-04635-CW, 18 2015 WL 179790, at *3-4 (N.D.Cal. Jan. 14, 2015) (privity existed between state prison system 19 employees who were employed by same state agencies and engaged in the same conduct). 4. 20 Analysis The present action is barred by the principles of claim preclusion, res judicata. Plaintiff’s 21 22 allegations in his present action and in the prior actions set forth above are nearly identical. The 23 only difference is that Plaintiff failed to give the date of his inappropriate discharge from CSH in 24 the present action. The omission of the year the events occurred does not negate the otherwise 25 complete duplicity of his factual allegations in the actions. In both prior actions, the court entered 26 final judgments on the merits on Plaintiff’s claims against Defendant King and CSH, who share 27 privity. 28 // 6 1 Plaintiff raised equal protection issues in the present action, but did not do so in either of 2 his prior actions. However, although a plaintiff need not bring every possible claim, where 3 claims arise from the same factual circumstances, the plaintiff must bring all related claims in one 4 proceeding, or forfeit the opportunity to bring any omitted claim in a subsequent proceeding. 5 Liquidators of European Fed. Credit Bank, 630 F.3d at 1151. Thus, Plaintiff is precluded from 6 now asserting an equal protection claim based on the factual circumstances which he raised in his 7 prior actions. 8 B. 9 Although Plaintiff did not set forth the date he was released from CSH in the present 10 11 Statute of Limitations action, in his prior actions, Plaintiff stated it occurred in 2010. The applicable statute of limitations begins to run upon accrual of the plaintiff’s claim-- 12 i.e., when he knows or has reason to know of the injury that is the basis of his action, Douglas v. 13 Noelle, 567 F.3d 1103, 1109 (9th Cir. 2009), which is normally on the date of injury, Ward v. 14 Westinghouse Canada, Inc., 32 F.3d 1405, 1407 (9th Cir.1994). Actions under section 1983 fall 15 under the limitations period from the forum state’s statute of limitations for personal injury torts, 16 see Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384, 387, 127 S.Ct. 1091 (2007), which is two years in California, 17 see Maldonado v. Harris, 370 F.3d 945, 954 (9th Cir. 2004); Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1. 18 The two-year statute of limitations period is tolled for two years if plaintiff is a prisoner 19 serving a term of less than life, which gives such prisoners effectively four years to file a federal 20 suit. See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 352.1(a); Azer v. Connell, 306 F.3d 930, 936 (9th Cir. 2002) 21 (federal courts borrow the state’s California’s equitable tolling rules if they are not inconsistent 22 with federal law). Although the term of Plaintiff’s sentence is not known, the limitations period 23 for his claims would not differ if he were serving a term of life with the possibility of parole, as 24 that is considered a term of less than life. Martinez v. Gomez, 137 F.3d 1124, 1126 (9th Cir. 25 1998). Further, in California “[l]imitations are tolled during period of imprisonment of persons 26 sentenced to life imprisonment.” Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 352.1, note (West Ann. 2017) (2. 27 Construction and application) (citing Grasso v. McDonough Power Equip., 264 Cal.App.2d 597, 28 601, 70 Cal.Rptr. 458 (1968) (reversed dismissal on demurrer based on statute of limitations of 7 1 action brought by inmate sentenced to a life term roughly nine years after precipitating 2 incident,)); see also Brooks v. Mercy Hosp., 1 Cal.App.5th 1, 6-7 (2016) (finding “. . . Grasso 3 remains good law.”) Regardless of the terms of Plaintiff’s sentence, he had a minimum of four 4 years from his discharge from CSH in 2010 to file suit. Plaintiff filed the present action on May 5 12, 2017--approximately three years beyond the statute of limitations. The present action is thus 6 barred by the statute of limitations. 7 ORDER 8 9 10 11 12 13 Plaintiff’s claims in the present action are barred by res judicata as well as the statute of limitations. Given Plaintiff’s persistence in pursuing claims regarding his release from CSH, despite having been provided the applicable legal standards and direction that any such claims are not cognizable under § 1983, leave to amend would be futile. Further, amendment need not be allowed as the defects in Plaintiff’s pleading cannot be cured. Akhtar v. Mesa, 698 F.3d 1202, 1212-13 (9th Cir. 2012). 14 15 Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED that the Complaint is DISMISSED with prejudice and the Clerk of the Court is directed to close the action. 16 17 18 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: August 16, 2017 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 .
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Justia Dockets & Filings Third Circuit Pennsylvania Eastern District NEOPART TRANSIT, LLC v. MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, INC. et al Filing 61
NEOPART TRANSIT, LLC v. MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, INC. et al
MEMORANDUM AND/OR OPINION. SIGNED BY HONORABLE ANITA B. BRODY ON 2/23/2017. 2/23/2017 ENTERED AND COPIES VIA ECF.(mo, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA NEOPART TRANSIT, LLC, Plaintiff, v. MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, INC., JESHUA SMITH AND ROBERT MONTGOMERY, Defendants. : : : : CIVIL ACTION No. 16-3103 : : : February 23, 2017 Anita B. Brody, J. Memorandum Plaintiff Neopart Transit, LLC (“Neopart”) brings suit against Management Consulting, Inc. (“Mancon”) as well as two individual defendants, Jeshua Smith and Robert Montgomery (the “Individual Defendants”). Neopart makes eleven separate allegations in its Complaint, sounding in both tort and contract, including Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, Unfair Competition, Breach of Contract, Conversion, and Intentional Infliction with Prospective Business Advantage. Mancon and the Individual Defendants move to dismiss this suit for lack of personal jurisdiction over the Individual Defendants, as well as improper venue, and failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. I exercise jurisdiction over this dispute pursuant to federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and supplemental jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1367. I. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Neopart and Defendant Mancon are competitors in the parts management and supply chain services market. Neopart deals primarily with transit authorities and bus 1 manufacturers to provide bus parts and parts management services. Mancon’s line of business is broader—they provide a wide array of services including staffing and industrial products, as well as transit parts management. Neopart is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania.1 Undisputed Facts ¶ 1, Joint Statement as to Undisputed and Disputed Facts Relevant to Personal Jurisdiction and Venue (“JSF”), ECF No. 60. Mancon is a Virginia corporation with its principal place of business in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Undisputed Facts ¶ 5, JSF. From 2010 until 2015, Neopart provided parts management services for transit buses at the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transport Authority (“RGRTA”) in Rochester, New York. Undisputed Facts ¶ 3, JSF. The RGRTA is a public benefit corporation of the State of New York. N.Y. Pub. Auth. Law § 1299-dd. Neopart provided these services to the RGRTA pursuant to a Parts Management Services Agreement dated February 12, 2010. Undisputed Facts ¶ 3, JSF. To effectuate performance of this contract, Neopart hired several individuals to carry out work at the RGRTA, including the Individual Defendants Jeshua Smith and Robert Montgomery.2 Smith and Montgomery were already working at the RGRTA facility, although as employees of NAPA Auto Parts, the previous owner of the parts management service contract. Defs.’ Disputed Facts ¶ 2-3, JSF. They are both residents of New York. Undisputed Facts ¶ 9, JSF. Although Pennsylvania personnel participated in the recruitment and hiring process, Neopart interviewed and hired Smith and Montgomery in New York for employment in New York. Undisputed Facts ¶ 10, JSF. As a condition of their employment, both Individual 1 In the Complaint, the principal place of business for Neopart, LLC is listed as “Honey Brook, Pennsylvania.” Compl. ¶ 1, ECF No. 1. In the parties’ Joint Statement as to Undisputed and Disputed Facts, the principal place of business for Neopart Transit, LLC is listed as “Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania.” JSF ¶ 1, ECF No. 60. Both locations are in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. References throughout comport with the Complaint, and therefore refer to Honey Brook, Pennsylvania. 2 Neopart originally brought suit against individuals Anthony J. Kozak, Anthony J. Rotunno, Rick L. Tobey, Jason L. Holmes, David R. Hutchinson and Randy J. Campanaro. Those Defendants were voluntarily dismissed via a joint stipulation on November 16, 2016. ECF No. 37. 2 Defendants signed Confidentiality Agreements. Compl. ¶ 42-43, ECF No. 1. These agreements did not contain choice-of-law or forum selection provisions. Neither Smith nor Montgomery signed employment agreements. Although neither Individual Defendant was ever assigned to work outside of New York, both attended a one-day training session in Honey Brook, Pennsylvania in March 2011. In December 2014, the RGRTA decided to seek new bids for its parts management contract. It issued a request for proposals to which both Neopart and Mancon, among others, submitted bids. Undisputed Facts ¶ 7, JSF. On April 28, 2015, Mancon was awarded the RGRTA contract. Compl. ¶ 25. Neopart claims that Mancon, which allegedly had never provided parts management services for transit buses before, colluded with New Flyer, a transit bus parts distributor, to undermine Neopart’s bid and secure the contract for itself. Compl. ¶ 20-24. Neopart claims that Mancon’s request for proposal to the RGRTA required the use of confidential information and trade secrets that belonged to Neopart. Compl. ¶ 33. These trade secrets are “Neopart’s methods of identifying unique supplier that provide parts for transit buses; its pricing arrangements with suppliers; its methods of storeroom operations; the identities and compensation or employees; and its unique inventory management.” Compl. ¶ 26. These alleged trade secrets were created and stored at Neopart’s headquarters in Pennsylvania. Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 12, ECF No. 27. As servicers of the RGRTA parts management contract had done in the past, Mancon sought to hire employees who already worked at the RGRTA. On May 22, 2015, in the midst of this turnover process, Neopart alleges that Mancon obtained copies of Neopart’s trade secrets from the RGRTA. Compl. ¶ 36. Neopart claims that on June 17 and June 22, 2015, Mancon requested and Montgomery and Smith provided access to Neopart’s trade secrets and other 3 confidential information. Compl. ¶ 44-51. Neopart alleges that these requests were sent by Mancon to the personal email addresses of Smith and Montgomery. Neopart also alleges that on July 7, 2015, Montgomery provided Mancon with a credit application for one of Neopart’s suppliers, in violation of his Confidentiality Agreement. Compl. ¶ 50. Further, in Montgomery’s final days of employment with Neopart, Neopart alleges that he downloaded email files and other documents to a thumb drive and gave it to Robert Whitley, a Mancon executive. Pl.’s Disputed Facts ¶ 15, JSF; Montgomery Dep. 80:17-81:20; 109:2-10. Neopart claims that all of this occurred while Montgomery and Smith were still employees of Neopart. Compl. ¶ 51. On August 12, 2015, Montgomery and Smith left their positions with Neopart and became employees of Mancon. Compl. ¶ 51. On June 17, 2016, Neopart filed a Complaint in this Court against Mancon and eight individuals. ECF No. 1. On July 13, 2016, Mancon and the eight individuals moved to dismiss Neopart’s Complaint in its entirety. ECF No. 15. On November 16, 2016, the parties voluntarily dismissed six of the individuals named in the Complaint, leaving only Jeshua Smith and Robert Montgomery as individual defendants. ECF No. 37. Neopart now asserts eleven claims against Mancon and the Individual Defendants, separately and collectively: (1) Misappropriation of Trade Secrets in violation of the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act, 12 Pa.C.S. §5301, et seq., (“PUTSA”), as to all Defendants; (2) Violation of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, 18 U.S.C. §1836, as to all Defendants; (3) Unfair Competition as to Mancon; (4) Breach of Contract as to the Individual Defendants; (5) Unjust Enrichment as to all Defendants; (6) Breach of Fiduciary Duty as to the Individual Defendants; (7) Aiding and Abetting the Breach of Fiduciary Duty as to all Defendants; (8) Conversion as to all Defendants; (9) Civil Conspiracy as to all Defendants; (10) Intentional Interference with Prospective Business Advantage as to all 4 Defendants; and (11) Preliminary and Permanent Injunction pursuant to 12 Pa.C.S. § 5303 as to all Defendants. ECF No 1. II. DISCUSSION Mancon moves to dismiss this action primarily on two grounds: lack of personal jurisdiction over the Individual Defendants pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2), and improper venue pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(3).3 In the alternative, Mancon moves to dismiss several claims pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Mancon asserts that New York law applies to this action and it moves to dismiss Counts I, VIII and XI as not cognizable under New York law. Further in the alternative, Mancon moves to dismiss Counts V, VI, VII and IX as not cognizable under Pennsylvania law, in the event Pennsylvania law applies to this action. A. PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS According to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2), a court must grant a motion to dismiss if it lacks 3 Defendants also move to dismiss on two other grounds: lack of standing pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), and failure to join a necessary party pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(7). Both are without merit. Defendants argue that Neopart Transit, which was not incorporated until February 25, 2016, lacks Article III standing because Neopart Transit cannot prove an injury in fact for alleged harms that took place before it came into existence. Defendants argue that the injuries alleged in the Complaint inure to Neopart, LLC, the relevant entity at the time the events in the Complaint took place, not to Neopart Transit. When standing is attacked “facial[ly] . . . the court must only consider the allegations of the complaint and documents referenced therein and attached thereto, in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Gould Elecs. Inc. v. United States, 220 F.3d 169, 176 (3d Cir. 2000). Here, Plaintiff has alleged that Neopart Transit was assigned the claims against the Defendants through an Assignment and Assumption Agreement dated March 11, 2016. Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. Dismiss 13; Boade Aff. ¶¶ 2-4; Assignment and Assumption Agreement, attached as Ex. 5 to Boade Aff. Pennsylvania has “long permitted causes of action to be assigned,” and an “assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor.” Hedlund Mfg. Co. v. Weiser, Stapler & Spivak, 517 Pa. 522, 525 (1988). Taking these allegations in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, Neopart Transit has sufficiently alleged Article III standing. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss on the grounds of failure to join a necessary party fails for the same reasons. Defendants argue that Plaintiff’s failure to join Neopart, LLC warrants dismissal of this action. A court must first determine if a party is necessary before determining if dismissal is warranted for failure to join that party. Gen. Refractories Co. v. First State Ins. Co., 500 F.3d 306, 312 (3d Cir. 2007). Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 19, an entity is necessary and must be joined, if feasible, if that entity’s absence “may leave an existing party subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple or otherwise inconsistent obligations.” Here, Neopart, LLC’s absence will not expose Defendants to a substantial risk of incurring multiple or inconsistent obligations. Plaintiffs allege that Neopart, LLC has “no remaining right or interest in these claims against Defendants,” pursuant to the agreement referenced above. Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. Dismiss 13, ECF No. 27; Boade Aff. ¶¶ 2-4; Assignment and Assumption Agreement, attached as Ex. 5 to Boade Aff. Defendants face no risk of being held liable by Neopart, LLC because the agreement obviates Neopart, LLC’s ability to bring a claim against any of the Defendants. Neopart, LLC is therefore not a necessary party, and this case cannot be dismissed on those grounds. 5 personal jurisdiction. “To survive a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, a plaintiff bears the burden of establishing the court's jurisdiction over the moving defendants.” Miller Yacht Sales, Inc. v. Smith, 384 F.3d 93, 97 (3d Cir. 2004). When a court restricts its review of the motion to affidavits and written evidence and does not hold an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff need only make a prima facie showing that jurisdiction is proper. Id.; see also Carteret Sav. Bank, FA v. Shushan, 954 F.2d 141, 142 n. 1 (3d Cir. 1992). At this stage, a plaintiff is entitled to have disputed facts construed in his or her favor. Pinker v. Roche Holdings Ltd., 292 F.3d 361, 368 (3d Cir. 2002) (citation omitted).4 Plaintiff, however, must support allegations with affidavits or other competent evidence. See Dayhoff Inc. v. H.J. Heinz Co., 86 F.3d 1287, 1302 (3d Cir. 1996). A federal court sitting in Pennsylvania may exercise jurisdiction over nonresident defendants to the extent provided under Pennsylvania law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(1). Pennsylvania’s long-arm statute is co-extensive with the due process requirements of the United States Constitution. See 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 5322(b); Mellon Bank (East) PSFS, Nat’l Ass’n v. Farino, 960 F.2d 1217, 1221 (3d Cir. 1992). Thus, a court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant as long as the defendant has “certain minimum contacts with . . . [Pennsylvania] such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” O’Connor v. Sandy Lane Hotel Co., 496 F.3d 312, 316 (3d Cir. 2007) (internal quotations and citation omitted). Analysis of personal jurisdiction requires a court to “examine the relationship among the [defendants], the forum, and the litigation.” Miller Yacht 4 A plaintiff bears the ultimate burden of proving personal jurisdiction, whether at an evidentiary hearing or at trial, by a preponderance of the evidence. Carteret Savings Bank, FA v. Shushan, 954 F.2d 141, 142 n. 1 (3d Cir. 1992). Mancon did not request an evidentiary hearing in this matter, Tr. Pretrial Conference, January 23, 2016, but if jurisdiction is later contested, Plaintiffs must show the existence of minimum contacts by a preponderance of the evidence. See O'Connor v. Sandy Lane Hotel Co., 496 F.3d 312, 316 (3d Cir. 2007). 6 Sales, Inc., 384 F.3d at 96 (internal quotations and citation omitted). A court may have either general or specific personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant. Dollar Sav. Bank v. First Sec. Bank of Utah, N.A., 746 F.2d 208, 211 (3d Cir. 1984). General personal jurisdiction exists only when a defendant’s contacts with a forum are “so continuous and systematic as to render [it] essentially at home in the forum State.” Daimler AG v. Bauman, 134 S. Ct. 746, 761 (2014) (quotations and citation omitted). Neopart concedes that the Individual Defendants are not “at home” in Pennsylvania and therefore are not subject to general personal jurisdiction. Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 6. The only question, therefore, is whether this Court has specific jurisdiction over the Individual Defendants. Specific jurisdiction exists “when the claim is related to or arises out of the defendant's contacts with the forum.” Dollar Sav. Bank, 746 F.2d at 211. Usually, a court determines specific jurisdiction on a claim-by-claim basis. O'Connor, 496 F.3d at 318. Claim-specific analysis is appropriate for analyzing a case with both contract and tort claims because “there are different considerations in analyzing jurisdiction over contract claims and over certain tort claims . . . .” Remick v. Manfredy, 238 F.3d 248, 255–56 (3d Cir. 2001). However, claim-specific analysis may not be necessary “for certain factually overlapping claims.” O'Connor, 496 F.3d at 318 n. 3; see also Bhd. of Locomotive Eng'rs & Trainmen v. United Transp. Union, 413 F. Supp. 2d 410, 417 (E.D. Pa. 2005) (“[W]here the considerations in analyzing jurisdiction do not differ between particular claims, a claim specific analysis is not necessary.”). Because Neopart’s statutory, contract and tort claims all stem from the same conduct, the alleged misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets, a claim-specific analysis is not necessary. See Defs.’ Resp. to Supp. Br. on Jurisdiction and Venue 5, ECF No. 46 (“Here, Neopart’s claims all arise from the same factual allegations.”). 7 The Third Circuit has outlined a three-prong test for determining the existence of specific personal jurisdiction. Specific personal jurisdiction exists when: (1) the defendant “purposefully directed [its] activities” at the forum; (2) the litigation “arise[s] out of or relate[s] to” at least one of the defendant’s activities in Pennsylvania; and (3) the exercise of jurisdiction comports with notions of ‘fair play and substantial justice.’” O’Connor, 496 F.3d at 317 (quoting Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 476 (1985)). In intentional tort cases, if a court finds jurisdiction lacking after applying the preceding test, courts employ the Calder v. Jones effects test, which requires that: (1) a nonresident defendant committed an intentional tort; (2) the plaintiff felt the brunt of the harm in the forum; and (3) the defendant “expressly aimed” its tortious conduct at the forum. 465 U.S. 783, 789 (1984). The Individual Defendants Montgomery and Smith argue that they are each nonresidents of Pennsylvania and that they lack sufficient contacts with Pennsylvania to support the exercise of specific personal jurisdiction over them. Neopart contends, however, that specific personal jurisdiction exists in Pennsylvania over the Individual Defendants because the claims arise from their employment with a Pennsylvania company. I find that Neopart has alleged sufficient contacts to support the exercise of personal jurisdiction. 1. Purposeful Availment The threshold inquiry is whether the defendant “purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum [s]tate.” Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 253 (1958). Physical presence in the forum is not required, but a party must “deliberate[ly] target[]” the forum. O’Connor, 496 F.3d at 317 (internal quotations omitted). While “informational communications,” such as intermittent phone calls or letters in furtherance of a contract, are insufficient on their own to establish jurisdiction, Vetrotex Certainteed Corp. v. Consolidated 8 Fiber Glass Prods., Co., 75 F.3d 147, 152 (3d Cir. 1996) (citation omitted), “mail and telephone communications sent by the defendant into the forum may count toward the minimum contacts that support jurisdiction.” Grand Entm't Group, Ltd. v. Star Media Sales, Inc., 988 F.2d 476, 482 (3d Cir. 1993). In assessing jurisdiction for breach of contract claims, a court must consider “the totality of the circumstances, including . . . the parties’ actual course of dealing.” Remick, 238 F.3d at 256; see also Burger King, 471 U.S. at 479 (“[C]ontemplated future consequences [of the contract] . . . must be evaluated in determining whether the defendant purposefully established minimum contacts with the forum.”). The Supreme Court has “emphasized the need for a highly realistic approach that recognizes that a contract is ordinarily but an intermediate step serving to tie up prior business negotiations with future consequences which themselves are the real object of the business transaction.” Burger King, 471 U.S. at 479 (quotations omitted). In analyzing “purposeful availment” in suits by employers against nonresident employees, courts in this Circuit have found jurisdiction proper when “all of the essential functions that allowed [the nonresident employee] to earn a living were channeled through Pennsylvania.” Numeric Analytics, LLC v. McCabe, 161 F. Supp. 3d 348, 355 (E.D. Pa. 2016). These “essential functions” include “payroll, benefits . . . [m]edical coverage, medical benefits, and retirement plans.” Id. Other Circuits have found an employee’s contacts with a forum state “purposeful” even when such communications are required by the employer. Equifax Servs., Inc. v. Hitz, 905 F.2d 1355, 1359 (10th Cir. 1990) (“[W]hen forum contacts are a natural result of a contractual relationship, it indicates purposeful affiliation with the forum through an interstate contractual relationship.”); see also Burger King, 471 U.S. at 479-81. Furthermore, with respect to claims of misappropriation of trade secret claims against former employees, courts have found that purposeful availment is established when the former employee learns of trade secrets only as 9 a consequence of his or her employment. See Thermal Components Co. v. Griffith, 98 F. Supp. 2d 1224, 1229 (D. Kan. 2000) (“By misappropriating the trade secrets to which the individual defendants became privy only as a result of their employment by the plaintiff, and by using that information to interfere with [plaintiff’s] pre-existing and future contractual relations . . . the individual defendants’ previous employment relationship with[ a forum state] resident establishes the requisite contacts with the forum state.”). Although this is a close case, I find that the Individual Defendants have purposefully availed themselves of conducting activities in Pennsylvania. They were indeed interviewed in New York, hired in New York, and signed their Confidentiality Agreements in New York, but they nonetheless were employed by and interacted with a Pennsylvania corporation on a near daily basis. First, communicating with Pennsylvania was a necessary component of the Individual Defendants’ employment. Montgomery’s immediate supervisor, Paul Delong, was located in Pennsylvania and the two exchanged emails approximately three times a week. Montgomery Dep. 21:23-22:9. Montgomery regularly contacted the Neopart facility in Pennsylvania for questions related to parts, emergency orders and other issues related to RGRTA parts management. Montgomery Dep. 22:14-22. Performing Montgomery’s job necessitated contact with Pennsylvania because approximately 30 to 50 percent of the parts supplied to the RGRTA project came from Neopart’s facility in Honey Brook, PA. Boade Aff. ¶ 8, attached as Ex. A to Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 27 (“Boade Aff.”). The email server by which each of the Individual Defendants conducted their job requirements was located in Pennsylvania. Boade Aff. ¶ 9. Over a two-year period of time, Neopart alleges that Montgomery and Smith sent, received or were copied on more than 10,000 emails with Neopart personnel in 10 Pennsylvania.5 Also, the Individual Defendant’s very ability to earn a living was channeled through Pennsylvania. At the time of hire, Neopart alleges that Smith and Montgomery completed paperwork that documented the employee’s connection to Honey Brook. Boade Aff. ¶ 9. Neopart alleges that both Individual Defendants received paychecks from Pennsylvania, and each of their yearly tax documents listed Honeybrook, Pennsylvania as their employer’s address. Boade Aff. ¶ 7; 2014 W-2 Forms, attached as Ex. 7-3 to Boade Aff. Both Individual Defendants visited their employer’s home office in Pennsylvania in 2011. When Montgomery received a promotion to Parts Manager in June 2012, his offer letter listed “Honeybrook, Pennsylvania” as his employer’s address. Boade Aff ¶ 9. Montgomery exchanged emails with human resources personnel in Pennsylvania on a regular basis, and he interacted with Human Resources personnel in Pennsylvania for all of his vacation and benefits. Montgomery Dep. 21:4-22. Smith as well made numerous, regular, sometimes daily phone calls to Honeybrook, PA. Boade Aff. ¶ 8. Finally, Neopart contends that the confidential information and trade secrets allegedly misappropriated by the Individual Defendants were created and prepared in Pennsylvania. Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 12; Boade Aff. ¶ 12. Neopart alleges that the thumb drive Montgomery gave to Mancon executive Randy Whitman contained proprietary information and trade secrets that were downloaded from a computer connected to Neopart’s computer servers in Pennsylvania. Pl.’s Disputed Facts ¶ 15, JSF. The Individual Defendants’ contacts with Pennsylvania satisfy the purposeful availment requirement. Although the Individual Defendants were hired in New York to perform work in 5 Defendants dispute this number because it includes emails sent and received by Anthony Kozak, who is no longer a party to this suit, and because the number may include double-counted emails. Defs.’ Disputed Facts ¶ 1517, JSF, ECF No. 60. The exact number of emails does not have dispositive jurisdictional significance, however. It is beyond dispute that both Individual Defendants contacted personnel in Pennsylvania hundreds, if not thousands of times. 11 New York, they knew they were entering into a relationship with a Pennsylvania company. Amenability to suit in that jurisdiction is an “anticipated future consequence” of such a relationship. Burger King, 471 U.S. at 479. The contacts between the Individual Defendants and Neopart personnel in Pennsylvania were not merely “informational communications” but more “entangling contacts” that occurred on a near daily basis. Remick, 238 F.3d at 256. In order to both perform their jobs and earn a living, both Individual Defendants made repeated contacts with Pennsylvania. The realities of modern day electronic commerce, in which employees can perform their jobs remotely, call for a “highly realistic approach” to assessing purposeful availment in the personal jurisdiction context. When, as here, “all of the essential functions” that allowed Smith and Montgomery “to earn a living” and perform their jobs “were channeled through Pennsylvania,” Numeric Analytics, LLC, 161 F. Supp. 3d at 355, I find that both Individual Defendants have made purposeful contact with this state. 2. Relatedness Once purposeful contact with the forum is identified, the analysis proceeds to the second step of the specific personal jurisdiction inquiry, the relatedness requirement. A plaintiff’s claims must “arise out of or relate to” a defendant’s forum contacts. For claims to “arise out of or relate to” a defendant’s contacts, the “causal connection can be somewhat looser than the tort concept of proximate causation, but it must nonetheless be intimate enough to keep the quid pro quo proportional and personal jurisdiction reasonably foreseeable.” O’Connor, 496 F.3d at 323 (citation omitted). The inquiry is “necessarily fact-sensitive.” Id. “The animating principle behind the relatedness requirement is the notion of a tacit quid pro quo that makes litigation in the forum reasonably foreseeable.” Id. at 322. Neopart has satisfied the relatedness requirement. Neopart’s claims are inherent to their 12 employment relationship with the Individual Defendants. As explained above, it was reasonably foreseeable that, upon agreeing to employment with a Pennsylvania company and interacting with that company each day, Smith and Montgomery could be subject to suit in Pennsylvania. Courts in this Circuit have ruled that an action against a nonresident employee for breach of an employment-related agreement with a Pennsylvania company “certainly arise[s] out of and relate[s] to [the employee’s] contacts with Pennsylvania.” Numeric Analytics, LLC, 161 F. Supp. 3d at 355. What’s more, Smith and Montgomery only had access to Neopart’s trade secrets as a consequence of their employment. Smith and Montgomery became privy to Neopart’s methods of identifying unique suppliers, pricing arrangements, and inventory management methods via emails and telephone calls to Pennsylvania and access to Pennsylvania computer servers—in other words, as a direct result of their contacts with this state. Thermal Components Co., 98 F. Supp. 2d at 1229. Neopart’s claims arise from their employment relationship with the Individual Defendants and therefore the relatedness requirement is satisfied. 3. Fair Play and Substantial Justice Finally, the exercise of jurisdiction must also “comport with fair play and substantial justice.” Burger King, 471 U.S. at 476 (internal quotations omitted). The existence of minimum contacts makes exercising jurisdiction “presumptively constitutional, and the defendant must present a compelling case that the presence of some other considerations would render jurisdiction unreasonable.” O’Connor, 496 F.3d at 324 (internal quotations and citation omitted). When balancing jurisdictional reasonableness, courts should consider “the burden on the defendant, the forum state’s interest in adjudicating the dispute, the plaintiff’s interest in obtaining convenient and effective relief, [and] the interstate judicial system’s interest in obtaining the most efficient resolution of controversies.” Burger King, 471 U.S. at 477 13 (quotation marks omitted). Because Neopart has established that minimum contacts exist between Pennsylvania and the Individual Defendants, the exercise of personal jurisdiction is “presumptively constitutional,” and Defendants must demonstrate a compelling reason that would render jurisdiction “unreasonable.” See O’Connor, 496 F.3d at 324. Defendants have made no such showing. Defendants make only the conclusory statement that “[w]ithout question, it would be a gross violation of ‘fair play and substantial justice’ for these New York residents to be haled into court in Pennsylvania . . . .” Mot. Dismiss 8. Yet, the Defendants do not fully discuss this final jurisdictional requirement nor provide any reason why the exercise of jurisdiction in Pennsylvania would be unreasonable or burdensome. While it is indeed a burden to travel to Pennsylvania from New York, that burden is lessened by the geographic proximity of the two neighboring states. See O'Connor, 496 F.3d at 324 (considering the distance between the two fora in assessing reasonableness). The Individual Defendants have also already completed their depositions. While the Confidentiality Agreements at issue do not select Pennsylvania law, the trade secrets allegedly misappropriated were created in Pennsylvania, and therefore this state has the greatest interest in adjudicating the dispute. See Section B, infra. Any burden on the Defendants is also weighed against the Plaintiff’s interest in obtaining convenient relief in their chosen forum. I find that the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the Individual Defendants is reasonable.6 6 Because I find that personal jurisdiction over the Individual Defendants for all claims is appropriate under the traditional test, I decline to apply the Calder v. Jones “effects test.” The “effects test” is only necessary for intentional tort claims if minimum contacts are found to be insufficient under the traditional analysis. Imo Industries, Inc. v. Kiekert AG, 155 F.3d 254, 260 (3d Cir. 1998); see also Leone v. Cataldo, 574 F. Supp. 2d 471, 479 (E.D. Pa. 2008) (declining to apply “effects test” after jurisdiction was satisfied under the traditional test). 14 B. VENUE Mancon also moves to dismiss this action because it is in the wrong venue. According to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(3), a court must grant a motion to dismiss if venue is improper. Generally, when deciding a Rule 12(b)(3) venue motion, a court must accept as true the allegations in the complaint, although the parties may submit affidavits to support their positions. Leone v. Cataldo, 574 F. Supp. 2d 471, 483–85 (E.D. Pa. 2008). The defendant bears the burden of showing that venue is improper. Myers v. American Dental Ass'n, 695 F.2d 716, 724 (3d Cir. 1982). Although venue must generally be established for each cause of action asserted in the complaint, there is an exception “where claims arise out of the same operative facts.” Philadelphia Musical Soc., Local 77 v. Am. Fed'n of Musicians of U.S. & Canada, 812 F. Supp. 509, 517 n. 3 (E.D. Pa. 1992). This doctrine, known as pendent venue, allows venue to be sustained over a federal claim even if venue over pendent state law claims would not be proper. High River Ltd. P'ship v. Mylan Labs., Inc., 353 F. Supp. 2d 487, 493 (M.D. Pa. 2005). “The test for determining venue is not the defendant’s ‘contacts’ with a particular district, but rather the location of those ‘events or omissions giving rise to the claim’ . . . .” Cottman Transmission Sys., Inc. v. Martino, 36 F.3d 291, 294 (3d Cir. 1994). According to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(a), venue is proper only in: (1) a judicial district where any defendant resides, if all defendants reside in the same State, (2) a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated, or (3) a judicial district in which any defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction at the time the action is commenced, if there is no district in which the action may otherwise be brought. Plaintiff asserts that venue is proper in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania because it is “a judicial district in which . . . a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is 15 situated.” 28 U.S.C. § 1391(a)(2).7 Venue can be appropriate in more than one district. Cottman, 36 F.3d at 294. “The fact that substantial activities took place in district B does not disqualify district A as proper venue as long as ‘substantial’ activities took place in A, too. Indeed, district A should not be disqualified even if it is shown that the activities in district B were more substantial, or even the most substantial. . . . If the selected district’s contacts are ‘substantial,’ it should make no difference that another’s are more so, or the most so.” Leone, 574 F. Supp. 2d at 483 (quoting David D. Siegal, Commentary on the 1988 and 1990 Revisions of Section 1391, Subdivision (a), Clause (2), 28 U.S.C.A § 1391 (1993)). To determine whether venue is proper, a court must examine the nature of the dispute. Cottman, 36 F.3d at 295; see also Uffner v. La Reunion Francaise, 244 F.3d 38, 42 (1st Cir. 2001) (stating that a court deciding venue does “not [look] to a single ‘triggering event’ prompting the action, but to the entire sequence of events underlying the claim.”). Venue determinations demand qualitative analysis, and are undertaken “by assessing the overall nature of the plaintiff's claims and the nature of the specific events or omissions in the forum, and not by simply adding up the number of contacts.” Daniel v. Am. Bd. of Emergency Med., 428 F.3d 408, 432 (2d Cir. 2005). Although Neopart brings breach of contract and tort claims against the Individual Defendants, this case, as pursued against all Defendants, is fundamentally about the misappropriation of trade secrets. Neopart seeks to establish venue via U.S.C. § 1391(a)(2), which dictates that venue lay in “a judicial district in which . . . a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated.” The relevant inquiry is therefore: where is a trade secret “situated?” 7 Venue cannot be established under § 1391(a)(1) because the defendants reside in two states, New York and Virginia. Venue can also not be established under § 1391(a)(3) because this suit could have been brought in the Northern District of New York. 16 Third Circuit precedent is clear that the “situs” of a trade secret is the state in which the intellectual property was created. Horne v. Adolph Coors Co., 684 F.2d 255, 259 (3d Cir. 1982) (“[A] state trade secret . . . should be deemed to have [its] fictional situs at the residence of the owner.”); see also Cabot Corp. v. Niotan, Inc., No. 08-1691, 2011 WL 4625269, at *13 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2011) (“The law in this circuit is clear that the location of trade secrets is where plaintiff resides.”); accord Vital State Canada, Ltd. v. DreamPak, LLC, 303 F. Supp. 2d 516, 520 (D.N.J. 2003). Courts routinely recognize that “[u]nlike trademarks, which seem to have no real situs, trade secrets have a situs in their state of origin,” and that this can be enough to establish proper venue in that state. Harry Miller Co. v. Carr Chem, 5 F. Supp. 2d 295, 298 (E.D. Pa. 1998); Paul Green Sch. of Rock Music Franchising, LLC v. Rock Nation, LLC, No. 08-4503, 2009 WL 129740, at *2 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 13, 2009); but see Crayola, LLC v. Buckley, 179 F. Supp. 3d 473, 479 (E.D. Pa. 2016) (finding that Pennsylvania was not the proper venue for a misappropriation in Arkansas of a trade secret created in Pennsylvania, in part because the Plaintiff did not bring a claim under the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act).8 Venue in a trade secret’s state of origin is further bolstered because the injury is felt there. Although the place where an injury is felt is “generally insufficient,” on its own, to establish venue, Lannett Co. v. Asherman, No. 13-2006, 2014 WL 716699, at *5 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 8 The court in Crayola casts doubt on those courts that have found venue proper for trade secret cases in the secret’s state of origin, in part because decisions holding as much were promulgated before the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-650, 104 Stat. 5089. Crayola , 179 F. Supp. 3d at 479. That Act introduced the “substantial event or omission” requirement to ensure that cases are tried in “the place where things happened[.]” H.R. Rep. No. 101-734, at 23 (1990). The language change in the statute, however, has no bearing on this case. In this case, I need not find that “a substantial event or omission” has occurred in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania because Plaintiff does not seek to establish venue using that clause of § 1391(a)(2). Plaintiff instead relies on the second clause of § 1391(a)(2), which states that venue is proper where “a substantial part of the property that is the subject of the action is situated” (emphasis added). Third Circuit law is clear that trade secrets are situated, “substantial[ly]” or otherwise, in their state of origin, and the 1990 revision to the federal venue statute does not alter that rule. 17 24, 2014), the state of injury is not irrelevant for claims relating to intellectual property. See Endless Pools, Inc. v. Wave Tec Pools, Inc., 362 F. Supp. 2d 578, 587 (E.D. Pa. 2005) (considering, in a motion to dismiss for improper venue for conduct that occurred out of state, that “if plaintiff's trademark is found to be infringed as alleged, the injury will largely be felt in Pennsylvania.”).9 With respect to trade secrets, “[s]ince intellectual property cannot have a physical situs, the law of the state of residence of the person who initially developed and protected the [trade] secret appears to be the obvious starting point for its protection.” Paolino v. Channel Home Centers, 668 F.2d 721, 724 n. 3 (3d Cir. 1981). The injury stemming from theft of trade secrets is primarily inured to the owner, in the jurisdiction in which he or she resides. BP Chemicals Ltd. v. Formosa Chem. & Fibre Corp., 229 F.3d 254, 261 (3d Cir. 2000) (citing Horne, 684 F.2d at 259-60, for the proposition that “in a trade secret case, the injury occurs to the owner of the trade secret wherever he resides”); Paolino, 668 F.2d at 724 (stating that theft of a Pennsylvania trade secret “obviously would cause harm in Pennsylvania no matter where the misappropriation occurred.”). Although the trade secrets at issue in this case where allegedly misappropriated elsewhere,10 the situs of those trade secrets is Pennsylvania. Neopart alleges that the trade secrets and confidential information at issue were created, developed, and stored in Pennsylvania. Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 12; Boade Aff. ¶ 12. The venue statute plainly states that venue is proper in 9 While it is true that the “focus of [a] venue inquiry” in a trademark case is “the location where the unauthorized passing off takes place,” and “[t]he district in which the infringed trademark was originally prepared or initiated is not determinative,” the place of injury is not immaterial to venue analysis. Cottman, 36 F.3d at 294. In this matter, venue is proper in this District not only because the injury is felt here, but because the situs of the trade secret is here as well. 10 Where the alleged misappropriation took place is a matter of dispute. Neopart contents that “Mancon received and utilized Neopart’s trade secrets and other confidential information at its principal place of business in Virginia.” Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 18. Mancon asserts that “the conduct causing the alleged injury occurred in New York.” Mot. Dismiss 13. 18 the district where “a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated,” U.S.C. § 1391(a)(2), and the law of this Circuit holds that Neopart’s trade secrets are situated in Pennsylvania. Further, “no matter where the misappropriation occurred,” the harm from the theft of Neopart’s Pennsylvania trade secrets is felt in Pennsylvania. Paolino, 668 F.2d at 724. I find that venue is proper in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.11 C. FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM In deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a court must “accept all factual allegations as true, construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and determine whether, under any reasonable reading of the complaint, the plaintiff may be entitled to relief.” Phillips v. Cty. of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 233 (3d Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). To survive dismissal, a complaint must allege facts sufficient to “raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). Rather, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. Mancon moves to dismiss several counts on the grounds that New York law applies to this action. Mancon moves to dismiss Counts I and IX, Neopart’s claims under the Pennsylvania 11 Because I find that venue is established with respect to Neopart’s trade secret claims, venue is proper over the entire suit because all Neopart’s claims “arise out of the same operative facts.” Philadelphia Musical Soc., Local 77, 812 F. Supp. at 517 n. 3. 19 Uniform Trade Secrets Act, because New York has not adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Mot. Dismiss 13. Mancon also moves to Dismiss Count VIII, Neopart’s conversion claim, because, Mancon asserts, New York does not recognize a cause of action for conversion of intangible property. Mot. Dismiss 15. In the alternative, Mancon argues that should Pennsylvania law apply, Counts V, VI, VII and X, Neopart’s intentional tort claims, should be dismissed against the Individual Defendants because they are subsumed in Count IV, the breach of contract claim, and therefore barred by the ‘gist of the action doctrine.’ Neopart responds that Pennsylvania law applies to this action, and that that the ‘gist of the action doctrine’ does not bar its tort claims. Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 21. To determine the applicable law, a court must conduct a choice-of-law analysis. “Under the Erie doctrine, federal courts sitting in diversity apply state substantive law and federal procedural law.” Gasperini v. Ctr. for Humanities, Inc., 518 U.S. 415, 427 (1996). Choice-of-law rules are considered substantive law; therefore, a federal court looks to state law for choice-of-law rules. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496 (1941). A federal court exercising federal question jurisdiction over a federal claim and supplemental jurisdiction over related state law claims applies the choice-of-law rules of the state of the forum. Kermit Roosevelt III, Choice of Law in Federal Courts: From Erie and Klaxon to Cafa and Shady Grove, 106 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1, 24 (2012) (“[F]ederal courts have to follow Erie when exercising supplemental jurisdiction . . . .”); see also Rohm & Haas Co. v. Adco Chem. Co., 689 F.2d 424, 429 (3d Cir. 1982) (“[A] federal court whose jurisdiction over a state claim is based . . . on pendency to a federal claim . . . must apply the conflicts of law principles of the forum state.”); United Mine Workers of Am. v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 726 (1966). Therefore, 20 Pennsylvania’s choice-of-law rules control.12 Choice of law analysis is “issue-specific,” and therefore Pennsylvania courts must conduct the analysis on a claim-by-claim basis. Berg Chilling Sys., Inc. v. Hull Corp., 435 F.3d 455, 462 (3d Cir. 2006). For each relevant claim, Pennsylvania courts are to apply a three-step choice-of-law inquiry. Hammersmith v. TIG Ins. Co., 480 F.3d 220, 230 (3d Cir. 2007). First, the court should determine if there is an actual or real conflict between the laws of the jurisdictions at issue. Id. When there are “relevant differences” between the laws of the two states, then there is an actual conflict. Id. If an actual conflict arises, the court “must proceed to the second prong of the inquiry and determine if this is a true or false conflict.” Id. at 232. “If there are relevant differences between the laws, then the court should examine the governmental policies underlying each law, and classify the conflict as a “true,” “false,” or an “unprovided-for” situation.” Id. A “true conflict” arises only if “both jurisdictions’ interests would be impaired by the application of the other’s laws.” Id. at 230.13 If a “true conflict” exits, then the court proceeds to step three of the inquiry and must engage in a “deeper choice-of-law analysis” to determine which jurisdiction has the “greater interest in the application of its law.” Id. (citing Cipolla v. 12 Diversity jurisdiction is not the basis of jurisdiction in this case, but that does not change the relevant choice-of-law analysis. Neopart, however, pleads diversity under 28 U.S.C § 1332 as the basis for subject matter jurisdiction. Compl. ¶ 11. Defendant does not challenge that assertion. Mot. Dismiss 10. However, Neopart does not plead sufficient information for this Court to conclude that complete diversity exists. As an LLC, Neopart’s citizenship “is determined by the citizenship of each of its members.” Zambelli Fireworks Mfg. Co. v. Wood, 592 F.3d 412, 418 (3d Cir. 2010). Neopart pleads that its sole member and 100% owner is Argosy Credit Partners Holdings, L.P. Compl. ¶ 1. As a partnership, Argosy Credit Partners Holdings “takes on the citizenship of each of its partners.” Id. at 419. Neopart does not state the citizenship of each of the partners of Argosy Credit Partners, however, and therefore this Court is unable to exercise diversity jurisdiction over this matter. Nonetheless, this Court retains subject matter jurisdiction because Neopart has plead a federal cause of action under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. Compl. ¶ 66. The statute provides for original federal jurisdiction for a claim of trade secret misappropriation. 18 U.S.C. § 1836(b)(3)(C). This Court exercises “supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution.” 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a); see generally Peter J. Toren, The Defend Trade Secrets Act, 28 No. 7 Intell. Prop. & Tech. L.J. 3, 4 (2016). Despite Neopart’s failure to explicitly plead federal question jurisdiction, “[i]mperfections in pleading style will not divest a federal court of jurisdiction where the complaint as a whole reveals a proper basis for jurisdiction.” Cook v. Winfrey, 141 F.3d 322, 326 (7th Cir. 1998) (citation omitted). 13 An “unprovided-for” situation arises if neither state’s interests would be impaired if its laws were not applied. Hammersmith, 480 F.3d at 230 n. 9. 21 Shaposka, 439 Pa. 563 (1970)). A court should conduct a choice-of-law inquiry only where necessary. Hammersmith, 480 F.3d at 230. Here, the relevant jurisdictions at issue are Pennsylvania, the situs of Neopart’s trade secrets and its principal place of business, and New York, the domicile of the individual Defendants and the site of the RGRTA. Mancon alleges that conflict of law issues arise with three groups of claims: Misappropriation of Trade Secrets (Counts I and IX), Conversion (Count VII) and Claims Governed by the ‘Gist of the Action Doctrine’ (Counts V, VI, VII and X). These groups are each considered in turn.14 1. Misappropriation of Trade Secret Claims (Counts I and IX) a. Actual conflict It must first be determined if there is an “actual conflict” between New York and Pennsylvania law on the issue of misappropriation of trade secrets. In Pennsylvania, misappropriation of trade secrets is governed by the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act, 12 Pa.C.S. §5301, et seq. Mancon points out that New York is one of only two states that has not adopted a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and instead maintains a common law approach to misappropriation of trade secret claims. Mot. Dismiss 13; see also Free Country Ltd v. Drennen, -- F. Supp. 3d --, 2016 WL 7635516, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 2016). There are important differences between the PUTSA and New York common law, particularly concerning the definition of a trade secret and the “continuous use” requirement. Compare PUTSA, 12 Pa.C.S.A. § 5302 (defining a trade secret) with Ashland Mgmt. Inc. v. 14 This Court need not decide which law applies to claims in which no conflict of law is apparent, and generally, “if no conflict exists, [a court] may apply Pennsylvania law.” Scirex Corp. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 313 F.3d 841, 847 (3d Cir. 2002); see also Youtie v. Macy’s Retail Holding, Inc., 626 F. Supp. 2d 511, 520 n. 7 (E.D. Pa. 2009) (on a trade secrets claim, stating “[t]here being no conflict, I will apply the forum state’s law, i.e. the PUTSA.”). 22 Janien, 82 N.Y.2d 395, 407 (1993) (outlining a six-factor test for defining a trade secret); see also Gregory S. Bombard, Three Key Distinctions Between Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Common Law, 17 Com. & Bus. Litig. No. 2, ABA Sec of Litig. (Winter 2016) (“[T]he most commonly cited distinction between the UTSA and the law[] of . . . New York is the so-called “continuous use” requirement.”); accord Sarkissian Mason, Inc. v. Enter. Holdings, Inc., 955 F. Supp. 2d 247, 253–54 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), aff'd, 572 F. App’x 19 (2d Cir. 2014) (identifying the differences between New York trade secret law and Missouri’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act). I find that these differences are relevant and therefore there is an actual or real conflict between New York and Pennsylvania law on the issue of trade secrets. b. True conflict After finding an actual conflict, a court must determine if this conflict is a “true conflict.” A court is tasked with “examining the governmental policies underlying each law,” and a “true conflict” arises only if “both jurisdictions’ interests would be impaired by the application of the other’s laws.” Hammersmith, 480 F.3d at 230. A true conflict exists when the policies underlying the laws at issue are opposed to one another. Id. (citing Cipolla v. Shaposka, 439 Pa. 563 (1970)); Rosen v. Tesoro Petroleum Corp., 399 Pa. Super. 226 (1990)). Mancon, relying on the fact that the RGRTA is a public benefit corporation pursuant to New York statue, argues that “clearly” New York has an interest in the proper maintenance of the RGRTA. Mot. Dismiss 12. Mancon argues that because Neopart’s claim implicates an entity created by New York statute, “there can be no question that New York has a greater interest in the outcome of this litigation than Pennsylvania.” Defs.’ Reply Mot. Dismiss 10. Mancon’s argument elides the choice-of-law analysis required of this Court. They compare apples to oranges. The relevant comparison is Pennsylvania’s law on trade secrets and 23 New York’s law on trade secrets, not Pennsylvania’s law on trade secrets and New York’s law on public benefit corporations. Merely because Neopart’s claim involves an entity that happens to be established by New York statute does not mean that New York has a greater interest in the application of its trade secrets law to this case. As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held, the interests at stake in a choice-of law-dispute “[are] relevant only if they relate to the policies and interest underlying the particular issue before the court.” Cipolla, 439 Pa. at 566 (quotations omitted). The “issue” before this Court is trade secrets. The Third Circuit requires an examination of “the governmental policies underlying each law” that comprises the actual conflict—here that is the PUTSA and New York’s common law on misappropriation of trade secrets. Hammersmith, 480 F.3d at 230. It cannot be said that New York’s interests are impaired by the application of Pennsylvania trade secrets law to this case. Indeed, “[t]he courts in New York have recognized the importance of trade secret protection and the resulting benefits to the public,” Melvin F. Jager, Trade Secrets Law, 2 Trade Secrets Law § 50:1 (October 2016). But Mancon points to no reason that the interest underlying trade secret law in New York would be impaired by the application of the PUTSA. Pennsylvania’s governmental interest, however, is invoked if New York’s laws are applied. In enacting the PUTSA, Pennsylvania demonstrated a governmental interest in according statutory protection to the trade secrets of Pennsylvania companies. As the Third Circuit has indicated, theft of a Pennsylvania trade secret “obviously would cause harm in Pennsylvania no matter where the misappropriation occurred.” Paolino, 668 F.2d at 724. New York’s only connection to Neopart’s claims is that the allegedly misappropriated trade secrets were used there.15 The conflict between New York law and Pennsylvania law with respect to this 15 Where the alleged misappropriation took place is a matter of dispute, see note 9, supra. Disputed facts are to be construed in Plaintiff’s favor at this stage, but in any event, “choice of law doctrine ordinarily does not give 24 issue simply does not rise to the level of “true conflict” recognized by Pennsylvania courts. See Cipolla, 439 Pa. at 566 (finding a true conflict when Pennsylvania has adopted a plaintiffprotecting rule and Delaware adopted a defendant-protecting rule); Rosen, 399 Pa. Super. at 582 (finding a “true conflict” between Texas and Pennsylvania law where the Texas law intended to provide litigants with “open access to the judicial system,” while Pennsylvania’s law favored those “who may be forced to defend a baseless suit”). On the issue of trade secrets, a true conflict is not presented. This case is therefore a “false conflict” and in such a case, a court need not engage in any further choice-of-law analysis. The court applies the laws of the only interested state. Hammersmith, 480 F.3d at 230; see also Lacey v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 932 F.2d 170, 188 (3d Cir. 1991). That state is Pennsylvania. Accordingly, Neopart’s PUTSA Claims (Counts I and X) will not be dismissed. 2. Conversion Claim (Count VIII) Pennsylvania recognizes a cause of action for conversion of both trade secrets and confidential information. Hill v. Best Med. Int'l, Inc., No. 07-1709, 2011 WL 5082208, at *15 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 25, 2011) (“Even after enactment of the PUTSA, courts applying Pennsylvania law have continued to recognize a separate tort of conversion regarding confidential or proprietary information.”); Am. Hearing Aid Assocs., Inc. v. GN Resound N. Am., 309 F. Supp. 2d 694, 705 (E.D. Pa. 2004) (“Pennsylvania law does allow for trade secrets to be the subject of a conversion claim.”) (citation omitted). New York, however, does not recognize a claim for conversion of intangible property or a claim for conversion of confidential information if the complaining party still has access to the great weight to the place of injury in cases, like the case at bar, arising out of claims of misappropriation of trade values.” BP Chemicals Ltd., 229 F.3d at 266 n. 4. “Place of injury” in this context means where the misappropriation took place, not where the injury is felt. Id. 25 information. Transaero, Inc. v. Chappell, No. 13-5752, 2014 WL 1783732 at *11 (E.D.N.Y. May 6, 2014) (“Here, plaintiff’s conversion claim fails as a matter of law because the types of property allegedly converted—[Plaintiff’s] confidential and proprietary information—‘are not amenable to claims for conversion.’”) (quoting Ferring B.V. v. Allergan, Inc, No. 12-2650, 2014 WL 988595, at *14 (S.D.N.Y. Mar.13, 2014)); accord Geo Grp., Inc. v. Cmty. First Servs., Inc, No. 11-1711, 2012 WL 1077846, at *9 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2012). I find that the differences between the laws of Pennsylvania and New York on this issue present an actual conflict, but not a “true conflict.” For the reasons explained above regarding trade secrets, New York’s state interest is not impaired by applying Pennsylvania law on the conversion of confidential information. Mancon identifies no New York policy that would be undermined by applying Pennsylvania law to the alleged conversion of a Pennsylvania company’s information in Virginia by a Virginia company. See Pl.’s Resp. Mot. Dismiss 18 (“Upon information and belief, Mancon received and utilized Neopart’s trade secrets and other confidential information at its principal place of business in Virginia.”). Courts have recognized that when one jurisdiction provides a protection or a claim but the other does not, allowing the claim does not interfere with any significant interest of the jurisdiction lacking the claim. Lacey, 932 F.2d at 188 (“The conflict here appears to result primarily from the fact that Pennsylvania has adopted strict liability, whereas British Columbia has not. [W]e believe that this is a false conflict. Applying Pennsylvania law of strict liability would further Pennsylvania’s interest . . . but would not impair British Columbia’s interest . . . .). In the absence of a true conflict, a court applies the law of the only interested jurisdiction—in this case, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania courts recognize a claim for conversion of confidential information and trade secrets, Hill, 2011 WL 5082208, at *15, and accordingly 26 Count VII of Neopart’s Complaint will not be dismissed. 3. ‘Gist of the Action’ Claims (Counts V, VI, VII, X) There is no actual conflict between New York law and Pennsylvania law with respect to the ‘gist of the action doctrine.’ Pennsylvania courts apply the gist of the action doctrine to complaints in which the “plaintiff alleges that the defendant committed a tort in the course of carrying out a contractual agreement.” Erie Ins. Exch. v. Abbott Furnace Co., 972 A.2d 1232, 1238 (Pa. Super. 2009) (citing Pa. Mfrs.’ Ass’n Ins. Co. v. L.B. Smith, Inc., 831 A.2d 1178, 1182 (Pa. Super. 2003) (citation and quotation marks omitted)). The gist of the action doctrine prevents plaintiffs from recasting ordinary breach of contract claims as tort claims. See Hart v. Arnold, 884 A.2d 316, 339 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2005).16 “[T]he important difference between contract and tort actions is that the latter lie from the breach of duties imposed as a matter of social policy while the former lie for the breach of duties imposed by mutual consensus.” Redevelopment Auth. v. Int’l Ins. Co., 685 A.2d 581, 590 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1996). New York law “contains a similar doctrine, under which ‘a tort cause of action generally does not lie where it is duplicative of a claim sounding in contract. However, an actionable tort may exist when the plaintiff asserts that the defendant breached a duty independent of the contract.’” Icebox-Scoops v. Finanz St. Honore, B.V., 676 F. Supp. 2d 100, 112 (E.D.N.Y. 2009) (quoting Consol. Risk Servs., Inc. v. Auto. Dealers WC Self Ins. Trust, No. 06-871, 2007 WL 951565, at *2 (N.D.N.Y. March 27, 2007)). When there is no actual conflict between the relevant laws, a Pennsylvania court applies Pennsylvania law. Scirex Corp. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 313 F.3d 841, 847 (3d Cir. 2002). In 16 Although the gist of the action doctrine has not been formally recognized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Superior Court has noted that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is “clearly aware of the frequent use of this doctrine by both the lower and federal courts of [Pennsylvania], but has declined at least three opportunities to put an end to its use.” Reardon v. Allegheny Coll., 926 A.2d 477, 486 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2007). 27 Pennsylvania, courts “should be slow to dismiss claims under the gist of the action doctrine. Federal civil procedure allows parties to plead multiple claims as alternative theories of liability.” Orthovita, Inc. v. Erbe, No. 07-2395, 2008 WL 423446, at *4 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 14, 2008); see also Kimberton Healthcare Consulting, Inc. v. Primary PhysicianCare, Inc., 11-4568, 2011 WL 6046923, at *8 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 6, 2011) (“Caution must be exercised in dismissing a tort action on a motion to dismiss because whether tort and contract claims are separate and distinct can be a factually intensive inquiry.”) (citation omitted). Neopart presents a colorable claim that the tort claims alleged against Defendants arise from duties independent of contractual obligations. Compl. ¶ 85-88; see also Freedom Med. Inc. v. Gillespie, 634 F. Supp. 2d 490, 517 (E.D. Pa. 2007) (“Pennsylvania law, however, imposes a common law duty on an employee not to use or disclose trade secrets obtained in the course of a confidential employment relationship.”). “Viewed under the standards for deciding a motion to dismiss, these allegations adequately plead that [Defendants] had a confidential relationship with [Plaintiff], which could, depending on the facts ultimately proved, give rise to independent duties to refrain from disclosing or misappropriating trade secrets or from breaching a fiduciary duty.” Id. Accordingly, Neopart’s tort claims against the Defendants cannot be dismissed at this time under the gist of the action doctrine. III. CONCLUSION For the reasons outlined above, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied. s/Anita B. Brody ____________________________________ ANITA B. BRODY, J. Copies VIA ECF on _________ to: Copies MAILED on _______ to: 28 O:\ABB 2017\L - Z\NEOPART v Mancon FINAL MTD Memorandum.docx 29
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An Inspiring Message from an Inspired Student
on May 15, 2018 November 7, 2018
Teaching is a profession that can be as challenging as it is rewarding, but every now and then I am reminded why I chose this professional path.
In May I received a kind and heartfelt email from Omran Al Farsi, a human resources student at the American University in the Emirates. He had been a student in my Principles of Management class during the spring semester which had recently concluded.
The students in Omran’s class, which was one of my smallest at AUE, were uniquely mature and engaged; it felt more like a masters degree class than an undergraduate one. We spent many of our class periods in the food court discussing management articles from the Harvard Business Review. It was refreshing and revitalizing.
And so, in some ways, I wasn’t surprised to receive a message from a student in that class. However, I was nevertheless surprised, inspired, and energized by Omran’s email; it was exceptionally thoughtful and sincere. The text of his message follows.
It is my pleasure to share it with you below:
“If my educational journey taught me two things, it would be the importance of knowledge and the person who is giving you that knowledge. Thus, I am forever grateful to you and appreciative for your mentoring throughout the course. You have taught me so many things academic related and in leadership on a personal level. I never heard your name mentioned without students and instructors complimenting you as a person and instructor. I found out why when I first attended your class. You have one of the most pure and kind hearts I have ever encountered in my life.” — Omran Al Farsi, Human Resource Management Student at American University in the Emirates
What We Have Learnt to Forget: The Human Behind the Business
on January 15, 2018 June 2, 2018
What have you learnt to forget?
Last year, during the heat of the summer semester, Ms. Alissar Nasrallah warmed the hears of my students with her keynote speech “What We Have Learned to Forget – The Human Behind the Business.” Alissar manages Prest, her family’s corporate gifting business. I first met Alissar when we were both extras on Star Trek Beyond; we struck up a friendship and I was fortunate enough that she was willing to share her insights and ideas with my class.
Acknowledging the connection between business and ethics, Alissar reflected on the importance of philosophical and humanitarian values and their role in business. The following is an essay version of her presentation — provided by Alissar.
We have segregated our life into two main categories: Business and Personal, forgetting that life has much more than that. We typically apply a “live in the moment” only between these categories with “don’t bring your home problems to your work” and vice versa. We got into the details of the norms and values “don’t be too friendly at work” “be too friendly at work to lobby well” “know where to stop” “your personality at work is different than your personality with your friends.”
The segregation got deeper, forgetting that this person is a singular one and that his life is much richer than being sized down to two sectors. Once we understand the big picture that makes us – what I call the big ‘I’ – we will know that this segregation is not needed and that our personality can be constant in all areas. We will know that the nuance is having clarity of how to act and when to act no matter where we are and whom we are dealing with. Enrich the big ‘I’ with humane values to find stability, clarity and to pave your way up in all your actions, words and thoughts.
An inevitable part of enriching the big ‘I’ is how we deal with the other ‘Is’. Because of the ferociousness of survival, we apply twisted strategies that, I believe, most are not filtered humanely – from networking (that comes from the basic human nature of relationships), plotting to defeat colleagues, human objectification and object humanization, etc.
Why not try to change the twisted strategies for once and see how the world evolves; we might like it better. Strategies are needed yes, and smartness is needed. Inhumanity is not. Depict negative connotations is everything you read, you see, you watch, you listen to and you think of. What we feed our mind will be unavoidably translated into our actions.
If you don’t believe in goodness to drive your actions and responsibilities towards others, you have to believe in the simple logic that says: if I encounter pain on you, you will most probably reply with pain. Put this on the whole population scale, having in mind the complex human psychic.
The world will be an unpleasant place to live in – an unsustainable place. We often use the term sustainability when we talk about the natural environment, and not the human environment. For us to live together sustainably, we need (not only want) to live well together which means we need to be good to each other. In the lines of this idea, I came up with a simple untwisted strategy that I called “Positively-Conditioned Objectives”.
Everything we do at any time has an objective, even if we are unaware of it. A coffee with friends has an objective of connecting, venting out, updating. Being aware of the objective allows us to eliminate anything unnecessary along the way. The objective is for us and the positive-conditioning is our responsibility towards others. “I want to be the best cook” is my objective – it is for me. “Supporting others along the way” is my positive conditioning – it is my responsibility towards others.
I am not only talking about big objectives. I am also talking about walking-in-the-park’s objective and having-coffee-with-friends’ objective. The biggest objective of all times is to live happily. And the biggest positive conditioning is to be loving. You can push this strategy down to your tiniest actions, thoughts and words. It is a compass to always know yourself, be aware of what you’re doing, thinking, saying and feeling all the while being responsible towards others for a sustainable, more pleasant collective life.
You can also watch a video of Ms. Alissar’s presentation below.
Biscuit Bombs and Belgian Waffles
on October 22, 2015 November 27, 2020
Some lessons last a lifetime.
Today would have been the 100th birthday of my grandfather Alan “Papa” Gilbert. Although he passed away in 2006, he was my most meaningful mentor and his influence on my life remains a constant source of inspiration. To celebrate his life I have shared the short story below; I first wrote it for his 80th birthday in 1995 and have revised and reflected on it many times since.
While I was aware of the impact of his insight when he first shared it, I more fully understand its importance and relevance to my life as an adult. I hope my sharing this story inspires you to positively influence others and appreciate individuals who have helped shape you into the person you have — and still can — become.
The morning sun yawned above the foothills, revealing the reservoir below, as Papa and I descended the wooden staircase towards the water’s edge. Stubborn fog, which had tightly held the surface of the water, melted away into daybreak.
“What a beautiful day,” Papa said as he bounded down the stairs like a child on Christmas Day.
We then walked along a narrow dirt pathway and, after a few short paces, discovered our canoe: 15 feet of green fiberglass and aluminum. But for Papa, it was perfection. I watched as he gleefully approached the vessel and attempted to release it from the chains restraining it.
“How did I manage to do this?” Papa said, frustrated with the intricate web of chain links in which he had wrapped the boat a month earlier.
“Do you need a hand, Mr. Houdini?” I inquired. “Or shall I call you a nurse?”
“I stage one breakout and suddenly I’m a criminal,” Papa joked.
A few years earlier Papa had an allergic reaction to medication while in the hospital. It was so severe that seconds after receiving the dosage, he became the Incredible Hulk. Highly agitated, he attempted to forcibly extricate himself from his bed to the great surprise of his nurse who quickly summoned backup.
Within minutes, four additional nurses were trying to sedate him. With all other options exhausted, they confined him within a restraining jacket, which was then anchored to the bed.
When Papa awoke later that day – in a much calmer state – he took issue with his restraints. So, he liberated himself using brains over brawn. When the floor nurse returned to check on him, she discovered the discarded restraints and deserted bed. By the time she returned to the room with a search party, Papa had returned and was resting comfortably in the bed.
With the defeated device dangling from his fingers and a grin that would put the Cheshire cat to shame, Papa calmly inquired, “Were you looking for me?” Even with clipped wings, Papa found ways to fly.
“Let’s go!” Papa exclaimed after unfurling the lock and chain.
We squatted next to the canoe and grabbed onto the edges. Papa positioned himself towards the front of the canoe, while I awaited his instruction at the stern. I stretched briefly and inhaled the rejuvenating air that surrounded me.
“One, two, three!” Papa said. “Up she goes.”
With the craft elevated over our heads we began walking towards the dock. Small pieces of gravel crackled beneath our feet as the weight of the canoe traveled through our bodies and into the ground on which we walked.
Beads of sweat amassed on my forehead like troops awaiting the signal to advance into battle. The pace of my breathing increased dramatically. My arms quivered as they strained to balance the weight.
Looking ahead, I saw that, despite his advanced age, Papa was in great condition. Biceps the size of grapefruits rippled underneath his shirt while he easily supported his end of the canoe – and a portion of mine I suspected.
Maintaining Papa’s quick saunter was challenging. His vigor and vitality often masked his years just as his mature wisdom serves as an odd counterpart to his progressive ideas. Wiping the sweat from my forehead with an elevated shoulder, I persisted.
“Are things all right back there? You’re awfully quiet.”
“I’m just trying to keep up with you!”
“I disagree. You’ve been pushing me this whole time!”
Within a few minutes we arrived at the end of the dock and our two-man army came to a halt. I felt the wooden platform rock slowly beneath me as I tried to maintain my balance.
Firmly grasping the metal rails of the canoe I awaited the next command like a soldier at inspection. The aluminum lip burrowed into my shoulder and my arms slackened. I ignored the pain and glanced at Papa for inspiration.
“Up and over!” he instructed.
Following his lead, I slowly lifted the craft over my head and – in unison with Papa – gently placed the green fiberglass hull into the murky water. I seated myself in front, allowing Papa the helm, an honor he earned long ago during a family canoeing trip on the Russian River.
After recovering our spinning canoe from a whirlpool with the calm and command of Odysseus, Papa heroically rescued several other craft from the same fate. Papa was my personal hero: strong, gentle, humorous, sensitive, reliable, generous. Adjectives cannot adequately define who this man was and what he meant to me.
“Off we go,” Papa explained as we pushed away from the dock.
“Into the wild blue yonder,” I added.
“Right-o,” he said.
Silence engulfed us, save the soft splash of the paddles stroking the water. We didn’t speak, words were unnecessary. Though void of sound, our time was full of meaning.
Papa was always more of a friend and colleague to me than a grandfather. As a child, he was my favorite playmate. During adolescence, he was my ping-pong partner. When I became an adult, he was my confidant.
When I became a parent, he reprised his earlier role and became a playmate to my son, Jacob, who embodies Papa’s kindness. My younger son, Max, was born six months before Papa passed. While he never met Papa personally he possesses his joie de vivre; adventure is his middle name!
Forever my protector, Papa always appeared when I needed a shoulder to cry on or an arm to lift me up. He was always very giving of himself, his abilities, and often, his well-being. Papa had an innate ability to understand people and bring them joy.
When World War II involved America, Papa was 26 years old. Although newly married with a promising life ahead of him, Papa volunteered to fight. Sacrificing his own future for the survival of his nation, Papa answered the call of a country in need.
His military service well suited his personality: he was captain of “The Biscuit Bomber,” an Army Air-Corps C-47 Skytrain in the 55th Troop Carrier Squadron, 375th Troop Carrier Group. Based in New Guinea, Papa transported personnel and supplies to forward bases in the Admiralty Islands, New Britain, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.
In 22 just months Papa logged 1,450 flight hours flying missions throughout the South Pacific. During three years of service in this unarmed aircraft, Papa continually risked his life to ensure the survival of others.
One particularly poignant situation occurred when he was transporting Japanese prisoners of war who were under guard by Australian soldiers. Midway through the flight he heard a commotion in the cargo area. Upon investigating the situation he found the Australian soldiers trying to extract the gold teeth from the Japanese soldiers’ mouths.
Incensed, he pulled out his sidearm and aimed it at the Australian soldiers, instructing them that the POW’s were his responsibility and he would not tolerate them being harmed or harassed in any way. The Australian soldiers acquiesced. In the bleak circumstance of war, Papa shed some humanity. Had he been a fighter pilot his stories may have been more exciting, but they would have been less meaningful.
Anyone can kill. It takes someone special to sustain life.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from him was to always help someone in need, even if doing so was inconvenient or promises no recognition. Considering all he did for me, I can attest to the power of this philosophy.
If only everyone were as kind and generous as Papa, perhaps the world would be a more positive place. Sadly, I have found that, more often than not, people are less like Papa than they are like him.
Nevertheless, I strive to live in the same sincere and sensible way as he did, although he was often too agreeable to the demands of other people. Despite his incredible generosity to others, he often gave away too much of himself to make others happy.
The one unintentional lesson I learned from him is that if you give too much of yourself to others you can lose yourself in the process. As a result, I often felt he was a bit unfulfilled, yet, admirably, he never said as much. I appreciate his fortitude in this regard, but often wonder what might have been for him, had he embraced his promising potential.
After World War II he could have enjoyed a lucrative career as an airline pilot. The plane he flew during the war, the C-47, was the military version of the very popular DC-3, which was widely used in commercial aviation after the war (many are still flying and being used commercially).
He would have easily been hired by any of the airlines and enjoyed a rewarding and meaningful career. Instead he chose — though I often feel he was pressured — to stay close to home. Whereas he could have been flying the friendly skies, he commuted every day from New Jersey to New York and managed a dry cleaning store. He did this for many years until my Dad hired him to work for his company.
While I admire his fortitude as a father and grandfather, I often wonder if he was truly content as a man? After he died my family discovered that he had been taking rides with a local private pilot in a small twin engine plane. Some dreams never die, I suppose, and I am glad he never fully deserted his dream to keep flying.
I can also say that while he never made $400 an hour to turn a phrase, $1,000 a day trading stocks, or $10,000 a week as a professional musician, he was richer in character and wealthier in spirit than any one of those people could ever hope to be. Money and material possessions can never replace integrity, humanity, and authenticity.
Although he never accumulated a huge fortune, Papa contributed more to the world than most people I have known in my life and, presumably, will come to know in the future. He also never felt the need to elevate his ego by trying to make others feel inferior.
Ultimately, he made the most of his life and, in doing so, helped others make the most of theirs. Papa’s unique approach to life provided me with many priceless lessons. One of those lessons took place that day at the reservoir: spending time with someone special is worth more than anything that person could purchase for you. Although, that doesn’t mean letting that same someone cook for you had no allure!
“How would you like it if we head home and I make you some Belgian waffles?” Papa asked, breaking the silence and inviting me out of my introspection and into the present.
“You just said the magic words!” I exclaimed as we made our way back towards the dock. Like the canoe, Belgian waffles had been one of Papa’s trademarks. Whenever I stayed over with him, he would whip up a batch of waffles covered in whipped cream and strawberries.
As we approached the dock, just before we reached out to pull ourselves in, Papa said something that surprised me:
“I think next month you should take the helm.”
“Absolutely. But only if you feel ready.”
I briefly considered his offer.
“I certainly do,” I asserted. “After all, I had you for a teacher!”
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Home Faculty Full-Time Faculty Stephen C. Lubkemann
Stephen C. Lubkemann
Room 103 2112 G Street NW
Sociocultural Anthropology; Political conflict; violence; gender, migration; transnationalism and diasporas; refugees and displacement; humanitarian action; development; ethnohistory; maritime archaeology and CRM; epistemology and methodology in the social sciences
Dr. Lubkemann is a sociocultural anthropologist whose work focuses primarily on social and political change in nations that have experienced protracted conflict and violence; on migrants, refugees, and diasporas; on international development and humanitarian action; and on cultural heritage and maritime archaeology.
Dr. Lubkemann has done extensive fieldwork in Mozambique, in South Africa, and with African refugees and diasporas in Europe and the U.S. His ongoing research includes a project initiated in 2004, with research grants from the United States Institute for Peace and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, that examines the political and socio-economic influence of displacement diasporas in their war-torn countries of origin through a specific study of the Liberian case. Since 2006, he has also been engaged in a major project in Angola, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, which examines the effects of "trans-generational displacement" on gendered relations, urbanization, and informal governance systems. In 2007, he initiated a new policy research project with USIP funding that examines customary legal practices in post-conflict Liberia. His work also critically examines the structure and effects of international humanitarian action and explores the potential of diasporas as a "third humanitarian space."
Dr. Lubkemann has conducted fieldwork with migrants and refugees in Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, and Liberia, and among diasporas in Portugal and the U.S. He has also worked on a variety of archaeological and cultural heritage projects in the U.S., Bermuda, and southern Africa.
Ph.D., Brown University
2010 Isser, D., S. Lubkemann, and S. N'Tow. Looking for Justice: Liberian Experiences with and Perceptions of Local Justice Options. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press.
2010 Grinker, R., S. Lubkemann, and C.B. Steiner, eds. Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History and Representation. 2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
2008 Lubkemann, S.C. Culture in Chaos: An Anthropology of the Social Condition in War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Articles and Book Chapters
2011 Lubkemann, S., D. Isser, and P. Chapman. “Neither state nor custom — just naked power: The consequences of ideals-oriented rule of law policy making in Liberia," Journal of Legal Pluralism 63: 73-110.
2008 Lubkemann, S.C. "Involuntary immobility: On a theoretical invisibility of forced migration studies," Journal of Refugee Studies 21(4): 454-475.
2008 Lubkemann, S.C. "Liberian remittance relief and not-only-for-profit entrepreneurship — exploring the economic relevance of diasporas in post-conflict transitions." In J. Brinkerhoff, ed. Diasporas and International Development: Exploring the Potential. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Press.
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August 17, 2018 Dan O.
Blindspotting (2018)
Gentrify it.
Collin (Daveed Diggs) and Miles (Rafael Casal) have been best-friends for as long as they’ve remembered. They live in Oakland, have seen a lot of change, and have seen a lot of stuff continue on, day-in and day-out. It’s what gets them by in a world that is constantly getting more and more divided, and at that, crazier. But it’s looking up for Collin who is also finishing up his final three days of probation and is hoping that it all goes down without a hitch. Then, one fateful night, when he’s stuck at a red-light, he sees a cop (Ethan Embry) shoot a suspect in the back. Collin, shocked and clearly distraught, drives away and doesn’t try to think too much about it; even with all of the news-reports and constant tributes to the fallen-citizen, Collin thinks that it’s best to continue on, not cause any issues, and finish up his probation, once and for all. But Collin is clearly messed-up and disturbed by this deadly moment in his life and it can’t help but make him look deeper into all aspects of his life.
Never touch the braids!
Blindspotting is so clearly a film from a first-time film-maker. It’s brash, loud, arrogant, crazy, overly-stylized, original, and most definitely a mess. It has a lot to say and a very loud voice to say it with, but at the same time, it also doesn’t know how to make all of its thoughts, ideas and feelings come out in a manageable, cohesive way. It’s basically listening to someone at a bar, ranting and raving about all that they think is wrong with the world we live in, with a lot of interesting points, but no real transition from one to the next.
Except that Blindspotting is, like I said, much more engaging and thoughtful than that ill-advised conversation.
Director Carlos López Estrada takes a script co-written both by Diggs and Casal and gives it plenty of fun and flair to go along with the sometimes sad and drab location. Cause as we all know, Oakland, as well as other certain cities in certain states, is going through a bit of a change; gentrification is coming in hot, what’s old is new, and there’s lot of clashing going on. Blindspotting clearly has a lot to say about this and often times, it can tend to be a bit too much, but really, where it’s heart and soul lies is within these two characters, how they relate to the world around them, and why they are who they are because of it.
In a way, Blindspotting is a much better drama than comedy, because it actually gets deep and down with the male-psyche, especially that of an African-American. Through Collin, we see a beaten-down and broken man who has gone through the ringer with the system and is trying to make amends for his past misgivings; as we see, it’s not always easy and it takes its toll on Collin. He starts to lose his sense of composure, what’s real, what’s wrong, and in a way, “get woke”.
Covering a child’s ears in 2018 almost seems dated.
Sorry. I had to coin that phrase eventually.
But seriously, that’s what happens with Blindspotting and it’s when it decides to stop being so silly and jokey, and actually start to get serious for a change. Sure, the constant ranting and raving about gentrification and why it’s such a joke in the first place never ends, but it takes a far more sad and sinister tone as we start to see more shadings to the characters of Collin and Miles. Together, Diggs and Casal have a great bit of chemistry where you can tell that they are best-pals who love and respect one another, yet also, hold so many reservations against the other, it’s almost too obvious. When it all does come flying out, it’s jarring and scary, just as well as it would be with any best-friend who you’re telling is also a bit of a piece-of-a-s**t.
And eventually, Blindspotting turns into a rage-filled speech against racism and the political divide that’s been prevalent in American since the dawn of time. It’s smart and it’s impactful, which makes the rest of the movie work in-comparison, but like I said, there’s still a lot here to learn and work from. Next time, though, count me in.
Consensus: With so much to say, Blindspotting almost feels like a long-form rant, but still gets by as a compelling, thought-provoking, and sometimes smart look at our changing times and the way racism still exists no matter which way you decide to look at it, or not.
Just be friends, guys. Do it for America.
Photos Courtesy of: Lionsgate
Carlos López Estrada
Jasmine Cephas Jones
Jon Chaffin
Kevin Carroll
Nyambi Nyambi
Rafael Casal
Utkarsh Ambudkar
Previous American Animals (2018)
Next Upgrade (2018)
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Divya Dutta- The new ‘item girl’ on the block!
Published by Hemant Sanganee on Jul 21, 2013
The actor never fails to surprise the audience with her diverse and flawless performances, one after the other. The next, we hear, is that Divya is going to perfect her moves for an item song in an upcoming film.
The details of the song have been kept tightly under wraps. But going by Divya’s past work, this one is surely not going to be an ordinary item song. The actor has played some of the most challenging roles, breaking the conventional norms of Bollywood.
Excited about doing her first item song, Divya says, “This is certainly something I haven’t done before. I agreed to do an item song, only because I know it’s not going to be a conventional one.”
Now that Divya Dutta will be doing an item number, a ‘surprise element’ in the song can be vouched for!
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Sequel of Tanu Weds Manu titled “Tanu Weds Manu Returns”
Published by Hemant Sanganee on Dec 23, 2014
After the stupendous success of Raanjhanaa , starring Sonam Kapoor & Dhanush, that went on to enter the highly coveted 100 crore club , Eros International and Colour Yellow Productions collaborate with director Aanand L Rai on Tanu Weds Manu Returns, the sequel to the blockbuster, Tanu Weds Manu starring Kangana Ranaut and R.Madhavan.
Sources reveal that while the makers contemplated several titles, director Aanand L Rai felt that “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” would be lucky for the film.
If that wasn’t all, numerologist Sanjay Jumaani also advised the team that this particular title numerologically favors the film ,from amongst other title options.
More complex, funnier and more twisted Eros International, Colour Yellow Productions and Aanand L Rai’s Tanu Weds Manu Returns starring Kangana Ranaut and R.Madhavan is scheduled to release mid-next year.
Says producer Krishika Lulla “Tanu Weds Manu was memorable and entertaining and we hope the sequel titled Tanu Weds Manu Returns proves lucky and combined with all the talent behind the film promises audiences double the entertainment”
Says Director & Producer Aanand Rai “Tanu Weds Manu Returns is a very special film and we were advised that the title would prove to be lucky…I’m confident everyone’s hard work will bear fruit”
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Duo Security Opens Office in Austin, Texas; Plans to Hire 30 Employees in 2016
Hires Matt Smith as VP, Worldwide Channels & Business Development
Duo Security, a cloud-based trusted access provider protecting the world’s largest and fastest-growing companies, today announced that it has opened an office in Austin, Texas at 115 East 5th Street. Over the next year, Duo plans to hire thirty employees in Austin.
In 2015, Duo Security tripled revenue for the third year in a row. Duo continues to hire in its Ann Arbor, Michigan; San Francisco Bay area; and London, England offices, in addition to Austin. Duo is the most loved company in security, focusing on innovation, ease-of-use and happy customers. In fact, 98 percent of current customers would recommend them to a friend.*
Duo also announces that it welcomes to the executive team Matt Smith as Vice President of Worldwide Channels & Business Development. Matt will work out of the Austin office. With more than fifteen years in the technology industry, Matt most joins Duo from his most recent position at Symantec, where he led strategy and planning for the global partner sales organization. An Austin native, Matt holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
“Austin is the perfect place for Duo’s newest office,” said AJ Johnson, Senior Inside Sales Director. “The technology community here is one of the best in the country. There is a huge amount of smart and energetic talent in Austin and we’re looking forward to building out our team here.”
To discover job opportunities currently available at Duo, please visit the careers page. Follow Duo Security on Twitter at @duosec.
Duo Security is a cloud-based trusted access provider protecting the world’s fastest-growing companies and thousands of organizations worldwide, including Dresser-Rand Group, Etsy, Facebook, K-Swiss, Paramount Pictures, Random House, SuddenLink, Toyota, Twitter, Yelp, Zillow, and more. Duo Security’s innovative and easy-to-use technology can be quickly deployed to protect users, data, and applications from breaches, credential theft and account takeover. Duo Security is backed by Benchmark, Google Ventures, Radar Partners, Redpoint Ventures and True Ventures. Try it for free at www.duo.com.
*https://www.techvalidate.com/tvid/258-B0F-2DB
Duo Security Names Raffaele Mautone Chief Information Officer
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Marketing0 Comments
2019 was the ninth consecutive record year for Mercedes-Benz, with growth of 1.3% to a total of 2,339,562 units delivered worldwide. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz maintained its leading position among the luxury car brands for the fourth year in a row. In all three of its main markets – China, Germany and the USA – the Stuttgart-based brand with the three-pointed star surpassed the high levels of the previous year. China, Mercedes-Benz’s largest market, remained the main growth driver, with sales of 693,443 units representing an increase of 6.2% and a new record year. Last year’s model offensive with a total of more than ten new or revised models led to a significant boost in unit sales, particularly of Compact Cars and SUVs, and contributed to the overall sales growth.
In full year 2019, Mercedes-Benz maintained its market leadership in the luxury segment in markets including Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada and South Africa.
Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG: “The ninth consecutive record year underscores once more the strong demand for Mercedes-Benz vehicles, even amidst far-reaching changes in the mobility landscape. In addition, Mercedes-Benz continues to be clearly the number one in the luxury market – this proves how valuable our brand is. 2019 was a year of great challenges for the automotive industry. The next two years will also be characterized more than ever by the transformation of our industry. In this challenging environment, we intend to further increase our unit sales and set the course for long-term competitiveness. With investments in new technologies and profitable sales growth, we are paving the way for Mercedes-Benz to lead the global luxury market as a pioneer of sustainable luxury also in an era of CO2-neutral mobility.”
Mercedes-Benz’s five largest markets last year were China, Germany and the USA followed by Great Britain and South Korea. The Stuttgart-based company with the three-pointed star finished the year with the highest annual unit sales in its history, as well as its best quarter ever (614,319 units, +3.2%). In the fourth quarter of 2019, Mercedes-Benz sold for the first time more than 600,000 cars within a quarter. In the month of December, 205,968 vehicles were sold and therefore the high prior-year level was almost achieved (-0.3%).
Britta Seeger, Member of the Boards of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG responsible for Marketing and Sales: “In 2019, a particularly large number of customers in China, Germany and the USA decided in favour of a new vehicle from Mercedes-Benz: In each of these three major markets, we surpassed the high level of unit sales we achieved in the previous year. The ninth record year reflects, among other things, the success of our model offensive with Compact Cars and SUVs, which have delighted new and existing customers all over the world. We offer a broad product line-up with innovative technology and emotional design, which means we have the right vehicle for every customer. This year, we want to further rejuvenate our product portfolio with more than ten new or revised models, including a specific focus on electrified models.”
Mercedes-Benz full year unit sales by region and market
Asia-Pacific region achieves best-ever sales; China is most important driver of global sales growth
In the Asia-Pacific sales region, a new record was achieved in 2019 with 977,922 units sold (+3.7%). In fact, more Mercedes-Benz vehicles were delivered in China than in any other market globally. A total of 693,443 cars were handed over to customers in China, an increase of more than 40,000 units compared with the previous year and a new record (+6.2%). Hereby, the strong product offensive, the localization strategy and the customer-centric operation remained key success factors in China; more than three-quarters of the vehicles sold there came directly from local production last year. China has been Mercedes-Benz’s largest sales market since 2015, with total annual unit sales almost doubling between 2015 and 2019. In South Korea, the second-largest market in the Asia-Pacific region, deliveries reached a new record high of 78,048 vehicles in 2019 (+8.7%). Sales also reached a new high in Vietnam.
Sales volume in the Europe region slightly above the high prior-year level; significant sales growth in Germany
In the Europe region, a total of 937,881 cars with the three-pointed star were delivered to customers in 2019 – slightly above the high prior-year level (+0.4%). In Germany, its domestic market, Mercedes-Benz was able to surpass the previous year’s figure by more than 14,000 units due to sales growth of Compact Cars and SUVs, delivering 318,353 vehicles in the full year (+4.8%). This was the highest sales volume in Germany in the past ten years. In addition to Germany, Great Britain and France followed by Italy and Spain, are among the largest sales markets in the Europe region for the Stuttgart-based company with the three-pointed star. In 2019, Mercedes-Benz set new sales records in countries including Switzerland, Poland, Denmark and Hungary.
More than 372,100 cars delivered in the NAFTA region, sales in the USA slightly above prior-year
In the NAFTA region, 372,144 new Mercedes-Benz vehicles were delivered to customers between January and December (-1.64%). Despite a challenging market situation, 316,094 vehicles in the USA were sold and the high prior-year level surpassed by 135 units (+0.0%). In the second half of the year, Mercedes-Benz increased its deliveries in the USA in five out of six months. An increase in unit sales was therefore achieved in the fourth quarter (+1.7%). In Canada, Mercedes-Benz maintains its position as the top luxury car brand for the sixth consecutive year.
Mercedes-Benz full year unit sales by model
Every third Mercedes-Benz vehicle sold in 2019 was an SUV
With sales of about 783,700 units the GLA, GLB, GLC, GLC Coupé, EQC (combined electrical consumption: 20.8–19.7 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km)[1], GLE, GLE Coupé, GLS and G-Class, the SUVs were Mercedes-Benz’s strongest-selling segment in 2019 (-4.5%). Since August 2019, deliveries have increased every month, driven by the new GLC and GLE. The GLC was once again the best-selling SUV in the model portfolio in 2019. Last year, the G-Class was able to improve on its record sales of 2017 by more than 13,000 units: 34,912 delivered vehicles resulted in a strong sales increase of more than 60%. The previous sales record set in 2017 was already surpassed in August 2019.
Compact Cars with strong growth and a new record
In 2019, every fourth Mercedes-Benz sold was a Compact Car: More than 667,000 units of the A- and B-Class, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake, GLA and GLB were delivered last year (+9.5%). This represents an increase of more than 30,000 unit sales when compared to the prior record established in 2016.The new A-Class posted global growth of 12.3% in 2019. The A-Class Saloon and the new B-Class worldwide as well as the new CLA Coupé in Europe made significant contributions to the segment’s growth. With the GLB, which launched in December 2019, the Mercedes-Benz Compact Car family now consists of eight models. With its market launch this year, the new GLA completes the model changes for the current generation of Compact Cars from Mercedes-Benz.
C-Class: More than 392,900 deliveries of the high-volume classic
Approximately 392,900 units of the C-Class Saloon and Estate were delivered in 2019 (-0.9 %). The C-Class Saloon achieved growth particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and a new record (+8.5%). In South Korean, deliveries of the
C-Class Saloon grew by a double-digit rate. Sales of the long-wheelbase version of the model in China increased by 9% last year to a new record level. Since its market launch in 1982, then still under the name Mercedes-Benz 190, more than ten million C-Class Saloon and Estate cars have been sold worldwide.
E-Class sets new a sales record in the Asia-Pacific region
More than 351,000 units of the E-Class Saloon and Estate were delivered to customers in the third full year of sales of the new generation (-1.3 %). The importance of China as the most important market for the Mercedes-Benz saloon models is clearly reflected by the E-Class: The long-wheelbase version of the E-Class Saloon set a new sales record with double-digit growth. Every second E-Class Saloon sold worldwide in 2019 was delivered as a long-wheelbase version in China. In South Korea, the E-Class Saloon achieved its highest annual sales so far. And the E-Class Estate recorded an increase of 5.0% in deliveries in Germany.
S-Class: The world’s best-selling luxury saloon
Mercedes-Benz has always aspired to build the best automobile in the world with the S-Class. This high standard of exclusivity combined with confident restraint is very well received by the customers: The S-Class Saloon was the best-selling luxury saloon in the world last year. Six years after the launch of the current generation of the S-Class Saloon, sales of about 71,700 units in 2019 remained at a very high level (-8.0%). Deliveries increased above all in China. The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Saloon is very popular. As a model of the Mercedes-Maybach brand, it is an automobile offering exclusive luxury and the utmost comfort. The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Saloon set a new sales record in 2019, driven in particular by its success in China and double-digit growth in that market. Since the market launch in 2015, approximately 500 of these exclusive luxury automobiles have been delivered every month to customers in China alone; last year, the figure was actually more than 700 units per month. The portfolio of the Mercedes-Maybach brand will be expanded this year to include the Mercedes-Maybach GLS.
Dream Cars: Strong double-digit growth for the CLS Coupé
At Mercedes-Benz, all roadsters, convertibles and coupés are grouped under the heading Dream Cars. More than 163,600 of these vehicles were delivered worldwide in 2019 (-1,1%). The main markets of the roadsters, convertibles and coupés with the three-pointed star were the USA, and Germany, followed by Great Britain in 2019. The best-selling members of the Dream Car family last year were the C-Class Coupé, followed by the CLS Coupé. The CLS Coupé was the growth driver for the Dream Cars in 2019 and achieved strong double-digit sales growth worldwide. Especially in South Korea the sales volume of the four-door Coupé doubled.
Increased sales of V-Class and X-Class in 2019
With an increase of 1.2% to about 63,500 units delivered in 2019, the V-Class achieved a new sales record. The revised version of the multipurpose vehicle had its world premiere in January 2019. Demand for the V-Class was particularly strong last year from customers in Germany, where the largest absolute growth and a new sales record were achieved. Further V-Class records were set in Great Britain, Russia and Switzerland. Sales increased also in China, the most important market for the V-Class outside Europe, almost on the high level of the previous year. Approximately 15,300 units of the X-Class were sold worldwide in 2019. The largest markets for the pickup with the three-pointed star were Germany, Great Britain, Australia and South Africa; double-digit growth and record unit sales were achieved in each of those countries.
Mercedes-AMG: Highest unit sales in the history of the company
More successful than ever before: The high-performance and sports-car brand Mercedes-AMG achieved a new record year in 2019 with 132,136 units sold and double-digit growth of 11.8%. The Affalterbach-based company achieved its highest sales figures in history also in Great Britain and Japan. Mercedes-AMG’s largest markets in 2019 were the USA, Germany and Great Britain, followed by China and Japan. The past year at Mercedes-AMG was marked by the continuous expansion and renewal of the product portfolio. Hence, also the successful Mercedes-AMG GT family received a facelift of the two-door variant and the Mercedes-AMG GT4-door Coupé was available in all markets for the first time. With 13 derivatives in the Compact Car segment at various performance levels, Mercedes-AMG expands its range to include attractive entry-level models in the world of driving performance. The “45” models in the Compact Car family are powered by the newly developed 2-litre turbocharged engine, the world’s most powerful four-cylinder turbocharged engine manufactured for large-series production. In addition, Mercedes-AMG has also introduced electrified SUV models with integrated EQ Boost technology. The 16 kW (22 hp) strong starter generator feeds the 48-volt on-board power supply, supports the combustion engine with its boost function at low speeds and ensures increased efficiency.
smart delivers about 116,800 vehicles worldwide
Over the past twelve months, 116,781 customers opted for a smart fortwo or smart forfour (-9.3%). Sales of the smart brand in 2019 were influenced by lifecycle factors. At the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, smart presented its completely revised fortwo and forfour models. Progressive design meets intelligent connectivity as well as zero local emissions due to battery electric powertrains. In the conversion year to the purely electric smart models, the highest unit sales of the past 14 years were achieved in Germany. From January to December, more than 46,506 of the urban microcars were delivered in Germany (+13.2%). In both France and Italy, growth was achieved compared with the previous year. And full-year deliveries climbed to a new record in Portugal (+25.0%). Never before in a year have so many of the electric smart models been sold worldwide as in 2019 – more than 18,400 units were delivered last year. In Germany, approximately every sixth smart vehicle sold was purely electric. At the end of March 2019, Daimler AG and the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group announced the establishment of a globally oriented 50:50 joint venture to transform smart into a leading player in premium-and intelligent electrified vehicles. The joint venture will produce a completely new generation of smart electric models in China and will be responsible for the international distribution.
Model offensive for plug-in hybrids and all-electric models
With its “Ambition 2039” announced last year, Mercedes-Benz Cars has set itself the goal of achieving a CO2-neutral fleet of new passenger cars within a period of 20 years. For Europe, the company assumes that well over 40 percent of Mercedes-Benz vehicles could already be delivered to customers as xEVs (plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles) by 2025. And by 2030, the company aims to achieve more than half of worldwide car sales with plug-in hybrids or all-electric vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz Cars expects all-electric models to account for 15% to 25% of total unit sales by 2025. The first fully electric SUV from Mercedes-Benz, the EQC, made its retail debut in Europe first followed by China and Asia-Pacific markets in 2019. As the next member of the Mercedes EQ family, this year, the EQV (combined electrical consumption: 27.0 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km, provisional figures)[2], will be the first electrically powered luxury multipurpose vehicle from Mercedes-Benz to combine emission-free mobility with convincing performance, high functionality and aesthetic design. Moreover, the facelift of the current purely electric drive smart generation can already be ordered and market launch is planned for the end of January 2020. With this step, smart will complete its full changeover to zero local emissions due to battery electric powertrains as a pioneer of urban mobility.
By the end of 2020, a total of five fully electric models and more than 20 model variants of plug-in hybrid models will be an integral part of the global product portfolio of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Source: Daimler AG
2019A-ClassB-ClassDaimlerE-ClassGLCPremiumS-ClasssalesStuttgart
Previous ArticleMercedes-Benz and Geely Holding have formally established its global joint venture “smart Automobile Co., Ltd.” for the smart brand
Next ArticleMercedes-Benz at the 2020 Caravan, Motor and Tourism exhibition: spotlight on connectivity
Mercedes-Benz posts best November sales Figure of all Time – Sales up by 19 Percent
Production figures for the Mercedes-Benz C 126 series (1981 to 1991)
Success at the 2012 red dot design awards: Mercedes-Benz and smart win accolades for top design
Daimler and Kamaz expand their combined activities in Russia by establishing two joint ventures
Market launch for 18 new AMG high-performance models: Performance meets efficiency
Mercedes-Benz Starts with Record Sales into the Fourth Quarter
Value retention champion 2010: Mercedes-Benz builds the vehicles with the highest value retention
Animated films for the Mercedes-Benz Museum: The Girl and the Museum Monster
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Energy Medicine Professional Association (EMPA) Terms of Use
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Elections in Belarus doomed to stay beyond recognition
Opposition activists called Monday for the United States and European Union not to recognize the results of parliamentary elections swept by supporters of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who had promised the vote would meet international standards.
Election officials insisted the election was free and fair, even though none of the 70 opposition candidates won seats in parliament, with results from all 110 voting districts counted.
"The opposition has gone out of fashion," Central Elections Commission chief Lidiya Yermoshina said.
She said more than 75 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday's election.
"We can't say that the opposition has lost since in fact there was no election," Valentina Svyatskaya of the Belarusian Popular Front told The Associated Press.
Lukashenko is a former collective farm boss who has run the small nation since 1994, quashing independent media, squeezing opposition groups and running the country with a Soviet-style command economy. Long a close ally of Russia, Lukashenko had in recent months sought to mend fences with the West, which has slapped harsh sanctions on government figures and key industries.
He has freed several opposition figures considered political prisoners by the West and he had promised that the vote would be unprecedented in fairness. Opposition candidates were allowed to run - in contrast to the national elections four years ago when not were even allowed to run.
"A theater featuring a single actor continues to exist in Belarus," said Sergei Kalyakin, a communist leader allied with opposition groups. "It will be very difficult for West to step over its principles to recognize the elections."
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - whose vote assessments are widely considered authoritative - was to release its report later Monday.
After polls closed Sunday, about 500 opposition supporters turned out on a central Minsk square to protest the vote and several hundred marched to the headquarters of the country's secret police. The protest ended peacefully after three hours. No uniformed police were visible, but there appeared to have been plainclothes officers in the crowd.
Opposition protests in the past have often been crushed by police in scenes that have helped earn Belarus a reputation as Europe's last dictatorship.
Lukashenko's attempt to improve relations with the West is believed to reflect concerns about its reliance on neighboring Russia, which has cut the subsidized oil and gas exports that have helped keep the Belarusian economy afloat.
Alexander Kozulin, a leading opposition member who was among prisoners released last month, said Sunday that the West should not "close the door" on the Belarusian government even though the election was not free.
But after the results were announced, he sounded bitter.
"Lukashenko himself closed the door that the West was trying to open for him," Kozulin said.
Many Belarusians, particularly the elderly, credit Lukashenko with maintaining stability and preventing major economic calamity following the 1991 Soviet collapse.
"Lukashenko for 14 years has shown that he is a people's president, and we won't allow the opposition to interfere," 84-year-old Grigory Gurevich said, proudly displaying his military medals as he voted.
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Ernst van der Wal
Lingering Absences (2013)
Lingering Absences: Hearing Landscape Through Memory, co-curated by Lizabé Lambrechts, featured a visual and auditory installation of the Eoan Opera Group’s historical records. The Eoan Opera Group was founded in 1933 by Helen Southern-Holt as a cultural and welfare organisation for the coloured community in District Six, Cape Town, which developed to include an amateur opera company that produced the first full-scale opera performances in South Africa. During the 1960s the Group Areas Act gradually edged the Eoan Group out of the centre of Cape Town’s cultural life. District Six was zoned for white occupation, and legislation increasingly enforced racial segregation. By 1969 the group was relocated to the Joseph Stone Theatre in Athlone. This move seemed to be a watershed moment for the group, as from this time onwards support from the white community diminished due to the difficulties of attending concerts in a coloured area. The group was also politically compromised in their own community because they accepted funding from the Department of Coloured Affairs; a contentious apartheid institution that drew heavy criticism from coloured communities for its entrenchment of racist policies. By the 1980s, Eoan was performing to empty concert halls.
By following the grain of voice, landscape and image, this exhibition project investigates the various layers of memory that sediments the Eoan Group’s complex history. Instead of presenting a contained and resolved historical narrative of the Eoan Group, this exhibition provides a space for experimentation; it is a site that tests the degree to which memory, archival material and sound can act as sites of interchange.
A review of the exhibition is available here, and an article on the exhibition can be viewed here.
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Jay Rosove CTV News Edmonton
Published Thursday, November 26, 2020 1:27PM MST Last Updated Thursday, November 26, 2020 3:49PM MST
EDMONTON -- Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) officials are investigating an apparent shoving match between a bus driver and a passenger who was not wearing a face mask, after the incident was captured on video on Tuesday.
One video posted Wednesday of the altercation appears to show the driver escort a woman from the back of the bus, he tosses her belongings off the bus, then a scuffle ensues.
The woman makes it to the front doors when she appears to try to enter the driver's area. That's when the driver grabs her and pushes her off the bus.
The woman tries to get back on, but the driver shoves her off a second time.
In the video, you can hear, "I'll do it again, b***h," as the driver pushes her off the bus.
The woman then yells, "Hit me!" and, "You're dead!" repeatedly.
The driver does manage to remove the woman from the bus then closes the doors.
The woman kicks the bus before it drives away.
It's unclear how the altercation began.
ETS would not accommodate CTV News Edmonton's request for an interview, but in a written statement said that it was aware of the incident.
"The safety of our customers and staff is a top priority for us," director of business integration and workforce development for ETS Carrie Hotton-Macdonald said in the statement.
"We are deeply concerned with the video and are currently investigating as we take these matters very seriously."
The ETS official added they cannot assume the incident was mask-related.
"We work closely with our labour relations staff during investigations to follow due process," the statement said. "Corrective action may be taken for an operator as deemed appropriate based on the findings of the investigation."
The statement went on to say: "A customer can also be banned for a period of time from ETS property, if their actions warrant it."
UNION DEFENDS DRIVER'S ACTIONS
Edmonton transit union president Steve Bradshaw told CTV News Edmonton while the driver's actions were not by the book, they were appropriate given the circumstances.
"It’s an incident that would not have happened had the patron been in compliance with the law."
Bradshaw said that if the ETS investigation results in any penalties against the driver, the union will defend him.
"Some of the managers will say a bus driver’s job is to keep his passions in check and that’s fair, we agree, but there are also exceptional circumstances and this may be one of those."
"That’s a shame. That’s very disappointing to see," Coun. John Dziadyk told CTV News Edmonton after watching the videos.
Dziadyk said transit security normally enforces face mask compliance issues, but added officers can't be everywhere at once.
"I can't comment on the actions or the standard operating procedures for bus drivers," said Dziadyk. "I saw someone taking control of the situation and intervening in a difficult situation."
The Ward 3 councillor acknowledged that enforcing the city's mask bylaw comes with challenges.
"All transit operators, their safety is important and it’s not up to them to enforce the bylaw."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson
Kenney: Tougher mask law would create a 'backlash' and cause some rural Albertans to unmask
Edmonton extends mask bylaw until December 2021
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Introducing the Library of Congress
04:00 pm - 05:00 pm PST
In this webinar, guests explore what the Library of Congress has for teachers, including lesson plans and primary source sets, webinars and professional development opportunities, social media channels, and more. They also share their top tips and favorite resources.
About the Library of Congress:
The mission of the Library of Congress is to support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people.
The Library of Congress is the repository of millions of primary source items relevant to the study of American history and civics. Many of these items have been digitized and are therefore freely available to teachers and students across the United States and the world. Working with primary sources not only engages students in subject matter, but can also help them build their critical thinking skills and construct new knowledge.
The Library’s educational outreach mission is to promote the effective classroom use of the Library’s primary sources. To do so, it provides teaching tools and professional development on its online home for teachers, loc.gov/teachers. It also provides face-to-face professional development through workshops and teacher institutes, and is building a nationwide consortium of partner institutions.
Participants for this Webinar Include:
Cheryl Lederle (host), Educational Resource Specialist at the Library of Congress, where she develops classroom materials and works with teachers to incorporate the Library’s digitized primary sources into high-quality instruction. Before coming to the Library, Cheryl taught English and writing at the high school and community college levels.
Additional Guests
Resources for this webinar:
Library of Congress Teachers Page
Integrating Writing and U.S. History: Primary Sources and the Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute
Photo/ Library of Congress
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Delegation of the European Union to Costa Rica
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EEAS homepage > Costa Rica > Cyber sanctions: time to act
Cyber sanctions: time to act
30/07/2020 - The Internet plays a vital role in our lives, which is why we need to protect ourselves against cyber-attacks. Today, the EU imposed its first-ever cyber sanctions, to defend its citizens and companies from cyber threats.
Not many inventions have changed the lives of people as much as the Internet. It removes geographical barriers, connects billions of people with multiple devices and allows for communication and commerce at a global scale. People all over the world benefit from it. If I compare the opportunities that the Internet offers to me today with those I had when I was 20 years old, the gap is staggering.
However, the open, accessible and interconnected Internet that brings freedom, enhances our well-being and spurs economic growth, is being misused. States and non-state actors alike have realised that cyberspace and the Internet in particular are powerful tools to pursue malicious activities, including fraud, extortion, data theft or money-laundering. Many will remember cyber-attacks like WannaCry and NotPetya, which affected computers worldwide. Or they have heard about the problem of cyber-enabled theft of commercially sensitive data of companies. The Internet has also become an arena for ideological battles, the spread of disinformation and the theft of intellectual property, with some states increasingly using it to curtail liberties and advance their geopolitical goals.
So cyber threats are on the rise and in permanent evolution. A cyber-attack can leave a country crippled within seconds, causing electricity blackouts or navigational disruptions for international air and maritime transport. We see governments and political systems being destabilised through cyber-attacks and electoral interference. Its effects can be significant and irreversible, harming millions of people and putting the security and stability of our societies are at risk. This unfortunately is today's reality. And we have even seen this happening during the Coronavirus pandemic, with attacks against hospitals and data centres, putting peoples’ lives as risk.
As EU we prioritise international cooperation and dialogue to tackle these malicious activities. In particular, we believe that respect for international law and the continued work in the United Nations on norms of responsible state behaviour is essential to maintaining international security and stability in cyberspace. However, some actors seem to undermine this important work and the achievements of the international community to date. This is unacceptable. We have repeatedly signalled our concerns and condemned these malicious cyber activities, warning those that undertake these activities, both publicly and privately.
Since 2017, the EU has put in place a comprehensive cyber diplomacy toolbox to prevent, deter and respond to malicious behaviour in cyberspace. One of its tools is the EU autonomous cyber-sanctions regime, adopted in 2019, which makes it possible to apply restrictive measures to persons and entities involved in significant cyber-attacks threatening the EU or its member states, regardless of nationality or the location of the perpetrator. Listings are also possible for attempted cyber-attacks, as well as for cyber-attacks against third states or international organisations. The restrictive measures are a travel ban and/or asset freeze. Moreover, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed.
Today, for the first time, we have decided to make use of this sanctions regime by imposing travel bans and assets freezes against six individuals as well as assets freezes against three entities or bodies. They were involved in significant cyber-attacks, or attempted cyber-attacks against the EU and its member states. These individuals and entities have been involved in cyber-attacks against companies located in the EU, such as those known as WannaCry, NotPetya, Operation Cloud Hopper or the attempted cyber-attack against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Today, for the first time, we have decided to make use of this sanctions regime by imposing travel bans and assets freezes against six individuals as well as assets freezes against three entities or bodies.
These targeted measures will ensure that those individuals and entities are held accountable for their actions. They send a strong message to the world that we will not tolerate such cyber-attacks: we have the tools to protect ourselves and the determination to use them.
We will of course continue to push for international cooperation to build a global, open, stable, peaceful and secure cyberspace, including by reducing the ability of potential perpetrators to misuse cyberspace. For decades, the EU has invested significantly in increasing global cyber resilience and tackle cybercrime through our capacity building programmes - and we will continue to do so. Advancing international security and stability will remain our priority so that everyone can reap the benefits that the Internet and the use of technologies provide.
Everyone has a responsibility and we call on all actors to step up efforts to prevent cyber-attacks from happening. With today’s decision, the EU has shown it is ready to do its part and the wider efforts continue.
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Home Book Reviews Girl at the End of the World
Girl at the End of the World
By Elizabeth Esther
Convergent Books, 2014
224 pages, paperback
Reviewed by Casey O’Leary
Elizabeth Esther’s new memoir, Girl at the End of the World, opens with the words, “I am ready to die for Jesus. I am nine years old.” I immediately realize that this is no ordinary memoir, and no ordinary childhood.
Esther grew up as part of The Assembly, a Christian fundamentalist group founded by her grandfather, George Geftakys, in the 1970s. Esther calls The Assembly a cult, writing, “Cults aren’t so much about beliefs as they are about methods and behavior. According to cult researchers, it is the emotional seizing of people’s trust, thoughts, and choices that identifies a cult. The Assembly wins on all counts.” The Assembly is Esther’s whole life, and that life is not an easy one.
Esther uses the practices of The Assembly to paint a picture of a turbulent childhood. She writes about The Assembly’s focus on “End of the World” theology, and how her family’s preparation for the Rapture led to chronic stomach pain and anxiety. Living with the constant threat of an apocalypse, Esther’s quality of life deteriorates, and the reader is helpless to do anything but observe the descent. She is so terrified to be “left behind” that she panics when she finds herself alone in an empty house.
Corporal punishment also played a significant role in Esther’s childhood, with daily multiple spankings. Esther’s own grandmother taught Assembly parents “child-training” techniques that involved spankings beginning in infancy until “the will is broken.” I was unfamiliar with such techniques and their proponents, like Michael and Debi Pearl, before I read Girl at the End of the World. Now I will never forget them. As I read about Esther’s bruises after a spanking session, and her words, “My parents hurt me because they love me,” I grieved for her and for every other child who has suffered that kind of abuse in the name of God.
Esther’s teenage years were no less challenging, as she tried to balance her growing interest in writing, sports, and boys with the expectations of The Assembly and its rules, chores, and restrictions. She writes as if she was in a perpetual game of tug-of-war with herself, wanting her own life and her own dreams while also wanting God and The Assembly to be pleased with her. Esther’s situation begins to change when she marries Matt, a fellow member of The Assembly, and gives birth to her first child. At the same time, accusations of sexual misconduct aimed at Esther’s grandfather come to light, and Esther has to make a choice: continue being part of The Assembly or leave it all behind.
Esther’s decision to leave brings on an entirely new challenge, one she calls “religious PTSD.” She suffers panic attacks and has difficulty finding a new community; even the excitement of watching television is overwhelming. Esther slowly begins to create a net of support for herself, including therapy, but a new religious practice eludes her. She writes of the Bibles and religious books filling her bookshelves, all written by men, “making me break out in hives,” and makes a profound revelation: “I am fed up with reading about God through the male perspective only. I want to experience the God who inspired me as a child, the God who found me long before I could comprehend a single word in my Bible.” Esther is eventually drawn to the Catholic church, and specifically the story of Mary, as she creates a life that is singularly her own.
It would be easy for me to write off Girl at the End of the World as just another example of the obvious problems surrounding Christian fundamentalism. But to do so is to minimize the significance of Esther’s book, her experience, and her life, as well as the lives of the many people who have responded to Esther’s writing with stories of their own experiences growing up in a similar environment. This is clearly a story that needs to be told, to be shared and recognized, so things may begin to change. Esther makes it clear why so many people living under these conditions don’t leave: it’s all she knew. Her entire history was founded in this one way of life, a way that thrives on secrecy.
Elizabeth Esther has brought her secrets into the light for all to see, for all those who still suffer in silence. Girl at the End of the World is risky, but it’s a risk worth taking.
Evangelical Issues
Casey O'Leary
http://afterthecloset.com
Casey O’Leary is a writer and children’s librarian. She is passionate about reading and helping children find the “perfect book.” In 2012, she fulfilled a dream by completing her master’s degree in library science from Indiana University. Casey blogs at After the Closet and is a frequent contributor to Christian Feminism Today.
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HOME Regions Magadan region 22.12.2014
Breeze modernization
The volume of goods delivered to Kolyma depends directly on the value of gold
Compared to 2014, the indicators of the sea cargo door in the region have been reduced, which, however, does not interfere with the modernization of the strategic object of the region.
In autumn, another significant event took place in the life of the main cargo gate of the Magadan Region: two new portal cranes manufactured by Liebherr were put into operation. The carrying capacity of one of them is 124 tons, the second - 84. The new equipment is more economical in electricity consumption, eliminates the cost of repairing it for several years, while allowing unloading and loading of large-sized heavy equipment, which is currently used in the mining industry, which is the region's leading one. The technical renovation of the enterprise has been carried out only for the last year and a half. The cranes are not the first "new thing" of the seaport, and far from the last.
At the ceremony of commissioning new cranes, the governor of the region Vladimir Pechenyi noted that the modernization of the enterprise will be continued. Thus, in the federal target program for the development of the Far East and Transbaikalia, 1,2 billion rubles have been pledged for the reconstruction of the quay walls of the Magadan Commercial Sea Port (MMTP).
“After the reconstruction of the hydraulic structures, conditions will be created to increase the port's cargo turnover to 3 million tons. It is extremely important to develop the potential of this strategically important facility in anticipation of the development of new gold deposits and oil and gas shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk, ”said Vladimir Pechenyi.
"Golden influence"
Policies aimed at modernizing the Kolyma sea gate are held only for the last year and a half, that is, from the moment the naval leadership changed. Renewal is a forced measure: firstly, port equipment no longer could withstand any modern requirements, and, secondly, with the increase in production capacity of the mining industry, the volume of cargo turnover also increased. In fact, since the beginning of the 90-ies of the last century, the amount of cargo handled by the port did not exceed one million tons. And last year the coveted bar was taken. In its 80 anniversary Magadan of the Order of the Badge of Honor, the sea trading port processed 1, 158 million tons of cargo.
In the 2014 year, the indicators are slightly reduced. According to Andrei Gorbov, general director of MMTP, last year the freight turnover growth was about 20 percent compared to 2012, in this - according to the results of 11 months the gap to the last year is 18 percent
“The decline in turnover is directly related to the stagnation of the mining industry. In particular, one of the major projects, the Matrosov Mine, slowed down the construction and changed the dates for the start of mining operations. Nevertheless, gold producers working on placer deposits conduct various preparatory works during the winter period - they repair equipment and deliver goods that are necessary as part of this activity. In addition, in December, before the upcoming New Year holidays, entrepreneurs will become more active, and therefore a slight increase in freight turnover is also possible. But I'm still not sure that by the end of December the figure of 1 will reach million tons, ”- this is the result of tonnage in the year 2014 sees Andrei Gorbov.
Thus, we can conclude that the economy of the Magadan region continues to hold on to the mining industry, the development of which is primarily related to the price of gold. With its increase, gold mining enterprises acquire more mining equipment, spare parts, fuel, which gives an increase in the freight turnover of the sea trading port. As for the rest of the nomenclature of goods: food, oil products, coal - this is a constant, depending on the population of the region. So, annually 270 thousand tons of the total cargo turnover falls on hard coal. From the successful "coal navigation", lasting from spring to autumn, depends on the safe passage of the heating season in the regional center. The task of the porters is to efficiently, quickly and efficiently produce coal.
In pursuit of this goal, MMTP purchased a Komatsu-470 loader for loading solid fuel into Magadanenergo's dump trucks, which allowed it to increase the rate of coal delivery and reduce its losses during transshipment. Another advantage is that the work has ceased to depend on the weather: in strong winds, safety engineering prohibits the operation of cranes.
With a new ... keel!
As the head of the enterprise said, the technical update in the Magadan Commercial Sea Port is carried out within the framework of its investment program, designed for 2014-2017 years, with a financing volume of at least 1,7 billion rubles.
In addition to the Liebherr cranes with a total value of 10 million euros, last year the Kolyma Sea Gate got two reachstakers for 500 thousand euros each. Thus, in a year and a half, a major modernization of equipment took place directly at the berths and for work in the rear zones. Another important area where renewal is also taking place in the near future is the towing fleet. In many ports, it is an independent legal unit that provides services for mooring, otshvatovka vessels. In Magadan, traditionally, it was part of the port. But the port tugs today are also physically and morally obsolete. This was the reason for acquiring, albeit second-hand, but in good technical condition, the tugboat driver Sadko, which replaced the older ship, which requires considerable investments. Of course, this did not solve the problems with the fleet. The other day, Andrei Gorbov arrived at the seaport with a certificate of laying the keel.
“In November, the construction of the first unit was laid, which we expect to receive in Magadan before the onset of 2016,” he said. - According to the plan, in the next year and a half, two modern tugs of the same type will appear in the port, two and a half times more powerful and more technologically advanced. At the same time, they will be much more economical. The tugboats are being built by the Dutch company Damen at a Chinese shipyard in the city of Changde. The cost of each of them is more than 6 million euros. "
By the way, the choice of the type of tug was greatly influenced by the opinion of the captain of one of the tugboats of the Magadan Sea Commercial Port, Sergei Gerbik. This indicates that the current management of the company operates in one bundle with the team. And Andrei Gorbov himself notes that thanks to the experience of the porters, many problems and production problems were solved. With the renewal of technology there is a certain state rejuvenation. "Old people" are afraid of modern technology, the management of which is carried out with the help of joysticks, their path - "levers".
Training of Liebherr cranes was carried out in Europe. Today, a group is being created, so to speak, "Liebherr" from 10 operators. This will, if necessary, work in several shifts, will create a substitute for sick and sick leave. All of them will have the "Liebherr" certificate. A similar situation will be with tugs - people will start training in advance, in particular in Nakhodka, where there is a good simulator for practicing navigational skills of modern vessels.
The technical re-equipment of the sea port creates conditions for the optimization of production and management personnel. As Andrei Gorbov said, along with the fact that the total number of personnel has decreased, labor productivity for the year has increased no less than 20-25 percent.
Tariff Crisis
And yet there are still painful points that need to be "treated" - these are tariffs. The fact is that the Magadan Sea Trade Port, being a monopolist, is subordinate to the Federal Tariff Service and cannot arbitrarily set the price for services subject to state regulation.
“The port authorities are trying hard to convey information to the FTS of Russia about the need to revise tariffs: given the increase in prices for equipment, spare parts, and fuel, with such tariffs, the company simply cannot survive,” said Andrey Gorbov. - Today they are lower than in the more favorable ports of the Far East, where at the same time the turnover of goods is higher. The Governor of the Magadan Region, Vladimir Pecheny, treats this problem with understanding and supports us. I believe that the development of investments should also become a tariff component in order to continue to work on the modernization, repair of hydraulic structures, industrial and administrative buildings. Tariffs need to be raised. Scary it just sounds. Our specialists made calculations and they were provided to the governor, and so, according to them, the delivery of one kilogram of food, be it vegetables or meat, will rise in money equivalent to just 14 kopecks. That is, if there is a kilogram of potatoes 65 rubles, its value will be 65 rubles 14 kopecks. Such a price increase to the consumer will be invisible. ”
Improving the seaport does not stop. At the same time, that at the expense of federal funds, the reconstruction of 5 and 4 berths will be carried out, at its own expense, the company plans to carry out reconstruction and overhaul of hydroelectric facilities located in the neighborhood. And the nearest future is the introduction of IT technologies into production. At the moment, a contract has been concluded with the St. Petersburg firm and a project has been developed for the installation of an information system that takes into account all possible operations that are performed in the port. It is made on the platform 1С. The cost of the system along with the installation of the necessary equipment is about 15 million rubles. Commissioning will occur during the 2015 year. The system will most optimally organize the work of port mechanisms, electronically store and process information not only about the number of containers transported, for example, reach stackers, but also about its mileage, operation time, fuel consumption. In addition, it will allow external customers to see the output of a container from a vessel on-line. Within the framework of the program, it is possible to talk about the centralized export of goods from the port, that is, it will relieve the consignees from losing time in the queue to receive the same container and the dishonesty of the road carriers.
Tags: Magadan region port Kolyma modernization deposit Matrosov Mine
Text: Gleb Boyarkin
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EUROPEAN FOUNDATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
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The international community has been observing the issue of worldwide protection of women’s rights with increasing interest. Such a conclusion can be drawn when considering the recently improved frequency of presenting various reports and communications from organizations directly concerned with this issue. In July 2014, the United Nation also paid more attention to this particular topic.
The report prepared by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)consists of the conclusions drawn after the fifth periodic Lithuanian report.
It denotes the positive changes taking place thanks to the amendments from 2013 and 2014 both in the Criminal Code (Baudžiamasis kodeksas) and in the Code of Criminal Procedure (Baudžiamojo proceso kodeksas), aimed at more effective investigations and punishment for the sexual abuse of children and violence against women, as well as providing victims of such crimes with immediate help.
Nevertheless, apart from the positive changes, this report also highlights certain setbacks. It makes reference to still well-preserved patriarchal attitudes and deeply-ingrained stereotypes concerned with male and female roles and chores, both within their families and within society as well as those that are still noticeable in the media and various educational materials. The committee is remarkably concerned about the fact that the media still conveys stereotypical information and sometimes present women in a degrading way. Apart from this, the monitoring and supervising of such activities is insufficient. It is therefore advisable to include the elimination of gender-based discrimination as the key aspect of the National Programme for Equality of Women and Men and also, to regularly monitor textbooks, books and other scientific publications in order to exclude any content containing elements of gender discrimination.
Although the Committee willingly accepted signing the European Council’s Convention about the prevention and elimination of violence against women in 2013, it claims Lithuania inefficiently pursues and penalises the acts of violence against women and that there is a remarkable shortage of support and shelters for the victims of such crimes.
We have already described the Government’s agreeing to sign the Convention on the 6th June 2013, emphasising that signing and ratifying are necessary due to the fact that in 2012 in Lithuania 6472 women and 625 children were recognised as victims of domestic violence and, in addition to this, the Police Department received 18, 000 complaints concerned with domestic violence.
The report also made reference to the relative inefficiency of activities of the Ombudsman of Equal Opportunities in Lithuania (Lygių galimybių kontrolerius) where realizing equal opportunities for women is concerned. Approximately only 14% of complaints were regarding gender inequalities. The Committee’s anxiety is confirmed by the increasing number of women and girls who are being sold. Hence, the emphasis on counteracting prostitution via enabling women to educate themselves and secure employment is definitely well-grounded.
Furthermore, the report points to the necessity of creating and strengthening the organizational structures (such services as police and the prosecutor’s office) and improving the performance of law courts and psychologists in cases of persecution or violence against women.
The part devoted to the participation in public life positively assessed the percentage of women engaged in the civil service and it also highlighted the fact that two out of three of the most relevant national positions are occupied by women. However, no measures were taken to accelerate reaching total equality between women and men both in public and in political life and to support the participation of countrywomen, ethnic minority group members or disabled persons in political and public life. The Committee is also worried about discrimination against female politicians on the basis of long-prevailing stereotypes.
Something also touched upon by the authors of the report was the question of awarding citizenship. The Committee encourages Lithuania to adjust its national law to the points of the Convention concerned with limiting statelessness from 1961. It is advisable i.a. to award all the children born in Lithuania, especially those of Gypsy origin, with Lithuanian citizenship. The authors mentioned the women’s position in such areas as education, health, marriage and family life.
The Committee has obliged Lithuania to create a report on the proceedings of the implementation of inscriptions included in the Committee’s report together with the guidelines comprised of the declarations of women’s rights, and present it in July 2018. EFHR hopes that the next report on the situation of women in Lithuania will be more positive, with the stereotypes of today being a thing of the past.
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8,685 bytes added, 13:34, June 17, 2020
[[Image:John Chrysostom Russianenthroned.jpg|right|framethumb|250px|Russian icon of St. John Chrysostomenthroned]]Our father among the saints '''John Chrysostom''' (347-407), [[Archbishop]] of Constantinople, was a notable Christian [[bishop]] and preacher from the fourth and fifth centuries in Syria and Constantinople. He is famous for his eloquence in public speaking and , his [[philanthropy]], his denunciation of abuse of authority in the Church and in the [[Roman Empire]] of the time, and for a [[Divine Liturgy]] attributed to him. He had notable [[asceticism|ascetic]] sensibilities. After his death he was named '''Chrysostom''', which comes from the Greek Χρυσόστομος, "golden-mouthed." The [[Orthodox Church]] honors him as a [[saint]] ([[feast day]], [[November 13]]) and counts him among the [[Three Holy Hierarchs]] (feast day, [[January 30]]), together with Saints [[Basil the Great]] and [[Gregory the Theologian]]. He Another feast day associated with him is [[January 27]], which commemorates the event in 437, thirty years after the saint's repose, when his [[relics]] were brought back to Constantinople from the place of his death. John Chrysostom is also recognized by the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which considers him a saint and Doctor of the Church, and by the [[Church of England]], both of whom commemorate him on [[September 13]]. His [[relics]] were stolen from Constantinople by Crusaders crusaders in 1204 (commemorated on [[January 27]]) and brought to Rome, but were returned on [[November 27]], 2004, by [[Pope]] [[John Paul II]].
Chrysostom wrote of the [[Judaism|Jews]] and of Judaizers in [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chrysostom-jews6.html eight homilies ''Adversus Judaeos'' (against the Judaizers)].<ref>"This [Adversus Iudaeos] is the Latin translation of the title given to the homilies in PG 48.843. The Benedictine editor, Montfaucon, gives a footnote (reprinted ibid.) which states that six MSS and [Henry] Savile [in his edition (1612) of Chrysostom] have at the head of this homily: "A discourse against the Jews; but it was delivered against those who were Judaizing and keeping the fasts with them [i.e., the Jews]." This note is not altogether accurate because Savile, for Hom. 27 of Vol. 6 (which is Disc. I among the Adversus Iudaeos in PG and in this translation), gives (p. 366) the title: "Chrysostom's Discourse Against Those Who Are Judaizing and Observing Their Fasts." In Vol. 8 (col. 798) Savile states that he has emended Hoeschel's edition of this homily with the help of two Oxford MSS, one from the Corpus Christi College and the other from the New College; he must have gotten his title from any or all of these sources. Savile gives all eight of the homilies Adverus Iudaeos (Vol. 6.312-88) but in the order IV-VIII (wich are entitled Kata Ioudaion, i.e. Adversus Iudaeos), I (with the title given above), III and II (with the title affixed to them in our translation). Because of the titles in both some MSS and editions and because of the arguments which will be set forth in this introduction, we feel justified in calling this work AgainstJudaizing Christians rather than giving it the less irenic and somewhat misleading traditional title Against the Jews." ''John Chrysostom, Discourses against Judaizing Christians'', translated by Paul W. Harkins. ''The Fathers of the Church''; v. 68 (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1979), p. xxxi, footnote 47</ref> At the time he delivered these sermons, Chrysostom was a tonsured reader and had not yet been ordained a priest or bishop.
[[Image:John Chrysostom enthronedRussian.jpg|right|thumb|250pxframe|Russian icon of St. John enthronedChrysostom]]
Two of his writings deserve special mention. He harmonized the liturgical life of the Church by revising the [[prayer]]s and [[rubrics]] of the [[Divine Liturgy]], or celebration of the Holy [[Eucharist]]. To this day, the [[Orthodox Church]] typically celebrates the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom, together with [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] churches that are in the Eastern or Byzantine rites (i.e., [[Uniate]]s). These same churches also read his [[Paschal Homily]] at every [[Pascha]], the greatest feast of the [[Church]] year.
== Modern influence ==Whatever the original intent of Chrysostom, his writings have been circulated by many groups in an attempt to foster [[anti-Semitism]] or opposition to Christianity. One of the groups to use him thus were the Nazis during World War II. They used St. John's writings to try to convince Christians in Germany and Austria that the Jews deserved to be exterminated. AdditionallyThus, Orthodox Christians throughout the world participate in St. John's [[Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom|Divine Liturgy]] nearly every week and hear his famous Paschal Homily at every Pascha.
*Some material taken from [[w:John Chrysostom|''John Chrysostom'' at Wikipedia]]
==Modern Bibliography==
* ''On Wealth and Poverty'' (SVS Press, 1999) (ISBN 088141039X)
* ''On Marriage and Family Life'' (SVS Press, 1986) (ISBN 0913836869)
* Robert Van de Weyer, ''On Living Simply: The Golden Voice of John Chrysostom'' (Triumph Books, 1997) (ISBN 0764800566)
* Holy Apostles Convent, ''The Lives of the Three Great Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom'' (Holy Apostles Convent Pubns, 2001) (ISBN 0944359116)
*[[Almsgiving]]
*[http://orthodoxchurchquotes.com/category/sayings-from-saints-elders-and-fathers/st-john-chrysostom/ Quotes from St. John Chrysostom] - [http://orthodoxchurchquotes.com Orthodox Church Quotes] website*[http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints/saints_view?contentid=290 John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople] ([[GOARCH]])*[http://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints/saints_view?contentid=405 Removal of the Relics of John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople] (GOARCH)
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This article is about the village of Dürnstein in the Wachau. For the Dürnstein in Styria, see Dürnstein in der Steiermark.
Place in Lower Austria, Austria
Location within Austria
Coordinates: 48°23′44″N 15°31′13″E / 48.39556°N 15.52028°E / 48.39556; 15.52028Coordinates: 48°23′44″N 15°31′13″E / 48.39556°N 15.52028°E / 48.39556; 15.52028
• Burgermeister
Johann Schmidl (ÖVP) (ÖVP)
www.duernstein.at
Dürnstein is a small town on the Danube river in the Krems-Land district, in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is one of the most-visited tourist destinations in the Wachau region and also a well-known wine growing area. The municipality consists of the Katastralgemeinden of Dürnstein, Oberloiben, and Unterloiben.
4 International relations
The town gained its name from the medieval Dürnstein castle, which overlooked it. The castle's name derived from the German duerr/dürr, meaning "dry", and Stein, "stone". The castle was dry because it was on a rocky hill, high above the damp conditions of the Danube at the base of the hill, and it was built of stone. The modern town stands between the castle and the river.[3]
Dürnstein Castle
Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192 when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria,[4] after their dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart had offended Leopold the Virtuous by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the duke suspected that King Richard ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Jerusalem. In consequence Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold for capturing a fellow crusader. The duke finally gave custody of the king to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle.
Dürnstein Castle was almost completely destroyed by the troops of the Swedish Empire under Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson in 1645.
Dürnstein Abbey (Stift Dürnstein) was established in 1410 by Canons Regular from Třeboň and from 1710 rebuilt in a Baroque style according to plans by Joseph Munggenast, Jakob Prandtauer and Matthias Steinl. The monastery was dissolved by order of Emperor Joseph II in 1788 and fell to the Herzogenburg Priory. It is famous for its blue tower, which is clearly visible from the river.[5]
During the War of the Third Coalition the Battle of Dürenstein was fought nearby on 11 November 1805.[3]
View of the town with the castle seen on top of the hill
Politics[edit]
Seats in the municipal assembly as of 2015 elections:
Austrian People's Party: 8
Social Democratic Party of Austria: 4
Freedom Party of Austria: 3
International relations[edit]
Dürnstein is twinned with:
Tegernsee, Germany
^ "Dauersiedlungsraum der Gemeinden Politischen Bezirke und Bundesländer - Gebietsstand 1.1.2018". Statistics Austria. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
^ "Einwohnerzahl 1.1.2018 nach Gemeinden mit Status, Gebietsstand 1.1.2018". Statistics Austria. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^ a b Rod Heikell (1991). The Danube: A River Guide. Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-85288-147-7.
^ Country Life. May 1967. p. 1234.
^ Neal Bedford; Janine Eberle (2007). Vienna. Ediz. Inglese. Lonely Planet. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-74059-851-4.
Dürnstein panorama from the castle
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dürnstein.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Dürnstein.
Municipalities in the district of Krems-Land
Sankt Leonhard am Hornerwald
LCCN: nr97010418
WorldCat Identities: lccn-nr97010418
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dürnstein&oldid=946451555"
Populated places on the Danube
Cities and towns in Krems-Land District
Commons link from Wikidata
This page was last edited on 20 March 2020, at 07:08 (UTC).
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Custom «Changes in Women’s Work Following World War Two» Essay Paper
Custom «Changes in Women’s Work Following World War Two» Essay Paper essay
When men departed for World War 2, women were forced to join the labor force by working in industries and plants. From then on, women have done all manner of jobs to the point of equally competing with men in the job market. During the war, women were conscripted into the military while others worked as engineers, code breakers, pilots, mechanics and farmers among other duties that were considered the preserve of men.
After the war, the American and Canadian governments asked the women to leave work to create space for men, but, unfortunately, women had tasted employment and they knew that they could work just like men (Sangster, 1995). Women did not accept this, and they fought back with some securing employment, and from then on women have demonstrated that they are equally gifted as men. Currently women are heads of corporations, lawyers, doctors and scientists.
The Second World War played a vital role in removing women from home to the work place, and many aspects regarding employment of women have changed since the war. Some of these are the changes in policies regarding women’s work and their right to employment, establishment of their right to work after the war, and recognition of their contribution during the war.
Despite the entry of women into the labor market, there was the continuous stereotyping within the society. One of them is that the male should be the sole bread winner while the woman should stay at home, and take care of the children. Motivated by government propaganda such as “Rosie Riveter” and psychological reports such as one by J. Bowlby that reported on the impacts of maternal deprivation on the child women left the labor force, but this was not to stay for long (Colman, 2008). Societal changes altered this notion, and it has continued to be weakened over time.
Before and during the war, the society frowned upon a woman raising kids alone (single parenting), but after the war and the years that had followed, single parenting had become more common mainly due to divorce. Women could no longer rely on men as they became the sole bread winners; therefore, they had to return to employment and this has remained a trend since then.
Before and during the war, some jobs were predominantly considered male oriented, while others were for the female gender. However, after the war and the years that followed, this stereotypical belief has changed drastically. Before, careers such as engineering and manual work were reserved for men, while nursing and primary school teaching were reserved for women (Hoberek, 2005). Competition in the job market and the positive demonstration by women during the war changed such believes and women have successfully taken male dominated careers, and, on the other hand, men have also ventured into careers that were considered the preserve of women. Although men still dominate such careers, the war gave women the experience that could not be ignored because it amounted to discrimination or ingrained the notion that women could be used and dumped at will.
During the war, the need to ensure a constant food supply saw many women entering the agricultural sector, but after the war women preferred moving to cities and taking employment that did no remove them from their families. This led to women being employed in offices as secretaries and traditional jobs such as teaching.
One way that women have fought discrimination in the work place after the war is by supporting the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’ (Sangster, 1995). This principle defends women from being paid less as compared with men for the same amount of work. In order to achieve this, women had to join labor movements and unions, and then use their influence to ensure this principle is exercised. A number of union contracts stick to this principle as one individual said, “you cannot have a democracy by discriminating against 52 percent of the population” (Colman, 2008).
Another crucial factor, which ensured women gained employment after the war, was the economic prosperity of the 1950s. During this period, many Americans and Canadians were becoming economically prosperous, and young men and women attended college in large numbers (Colman, 2008). This gave women the opportunity to be educated as men and, therefore, compete in the labor market. The American government provided assistance in the payment of college tuition fees, job training and loans for war veterans who included women. This gave women more say in employment matters than before the war.
The civil rights women presented women with an opportunity to further their rights in terms of employment, especially for women from racially segregated groups such as African Americans. The movement led to enactment of the civil right acts that prohibited any form of discrimination including sex based discrimination. Women could access the same employment as men and earn the same wages since this right was enshrined in the laws of the land.
Although the ‘Equal pay for equal work’ did not fully harmonize the wages of women and men, there was an increase in social benefits after the war, which furthered social welfare. This is an area where women had an advantage over their male counterparts. These social benefits include a generous maternity leave, public childcare and more provisions for children welfare. With these, women have the option to pursue careers of their choice or stay at home. Social benefits have fundamentally changed the way women work, and more countries are increasing social benefits especially those geared towards child welfare (Hoberek, 2005).
The era after the Second World War saw increased participation of women in politics. After the war, several laws that ensured inequality and prohibited discrimination were introduced. These laws have significantly impacted on the employment opportunities available to women. They are no longer regarded as second class citizens whose services are only required in times of emergencies (Hoberek, 2005). The freedom arising from these laws has widened the working options for women as they are no longer locked out from certain careers. The idea of having a woman minister leave alone the head of a state was inconceivable in the 1950s and 60s, but by 1980s, the entry of Margaret Thatcher into British politics changed this belief. She became a role model for women, and from then on women have participated in the political life of their countries and internationally (Hoberek, 2005). Therefore, the working status of women has changed significantly due to the increasing number of female politicians.
There are two developments, which had a far reaching impact on the employment of women after the Second World War and still have far reaching effects even at the moment. The introduction of the contraceptive pill and legalization of abortion empowered women in several ways. Pregnancy and child bearing could no longer be obstacles to employment and career progression. Women had the power to determine when to be pregnant and the size of their families. Smaller families freed more time, which gave women more freedom in the labor market.
The relaxation of attitudes towards sexual behavior and divorce favored women in many ways. The introduction of the pop culture in the post war years led the society to view divorce and some sexual behaviors leniently. Marriage was no longer seen a necessity and these single women got an opportunity to enter the labor market because they were no longer constrained by family demands like child rearing (Colman, 2008).
The economic boom of the 1950s led to the rise of the middle class. The demands of middle class families to meet their needs and wants driven by the rise of American consumerism led to demand for an extra source of income. This pressure forced middle class women to seek employment in order to supplement family income and enable them afford the lifestyle they desired. Although they sought employment that did not take them for longer periods from their families, this shift changed how women worked in the post World War Two.
Technological advancement changed how women worked in the post war periods. The development of electronic appliances such as the electric and gas stoves, washing machines and vacuum cleaners gave married women an opportunity to attend to household chores and have time for employment (Sangster, 1995). These machines increased efficiency than ever before. Coupled with television advertising that promised a departure from the backbreaking housework, expenditure on these appliances by American families rose by 240 percent in the first five years preceding the war. These appliances appealed to women from lower middle class families, because of opportunity for leisure time that used to be the preserve of the upper class women. With these appliances, women could change their lifestyles flexibly.
In conclusion, several radical changes have contributed in changing women’s work after World War Two, which presented women with opportunities to participate in various activities from a choice perspective instead of obligation. Although women have made significant strides in employment after the war, there remain some areas which are obstacles in the achievement of equality and freedom. Stereotypes such as seeing “the home and childcare as solely a woman’s responsibility” needs to be changed by women themselves.
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Home MIT Sloan School of Management Developing a Leading Edge Operations Strategy
Developing a Leading Edge Operations Strategy
LocationSloan School of Management, Cambridge, US
CategoryTechnology, Operations/Production, Strategy
Enterprises are increasingly complex, with supply chains, manufacturing, and service delivery processes spanning cultures and time zones, geographies and geopolitical situations. To navigate this intricate world filled with new and different kinds of risk, executives need to know how to make the most efficient use of a company’s material, people, and processes; how to manage more complicated global networks; how to optimize service and quality levels of performance; and how to minimize risks yet maintain required capacities. This program will draw on real issues confronting manufacturing and service companies today, providing strategic frameworks to enable executives to make smart choices so their companies can deliver the high-quality products and services they are committed to providing their customers.
This program is best suited for senior managers from manufacturing and service industries who are responsible for developing and executing operations strategy, including: COOs, strategic planners, vice-presidents of business strategy, operations, supply chain management, services, and product development; operations general managers, senior project and program executives.
In this program, senior managers will learn new approaches to operations strategy that were developed at MIT and based on best-practice research conducted among the world's leading service and manufacturing companies. Participants will gain an analytic view of operations and strategic insights into:
Vertical integration and the factors that affect strategic decisions
Process design and process engineering
Integration of people systems with technical systems
Global facility network strategies and the future of supply chain management
Strategic implications of process technologies
Capacity and risk management, including capacity factors, supply and demand management
Outsourcing, supplier power, and trends in supplier management
Vivek Farias
Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor; Associate Professor of Operations Management
Vivek is interested in the development of new methodologies for large scale dynamic optimization and applications in revenue management, marketing and healthcare. He is the Robert N. Noyce Professor of management at MIT, and received his Ph.D. from Stanford University. Vivek has been the recipient of a number of awards including the prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and numerous paper prizes from the IEEE and INFORMS professional societies. In the popular press his work has featured in such outlets as the New York Times and on National Public Radio. Outside academia, Vivek co-developed the strategies used by GMO's (a USD 100B money manager) first high frequency fund; his current venture is a tech startup in the retail space.
Thomas Roemer
Thomas Roemer is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and has served as the Executive Director of the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) Program since July 2014.
Roemer is interested in the intersection of engineering and management and, in particular, the value creation during the design, manufacture, and delivery of products. His research on product development, design for manufacturing, machine scheduling, and inventory theory has been published in leading journals. He has taught classes in operations management and strategy, product design and development, quantitative analysis, and business ethics.
From 2000 to 2006, Roemer was an Assistant Professor at MIT Sloan, where he served as the first MIT-Ford Faculty Fellow and was named the Robert N. Noyce Assistant Professor in Operations Management. From 2006 to 2014, he was on the faculty at the Rady School of Management at the University of California at San Diego, where he helped create the Architecture-based Enterprise Systems Engineering (AESE) Program. He also served as associate director of the Program. He has won numerous teaching awards at the Rady School and, in 2009, received the award for “Outstanding Faculty Teaching” from the Graduate Student Association at UCSD.
Roemer received a Diplom-Ingenieur degree from the Technische Universität Berlin and his PhD from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
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Home The Wharton School Venture Capital (LIVE VIRTUAL)
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Venture Capital (LIVE VIRTUAL)
SchoolUniversity of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
All dates January 4-15, 2021
CategoryFinance
Venture capital is the fuel that drives emerging companies and ambitious entrepreneurs worldwide. But for every successful, disruptive, trailblazing start-up, there are dozens of other businesses that fail, even after receiving multiple infusions of capital.
Venture Capital, a program from Wharton Executive Education, will lift the veil on one of the most exciting and perhaps least transparent areas in finance. Designed for investors and entrepreneurs alike, participants will come away with a greater understanding of how venture capital (VC) works; how the best venture capitalists source, screen, and value deals; and how to design contracts that protect both investors and founders.
Entrepreneurs who may seek VC funding
Investment managers and finance industry professionals who are responsible for finding and selecting VC funds in which to invest
Professional services providers, such as CPAs and attorneys, who work frequently with VC firms
Executives leading corporate M&A and business development
Economic development and other government officials responsible for attracting VC activity to a municipality or state
Learn how VC funds are structured, how they operate, and why organizational structure matters to limited partners, general partners, and even founders
Understand how to raise capital from limited partners, including the design of partnership agreements that enable effective relationships
Develop a systematic way to screen, analyze, and value high-growth investment opportunities in nascent industries
Discover effective ways to manage innovative processes
Acquire a framework to negotiate, price, and structure the best investor terms
Learn how to best navigate the shareholder’s agreement to avoid costly mistakes
Identify how and when to exit the investment
Course information from University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
Bilge Yilmaz
Lecturer, Associate Director of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center, The Wharton School
Asuka is a partner with Triton Atlantic Partners, a real estate advisory and investment firm that he co-founded in 2009. For the past 18 years, he has taught at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he is a lecturer, and is also associate director of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton. Asuka consults with companies and institutions across diverse industries with areas of focus including strategy, leadership development, financial management, organizational assessment, real estate, and executive coaching.
Asuka has received numerous teaching awards, including Wharton’s top teaching honor, and has served as lecturer, panelist, or moderator for Harvard Law School, Wharton’s National Football League (NFL) program, the Young Presidents’ Organization, and others.
In 1980, Asuka began his 20-year career with Trammell Crow Company (TCC). He was named a Partner in 1983, opened the company’s Philadelphia office in 1985, and was promoted to Northeast (U.S.) Regional Partner in 1987, joining the firm’s Management Board. As Chief Financial Officer, he played an integral role in the company’s 1997 IPO. Asuka retired from TCC at the end of 1999.
Asuka received his BS in Civil Engineering with honors from Rice University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Professor of Management; Practice Director, ABN AMRO Managing for Value Research Fund
Kevin Kaiser joined the finance faculty at INSEAD in 1992 where he is currently Professor of Management Practice and Director of the Transition to General Management programme. Kevin is also Director of the ABN Amro Managing for Value Research Fund at INSEAD, and is active in conducting and sharing research and insight into how managers can better orient themselves and their organizations around value creation for long-term success. Kevin’s research has appeared in academic and practitioner journals and newspapers, and his recently released book, The Blue Line Imperative, co-authored with David Young, presents the core insights around managing for value, along with practical ideas to help managers make it happen.
Kevin teaches extensively in the executive and MBA programmes at INSEAD and is an eight-time recipient of the MBA award for Best Teacher for Electives, Fontainebleau campus, and a three-time recipient of the EMBA award for Best Teacher for Electives. In 2013, Kevin was short-listed as one of the four finalists for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s world-wide Business Professor of the Year competition. Kevin directs several executive education programs, including Transition to General Management, Advanced Valuation, and several company specific programmes for a variety of corporate clients. He also teaches at various institutes and for private clients throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Kevin was Visiting Adjunct Professor of Finance at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (1995-96, summer 2005, and summer 2006).
In the classroom, Kevin combines his deep knowledge of academic theory together with the first-hand practical knowledge he has gained through real-world experience. Kevin worked in the Corporate Finance and Strategy practice of McKinsey & Co., based in Amsterdam and Paris from 1997-1999, and was a principal in bfinance.com, a venture capital-financed marketplace for business finance which began in 1999 and continues to prosper and grow.
Kevin holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from The University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Serguei Netessine
Professor of Technology and Operations Management; The Timken Chaired Professor of Global Technology and Innovation; Research Director of the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance
Serguei Netessine is The Timken Chaired Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at INSEAD and the Research Director of the INSEAD-Wharton alliance. Prior to joining INSEAD in 2010, he has been a faculty member at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Netessine received BS/MS degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology and, after working for Motorola and Lucent Technologies, he also received MS/Ph.D. degrees in Operations Management from the University of Rochester. His current research focuses on business model innovation and operational excellence and he worked on these topics with numerous organizations including Federal Aviation Administration (USA), Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Rolls Royce, Comcast, Expedia, ABB and US Air Force. He serves on advisory boards of multiple startup companies and regularly speaks on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Professor Netessine has been the recipient of several teaching awards for delivering classes to MBA and Executive MBA students at the Wharton School and INSEAD, and he frequently teaches in Executive Education Programs. Prolific academic writer, professor Netessine holds senior editorial positions at several leading academic journals and he co-authored dozens of publications in prominent management journals, including Management Science, Operations Research, Harvard Business Review and other. His work has received extensive media coverage in CIO Magazine, the Economist, Forbes, Multichannel Merchant, New York Times, US News and Strategy & Business and other press.
His latest book The Risk-Driven Business Model: Four Questions that will Define Your Company has been published with Harvard Business Press in 2014.
David Wessels
Named by BusinessWeek as one of the nation’s top business school instructors, David’s expertise is in corporate valuation, investment banking, and venture capital. He has taught and consulted for clients including Coca-Cola, Deloitte & Touche, Home Depot, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and others. David’s book, Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies is a standard text for corporate valuation and performance management.
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Pace Wildenstein to open Pace Beijing
No longer content with feeding from the Chinese market from afar, Pace Wildenstein have announced that they will open Pace Beijing on August 8, a new space in the heart of Beijing’s gallery district (New York Times). Pace Wildenstein already operates two spaces in Chelsea and one on East 57th Street in New York and this move to Beijing represents a first for an established gallery from New York.
It seems a logical step for the gallery, having represented Chinese hotshots Zhang Huan and Zhang Xiaogang for a year now (Xiaogang recently recording $6 million for one of his “Bloodline Series” portraits at Sotheby’s Hong Kong) and with the Chinese boom showing no signs of letting up.
Designed by Richard Gluckman, whose projects have included the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pace Beijing will take over a 22,000-square-foot space in a former munitions factory, in the vibrant Factory 798 district. The scheduling of this $20 million project sits neatly with the Olympics, a time when Beijing will be under the spotlight. The Factory 798 district is firmly on the sightseeing map.
The gallery have hired local critic and curator Leng Lin, 43, to be president of Pace Beijing. The first offering will be a group exhibition entitled “Encounters,” which will include Zhang Huan and Zhang Xiaogang alongside the likes of Chuck Close, Alex Katz and Lucas Samaras.
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Trump urged Kim Jong-Un to “act quickly” and strike a deal with the US
BY Flyn Braun November 18, 2019 3:50 pm GMT+0300 250 Views
The other day, Pyongyang said it rejected the US proposal for new talks.
President Donald Trump on Sunday urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to “act quickly” and strike a deal with the United States, responding to Pyongyang’s criticism of Trump’s political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump, who has met with Kim Jong-Un three times since 2018 discussing ending North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs with him, addressed him directly, calling him” Mr. Chairman.”
In a tweet, Trump addressed Kim Jong-Un: “You must act quickly and make an agreement.” Hinting at a possible meeting, he ended the tweet with the phrase “See you soon!”
Pyongyang has previously demanded that Washington show more flexibility in talks by the end of the year, but on Thursday North Korea said it had rejected a US offer for a new dialogue.
US defense Secretary Mark Esper, who is in Thailand, on Sunday announced the postponement of US-South Korean efforts in an attempt to bolster stalled progress toward peace.
The official North Korean news agency, in a comment on Friday, sharply criticized Biden for insulting Kim Jong-Un, calling the former us Vice President a “rabid dog” that must be destroyed.
Biden tops nationwide rankings of potential Democratic presidential candidates looking to challenge Republican Trump in the November 2020 election.
“Joe Biden may be sleepy and very slow, but he is not a’ mad dog,” Trump wrote. – It’s a little better, but I’m the only one who can get you where you need to be.”
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William Friese-Greene & Me
Famous. Ignored. Celebrated. Damned. What is the truth about William Friese-Greene?
About me & this
What? No references?
WAS THIS THE FIRST COMMERCIAL EVER MADE?!
Posted on 25 Nov 2019 28 Apr 2020 by FrieseGreeneGuy
The exponential growth of online document archives has been a massive boon to historical researchers such as myself, but it also has its hazards. It’s like a long, mysterious tunnel with loads of enticing side chambers and sparkling grottoes; a tunnel which keeps extending even as you’re walking down it. So, the problem is that whilst I might start off focused on William Friese-Greene, it’s easy for me to stray way off the main path then suddenly look up from my computer screen, realise it’s 2031 and the world is now run by robotic squirrels.
Mr. Suave: Birt Acres
And that’s exactly how today’s discovery came about. As time has gone on, my work on Friese-Greene has broadened out to interconnect with various other early cinema pioneers, in particular Birt Acres. If you want to know a little more about their connection, please take a look at my talk “Whatever Happened at Clovelly Cottage?” about the first piece of 35mm film ever shot in Britain. Acres was also the first person to project film in public in Britain, after the acrimonious breakdown of his partnership with Robert Paul. It was whilst digging around about Birt Acres that I came across something that made me stop in my tracks.
STRIKE A LIGHT!
One of the Wonders of Online Research is the British Newspaper Archive – a gigantic project by the British Library to digitise both national and local publications. And so it was that I found myself unexpectedly staring at the pages of the Tower Hamlets Independent and East End Local Advertiser for Saturday 29th of August 1896. The subject was the East London Exhibition, a celebration of culture and industry that had proved successful beyond all expectations and was being extended for two months.
Queens Hall with screen ready to be unfurled (Barnes Collection)
Held in the Mile End Road in what had been christened “The People’s Palace” (now rebuilt as the Queen’s Building of the University of London), a major attraction had been the performances that took place in Queen’s Hall. Birt Acres’ films on his “Kineopticon” projector were the star attraction and had been held over too.
The list of his films being shown was familiar enough, but then one new item jumped right out of the page at me. This is what it said about it:
“A novel feature is the utilization of the wonderful instrument for advertising purposes, and we believe that Mesrs. Bryant and May are the first firm that has realised the utility of the invention for this purpose. An additional view [film] has been shewn during the week in which a man is seen writing the legend “Bryant and May’s matches are the best.” on a blackboard, and then coolly turns round, strikes a match and lights his pipe, the smoke rising in the most realistic manner.”
Now, that may not make Charles Saatchi quake in his designer bootees, but this is August 1896, just 5 months since paying film shows began and here we are with the very first example of an advertising film: a commercial for a leading brand of matches. I was aware of some pretty early film advertising but I had never heard whisper of this. However, when I “discover” something, the first thing I do is check that one of the experts hasn’t been here before. This is what I could find:
The legendary chronicler of the beginnings of British film, John Barnes, had found one reference in a stock list to a possible Bryant and May film by Birt Acres. No details. Another writer said that Bryant and May had sponsorship advertising on the programme for the Kineopticon at the Queen’s Hall. Also, after Birt Acres split from Robert Paul, he signed a contract to make films and equipment for the major German chocolate company Stollwerck who also specialised in creating coin operated machines, for dispensing their candy and for entertainment. Both the Stollwerck Brothers and Bryant & May were founders and shareholders of the London and Provincial Automatic Machine Company. Curiouser and curiouser.
(So now I’m in a narrow passage from a side chamber and am not even sure I can find my way back to the tunnel.)
But the question for the modern researcher is: Is this clickbait quality stuff? Am I entitled to write a snappy headline with the word EVER!!! in shouty caps? Scouring the internet and my bookshelf didn’t thrown out a splinter to pop my balloon, so I was starting to feel pretty cocky that this may never have been written about before. But to be sure, I needed consider who the other contenders are for “First Commercial EVER!!!”. Let’s put them on the scales of film history.
EDISON, OBVS (or not….?)
Campaign, the leading magazine for the advertising industry, crowns Edison as The First (as do many others) for his groundbreaking foray into the world of sell sell sell for… Admiral Cigarettes! In it, guys smoke cigarettes – John Bull, Uncle Sam, some other bloke and yet another who, in an early homage to Justin Trudeau, is got up as a Native American – a woman bursts out of box, dressed as an admiral in tights, smokes fags (if you’re from the US you may need to research that phrase), chucks fags around, fags rain down, they unfurl a banner declaring WE ALL SMOKE, they all smoke, everyone’s happy. Brilliant.
The other well-known advertising film from this early period is Dewar’s It’s Scotch. That’s right: the first things that jumped into companies’ minds to push down our throats – quite literally – were cigarettes and alcohol.
But when did this happen? Admiral Cigarette was shot in July 1897, a year after Bryant & May Matches, so Edison is patently a LOSER and almost certainly responsible for all lung cancer in the ensuing 122 years. Who’s next?
THE LUMIERE BROTHERS, C’EST CLAIR, NON? (Ou non…. ?)
The other big name at the start of moving pictures had to be in the frame. Their offering is decidedly more low-key, sneaky even. The film in question is “Laveuses” [“Washerwomen”]. Three women do the washing outside a Swiss house, cute children are shoved into shot to assist (one of whom appears to exit crying), the washing is hung up. That’s it. It all has quite an amateur feel – except for one thing. Prominently in shot are two boxes of soap, one of which says “Sunlight Seife” and the other one “Sunlight Savon”. In other words, the name for Lever Brothers’ best-selling product in German and French: perfect for Swiss audiences.
This was the idea of Swiss businessman and photographer François Henri Lavanchy-Clarke who was the representative of Lever Brothers (now Unilever) in Switzerland, but who also had the commission for Lumière films in that territory. So maybe it’s not so much the first advertisement as the first example of product placement. Lavanchy-Clarke himself strays into frame at one point, shoving an uncooperative tot into shot, towards other family members.
It was first shown in France in the Lumières’ home city of Lyon on 20th September 1896, so HA! Birt Acres beat them to it by a month. Actually, I cannot tell a historical lie: that’s not strictly true.
Its first public showing was a long way from Switzerland or France. To be precise, it was screened at Keith’s Union Square Theatre in New York as part of the bill for the American debut of the Lumière Cinématographe on 29th June 1896. But did that constitute advertising?
The promotional aspect was clearly not aimed at an American audience, who were unlikely to understand the foreign words or know the brand name, so that part would have no significance. Lever Brothers had opened a small office in New York, but were not yet manufacturing Stateside so promotion had no value. Indeed, the change of title for the USA to “Washing Day in Switzerland” shifted the emphasis onto it being an exotic foreign scene (to that audience, anyway).
Edison is Nowheresville and, as I said, Laveuses can more accurately be described as a film with product placement that still works fine for those who don’t pick up on it. It is quite different in nature to Admiral Cigarette, Dewar’s It’s Scotch or Bryant & May Matches, all of which are entirely about the product and designed to focus maximum attention on the brand, with the explicit aim of urging the viewer to consume it.
So, with that in mind, I’m going to declare Birt Acres’ Bryant & May Matches THE FIRST COMMERCIAL EVER!!! (Until someone proves me wrong.) Not only that, but he appears to have had a good year’s jump on the rest of the world. And if I’ve upset any Lumière lovers, we can all agree that Bryant & May Matches was the first advertising film shown in Europe. No need for a public vote on that.
The debut of the first commercial EVER!!!
Sad part is, that whilst we have the other two contenders in their complete form, not a single frame is currently to be found from the Birt Acres film. There are two reasons for that. Edison and Lumière were corporations with interests in preserving, protecting and exploiting their products. What Birt Acres had was basically a cottage industry. But the loss of this film and so many other ones from that early period is also because it took us so long to see there was any value in preserving them and expending the time, money and effort to do so. If you think this is me being stroppy in a similar manner to my recent article in the Guardian, you’d be right.
But somebody has to stand up for Birt Acres and see he gets clickbait credit where it’s due.
BACK TO THE TUNNEL
Here’s the kicker: remember that Lavanchy-Clarke guy? Turns out, he was also a business partner of Ludwig Stollwerck, and earlier in 1896 he was deciding between backing Birt Acres or the Lumières for launching moving pictures in Switzerland. The Lumières got to him first and the rest is (this) history. Are you getting chills thinking about that? No? That must be because you’re a normal person with a proper life who doesn’t live down here…
Now, if I take a right turn I’m finally back in the main tunnel again. That’s a relief. So, what year is it up there? And what are those burrowing sounds?
Peter Domankiewicz
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Posted in Birt Acres, Moving Pictures, The first cameras
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https://forum.staylds.com/
Are we really that different?
https://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9285
Re: Are we really that different?
Posted: 25 Dec 2018, 09:26
by SilentDawning
I want to add that I think everyone has a breaking point. There are things in all of us that are Achilles heels. Things from our upbringing, things that touch us deeply, and they are different for different people.
I have been AMAZED at the things that motivate my wife sometimes. One in particular I won't mention, but when she tells the story of what a doctor said that motivated her to do something I never would have expected, I realized how incredibly unique we are.
Are we all that different? Yes, but no different than the current set of TBM Mormons. Notice how I said 'current set'. There are sleepers out there who, dollars to donuts, will likely be in the less active, active non-TR holding, or even antagonistic camps before their lives are over. There are likely people in these groups now that will eventually turn back to full membership. We are all very different, even among TBM's.
by mom3
This ^^^, Silent Dawning that is beautifully written. Totally accurate.
by Curt Sunshine
Amen, SD. Well said.
by Roy
SilentDawning wrote: ↑
As I mentioned about my wife's depressive episode after the stillbirth. She had been blaming herself as I am sure is common for a mother that loses a pregnancy or a child. The RSP came to visit. She said that she feels the spirit telling her that my wife might be blaming herself and that she (the RSP) feels impressed to tell her that DW is not to blame. This was very meaningful and was retold by DW for years afterwards. I had been trying to tell DW that she was not to blame to no effect. In this instance, having a church authority claim reassuring revelation was exactly what was needed. I am very greatful for this RSP. I do not know if she was feeling the spirit or just woman's intuition that day, but I do know that she became as a light in a very dark tunnel for my wife and me.
by DarkJedi
Roy wrote: ↑
I don't want to take anything away from this experience at all, I just want to add that I have gotten a lot of mileage out of saying I felt impressed to say something. And, I'm not lying when I say it, I do feel impressed - but I don't know where the impression comes from. Just a couple examples: Early on when I returned to church there was a missionary in our ward who seemed to be having a rough time of it. The impression was simple to say to him "Everything is going to be OK" and I did say that to him. I don't know what happened, he was transferred out a short time later. On another occasion I felt impressed to say something to a sister in the ward, but when I was about to do it, the impression changed and I felt I was to say it that day in testimony meeting instead (I almost never do that, that's the only time in like 4 years I have done so). I did say that time that I felt impressed that someone needed to hear this testimony and here it was. No exaggeration, at least 10 people came up to me afterwards and said thanks, they needed to hear that. None of them were the sister I originally felt impressed to say it to, but ever since then she has given me this kind of knowing smile.
I said this in another thread. In some ways we're all like Peter. Peter scoffed at the idea he'd deny Christ three times in the next few hours - yet there he was when the rooster crowed. Peter was one of Jesus's closest friends and clearly had a testimony of who he was "beyond the shadow of a doubt" in modern church vernacular. Yet, there he was when the rooster crowed. I think that story is meant for the TBMs as a warning because it can happen to any of us - it even happened to Peter.
by dande48
For quite a while, I'd say I was a heavily orthodox TBM. I really wouldn't say humans are that different from one other. The main difference, is our experiences and environment, but at our core I like to think most people hold the same values and desires.
I like to think there are many factors which go into one's affection or disaffection with the Church. There's the amount, type, and length of investment. There is social and familial influences/pressures. There's trust, whether in the Q15, GAs, local leaders, scriptures, historical records, or third parties. There are certain policies (both historical and present) which can support or go against some of our core beliefs, dependent on our perspective. And I think for everyone, there comes a tipping point between classical orthodoxy and unorthodoxy (in its many varieties).
But I think we all want to be happy and fulfilled. We want to avoid pain and suffering. Secondary, most of us love our families. Most of us value objective truth. Most of us value justice and fairness. Most of us want to be praised and commended. Most of us want to be loved. But as we branch down in what we value, our differences in views become more and more defined. Socio-political differences are very different for us here at Stay-LDS, than for most orthodox members. LGBT rights, feminism, abortion, gun rights, environmentalism, climate change, nationalism/globalism, capitalism/socialism... in all those issues, those in the "StayLDS" demographic tend to be more "liberal", while orthodox members tend to be more conservative. But in the end, I think all our aims (of happiness and a just social order) are the same.
by SamBee
The trouble with this is that in some cases the woman's choices are the cause of child loss... So even if this isn't the case, it feels as if it is.
My mother lost a baby when she fell into a small hole in the ground. She probably argued with herself whether she should have been out walking that day, or could have avoided that spot or whatever, but what happened, happened and despite this being a result of choices she made that day, she never decided to go out that day and kill her baby.
dande48 wrote: ↑
in all those issues, those in the "StayLDS" demographic tend to be more "liberal", while orthodox members tend to be more conservative. But in the end, I think all our aims (of happiness and a just social order) are the same.
Stop right there! This liberal/conservative thing in the States seems to be part of your social division. It is a false dichotomy that relies on a kind of bizarre inversion of the political spectrum. Both parties in the USA are in fact neoliberal. The US revolution was liberal. But then you guys go and say socialists are liberal which is not the case at all (in fact I could go on all day about the US misdefinition of socialism as well).
I don't identify as either liberal or conservative in the American sense.
SamBee wrote: ↑
I recognize this the fact is that everything that we do or don't do leads us to the place where we now are. If I get into a car accident on a particular road - would the accident have happened if I took and alternate route? or if I had purchased the expensive new tires with the extra stopping power? Of course, if I was driving while intoxicated I would very much be to blame and should make life corrections to avoid a repeat occurance. However for most situations where someone we love and have responsibility to care for dies, the only way to prevent the tragic loss would be to foretell the future. One of the scariest things about losing one child was the realization that I could not prevent losing another. There are some things I can do to help increase the chances but ultimately nothing I could ever do can guaruntee that my children will survive into adulthood. That's why the concept of "binding the lord" was so appealing for my TBM self, to control (in a fashion) the uncontrolable of fate and death itself.
by DevilsAdvocate
Curt Sunshine wrote: ↑
After a conversation behind the scenes, I am adding an Admin Note.
[Admin Note]: Devil's Advocate intentionally misquoted the original comment he excerpted to create his post. He intentionally deleted ONLY one part of one sentence - the sentence that would have shown his conclusion was not close to what was said in the original comment. It obviously was intentional, since he used ellipses in his excerpted version to omit 10 important words. There is no doubt the deletion was deliberate. I am providing the entire quote below, so everyone can see the exact context, not the altered one in the post. I am highlighting the sentence that includes the deleted words.
Satisfied people want change they can understand and that doesn't shock or anger them. When that sort of change happens, satisfied people are happy. Happy people stay where they are.
It really is as simple as that. President Nelson is giving satisfied members what they want: non-threatening change at a pace that excites and energizes them.
These sort of changes (non-shocking and non-anger-producing for satisfied people) aren't going to make satisfied people leave the Church. Those who leave the Church will be already dissatisfied people who don't see the changes as revelatory and are disappointed they aren't "bigger and better" - and those people were the most likely to leave in the first place."
The deleted part (the one replaced by ellipses in the post) is:
non-threatening change at a pace that excites and energizes them.
I was not trying to intentionally change the meaning of your comment. I left these few words out simply because they weren't particularly interesting to me. But if you think it is essential to the meaning of the whole comment in context then I'm glad to have it added back into the discussion for everyone to see. I wasn't deliberately trying to misrepresent anything you said; this was simply how it sounded to me the first and second time I read it. Like I said before the comment was completely baffling to me. Usually even if I disagree with something I can at least understand why people would think that and where it came from. But in this case it didn't really make sense from the outset because there were so many counter examples and questions that came to mind that it was hard to try to articulate them all. But overall, to me it seems pretty clear to see that people change their minds all the time for many possible reasons regardless of how happy they are or not compared to others. It just doesn't look anywhere near that simple at all to try to explain or predict when people will change their minds or not in real life based on happiness alone.
For example, look at evolution. People don't need to be relatively unhappy to adopt it as a new learned belief; it seems like they typically just hear the general idea, see evidence like pictures of fossils, etc. and it makes sense to them so it isn't that hard to just accept at face value. I don't see why it should be that different for other more LDS-specific beliefs as new evidence or questions come into focus. For the recent changes under Nelson some of them actually make sense to me and seem like a step in the right direction for the Church and even for the ones that didn't make sense to me I can still admit that they won't necessarily be that hard to accept for many typical TBMs on an individual basis. Where I think it will start to get some members thinking about what it means is simply the sheer number of changes made so quickly because it draws attention to Nelson as the common denominator. Basically it looks like the proverbial new sheriff in town shaking things up which normally would not seem so unusual but given the relative lack of changes under Hinckley and Monson as well as the Church's heavy emphasis on revelation/prophet claims it stands out more due to the contrast between different LDS prophets.
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Sarah Lowe Tabbed 2020 SEC Legend
January 23, 2020 By Daniel Vollert
She was arguably the most-decorated off-the-court player in UF women’s basketball program history and one of the finest point guards on it. Sarah Lowe (2002-06) will be honored as the program’s SEC Legend at the 2020 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
“There have been so many great women that have played at Florida and I am proud to represent that history as the 2020 SEC Women’s Basketball Legend. Having the chance to be a collegiate athlete at Florida was truly a once in a lifetime experience,” Lowe said. “My time at UF was formative both in terms of what I learned about myself on the court, as well as what I was able to explore in classroom. There are countless things I’ve carried forward that prepared me for life after the game.”
Lowe, a magna cum laude double major, collected a slew of academic accolades over her time including the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, the SEC’s H. Boyd McWhorter Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and the SEC’s co-nomination for the NCAA Woman of the Year. She was also a Rhodes Scholarship finalist and received a Fulbright Grant.
She was certainly no slouch on the court as she ranks top 10 in program history in assists, steals, minutes played and free throws made. Lowe, played pivotal roles on two NCAA Tournament teams, and as a senior spearheaded major upsets against No. 2 LSU and No. 5 Tennessee. Sarah Lowe was a three-time captain, one of just three Gators to achieve the feat, and epitomized the term “leader on and off the court”.
After graduating from UF, she went on to secure a master’s degree in development studies from Oxford.
In her career following basketball, Lowe co-founded a non-profit that provides free secondary boarding schools in East Africa, led the Bay Area office for the United States Liability Insurance Group and she currently serves as the vice president of sales for Workforce Athletics, a startup focused on providing team sports for companies.
“We are thrilled to honor Sarah as our SEC Legend this season. Both on and off the court, she embodied the Gator standard of excellence and demonstrated tremendous leadership abilities. Our current players have countless alumni that they can look up to and Sarah’s example is one of the best for them to follow,” said head coach Cam Newbauer.
The class will be honored at the 2020 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, March 4-8 in Greenville, S.C.
Each legend will be honored during half-time of their teams first game of the tournament, all 14 individuals will also be honored as a group, as well as participate in an autograph session during the tournament.
2020 SEC Women’s Legends:
ALABAMA – Ashley Miles Greig; Gymnastics ; 2003-2006
ARKANSAS – Bev Lewis; Track & Field HC/AD; 1981-1990 (HC), 1989-2007 (Dir. Woman’s Athletics),
2008-2014 (Assoc. Vice Chancellor/Exec. Assoc. AD)
AUBURN – Whitney Boddie; Basketball; 2005-2009
FLORIDA – Sarah Lowe; Basketball; 2002-2006
GEORGIA – Tawana McDonald Robinson; Basketball; 1999-2002
KENTUCKY – Sarah Witten Cantey; Tennis; 2000-2003
LSU – Sylvia Fowles; Basketball; 2004-2008
OLE MISS – Catherine Yelverton; Tennis; 1978-1981
MISSISSIPPI STATE – Martha (Alwal) Omot; Basketball; 2012-2015
MISSOURI – Natasha Kaiser-Brown; Track & Field; 1985-1989
SOUTH CAROLINA – Siew-Ai Lim; Golf; 1992-1996
TENNESSEE – Candace Parker; Basketball; 2005-2008
TEXAS A&M – Andrea Williams; Volleyball/Basketball; 1992-95 (VB), 1993-1994 (BKB)
VANDERBILT – Nakia Davis; Golf; 1990-1993
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
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Joyce Coffee named managing director of ND-GAIN
Contact: ND-GAIN, ndgain@nd.edu
Joyce E. Coffee, who has extensive experience working on climate change and sustainability — particularly in the government and corporate sectors — has been named managing director of the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN).
ND-GAIN is the world’s leading index showing which countries are best prepared to deal with the droughts, superstorms and other natural disasters climate change can cause. ND-GAIN ranks countries based on how vulnerable they are to climate change, and how prepared they are to adapt to the storms, droughts and heat waves that scientists predict will increase in the coming decades. The index moved to Notre Dame from Washington, D.C., in April.
“We are thrilled that Joyce is joining the leadership team at ND-GAIN,” David Lodge, director of the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative, where ND-GAIN is housed, said. “She is a widely recognized environmental thought leader with extensive experience working with corporations, governments and nonprofits on climate change and sustainability. As managing director, she will be reaching out to all three of those sectors to raise awareness about vulnerability to climate change and the urgent need for countries to adapt.”
Coffee has 20 years of experience in environmental leadership, risk management, performance measurement and sustainability execution. Previously, she was vice president at Edelman where she provided strategic counsel to global companies on corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
Before joining Edelman, she also directed the Chicago Climate Action Plan driving both climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. She also managed environmental codes as well as water and air resources in the City of Chicago department of environment.
Coffee started her career as an urban environmental consultant with the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s U.S.-Asia Environmental Partnership. She was a founding board member of the Alliance for Water Efficiency and a Great Lakes delegate to the Brookings International Young Leaders Climate Change Summit. She also is a Chicago Council on Global Affairs Emerging Leader.
Coffee has had global work assignments in such countries as the Philippines, Vietnam and Egypt.
She was awarded the Henry Luce Fund Scholarship to study at the University of Hanoi in Vietnam and received a dual bachelor of science degree in biology and environmental studies, with a minor in Asian Studies, from Tufts University and a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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July 1, 2014 by GM Admin
Radio On (10/91)
Seventeen singles reviewed by Greil Marcus in the October 1991 issue of Radio On, a chart pop fanzine edited by Phil Dellio (which also featured Chuck Eddy, Rob Sheffield, Frank Kogan, Renee Crist, Michael Freedberg, et al.).
“Crazy,” Seal – Too much hype in the name. Change it to “Sealed With A Kiss” and we’ll see.
“Emotions,” Mariah Carey – One more step toward the day when she can sing “They Call The Wind Mariah”–a small step.
“Enter Sandman,” Metallica – Metallica is better at Rush-style pomposity than Guns N’ Roses–there’s an austerity behind their strum and drang that rings, chimes, sticks the stuff in your heart. But this is no “One,” even if it does draw a wonderful loop around the whole of rock ‘n’ roll: that is, from the Chordettes’ “Mr. Sandman” (1954, #1) to itself.
“Everybody Plays The Fool,” Aaron Neville – Formal; that is, formal proof he could make the Miller Lite jingle, with its secret shut-up-don’t-ask-questions-do-as-you’re-told message (“It’s it/That’s that!”) sound soulful. Best cut on his latest album, too.
“Every Heartbeat,” Amy Grant – She still looks like Pat Robertson’s kid to me.
“(Everything I Do) I Do It For You,” Bryan Adams — Despite the arhythmic inclusion of the word “It” in the title, which really throws the whole thing off on one level, the same anomaly seems to open up the melody, making this the most (or only) seductive recording BA has made. Really, not too bad. Haven’t seen the movie, though.
“Gett Off,” Prince & the N.P.G. – Solid, better as a video, but the sex-utopia of Dirty Mind and far beyond seems here to have turned into an ordinary fuck club–the music doesn’t exist outside itself, doesn’t enter the world, the imagination and glee of the past seems to have settled into completely ordinary, and completely effective, craftsmanship. But you can get the feeling he really doesn’t care all that much by looking at the title, which looks less like an attempt to play with the language than proof he never learned to spell.
“Good Vibrations,” Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch/Loleatta Holloway – A few years ago, when MTV was still trying to keep Michael Jackson off the air, it seemed every other video had a black chorus of some kind attesting to the funkiness of Massa White Lead Singer. Haven’t seen much of that lately, but Marky Mark has resurrected the tradition, even to the point of hiring a black woman to fuck him. On the other hand, he and his brother have done more for racial honesty in Boston than most other people in that town you might name–oh, excuse me, I mean racial decency–according to Axl Rose, on “One In A Million” in Musician, it’s he who’s into “racial honesty.” I have nothing against Marky Mark–why do you?
“Hole Hearted,” Extreme – Bad name.
“I Adore Mi Amor,” Color Me Badd – Worse name.
“Learning To Fly,” Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Dull. All his slow stuff, his thoughtful stuff, is dull, and almost all of his fast stuff is good, and “Out In The Cold” is the most exciting record on the radio in months, the closest he’s ever come to “American Girl.”
“The Motown Song,” Rod Stewart – First he does a fine version of “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You),” then he turns that true and direct Motown tribute that didn’t have to say its name into this piece of vomit. Really, he can’t be trusted. Too bad he’s not worthless.
“My Name Is Not Susan,” Whitney Houston – Whoever thought up the title for this deserves an award, or lots of money, or something. Probably not an answer record to the very existence of the Band of Susans. Probably not the worst record she ever made. But definitely the funniest.
“Pop Goes The Weasel,” 3rd Bass – These guys are creeps, making a whole career out of being holier than thou. I’ll take Vanilla Ice any day (he has a much better name, no one can argue with that). Seeing some joker sneer doesn’t make my day, and that’s all they’re selling.
“Shiny Happy People,” R.E.M. – Return to form after the irresistibly catchy “Losing My Religion,” which for moments teased even this R.E.M. hater. This is slime masquerading as parody of junk, as social critique–sort of late-period Devo without the flower pot hats, though Stipe’s backwards baseball cap looks just as stupid, even though it’s supposed to look cool.
“Superman’s Song,” Crash Test Dummies – This outfit’s stuff sounds vaguely interesting at first, then very, very pretentious. I’ll take Marc Cohn.
“You Could Be Mine,” Guns N’ Roses – Not bad. But the way Axl holds that note at the end is as self-celebrating, obnoxious, and mindless as he’s always accused of being–proof that, finally, this may not be even a good rock ‘n’ roll band, or any kind of rock ‘n’ roll at all, because that note contradicts the momentum of rock ‘n’ roll as surely as anything by Mantovani. Also, rock ‘n’ roll performers in shorts… well, I have no words.
This entry was posted in Radio, Singles & Song Reviews and tagged Bryan Adams, Guns N' Roses, Prince, R.E.M., Rod Stewart. Bookmark the permalink.
Quotable Greil: “Slipping Away…” (1969)
Twentieth-Century Vox: Marshall McLuhan and The Mechanical Bride (9/2012)
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Last edited by Molkis
2 edition of bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier. found in the catalog.
bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier.
Thomas Franklin Currier
by Thomas Franklin Currier
Published 1937 by Harvard U.P. in Cambridge, Mass .
Whittier, John Greenleaf, -- 1807-1892.
of results for Books: John Greenleaf Whittier. Skip to main search results Amazon Prime. The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier with Numerous Illustrations. by Whittier, John Greenleaf, | Jan 1, Hardcover Paperback. John Greenleaf Whittier () was an American poet whose humanitarianism and great popular appeal established him as an important 19th-century figure. John Greenleaf Whittier was born on a farm near Haverhill, Mass., on Dec. 17, , of poor Quaker parents. His formal education was meager. At the age of 14 he discovered Robert Burns's poetry.
Read John Greenleaf Whittier’s biography, works and quotes online for free. offers the most comprehensive collection of books and writings by John Greenleaf Whittier. John Greenleaf Whittier Biography. The second of four children born to John and Abigail Whittier, John Greenleaf was reared on the family farm in northern Massachusetts. Start your hour.
Discover Book Depository's huge selection of John Greenleaf Whittier books online. Free delivery worldwide on over 20 million titles. Pickard, John B. John Greenleaf Whittier: An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Barnes and Noble, E-mail Citation» Written by the foremost Whittier scholar of the 20th century, Pickard’s study subdivides its treatment of Whittier’s works by genre.
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vultures gather, the fig tree blooms
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Bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier by Thomas Franklin Currier Download PDF EPUB FB2
John Greenleaf Whittier. Poet, Activist (Dec — 7-Sep) SUBJECT OF BOOKS. >John Greenleaf Whittier, published in and subtitled “A Winter Idyll.” This nostalgic pastoral poem recalls the New England rural home and family of the poet’s youth, where, despite the pummeling of the winter winds and snow, he and his family remained secure and comfortable.
Looking for books by John Greenleaf Whittier. See all books authored by John Greenleaf Whittier, including John Greenleaf Whittier: Selected Poems (American Poets Project), and The Poetical Works of Whittier: Cambridge Edition (Cambridge Editions), and more on John Greenleaf Whittier has books on Goodreads with ratings.
John Greenleaf Whittier’s most popular book is Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl. John Greenleaf Whittier Biography - - John Greenleaf Whittier Biography and List of Works - John Greenleaf Whittier Books COVID Update Biblio is open and shipping orders.
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Bibliographies: Thomas Franklin Currier, Bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, ). Annual bibliographies, Whittier Newsletter (). Karl Keller, "John Greenleaf Whittier," in Fifteen American Authors Before Bibliographical Essays on Research and Criticism, edited by Robert A.
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Get the best deal by comparing prices from overbooksellers. The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier by John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Hardcover.
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John Greenleaf Whittier (hwĬt´ēər), –92, American Quaker poet and reformer, b. near Haverhill, Mass. Whittier was a pioneer in regional literature as well as a crusader for many humanitarian causes. Early Life Whittier received a scanty education but read widely. An introduction at the age of 14 to Robert Burns's poetry inspired him to write verse; his first poems were published.
Bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, (OCoLC) Named Person: John Greenleaf Whittier; John Greenleaf Whittier; John Greenleaf Whittier: Document Type: Book: All Authors / Contributors: Thomas Franklin Currier; Pauline F.
Regarded as one of the Fireside Poets, John Greenleaf Whittier was influenced by the poetry of Robert Burns and his early works reveal a Romantic strain.
In later years, Whittier became an eloquent advocate of justice, tolerance, and liberal humanitarianism. The lofty spiritual and moral values he proclaimed earned him the title of “America’s finest religious poet” and many of his poems are still. American poet and writer John Greenleaf Whittier was born on Decemnear Haverhill, Massachusetts.
He grew up on a farm with an extended family, consisting of three siblings--two sisters and a brother--and his mother's sister and his father's brother. John Greenleaf Whittier ( - ) was an American poet, considered one of the Fireside Poets whose themes of morality were popular in their day.
Other members included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., William Cullen Bryant, and James Russell Lowell. The Poetical Works Of John Greenleaf Whittier by Whittier, John Greenleaf. Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co.
Hardcover. Used; Acceptable. No dust jacket. Printed circa Undated. Covers torn. Fast Dispatch. Expedited UK Delivery Available. Excellent Customer Service. An American poet and editor, John Greenleaf Whittier was born Decemin Haverhill, Massachusetts.
The son of two devout Quakers, he grew up on the family farm and had little formal schooling. His first published poem, "The Exile's Departure," was published in William Lloyd Garrison's Newburyport Free Press in He then attended Haverhill Academy from to.
John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets. Whittier was strongly influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns.
John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets. Whittier was strongly influenced by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns/5. Books by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Snow-Bound. Author: John Greenleaf Whittier, Howard Pyle (Illustrator), John J. Enneking (Illustrator) Paperback Mar List Price: $ Compare Prices. Addresses and Remarks on the Presentation of Copy of Picture of William Penn's Treaty with the Indians, at Shackamaxon, Philadelphia, to Swarthmore.
Circa Original carte de visite photo portrait (2 1/2 x 4 1/8 inch). John Greenleaf Whittier () was an American Quaker poet and leading advocate of the abolition of slavery.A list of poems by John Greenleaf Whittier An American poet and editor, John Greenleaf Whittier was born Decem - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets.Buy A Bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier by Thomas Franklin Currier online at Alibris.
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Community Yeger Says His Election Brings ‘A Sacred Obligation’
Yeger Says His Election Brings ‘A Sacred Obligation’
By Reuvain Borchardt
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at 8:11 pm | י"ט חשון תשע"ח
BROOKLYN -
Kalman Yeger at his victory party at the Democratic Club in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.
On the day after a landslide victory in the election for City Councilman for the 44th District, Kalman Yeger spoke with Hamodia about his plans for the community he will serve for the next four years.
Following what was at times a testy election campaign, Yeger had said Tuesday night that he will seek to prove that he will serve everyone in the district, whether they supported him or not, declaring that “the achdus begins right now.”
“My obligation is to do a good job for everybody in the community, across the district, and that’s what I’m going to work very hard to do, as I’ve talked about throughout my campaign,” Yeger told Hamodia on Wednesday. “My life in public service has been an open book. People who know who I am and who have learned who I am know that I’ve always served everybody. And that’s what I’ll continue to do as their councilman.”
Among his first orders of business is achieving communal priorities in the city’s budgetary process, which will begin early in 2018. He is seeking funds for after-school vouchers, as well as for expanding the yeshivah security-guard law — which he helped draft with Councilman David Greenfield — to include yeshivos with fewer than the current minimum of 300 students.
Emphasizing the relationships he has built over his years working in government, the councilman-elect says he will reach out to state Senator Simcha Felder to see how the city and state can work together — perhaps there are some programs “the city can do and the state can fund” and “to work on things Simcha has pushed for and see how we can bring them into our community.”
There are other early priorities that Yeger wants to work on that don’t need legislation, such as bringing the Department of Transportation to the community to do traffic studies and offer solutions for troublesome areas. This, Yeger says, is “an extreme priority for Flatbush and Boro Park.”
One of the issues Yeger is particularly passionate about is not allowing governmental interference in the chinuch system.
Yeger says he will seek to serve on the Education Committee, and called the issue “a priority for our community, especially since some councilmen have lasers guided at our yeshivos. I want to make sure they don’t pull any shenanigans and start harassing our yeshivos more than they already have.”
Nobody will walk “through the doors of our yeshivos telling our yeshivos what to do,” says Yeger forcefully. “They’ll have to get through me first.”
He’ll also seek to serve on the Transportation Committee to try to improve the massive traffic that is a feature of everyday life in the district, and on the Public Safety Committee.
“We are a community that has deep concern, for necessary reasons, about our public safety,” says Yeger, noting that he has “worked with police for my entire career and had the endorsement of every police union.” He says he’ll seek to work with the police “to make sure they have the resources they need to do their job.”
In response to a question about upholding traditional moral values, Yeger says, “I am going to vote the way I believe my upbringing requires and who I am and the people I represent, as I have conducted myself throughout this campaign. When a question comes up, I talk to daas Torah. They give me the chizuk and guidance to know what is right to do.”
Yeger frequently cites the legendary Rabbi Moshe Sherer, z”l, as an early mentor in the world of askanus, noting that it was Rabbi Sherer who first encouraged a 19-year-old Kalman seeking his guidance on whether to embark on a political career.
During those final years of Rabbi Sherer’s life, Yeger says there was “no step that I took on my own,” without first consulting Rabbi Sherer for guidance, permission and a brachah.
“That’s the way I live my life. And just because I hold public office there is no reason to change.”
One of Yeger’s most oft-repeated views is that he doesn’t believe in an overbearing government with its “foot on the neck” of the people. One example he cites is the difficulties that small businesses and yeshivos have with the numerous inspections they face, whether from the Fire, Building, or Health Departments. The at-times uncoordinated, redundant inspections are an example of “government not acting at its optimal,” says Yeger. “We need to unify record-keeping and inspections so they can create one centralized reporting and inspection system.”
Finally, what is the newest soon-to-be councilman’s view of how, in an ideal world, the 44th City Council District would look like in four years, at the end of his first term?
“Safer streets that are able to move faster, and for our kids to be able to breathe more easily. Less traffic and congestion. For people to be able to enjoy our parks, to expand them and possibly have more of them.”
Yeger says that serving in public office is not a right, but a privilege and an honor.
“The people have entrusted me with their future for the next four years. It is a sacred obligation. I will honor it, do them well, and work as hard as I possibly can.”
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Councilman Ulrich Calls Out Anti-Yeshivah Bigotry
Traffic Signal Coming to Key Kensington Road
Yeger Hosting Budget Training for New Nonprofits
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Oral Answers to Questions
Defence Spending (Commitments)
Mr. Oliver Heald
(North-East Hertfordshire) (Con)
12. What recent assessment he has made of the balance between UK defence spending and UK defence commitments. (324457)
The Secretary of State for Defence
(Mr. Bob Ainsworth)
For some reason that I do not fully understand, the hon. Gentleman has asked exactly the same question as the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) and I refer him to the answer to that question.
Mr. Heald
It is an important question. The Secretary of State will know that in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2007 the defence budget fell in real terms. As for the following years, in Kosovo, our boys had to go out and buy mobile phones because the radios did not work; in Iraq, the boots melted and their equipment and clothing were not right for those conditions, so they had to go and buy their own clothing; and in Afghanistan, there have not been enough helicopters, there have not been the right personnel vehicles and there have not been enough spares, so they have had to cannibalise equipment all over the world, causing chaos. Does not the Secretary of State accept that it is time, first, to admit that this system of logistics and procurement has been hopeless and secondly, to apologise for putting lives at risk?
Mr. Ainsworth
It is a travesty that the hon. Gentleman should so describe the situation that is faced by this country’s very capable armed forces—one of the most capable armed forces in the world. I would say to him that we spend above average on defence, that there has been a substantial continuing increase in spending on defence and that we, in marked contrast to the party that he supports, guarantee that there will be an increase next year. I do not know what he intends to do about that, if he holds the views that he does.
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WFCA All-Star Football Game
As a health system, we are continuously assessing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on both our organization and community. Safety is our top priority for patients, families, community partners, and staff. We are working continuously to make the best and safest decisions on providing care to families, gathering as a community and celebrating together. In partnership with the WFCA leadership, we are sad to share that the 2020 WFCA All Star Games benefitting Children's Wisconsin and the All-Star Game banquet have been canceled. This decision was not made lightly, and we recognize what a disappointment this is to everyone.
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WFCA All-Star Football Game benefiting Children's Wisconsin
Football players from across the state are nominated by their high school coaches to play in these prestigious annual North vs. South All-Star Charity Football Games. Each year, more than 400 players are nominated and 220 were chosen to take part. In return for the honor of participating, each player raises at least $750 in funds for Children's Wisconsin, the game's beneficiary.
The All-Star experience begins for the players and coaches in January when selection takes place. The experience culminates during camp week beginning on July 12 and ending on July 18, the very memorable game day.
On July 18th, 2020, high school all-star football players from all over Wisconsin will come together to participate in the WFCA All-Star Charity Football Games at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium on the UW-Oshkosh campus.
Visit the WFCA website to learn more
Watch the video from the 2019 WFCA All-Star Football Game
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Andrew S. Lerner
Andrew Lerner is Managing Partner of IA Capital Group, where he has been employed since 1995. Mr. Lerner is responsible for the day-to-day activities of IA Capital, and is a member of their investment committee. In 2000, he launched IA Capital’s venture capital business which is now the firm’s core activity. Mr. Lerner was also President and Managing Director of Guggenheim Securities, LLC, IA Capital’s former broker-dealer business, until 2003. In addition to Homeowners of America, Mr. Lerner is also a Director of SMArtX, Ceannate, Credibility Capital, Crown Global Insurance Group, Credit Sesame, Wellthie, Boost, and SmartAsset and has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining IA Capital, he served as an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group of Smith Barney Inc. for four years and in their Mortgage and Asset Finance Group for two years. Mr. Lerner holds a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University and an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He serves as a trustee of the Newark School of the Arts and as a director of Transportation Alternatives.
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Defending Access to Care for LGBTQ+ Californians in the Wake of Hospital Consolidations with Restrictive Religious Refusal Directives
By: Skyler Rosellini
In August 2016, Evan Minton’s hysterectomy was abruptly cancelled by Mercy San Juan Medical Center (Mercy) the day before his scheduled surgery date. The cancellation had nothing to do with Mercy’s concerns over Minton’s health but rather with its status as a Catholic hospital. Mercy’s management claimed Minton’s surgery could not go forward due to its interpretation of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services (ERDs) as prohibiting gender-affirming hysterectomies.
Receiving this news the day before surgery was a deeply painful experience for Minton, a trans man who had already encountered significant hurdles accessing gender-affirming care. Although he was able to get the procedure at a different hospital that did not subscribe to the ERDs, this moment galvanized Minton to file suit against Dignity Health, Mercy’s owner. He hopes this suit will prevent other transgender patients from enduring discrimination.
Indeed, Minton’s experience of provider discrimination is unfortunately not uncommon. Nationwide, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals report high rates of health service denials and provider discrimination.
California Hospital Mergers
Religious refusals are an increasing concern for many LGBTQ Californians amidst the increasing number of hospital mergers involving one or more faith-based health systems in California. This is particularly true for those living in rural parts of the state, where a religiously affiliated hospital might be the only accessible option in the region. Indeed, Dignity Health—which denied Minton routine medical care on the basis of its interpretation of the ERDs—recently became the largest non-profit hospital chain in the country after merging with Catholic Health Initiatives, another Catholic health system.
The ERDs prohibit a broad range of reproductive health services, including sterilization procedures. There is significant variation in how Catholic health systems apply the ERDs, including application to individual patients within the same health system, as it did in Minton’s case. While the Dignity Health Mercy San Juan permitted sterilizations, it still cited the ERDs as the reason for cancelling Minton’s surgery date upon learning about his transgender status.
In California, the Attorney General may put conditions on hospital mergers after first soliciting public comment on the proposed transaction. California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra has issued conditional approvals for multiple hospital merger transactions where one or more of the parties is religiously affiliated. In his conditional approval of Dignity Health’s merger with Catholic Health Initiatives, Becerra included robust prohibitions against LGBTQ discrimination and strict requirements to protect patients from discrimination. With several other proposed mergers involving a religiously affiliated hospital on the horizon, it is paramount that such provisions are included in all other conditional hospital merger approvals.
California law prohibits discrimination in healthcare for LGBTQ residents. Under California law, it is illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in any program or activity that is conducted, operated, administered, or funded by the state. This includes the Medi-Cal program and insurers participating in Covered California (the state’s exchange). California law also prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ people in health plan marketing, enrollment, terms, and benefit design.
In addition, California state regulators have strong guidance in place that prohibits healthcare plans from denying medically necessary gender-affirming care, like the care that Minton received in 2016. Since the release of the Trump Administration’s § 1557 Final Rule, California state regulators have reiterated their commitment to non-discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Recently, the California Attorney General joined a lawsuit along with several other attorneys general challenging the final rule, citing, in part, the burden imposed by its conflict with California anti-discrimination law. As California state regulators have made clear, anti-LGBTQ discrimination in healthcare is illegal regardless of whether or not it is religiously-motivated.
California courts have also affirmed this principle of nondiscrimination; in Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group, an infertility clinic refused to provide routine infertility treatment services to a patient solely because she was a lesbian. In that instance, the providers claimed that their fundamentalist Christian views prevented them from providing care to the patient. Ultimately, however, the California Supreme Court ruled that California’s nondiscrimination laws prohibit providers from engaging in religiously motivated anti-LGBTQ discrimination in healthcare.
The role of California’s Department of Justice (DOJ)
As Minton’s case illustrates, even with legal and regulatory protections in place, LGBTQ Californians routinely encounter healthcare discrimination from both providers and insurers. Indeed, well-founded fears regarding discrimination in healthcare dissuade LGBTQ patients from seeking necessary medical care. The rapidly consolidating hospital landscape, increasingly dominated by religiously affiliated providers—especially in the context of the recently challenged §1557 Final Rule—makes LGBTQ Californians even more vulnerable to healthcare discrimination.
In light of these concerns, it is critical for the DOJ to take special care when analyzing proposed hospital mergers, particularly where one or more parties to the merger is religiously affiliated. The DOJ has a duty to ensure that hospital mergers protect LGBTQ Californians’ access to care and the power to hold the parties in these transactions accountable. The DOJ can accomplish this by attaching conditions requiring that the combined entities—in accordance with California law—must not discriminate against LGBTQ patients and enforcing these conditions stringently.
Authors: Skyler M. Rosellini (Written by intern: Hillary Norris)
Im/migrant Detention is Reproductive Injustice
This blog was co-authored by Mason Ramsay, Fall 2020 Intern, NHeLP, J.D. Candidate ‘21, University of Tennessee College of…
Mental Health Parity: Substance Use Disorder Parity Lags & Requires Meaningful Disclosure
Elizabeth Edwards and Abigail Coursolle
Eliminating discriminatory treatment limitations is at the heart of federal parity law, but access to substance use disorder (SUD)…
Mental Health Parity: Behavioral Health Services for Youth Lags Despite Parity Requirements
Access to behavioral health services (which includes mental health treatment and substance use disorder services) is particularly important for…
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Graduate Programs in Modern Languages
School of Modern Languages · Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
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Anna Stenport
Chair and Professor, Modern Languages
Co-Director, Atlanta Global Studies Center
With professional experience from four countries and in four European languages, my contributions to the study of Global Media and Cultures span transnational media and cinema; documentary; literature and drama; and the arts, with a special focus on the Nordic and circumpolar Arctic regions. I teach, advise, and publish about the environmental humanities; climate change; the Atlanta media industry; gender and Indigeneity; discourses of the cold war and the welfare state; and visual and popular cultures. I currently advise graduate students working on the ethnography of Greenlandic ice stations; contemporary global cli-fi; the history of Technicolor; and twentieth-century sex education films. Past students have worked on European documentary cinema, data visualization, discourses of longitudinal media population surveys, nordic noir, Inuit video art, and modernist works by August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen, to name a few examples. I care deeply about collaboration across disciplinary borders and embrace eclectic, expansive, and innovative projects that span a range of interests informing our understanding of power, discourse, representation, and the human condition. Anna Stenport's Website
Richard Utz
Chair and Professor, Literature, Media, and Communication
One of my major professional passions is the study of how human practices, ideas, and traditions transform and take on new identities as they travel from one part of the world to another throughout history. Specifically, I am interested in how various representations of medieval culture (think: King Arthur, castles, cathedrals, courtly love, crusades, Gothic, manuscripts, Robin Hood, Vikings) are reimagined to become global cultural, economic, and political phenomena and memes in film, literature, social media, art, architecture, reenactment, advertising, games, etc. I look forward to working with MS-GMC students on such global medievalisms and to include them in cutting-edge research and scholarship with a world-wide network of colleagues. Work with me in English (medieval & modern), German (medieval & modern), French (medieval & modern), and Latin (once a global language). Richard Utz's Website
Graduate Committee
Narin Hassan
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
School of Literature, Media, and Communication
My work focuses on Victorian studies (particularly women writers and the British empire) and postcolonial/gender studies. My research has a global focus (particularly in the geographical areas of South Asia and the Middle East) as I consider literary works related to travel and imperialism and also study the expanding discourses of science in the nineteenth century. My first book examined the relationship between medicine, gender, and travel in the Victorian period. I am currently working on a project that examines yoga as a cultural phenomenon and traces its migration from India to the West. My own background is very international, and I grew up traveling and living in several regions of the world. Courses I teach cover the areas of nineteenth century studies, colonial/postcolonial studies, gender studies, women writers, and medical humanities. I serve as Second Vice President of Interdisciplinary Nineteenth Century Studies, have served on the board several years and organized the annual conference for the organization. Narin Hassan's website
Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Associate Professor of Spanish, Director of Graduate Studies
Juan Carlos Rodríguez is a Latin American film scholar whose research focuses on the representation of Latin American cities in documentary. His current book project, Cinematic Ruinologies: Cuba, Documentary and the Ambiguous Rhetoric of Decay, explores representations of space and place in documentaries made in Cuba. He is also co-editor of the collection of essays New Documentaries in Latin America (Palgrave, 2014) and is co-editing a book series, Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/o America, for the University Press of Florida. He has taught on Latin American cities, Spanish Service Learning, Globalization in Latin America, Latin American documentaries, Science Fiction from Latin America and Latin American music. He is the founder and director of the Global Media Fest.
Yevgenya Strakovsky (Jenny)
Assistant Director of Graduate Studies and Career Education
German faculty, School of Modern Languages
Jenny Strakovsky’s work examines the intersection of humanistic practice and career design. She has a Ph.D. in German Studies from Stanford University with a background in literature and psychology after 1750, and has written on Franz Kafka, Andre Gide, and Gottfried Keller. Her research explores representations of human flourishing in fiction, philosophy, and psychology, as well as their applications for liberal arts education. She is co-editing a collected volume with the MLA Press, Mission Driven: Reimagining Graduate Education for a Thriving Humanities Ecosystem. She teaches “Career Design for Global Citizenship,” runs the VIP research team “21st Century Humanities” to examine humanities skills in science and tech fields, and co-directs “Global Career Intensive,” an immersion-based career education initiative. She also teaches in the German Program and is active in the German Club and conversation table (Stammtisch).
Paul Alonso
Assistant Professor, Spanish, School of Modern Languages
Dr. Paul Alonso, an Assistant Professor in the School of Modern Languages at the Georgia
Tech, holds a Ph.D. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. His book “Satiric TV in the Americas” (Oxford University Press, 2018) is a pioneer study on the convergence of journalism, entertainment, satire, politics and popular culture in Latin America. Alonso’s research has also appeared in journals such as the Bulletin of Latin American Research, The Journal of Popular Culture, The Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, and included in edited collections. A Peruvian journalist and author, he has published in some of the most prestigious newspapers in Spanish, and in diverse international magazines. He is the author of three books of fiction and has hosted a weekly interview show in Peru. Before joining Georgia Tech, Alonso was also a staff member of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.
Stéphanie Boulard
Associate Professor of French, School of Modern Languages
Stéphanie Boulard’s research and teaching centers on the interaction between writing and visual arts and the different links and perspectives between the readable and the visible, spanning a range of primary sources that include French Literature and Visual Arts, Film and Media Studies, Literary Criticism and Theory. Her scholarly production includes several books on French writers (Victor Hugo, Pascal Quignard, Helene Cixous...), and creative collaborations with practicing artists. She has published extensively on the violence of the French Revolution seen through 19th-20th-century lens, myths in French contemporary literature, migration and exile in literature and the arts. In her pedagogical approaches, she is interested in the role of film, media, and art in telling stories of (im)migration, nationhood, and social and cultural issues in France, and explores issues of trauma and testimony, social cohesion, identify formation, sociocultural food practices and rituals.
Seung-Eun Chang
Lecturer of Korean, Modern Languages
Seung-Eun Chang received a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Texas, Austin,
specializing in Phonology and Phonetics. Her research interests include a broad range of theoretical and experimental Phonology and Phonetics. Dr. Chang’s recent articles in major publications address the following issues: (i) the effects of native language phonetic system on the production of Korean consonants (e.g., the cross-language study of Korean consonants by native speakers of Chinese, English, Spanish and Korean), (ii) the effects of second language on the third language acquisition; bilingualism and multilingualism (e.g., the degree and direction of foreign accent in Korean speech by English speakers who learned Japanese before learning Korean), and (iii) historical sound change of Korean vowels and glides (double vowels).
Osvaldo Cleger
Associate Professor of Spanish, School of Modern Languages
Osvaldo Cleger is a new media theorist specializing in digital culture, e-literature and emerging technologies in the Hispanic world, with a focus on countries such as Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Cuba. He earned his MA from NMSU and his PhD in Hispanic Literature and Cultural Studies from University of Arizona. His research interests include visual culture, hypertext theory and fiction, blogging, digital poetry, procedural rhetoric, simulation theory and video games. His book Narrar en la era de las blogoficciones: literatura, cultura y sociedad de las redes en el siglo XXI (The Art of Narrating in the Age of Blog-fictions) offers a systematic approach to blog-narratives. He has co-edited two collective volumes on Hypertext theory and pedagogy in the Hispanic world: Redes hipertextuales en el aula, Octaedro 2015, and Formación literaria, hipertextos y Web 2.0 en el marco educativo, Editorial Universidad de Almerí a, 2015. He has also written on visual culture, Hispanic e-literature, hypertext fiction and videogames. He is the creator of the “Locative Media Learning Initiative,” in which language students acquire advanced linguistic and e-literacy skills through app development.
Carol Colatrella
Professor, Literature, Media, and Communication
Co-Director, Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology Carol Colatrella’s scholarly interests focus on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and European literary, historical, and scientific narratives. She has published essays in several scholarly journals as well as in three books: Evolution, Sacrifice, and Narrative: Balzac, Zola, and Faulkner (1990); Literature and Moral Reform: Melville and the Discipline of Reading (2002); and Toys and Tools in Pink: Cultural Narratives of Gender, Science, and Technology (2011). She has also edited and contributed to two anthologies: Technology and Humanity (2012) and Cohesion and Dissent in America (1994), which was published in honor of Sacvan Bercovitch. Since 1993 she has served as the executive director of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. She organizes “Innovation and Collaboration in Liberal Arts, Science, and Technology” (ICLAST) events, and has participated in ADVANCE research and in projects developed by Fulbright New Century fellows in Higher Education in the Age of Globalization seminars.
Kelly Comfort
Associate Professor of Spanish, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Kelly Comfort (PhD, Comparative Literature, UC-Davis) is a specialist in Latin American literature and transatlantic modernisms. She examines the intersections between Latin American modernismo and contemporaneous turn-of-the-century literary movements in Europe such as aestheticism and decadence. She published Cien años de identidad: Introducción a la literatura latinoamericana del siglo XX, an advanced Spanish textbook and Latin American literature anthology. Her book European Aestheticism and Spanish American Modernismo examines the changing role of art and the artist during the turn-of-the-century period and considers the multiple dichotomies of art and life, aesthetics and economics, production and consumption, and center and periphery. Her edited volume Art and Life in Aestheticism rethinks the relationship in aestheticism between the aesthetic and the human realms over the past two centuries. Dr. Comfort teaches Latin American literature and literary theory as well as Spanish conversation, Spanish service-learning, and Hispanic community internship.
Nora Cottille-Foley
Associate Professor of French, Modern Languages
Dr. Nora Cottille-Foley is an Associate Professor of French in the School of Modern Languages. She received her PhD in French/Francophone Studies from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. She joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 1998 and became Associate Professor in 2004. For the past 13 years, she has been Director of the LBAT France program (Language for Business and Technology). She created and directed LBAT programs in France, specifically in Toulouse, Paris, and Nice.
Adèle Douglin
GLACT Postdoctoral Fellow in Spanish, School of Modern Languages
Adèle Douglin received her PhD in Foreign Language Education with a concentration in teaching Spanish as a second language from The University of Texas at Austin in May of 2017. Her research focus includes Second Language Acquisition, Spanish Linguistics, and students’ interactions while studying abroad and the effects language acquisition. These interests are reflected in her dissertation, What Really Happens During Study Abroad? An in-depth analysis of learners’ interactions during a shout-term sojourn in Spain, that took a microscopic look at students’ interactions and conversations with their host families as they studied abroad in Spain for five weeks. Her dissertation research also investigated how these students used technology – mobile phone applications and social media – to interact with locals while in the host country.
Nihad Farooq
Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Nihad M. Farooq’s research moves between literary studies, American and Atlantic Studies, critical race theory, and cultural studies of science and ethnography. She brings to her research and pedagogy an emphasis on the transformative power of encounter between scientists, ethnographers, and indigenous and diasporic populations in the Americas, as well as on the expanding role of information technologies and social networks from the long nineteenth century to the present. She is particularly interested in the role of networked resistance in the Black Atlantic, and the subtle ways in which the “studied” and laboring populations of the Americas have consistently challenged racial hierarchies and disciplinary boundaries. These questions of race, resistance, and discipline are at the heart of her first book, Undisciplined: Science, Ethnography, and Personhood in the Americas, 1830-1940 (NYU, 2016). A second book manuscript, Roots in the Air: Slavery and Social Networks in the Atlantic World, is in progress, and received early research support through the William S. Vaughn Fellowship at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University in 2012-13.
Associate Professor of Chinese, School of Modern Languages
Dr. Paul Foster received his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures from the Ohio State University with a specialty is the study of Lu Xun, the icon of modern Chinese literature. He is author of Ah Q Archaeology: Lu Xun, Ah Q, Ah Q Progeny and the National Character Discourse in Twentieth Century China (2006). His current research is on martial arts fiction, film and popular culture, focusing on the author Jin Yong, analyzing what he terms “the kungfu industrial complex.” Dr. Foster designed, developed and alternately coordinates the School of Modern Languages' summer Chinese language program in Shanghai and Qingdao. He has created courses to teach language and culture through popular music, martial arts fiction, strategy and the Art of War, kungfu and wuxia film, and modern Chinese literature.
Lionel Gall
French Senior Lecturer, School of Modern Languages
Lionel Gall received a Ph.D. in American Literatures in 2003 and an interdisciplinary predoctoral degree on classical and modern European literatures and arts in 1998, from Universite Lyon III, Lyon, France. He also holds a French-German Degree in European Business Management (Reims Business School, Reims, France – Reutlingen, University of Applied Sciences Reutlingen, Germany) from the European Partnership for Business Schools London-Madrid-Reims-Reutlingen (E.P.B.S.). His primary region of study is Europe. His areas of interest include French cultural studies, Postwar and 21st century French and American literature, cinema and arts, modernism, French for business, politics and international relations, globalization and European Union studies, sustainability and smart cities and study abroad, using hybrid instruction, experiential learning, case studies, group and individual research/presentation projects, and research papers.
Yan Gao
Lecturer of Chinese, Modern Languages
My teaching and research interest is in modern Chinese grammar and Asian American literature. I am interested in offering two courses. One is Advanced Chinese Grammar, which provides students with a comprehensive view of modern Chinese grammar and compares Chinese grammar with that of English, so students can see Chinese grammar in perspective, avoiding errors caused by language transfer and gaining a better understanding of English grammar. The other is Asian American Writers. This course examines selected works in various genres (fictions, autobiography, poetry, and drama) written by Americans of Asian descent (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian), and discusses some recurring themes: search for identity between cultures, assimilation and displacement, entanglement and estrangement between generations, and immigrants’ experience of gain and loss as new Americans. Yan Gao's website
Lelia Glass
Visiting Assistant Professor of Linguistics, School of Modern Languages
Lelia Glass works on word meaning, sentence meaning, and context-dependent inferences in human language from a rich empirical perspective. She completed her Ph.D. (2018) in the Department of Linguistics at Stanford University with a dissertation on the role of background knowledge in understanding sentences describing the actions of multiple individuals ("Alice and Bob smiled"). At Stanford, Dr. Glass earned a Dissertation Fellowship from the American Council for Learned Societies and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as well as a scholarship from Phi Beta Kappa of Northern California and the prestigious university-wide Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching. She is currently pursuing a new project on English verb meaning in naturally occurring data.
Stuart Goldberg
Associate Professor of Russian, School of Modern Languages
My current research takes a performative and semiotic approach to the “sincere voice” and its changing conceptualizations and inscriptions in Russian poetry over 230 years. More broadly, I am interested in the historical poetics and semiotics of film, song and theater. Another major project took song as a focus to examine cultural fault lines of the Soviet and Russian 20th century (also generating an innovative interface and website organized around song in less commonly taught languages). Geographical interests run from Russia to Poland and Central Asia, drawing comparisons from Anglo-American and European contexts; in-terms of periods/movements, I’m most interested in those foregrounding rather than muting their existence as art: Baroque, Romantic, Modernist, Postmodern. Cross-disciplinary interests: history, ecology, sound studies. I direct the Russian LBAT program and curate our academic study abroad at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. I have organized a film series (and introduced a joint LMC course 50% devoted to Russian film), as well as organized concerts at Tech by a Russian guitar bard, a performance artist and a rock group. Stuart Goldberg's website
Mirla Gonzáles
Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies and Online Professional Education, Teaching Faculty of Spanish
A native of El Salvador, Mirla González earned her B.S. in Biomedical Science from Marist College and M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Kansas. She specializes in 19th-21st century Spanish literature and film, particularly the intersection between science, technology, ethics, and literature. Her research interests include the portrayal of biotechnology and robotics in relation to sex and gender in Spanish Science Fiction and how Science Fiction has been used to mediate Arab, African, and Spanish cultures. Her article, “Biotech, Barceló, Bustelo: Reproduction, Motherhood and Gendered Hierarchies in Spanish Science Fiction” in A Laboratory of Her Own: Women and Science in Spanish Culture (Vanderbilt UP) is forthcoming. This collection explores women’s interaction with STEM fields via the arts and humanities.Her teaching interests include scientific and cultural literacy, service-learning, and location-based gaming. An advocate of Open Educational Resources, Dr. González is the Managing and Development Editor of OER Acceso.
Julie Hugonny
Visiting Assistant Professor in French, School of Modern Languages
Julie Hugonny earned her Ph.D. in French literature from New York University in 2014. Her dissertation is titled "The Last Man. Apocalyptic science fiction literature from the nineteenth century to World War I", and deals with disasters, epidemics, devolution and the end of the world. Her teaching and research interests are science-fiction in literature and film, more particularly the role of women in tales of science fiction; nineteenth-century French and English literature: realism, romanticism, fantastic tales and the supernatural; and depictions of monsters and the monstrous in popular culture. She is currently working on “man-made women,” from the biblical Eve, to the Bride of Frankenstein and the Stepford Wives. Her long-term project is an annotated version of Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville’s 1805 epic, Le Dernier Homme.
Christophe (Chris) Ippolito
Dr. Christophe Ippolito (Chris) specializes in post-1800 French and contemporary African cultures, with 10 books (monographs, edited volumes, or edited journal issues) published or under contract, and over 60 articles. He is currently working on a monograph on literature and politics in France. A former Language Advisor/Program Director for French (January 2015 - June 2018), recipient of a Georgia Tech Teaching Effectiveness Award (2012), and co-principal investigator of a Fulbright-Hays grant for a 2014 program in Senegal, he is helping develop Modern Languages’ LBAT summer programs abroad in France, Senegal and Morocco. He works on Literature and Politics, Autobiography, African studies, European studies.
Hyoun-A Joo
Postdoctoral teaching fellow for German, School of Modern Languages
Hyoun-A Joo has a Ph.D. In German and Language Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Magister Artium in Contemporary German Literature from the Free University of Berlin. She works on second language acquisition and language contact and their intersections with culture and society. She worked with immigrant populations, Korean workers in Germany and German Mennonites in the U.S. Her studies target primarily aspects of their language, such as syntax or phonology, but she is also interested in the question how language development and use affect life in a globalized world and vice versa.
Britta Kallin
Associate Professor of German, Modern Languages
Britta Kallin has published on the Austrian Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek and on the Austrian dramatist and novelist Marlene Streeruwitz, among others. She is interested in women's theater and prose, race, and national identity. Dr. Kallin examines the description of so-called "outsiders" in literary works who have lived for a long time in Germany and Austria and the integration of those who have recently arrived in the newly reunited Germany and Austria. She analyzes the cultures, ethnicity/race, gendered concepts, and religions that intersect with national identity. She is also interested in film and juvenile literature. Currently, she is working on feminist rewritings of fairy tales in contemporary German and Austrian literature as well as on German comedians, humor, and racism. She is also interested in media, performance, migration, and sustainability.
Dina Khapaeva
Professor of Russian, Modern Languages
Dr. Dina Khapaeva’s research comprises death studies, cultural studies, historical memory, and intellectual history. Dr. Khapaeva authored six monographs, including The Celebration of Death in Contemporary Culture (The University of Michigan Press, 2017), Nightmares: From Literary Experiments to Cultural Project (Brill, 2013), Portrait critique de la Russie: Essais sur la société gothique, (Les éditions de l'Aube, 2012). Her books were reviewed by The Los Angeles Review of Books, Slavic Review, Slavic and East European Journal, The Russian Review, The Slavonic and East European Review, Journal of Russian Communications, The New Literary Observer, among others. Her numerous articles have appeared in journals including Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Social Research, Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales, Le Débat, Merkur, Social Sciences Information, The South Atlantic Quarterly. Most recently, she received an invited professorship at the Écoles des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and presented invited lectures at New College (Oxford), the University of Edinburgh, Harriman Center (Columbia University), The New School, L’institut du monde slave (Paris), and Emory University, among others.
Masato Kikuchi
Associate Professor of Japanese, School of Modern Languages
Dr. Masato Kikuchi’s central research interest is on technology enhanced language instruction and the study of its pedagogical effectiveness. This includes the application of computer-assisted language learning techniques using linguistically oriented language analysis of student input and generation of corrective feedback to assist language learners of Japanese. In recent years, his work focused on creation of Web-based learning exercises that utilize information gaps that promote student collaboration in reaching communicative goals. He is currently working on a project with an IE student to repurpose Google AI Assistant and Dialog-Flow technology that takes the form of a “chat bot” that engages in natural conversation in Japanese so it can become a tool in second language acquisition.
Yongtaek Kim
Associate Professor of Korean, Director of Korean Program
Dr. Yongtaek Kim is Associate Professor of Korean in the School of Modern Languages. He received his PhD in linguistics from the University of Oregon in 2009. His research focuses on comparative linguistics between English, Korean, and Japanese with a Cognitive Linguistics approach. Dr. Kim teaches Advanced Korean and various Korean content courses, such as Advanced language Korean Media and Culture, Languages and Cultures of East Asia, and Intercultural Seminar. Before joining Georgia Tech, he taught Korean at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Middlebury Language School of Korean, and Western Washington University.
Tatiana Kozhanova
Lecturer of French and Russian, School of Modern Languages
I earned my PhD in French Language and Literature from Moscow State University. My area of research is French literature of the Classical period with a special interest in the questions of gender and the role of women in the French society of XVI-XVIII centuries. Graduate courses previously taught: French and Francophone Culture and Civilization: "Love in Early Modern French Literature", “La Cour et la Ville, Versailles a l’époque de Louis XIV”, "Love, Marriage, and Family in the 18th Century French Literature". Tatiana Kozhanova's website
Jin Liu
Associate Professor of Chinese
Jin Liu received her Ph.D. in East Asian Literature and Culture from Cornell University. Her interdisciplinary research studies contemporary Chinese popular culture from the perspective of language, sound, voice, and music. She is the author of the book, Signifying the Local: Media Productions Rendered in Local Languages in Mainland China in the New Millennium (Brill, 2013). Drawing on cultural and literary theories, media studies, and sociolinguistics, this book examines recent cultural productions rendered in local languages and dialects (fangyan in Chinese) in the fields of film, television, the Internet, popular music, and fiction in mainland China. She co-edited and contributed to the book,
Chinese Under Globalization: Emerging Trends in Language Use in China (World Scientific, 2012). Dr. Liu teaches Chinese language and contemporary Chinese culture at Georgia Tech. She alternately co-directs the Georgia Tech School of Modern Languages' intensive summer Chinese language program in Shanghai and Qingdao, Chinese LBAT.
Matthew Mangold
Postdoctoral Fellow in Russian, School of Modern Languages
Matthew Mangold is a posdoctoral fellow specializing in Russian literature, spatial studies and medical history. At Georgia Tech he is working on his first book, Chekhov's Medical Realism: Environments, Psychology and Modernist Aesthetics. He has written articles on Lev Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Dmitri Grigorvich that consider the psychology of spatial experience these authors explored in late-nineteenth century Russia. He has also published an article on Chekhov as a medical observer. Leading study abroad programs in Russian-speaking countries and long-term academic work in Moscow and St. Petersburg have also drawn his research into contemporary Russian film, media and the oral interview.
Cecilia Montes-Alcalá
Associate Professor of Spanish, Modern Languages
Dr. Cecilia Montes-Alcalá received her Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2004. A specialist in socio-linguistics, bilingualism and languages in contact, she has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics as well as presented her work at national and international conferences. Dr. Montes-Alcalá has received research support from CIBER, the Georgia Tech Foundation, and Ivan Allen College among other funding sources and she also holds a number of awards from Emory University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Alcala de Henares (Madrid). Her teaching interests include courses in bilingualism, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and Spanish culture and history.
Susana Morris
Associate Professor, School of Literature, Media, and Communication
Susana M. Morris is an Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, where she is a scholar of Black Feminism, Black Digital Media, and Afrofuturism. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University and has previously taught at Spelman College and Auburn University. She is the author of Close Kin and Distant Relatives: The Paradox of Respectability in Black Women’s Literature (UVA Press 2014) and co-editor, with Brittney C. Cooper and Robin M. Boylorn, of the anthology, The Crunk Feminist Collection (Feminist Press 2017). She is currently at work on her latest book project, which explores Black women’s relationships to Afrofuturism and feminism.
Annika Orich
Assistant Professor of German, Modern Languages
Annika Orich received her Ph.D. in German with a Designated Emphasis in Film from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2017. Her research and teaching interests span 20th-and 21st-century German literature, film, and culture, and center on intersections between science and art, debates on multiculturalism and migration, discourses on memory and identity, and questions about humor. Her current book project on reproductive imaginations in German culture studies how the reproductive processes in biology and the arts evoke similar cultural anxieties.
Nassim Parvin
Assistant Professor, School of Literature, Media, and Communication
Nassim Parvin’s research explores the ethical and political dimensions of design and technology, especially as related to values of democratic participation and social justice. Integrating methods of humanistic scholarship and design-based inquiry, her research answers pressing questions about the influence of digital technologies on the future of social and collective interactions. Her papers have appeared in premier publication venues in design studies, science and technology studies, and human-computer interaction. She is an award-winning educator and serves on the editorial board of the journal of Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. JafariNaimi holds a PhD in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.
Aaron Santesso
Professor of Literature
Aaron Santesso has authored or edited numerous books and articles, especially on surveillance and privacy-related topics, but also on subjects ranging from eighteenth-century literature to science fiction, as well as general-audience pieces in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Slate. His most recent book, The Watchman in Pieces: Surveillance, Literature, and Liberal Personhood (Yale University Press), co-authored with Professor David Rosen (Trinity College) was awarded the Modern Language Association’s James Russell Lowell Prize for outstanding book of the year.
Rumiko Simonds
Professor of Japanese, School of Modern Languages
Rumiko Shinzato’s research interests in linguistics include cognitive linguistics, pragmatics, grammaticalization and Okinawan linguistics. Her publications include Synchrony and Diachrony of Okinawan Kakari Musubi in Comparative Perspective with Premodern Japanese (co-authored with Leon A. Serafim, Brill, 2013), journal articles in Linguistics, Language Sciences, Journal of Pragmatics, Journal of Historical Pragmatics, Gengo kenkyū and Kokugogaku, and chapters in edited volumes from John Benjamins, Mouton de Gruyter and CSLI Japanese/Korean Linguistics. Her publications in pedagogy include Intermediate Reader in Technical and Scientific Japanese (National Foreign Language Resource Center, 1997) and Online Song-based Courseware for Advanced Japanese Students (2013, DOE-funded and disseminated nationally).
David Shook
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
David Shook became Associate Professor in 2001 and has served as Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies since 2009 and as Interim Chair 2013-2016. His interests lie in foreign language program and curriculum development, development of reading strategies for foreign language learning, religion as a societal force in Hispanic cultures in the U.S. and abroad, and cultural and humanistic elements found in zombie literature. David is also heavily involved in the promotion of new models of FL language programming outside of the traditional Liberal Arts model.
Satomi Suzuki-Chenoweth
Lecturer, School of Modern Languages
Satomi Suzuki-Chenoweth (PhD, University of Georgia, 2011) joined the School of Modern Languages in 2003. She has been developing and teaching online Japanese and Linguistics courses. Her teaching interests include all-levels of Japanese language, linguistics and applied linguistics; technology-enhanced synchronous and asynchronous online environments; intercultural communication; adult language and literacy education. Her work focuses on the disciplines of Applied Linguistics, specializing in Second Language Acquisition Theories and Foreign Language Pedagogy, using conversation and multimodal discourse analyses. She is interested in exploring learning affordances and student autonomy during technology-based instruction in classroom versus online learning environment.
Aurora Tsai
Postdoctoral Fellow in Japanese, Modern Languages
My research interests revolve around ways we can simultaneously support and assess second language reading-to-learn skills. Reading-to-learn entails learning new material through critically engaging with text content, for example, by evaluating, classifying, and comparing information from the text with what they already know, and applying what they learn to new situations. In particular, I am interested in the role of prior knowledge in supporting Japanese learners' higher order thinking as they engage with texts on critical issues in Japanese culture. I am also interested in ways we can use data visualizations and technology to uncover trends in applied linguistics research. I use Python and R for natural language processing, topic modeling, and statistical analyses of linguistic data, study abroad, research groups. Aurora Tsai's webssite
Jan Uelzmann
Jan Uelzmann received his Ph.D. in Germanic studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the recipient of the 2011 Texas Foreign Language Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Texas. Trained as a Germanist with an emphasis on post-1945 literature, culture, and film, his research combines approaches from cultural history, cultural studies, film studies, and literary studies to explore questions related to the Adenauer period (Cold War politics, gender relations, as well as Americanization and anti-Americanism, the provisional capital Bonn) and Weimar modernism. He also works on Foreign Language curriculum development and and the implementation of Mobile Learning technologies in the classroom. Dr. Uelzmann's book Staging West German Democracy: Governmental PR Films and the Democratic Imaginary, 1953-1963 is forthcoming with Bloomsbury Academic.
Wei Wang
Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese, Modern Languages
Wei Wang's research interest is in Chinese linguistics, discourse grammar, conversation analysis, and second language pedagogy. She investigates language as it is used in everyday conversation, its structural orderliness, its sound patterns, and the collaboration of these resources in allowing people to get themselves across and to understand their interlocutors. She is enthusiastic to transform her linguistic findings to serve the purpose of second language learning. In particular, she is interested in the pragmatic development of second language learners.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese, Modern Languages
Amanda Weiss writes about East Asian film studies and cultural studies. Prior to her work at Georgia Tech, Amanda taught at Earlham College and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Emory University's Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry. She has also conducted research at the University of Southern California, the Beijing Film Academy, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Tokyo. She is currently finishing a manuscript based on her doctoral dissertation titled “Han Heroes, Yamato Warriors: Competing Masculinities in East Asian War Cinema."
Joycelyn Wilson
Assistant Professor, School of Media, Literature, and Communication
Joycelyn Wilson is an Assistant Professor of Black Media Studies and an Educational Anthropologist in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication in the Ivan Allen College at the Georgia Tech. She also directs the Four Four Beat Labs as its founder and executive producer of its programming. Four Four Labs is the maker space for the HipHop2020 (Interactive) Archive and the digital pedagogies incubator for the lab’s two flagship projects: the HipHop2020 Curriculum Project and “Study Hall”, a student-produced podcast series about culture, media, and their impact. Through Four Four, Dr. Wilson has her sights set on expanding traditional perspectives of “the classroom” space. That is, how it looks, where it happens, the archival resources used in them, the levels of interactivity engaged within them, and the range of possibilities available when technological innovation meets pedagogical sensibility. Her lab’s aim is guided by analysis and design principles that utilize the storied meanings of cultural artifacts as mechanisms for building out networked learning spaces. Her areas of study broadly examine the intersections of hip hop media and forms with schooling and education as well as Black music in the American South. Her research methods are uniquely oriented towards the design of culturally-resilient teaching and learning strategies anchored by African American expressive traditions and digital mediations. As tools, these styles can enhance and activate the social justice, critical media, and civic engagement capacities of secondary and post-secondary youth influencers. Her specific areas of inquiry are therefore: Atlanta Hip Hop Studies; Trap Music in the American South; Schooling and Atlanta’s post-Civil Rights Generation; oral history; ethnography; learning sciences and technology; interactive media, digital scholarship, and justice-oriented humanities instruction in STEM.
Lisa Yaszek
Professor, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture
Lisa Yaszek is Professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech, where she explores science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures. Yaszek’s books include The Self-Wired: Technology and Subjectivity in Contemporary American Narrative (Routledge 2002/2014); Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women’s Science Fiction (Ohio State, 2008); Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction (Wesleyan 2016); and The Future is Female! Twenty-Five Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women (Library of America, 2018). Her ideas about science fiction as the premiere story form of modernity have been featured in The Washington Post, Food and Wine Magazine, and USA Today, and she has appeared on Georgia Public Broadcasting, the Geeks and Beats Podcast, and in James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction. A past president of the Science Fiction Research Association, Yaszek currently serves as a juror for the John W. Campbell and Eugie Foster Science Fiction Awards.
Gregory Zinman
Gregory Zinman researches, teaches, and curates experimental film and moving image media. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, October, Film History, and Millennium Film Journal, among other publications. He has programmed film and media art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Film-makers’ Co-op, the Museum of the Moving Image, Asia Society New York, and the Ann Arbor Film Festival, as well as a number of venues in Atlanta. He is the author of Handmade: The Moving Image Without Photography (forthcoming, University of California Press), and a co-editor, with John Hanhardt and Edith Decker-Phillips, of We Are in Open Circuits: Writings by Nam June Paik (forthcoming, the MIT Press).
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Cooties is a word that has evolved from describing a very real problem to something that is imaginary. We will look at the early and later definitions of the word cooties, the possible origin of this term and some examples of its use in sentences.
Originally, the word cooties referred to body lice. The word cooties came into general usage during World War I, due to the infestations of body lice that plagued the trenches. There are two theories as to the origin of the term cooties. Some believe it comes from the Malay word kutu, which describes a local biting insect. In this scenario, the term cooties would have traveled to Europe by way of American soldiers who had been stationed in the Philippines. Others believe it comes from the Scottish word cootie, which describes fowl with feathered legs and presumably, lice. The singular form may be spelled as cootie or cooty, though the singular form is rarely seen.
In the United States, the word cooties is used by schoolchildren to describe fictional “germs” that infest designated children. Usually, children divide upon gender lines, boys insisting that girls carry cooties and girls insisting that boys carry cooties. This usually leads to games of tag. If a child is tagged by the opposite gender he may be redeemed through the use of a cootie shot to inoculate him against the non-existent cooties.
Maybe they’re afraid they’ll get cooties, but this is high school so I doubt it’s that—but it sure feels that way. (Harper’s Bazaar Magazine)
O’Connell says that it’s “well-known, documented scientific fact” that females carry the Cooties gene, and that even thinking about one can result in a person “catching it.” (The Huffington Post)
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Graciano O. Lopez-Jaena
4th Saturday at 5:00 PM
Charter Date
Iloilo Masonic Center
RVI Panay Island
Graciano O. Lopez-Jaena Lodge No. 194
This lodge was named in honor of Graciano Lopez Jaena, a leader of the Propaganda Movement in Spain and founder and editor of the propaganda organ, "La Solidaridad." Lopez Jaena fled to Spain in 1880 to avoid persecution for his satirical essay "Fray Botod," a literary piece that portrayed the abuses, ignorance and immorality of the priests during his time. He succumbed to tuberculosis in Barcelona, Spain on January 20, 1896.
Lopez Jaena was initiated in 1882 in Logia Porvenir No. 2 under the Gran Oriente de Espana. He co-founded Logia Solidaridad and Logia Revolucion, both in Barcelona, Spain.
Twenty-six members of Iloilo Acasia Lodge No. 11 and Kalantiao Lodge No. 187 organized this lodge in Sara, Iloilo. Grand Master Shepley issued them a dispensation to form the lodge on November 12, 1970. At the annual communication held in April 1970, the Committee of Charters recommended the issuance of a charter to the lodge based on its finding that the lodge had been working regularly, had passed two brothers and had several applicants on the trestle board. The Grand Lodge approved the recommendation and assigned the number 194 to Graciano Lopez Jaena Lodge.
The lodge was constituted on October 2, 1971 by MW Damaso C. Tria with the following first set of officers: Bros. Aurelio T. Lopez, Panfilo Enojas and Claro V. de Leon as Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Wardens, respectively.
Because of the distance of the seat of the lodge from Iloilo City, most of its founding members could not regularly attend the stated meetings leaving but a determined few to carry on the burden. Only a few years ago the lodge was so depleted of members that it almost had to close. But with the assistance of other lodges and the perseverance of the few remaining members, the lodge managed to survive.
Location: Sara, Iloilo
Subscribe to Graciano O. Lopez-Jaena
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kdhx.org
I DRAW SLOW : WHITE WAVE CHAPEL (Pinecastle Records)
I Draw Slow sketches a memorable portrait on ‘White Wave Chapel’
There is an interesting moment in a recent interview with Dave Holden, guitarist of the Irish band I Draw Slow, when he notes that in America their music is described as Irish, and in Ireland, it’s American. The problem might simply be in knowing too much; the band may be from Ireland, but this is American music, drawing from the folk traditions of Appalachia.
I Draw Slow’s latest album, “White Wave Chapel,” is a collection — like the two albums before it — that presents all new songs. That’s not something you’ll typically find from old-time groups from the U.S., where there is a tendency to stay closer to the roots than to the branches, and where the music tends not to reach too far beyond the boundaries of the genre.
It’s too bad, in a sense. The genre is very much alive, and even the hardest traditionalists aren’t CD players, but real musicians making real music in order to communicate with their audiences. In the worst examples there is a studied earnestness within the genre, the music presented not as something that is alive and fun, but as something that is good for you. It’s more bran than popcorn.
But the thing is, old-time music, even back in the day, was social music, played for one reason only: to have fun. It’s dance music, party music. The best performers within the genre approach the music in that vein. A few years ago, the Reeltime Travellers wowed audiences with their energy and their verve. They did lots of standards, but they also did lots of shouting and moving. As well, they used the music as a springboard to new material and new ideas, as in the song “Little Bird of Heaven” was as much of a “hit” as you ever get in old-time music.
In any case, I think the comparison is a good one, because the musicians of I Draw Slow, too, have reached new audiences with their energy, their verve, their creativity and their professionalism. Their song “Goldmine” is what got them noticed last year, bringing them to the States for the first time, in part because of the stunningly beautiful — and exceptionally professional — video that they created for the song. Last year, all the members still had day jobs when they came for their summer tour in the U.S. Through their debut spotlight at the IBMAs, they caught some ears, including those of Jerry Douglas and Béla Fleck, who later joined them on stage at various events.
This year, I Draw Slow is back for another tour in the U.S., and if you have an opportunity to see them, you should take it. This is a captivating, exciting, energetic group with some fantastic songs to present, both from their earlier releases and this recent one. Their writing is skilled, rich and wonderfully mature. As in “Valentine” (for which the band did a video starring Aidan Gillen of “Game of Thrones”) they write about the complexities of adult life. There are no answers here, just edges and ideas.
Given its experience over the past year, the band has also gained a confidence that really fills out the package. You may have a chance to see the band this summer as it will be back in the States for a series of dates. Barring that, the album is a delight. No doubt we’ll be hearing a lot more from I Draw Slow, or at least we can hope.
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HomeNewsPrestigious RSC Award won by Bolton teacher
Prestigious RSC Award won by Bolton teacher
Royal Society of Chemistry’s Schools Education Award presented to Dr. Kristy Turner, teacher at Bolton School Boy’s Division
Mike Meek
Dr. Turner is a teacher, academic and chemistry education researcher working primarily on improving the transition between school and university for chemistry students. In her research work she designs and evaluates creative ways of improving students’ understanding of chemical phenomena. She also researches how assessments in chemistry have changed over time using an archive of historical exam materials.
She said: “I am incredibly honoured to receive this award which highlights the value of the classroom teacher for chemistry students. The day-to-day experience of chemistry students at all levels, linked of course to their teachers, is a huge factor in maintaining the pipeline of talent into the chemical sciences.”
The Schools Education Award is awarded to a teacher or team who has demonstrated an exceptional ability to teach chemistry and inspire students at any pre-university level, either over a prolonged period of time or by making a large impact in a short period of time. Dr. Turner receives £2000, a medal and a certificate, and £1000 for her school science department.
Dr. Turner has been teaching chemistry in state and independent secondary schools in the North West of England for 11 years and has most recently combined this with teaching at the University of Manchester. She is an inspirational chemistry teacher and mentor and a unique bridge between the communities in secondary and higher education.
We know that chemistry can be a powerful force for good, and quality research and communication of that research are more important than ever before.
She is incredibly active in the chemistry education community, through the Royal Society of Chemistry and beyond. Her first involvement in wider collaboration was when she was a trainee teacher in 2006 with the Chemistry for Our Future initiative. Since then she has been a Royal Society of Chemistry school teacher fellow, a regular contributor and now member of the editorial board of Education in Chemistry, a subject specialist mentor for the Royal Society of Chemistry scholarship initial teacher training programme, a member of the Curriculum and Assessment Working Group and the author of the hugely popular Royal Society of Chemistry resource ‘Starters for Ten’.
Kristy recognises the value of networks in keeping teachers happy and engaged, and loves getting teachers together for informal Teachmeet CPD events, sharing best practice and camaraderie over pizza. Her work has brought new audiences to engage with dialogue on the issues surrounding chemistry and science education, including trainee teachers and experienced (and perhaps battle worn) old hands.
Dr Robert Parker, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry said: “It is an honour to celebrate the innovation and expertise of our community through our prizes and awards.
“Our charitable mission is to advance excellence in the chemical sciences, and we are proud to celebrate our inspiring and influential winners, who share that mission.”
Award winners are evaluated for the originality and impact of their research, as well as the quality of the results, which can be shown in publications, patents, or even software. The awards also recognise the importance of teamwork across the chemical sciences, and the abilities of individuals to develop successful collaborations.
An illustrious list of 50 previous winners of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s awards have gone on to win Nobel Prizes for their pioneering work, including all of the 2016 chemistry winners, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart, and Ben Feringa.
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Humber region could become 'one of most dynamic' in the UK, MP says
From Hull Live | Wednesday 9 May 2018
Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart has made a passionate plea for the region to 'speak with one voice'
The Humber region could become of the most economically dynamic areas of the UK in the wake of the Brexit vote, a regional MP has said.
Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart has made a passionate plea for the region to “speak with one voice” to secure its place on the national and international stages.
Mr Stuart made the comments while addressing a private gathering of business leaders at Tickton Grange and hammered home the message: “We can get out there, and we can do business.”
Mr Stuart said: “The Humber is the UK’s busiest ports complex, we’ve got space, we’ve got institutions, we’ve got a history of entrepreneurship, we’ve got organisations like Marketing Humber Bondholders, and we’ve got infrastructure. Castle Street aside, our infrastructure is actually pretty good.
“We can get out there and we can do business. There’s a real opportunity to build this area up as one of the most dynamic economic parts of the United Kingdom.”
The Conservative MP was joined at the event by business leaders from companies including ABP, AAK, Ørsted UK, the LEP, Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, the University of Hull, P&O Ferries and a host of the region’s SMEs.
Posing the question of what is holding the region back, Mr Stuart said there was a need to “get everyone on board” so it was speaking with a single voice.
“The best bit of networking advice I ever received is that everyone must agree to agree, because if you speak with multiple voices you’ll get nothing,” he said.
“That way, every minister that ever comes here, whether the vice chancellor or the leader of the opposition, the Labour leader in Hull, the Tory leader in the East Riding or North Lincolnshire, they hear exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. If you do that, you’ll get what you asked for.”
As well as the Humber economy, Brexit was hotly debated on the night with members expressing some concern over the ongoing negotiations.
Darren Southwell, owner of Hessle-based Relay Port Agency, said: “We all have some concerns and issues - it is good to have Graham Stuart come here and speak about some of those issues. He gave some useful insight on the bigger, global markets.”
Alex Balchin, Brewery Production Manager at Wold Top Brewery, added: “It was a really fantastic opportunity to network with like-minded business people.
“It is always useful to get a political point of view on things. Sometimes you get a view on what is going on which isn’t necessarily accurate. To have that view challenged by someone in the know is very useful.”
Atom Brewery to take over historic Corn Exchange pub by Hull Minster
Leading businesses sign up to support literature festival
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Fri, 10 Jul 1953 at 22:28 EDT (02:28 UTC)
The Moon will pass close to the Sun and become lost in the Sun's glare for a few days.
The Moon's orbital motion carries it around the Earth once every four weeks, and as a result its phases cycle from new moon, through first quarter, full moon and last quarter, back to new moon once every 29.5 days.
This motion also means that the Moon travels more than 12° across the sky from one night to the next, causing it to rise and set nearly an hour later each day. Click here for more information about the Moon's phases.
At new moon, the Earth, Moon and Sun all lie in a roughly straight line, with the Moon in the middle, appearing in front of the Sun's glare. In this configuration, we see almost exactly the opposite half of the Moon to that which is illuminated by the Sun, making it doubly unobservable because the side we see is unilluminated.
Over coming days, the Moon will rise and set an hour later each day, becoming visible in the late afternoon and dusk sky as a waxing crescent which sets soon after the Sun. By first quarter, in a week's time, it will be visible until around midnight.
At the moment of closest approach, it will pass within 1°20'of the Sun, in the constellation Gemini. The exact positions of the Sun and Moon will be:
Sun (centre) 07h22m +22°04' Gemini 31'27"
Never attempt to point a pair of binoculars or a telescope at an object close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness.
10 Jul 1953 – New Moon
11 Jul 1953 – The Moon at perihelion
16 Jul 1953 – The Moon at apogee
19 Jul 1953 – Moon at First Quarter
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(-) Contributor: Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1)
Indian myths and legends from the North Pacific Coast of America
Contributor: Bertz, Dietrich | Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Lévi-Strauss, Claude
Subject: Anthropology | Ethnography | Folklore | British Columbia--History
Genre: Essays | Stories
Extent: 377 pages
Description: This item is a Xerox copy of "Indian Myths and Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America," collected by Franz Boas, and translated from the original German into English by Dietrich Bertz. The material was originally published in a volume titled Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas (Berlin, 1895), which compiled Boas's earliest research in British Columbia, including 250 First Nations myths and legends (translated from what are now recognized as at least a dozen different indigenous languages) which had previously appeared in German periodicals between 1891 and 1895. The final chapter contains Boas's structural analysis of the stories. Bertz translated the text for the British Columbia Indian Language Project in 1977. This version also has a short introduction by Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Collection: Indian myths and legends from the North Pacific Coast of America (Mss.398.2.B631i.e)
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 (1)
(-) Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1)
British Columbia--History (1)
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“Progressive Campaigns, Social Media Ads and Young Voters,” Florian Foos, London School of Economics
Event time:
Friday, February 26, 2021 - 12:00pm through 1:15pm
Online ()
Florian Foos, Assistant Professor in Political Behaviour in the Department of Government, London School of Economics
PLEASE VISIT THE WORKSHOP WEBSITE TO SUBSCRIBE
AMERICAN & COMPARATIVE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR WORKSHOP
Abstract: Civic organizations and progressive campaigns regard digital ad campaigns as an essential method to register young voters and change the composition of the electorate. Digital strategies look promising because the registration process can be completed online, in less than five minutes. But do typical digital ad campaigns that promote messages that young people’s votes matter work? We provide evidence from a large-scale randomized trial embedded in a high-profile social media ad campaign encouraging young people to register to vote before the UK 2019 General Election. We worked with a civil society organization to deliver online adverts on Instagram and Snapchat, assigning 879 postcode sectors and 149,240 postcodes located within 40 parliamentary constituencies to treatment or control. Despite a wide reach and high engagement rates on social media, we find no effect of the campaign on voter registrations, concluding that some commonly-used digital youth voter registration strategies are ineffective. (Joint work with Peter John and Asli Unan)
Florian Foos is Assistant Professor in Political Behaviour in the Department of Government at the LSE. He uses field experiments to study the effects of campaign methods and interpersonal interactions between political actors and citizens on mobilization, political persuasion and political activism in Europe. His work has appeared in the AJPS, the JOP, the QJPS, and PSRM, among other outlets. He is a member of EGAP, and teaches political behavior and experimental methods.
This virtual workshop is open to the Yale community. To receive Zoom information, you must subscribe to the American & Comparative Political Behavior Workshop. Please subscribe at this link: https://csap.yale.edu/american-comparative-political-behavior-workshop.
The series is sponsored by the ISPS Center for the Study of American Politics and The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale with support from the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund.
American and Comparative Political Behavior Workshop
Original event page
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'Jane' Magazine Gets Jettisoned: The Meaningless Memos
The internal memo about the demise of Jane Magazine is making the rounds, and we've got a copy. The summary: It was a difficult decision to shut down the magazine, and Conde Nast President/CEO Charles H. Townsend says that his company has come to believe "that the magazine and the website will not fulfill our long-term business expectations." Blah, blah, blah. Translation: "We wasted too much fucking money on Portfolio." Townsend's memo, and a press release, after the jump.
After considerable thought, we have decided to cease publication of Jane, effective with the August 2007 issue. The website, janemag.com, will also be shut down. This difficult business decision was made despite the efforts and hard work of Brandon Holley, Carlos LaMadrid, and Jane's editorial and advertising staffs. The following press announcement was just released. Tom Wallace and I, and all of us at CNP, are grateful to everyone who contributed to Jane over the past few years.
Conde Nast Says Goodbye To 'Jane' Magazine [Crain's New York]
The HZA.
Lame! I actually enjoyed Jane. A lot. I have had a subscription to if for the past four years or so. It seemed like the one magazine who didn't take itself to seriously. And often the models weren't overly skinny. That really sucks. I was mad some months ago when CN decided to discontinue Shop Etc without even sending me a note.
Question, what happens to the rest of my subscription I paid for?
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Gucci Mane – Net Worth in 2020, Wife & Girlfriend
By Chuck Dez
What is Gucci Mane’s net worth?
Salary: $1 Million+
Income Sources: Music
Age/Date of Birth:
Gucci Mane, Guwop, La Flare, Mr. Zone 6, Wizop
Nationality: Americn
Gucci Mane is an American Hip hop rapper and songwriter popular for the hip-hop sub-genre, ‘Trap’, which he co-pioneered with fellow rappers, T.I. and Young Jeezy.
Gucci Mane’s wealth is estimated at $12 million as at 2020. Let’s take you on his journey to fame and wealth.
Gucci Mane’s Early Life and Career Beginnings
Gucci Mane was born Radric Delantic Davis on 12th February 1980 in Bessemer, Alabama, USA. Fathered by Ralph Everett Dudley, his surname was not supposed to be ‘Davis’. He however, took his mother’s (Vicky Jean Davis) last name because she was the one that signed his birth certificate. Gucci’s father was at the time running away from apprehension over allegations of selling cocaine and heroin. Ralph and Vicky eventually separated when Gucci Mane was still a child.
Owing to his parent’s unstable relationship, Gucci had a quite rough childhood. Putting up with his paternal grandmother at some point, being homeless at some other, and finally settling in a crime-infested Atlanta neighborhood, Mane became exposed to street life from a very young age.
All these however, never sapped the skilled rapper of his music talents. He had earlier started writing poetry as a child and became acquainted with hip-hop after attending a concert at age six. With inspiration from rapper Big Daddy Kane propelling him to put his words into music, Gucci began rapping at fourteen. Mane also did very well academically. He however, could not finish college as he earned expulsion and a 90-day jail time dealing on cocaine.
Details of His Music Success and Earnings
It was after dropping out of school that Mane who was already 21, started taking music seriously as a full-time career. That was in 2001, when he released his first amateur and dependent album, La Flare. Later in 2005, Gucci released his debut single ‘Black Tee’ which received wide patronage locally, earning him distribution contracts with the Big Cat and Tommy Boy Records.
From then till date, Gucci Mane has released a total of 14 studio albums, 74 mixtapes, 7 extended plays, and 99 singles among numerous other projects such compilation and collaboration albums, and promotional singles, with several of them recording commercial success.
Mane’s debut independent studio album, Trap House which he released in 2005 topped the Billboard Heartseekers Chart and around 130,000 copies to date. Hard To Kill (2006) peaked at #4 and #6 on Billboard’s Independent Albums and Top Rap Albums respectively.
After releasing three other albums, Gucci hit commercial success with “Wasted”, the lead single of his sixth studio album, The State vs. Radric Davis (2009). The song ranked among Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ top 5. The album itself debuted at #10 on Billboard 200 and #1 on Top Rap Albums, selling up to 90,000 copies its first week of release. It also went on to receive RIAA’s Gold after selling over 500,000 copies in the US.
Mane’s 7th studio album, The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted (2010) made it to #4 on Billboard 200 and earned Mane about $175,000. In 2011, his EP, The Return of Mr. Zone 6 debuted at #18 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Rap Albums Chart. He later recorded a higher charting with his ninth album, Everybody Looking (2016) which on its release, hit #2 on Billboard 200. The album’s second single, “Back on Road” sold over 500,000 copies, receiving RIAA’s Gold certification.
Gucci went on to sell over 3 million copies of “Both”, the third single from his 2016/10th album, The Return of East Atlanta Santa. The song charted on Billboard Hot 100 for 22 weeks and received RIAA’s 3x Platinum. Mr. Davis (2017), Gucci’s 11th studio album also recorded moderate success, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. One of the album’s singles, “I Get The Bag” reached #11 on Billboard and sold over 4 million copies.
In 2018, his 12th album, Evil Genius debuted at #2 on Billboard 200 and sold over 51,000 in its first week. One of its singles, “Wake Up In The Sky” went on to sell over three million copies in the US and peaked at #5 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
The rapper has also collaborated with seral A-list artists such as Mariah Carey, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Marilyn Manson, Drake, and Lil Wayne. He also did a very successful collaborations on “Black Beatles” with Hip Hop duo, Fred Sremmurd. The song which made a global sales of about 8 million was certified 6x platinum by RIAA for selling over 6 million copies in the US.
While it will be difficult to determine exactly how much Gucci Mane has realised from all of the above record sales, it is obvious that they make the major part of his net worth. At the moment, Mane is working on his 17th studio album titled So Icy Summer. Fans are hoping that this will turn out a smash hit.
Earnings from other Businesses and Investments
In addition to rapping, Mane is also an actor. He made his acting debut in the 2012 film Spring Breakers which landed him a $100,000 paycheck. His October 2015 movie The Spot launched on iTunes and other digital retailers.
Gucci owns a record label, the 1017 Records formerly 1017 Brick Squad Records which he founded in 2007. The label has signed and worked for several artists including American rapper, Waka Flocka Flame and Asian Doll among others.
A post shared by Gucci Mane (@laflare1017)
In 2013, the Atlanta rapper endorsed ‘Country Time Lemonade’. In 2016, he launched a clothing line of tees, hoodies, and underwear called Delantic which has turned out lucrative. He also released his autobiography that same year which became a New York Times bestseller.
Quick summary of Gucci Mane’s major income sources:
Delantic Clothing
Gucci’s Legal Issues and Career Setbacks
Even while doing music, recurring legal issues continued to plague Mane’s life and career. In 2005, he served a 6-month jail term for assault. He however, earned another six-month sentence in 2008 for violating his probation rules. Between 2010 and 2011, Gucci recorded three arrests and one six months prison time, over numerous charges including traffic rules violation, assault and misconduct.
The rapper has been a recklessly extravagant person with the habit of showing off expensive but rented jewelry. In one of the instances in 2012, Mane borrowed diamonds worth $200,000 from A&A, on the agreement to pay for them if he didn’t return them in 15 days. On paying just $40,000 of the total amount after he eventually failed to return the diamonds, Mane earned a legal suit from A&A. The court’s verdict placed a lien on his assets until he pays the $200,000 plus $75,000 legal fees and interest.
Mane’s legal woes reached its peak in 2014 when he earned a 39-month jail sentence for gun possession and assault. While in prison, Mane had limited movement and was only able to supervise releases. Howbeit, his music career had progressed even during his jail spells, although with limited success. The rapper released his first single, “Black Tee” straight out of prison. He reportedly made $1.3 million during the first year of his last prison sentence; and since after this last jail term which touched his life tremendously, Mane’s career has gotten much better.
How Much Is Gucci Mane Really Worth Now?
Per Celebrity Net Worth estimates, Gucci Mane earned as much as $430,000 from the sales of his 2009 album, The State vs. Radric Davis. In 2010, his 7th studio album, The Appeal raked in $175,000. The same year, Mane ranked number 20 on Forbes’ ‘Hip-Hop Cash Kings’ with a total annual earning of $5 million.
In 2011, the trapper witnessed a plunge in his career earning owing to several legal issues that plagued, causing him to make an annual income of only about reportedly made an annual income of$300,000. In the past few years however, the rapper has reportedly made not less than $1 million per year. Reports also have it that Mane takes home as much as $100,000 for a show.
As of 2020, Gucci Mane’s net worth stands at an estimated $12 million.
Aside from his liquid assets, Gucci Mane also boasts fortunes in the form of real estate, including his $9 million Marietta mansion. Most valued among the rapper’s automobile assets are his $306,000 Bentley Mulsanne, $250,000 Ferrari 612, and $240,000 Ferrari 458 Italia.
A Closer Look at Mane’s Romantic and Marital Life
While it is apparent that Gucci Mane must have had several romantic affairs, his relationship with Keyshia Ka’oir is the only one that came to media notice. Although Gucci mentioned in his autobiography that he has a 10-year-old son, he did not disclose the identity of the baby mama.
Keyshia is that one and only lady that stuck to Gucci through thick and thin, especially during his rigorous jail terms.
image source Keyshia Ka’oir
Gucci and Keyshia met in 2010 when she came to Atlanta to feature in Mane’s “911 Emergency” video. The rapper had seen her in a magazine while he was serving a six-month sentence in Fulton County prison and contacted her. According to Keisha, Gucci loved her at first sight. For her? Keyshia told Page Six she fell for Gucci after bathing him during a tour they had together that same year.
Thenceforth, the duo’s relationship grew stronger, despite Mane’s legal woes alongside serving an almost three-year jail sentence. Following his release in May 2016, Gucci proposed to Keyshia in November at a basketball game between the Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans. The couple subsequently married on 17th October, 2017 at the Four Seasons in Miami, Florida. The lavish ceremony which reportedly took $1.7 million from Mane’s pocket was documented on BET’s 10-part series, The Mane Event.
Photo by Cendino Temé (@cendinoteme_)
More Facts About Gucci Mane’s Wife, Keyshia Ka’oir
Gucci Mane’s Wife, Keyshia Ka’oir was born as Keyshia Watson on 10th January, 1985. She is Jamaican.
Keyshia used to be a video vixen. She however, later shifted to beauty and wellness, founding Ka’oir Cosmetics and Ka’oir Fitness in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Keyshia largely holds the credit for Gucci Mane’s balanced and decent post-prison lifestyle, including eating clean, staying fit, and keeping off the streets.
An Instagram source had revealed that Gucci gave Keyshia $2 million before going to jail. According to the IG user, Keyshia invested the money in a couple of businesses, as well as built their dream home; and by the time Gucci was out, she has saved up to $6 million which she gave back to him.
Keyshia was also the one who encouraged Gucci Mane to replace his gold teeth with a new set of clean white teeth. Grateful for all the gestures, patience and commitment, Mane in return, devoted himself to Keisha and her dreams. Here’s the touching thing Gucci Mane said about Keisha in his autobiography:
“I had Keyshia, my first real love. The first woman I ever wanted to bring to a red carpet and let the world know this was my lady. She held me down the whole time I was locked up and showed me what it means to have somebody you can truly count on. I wanted to be able to return the favor.”
As of the time of writing this article, Gucci and Keyshia are expecting their first child together.
A post shared by Keyshia Ka'oir Davis (@keyshiakaoir)
Gucci’s Tattoos
Gucci Mane is one of those artists who prefer to have almost their entire body covered with tattoos. He’s really got so many of them! On Gucci’s forehead, under each of his eyes and either side of his face are small tattoos that look like flowers. He also has the drawings of some other objects, designs, and write-ups from his neck and chest down to his legs, arms, and fists. One of them is a car drawn on his right shoulder.
On his right cheek is an ice cream cone with three scoops and “brrr”. Gucci had revealed through his spokesperson that the ice cream tattoo is there to remind his fans of his ‘ice-cool’ personality which is capable of making someone say “brrr”. Very interesting!
His Weight Loss Journey
More interesting is Gucci Mane’s weight loss accomplishments! Mane stepped out of the United States Penitentiary in May 2016 a totally different man – mind and body. His physical transformation was however, so conspicuous that fans found it very difficult to handle. Having slashed not less than 75 pounds off his body weight, Mane looked entirely different from himself to the extent that some sources like Don Beats claimed that the Trap House singer has been cloned.
The big cheeks and fat arms were all gone while his prominent pot belly is replaced b well-trimmed abs!
As mentioned earlier, Gucci Mane’s girlfriend and now wife, Keyshia, was instrumental to his weight loss journey. The resilient Jamaican lady compelled Gucci into a fixed daily routine of workouts and fitness diet throughout his over two years in jail and onward.
Speaking to The New York Times in an interview, Keyshia revealed that she used to speak with Gucci up to six or seven times every day to follow up on what he was eating and doing at each point in time. And when he finally came out “super skinny”, it became even much easier for her to maintain the focus.
Profile Summary
First Name: Radric
Last Name: Davis
Estimated Net Worth:
Source of Wealth: Music
Sex/Gender:
Professional Rapper, Entrepreneur
Famous For: Hip Hop Singer, Founder of 1017 Records
Colleges/Universities Attended:
Educational Qualifications:
Birthday & Zodiac
Bessemer, Alabama, U.S.
Ethnicity/Race:
The United States of America (USA)
Physical Attributes
6feet, 2 Inches (1.89 m)
Other Body Measurements:
Chest size: 44inches
Waist Size: 35inches
Biceps: 15inches
Keyshia Ka'Oir (Married October 17, 2017)
Ralph Everett Dudley
Mother: Vicky Jean Davis
One son Born in 2007
Siblings: Victor Davis (Brother)
Joséphine Davis (Sister)
Other Relatives:
Your Questions Answered:
How Much is Gucci Mane Worth?
The American rapper Radric Delantic Davis, also known as Gucci Mane has a net worth of $12 million. He makes his money mostly from the release of his 12 studio albums and a large number of mix-tapes
Why Was Gucci Mane in Jail and How Long Was He There?
Gucci Mane was on September 30, 2013, sentenced to prison to serve 183 days in jail on charges of firearm possession by a convicted felon, disorderly conduct, carrying a concealed weapon, and marijuana possession, among others. On May 13, 2014, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after reaching an agreement with prosecutors. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, his release date would be September 20, 2016, but he was released on May 26, 2016, for not initially being credited for the time he served while waiting for his court date
Chuck Dez
Chuck is a personal finance and entertainment writer with over 15 years of experience covering famous biographies, personal finance, celebrity net worth, and celebrity lifestyles. He loves the process of researching new information, discovering and learning new things, as well as putting into words, interesting things others might like to read. When he's not talking about the future of media, business or entertainment, you'll find him watching films, reading or spending time with his wife and kids
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Betting on a Winner With International Bonds
by foxcraft | The Economy, Weekly Column
US investors and fans of the St. Louis Rams have something in common. Both have seen their home teams fall from prominence to mediocrity in the past ten years. In 2000 the Rams won the Super Bowl, but in 2011 they ended the season tied for the worst record in the league. The US ranked as the world’s third freest economy in 2000, but by 2010 had fallen to number 18.
How do investors allocate their funds in a country that’s in economic decline? Much like an ardent fan of the Rams who is also an astute gambler. You cheer for your team to win, but you place your bets on the stronger opponents.
It’s critical today to take a global approach to investing. Since the US now makes up less than half of the world’s wealth, it makes sense to invest the majority of your portfolio in the stocks and bonds of other countries. This is simply another form of diversification. Not only does it make sense to have US government bonds and the bonds from a wide range of companies in your portfolio, it also makes sense to diversify and hold a wide range of bonds of international companies and foreign governments.
While it isn’t uncommon for investors to have some exposure to international stocks, I find it is unusual for them to have investments in international bonds.
When you invest in bonds, you are lending to a borrower who promises to pay interest and to repay the loan on a certain date. Bonds represent an IOU from a US or foreign corporation or government.
As with any bond, an important factor to consider is the credit quality of the issuer. This can become more complex with foreign bonds, as many countries don’t have the same standards of accounting required in the US.
A unique feature of foreign bonds is the effect that currency exchange rates have on your investment. Fluctuations in the local currency can enhance or depress your returns. For example, if you want to purchase bonds denominated in the Australian dollar (AUD) you will first need to exchange your US dollars (USD) for AUD and then purchase the bonds. If the USD drops in value against the AUD, then the value of your Australian bonds goes up because your AUD now buy more USD. The reverse happens if the USD appreciates against the AUD.
There are two ways to purchase international bonds. You can buy bonds directly from a securities broker or purchase shares of a mutual fund that invests in foreign bonds. Any fund with “international” in its name invests only in bonds of countries outside the US. If the fund has “global” in its name, it includes both foreign and US bonds in its mix.
The two categories of international bonds include those issued by developed nations like the United Kingdom, Japan, or Germany, and those issued by emerging market nations like India, Brazil, or Morocco. Emerging market bond funds invest in bonds from developing nations, risking greater losses for the chance of higher returns.
In my portfolios, I generally split my bond allocations 50/50 between the US and foreign bonds. Currently, our fund manager favors the bonds of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
The Rams did better in 2012 than in 2011, so fans can hope they regain their top status in 2013. We can also hope the US can stop its economic slide and regain its global prominence in the next decade. But until there is evidence of a turnaround, international bonds are one way to avoid betting too heavily on the home team.
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You are here: Home » Yibin Kang, PhD
Yibin Kang, PhD
Yibin Kang is a Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University and an Associate Director of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Fudan University in Shanghai in 1995. After completing his graduate study at Duke in 2000, Dr. Kang became an Irvington Institute postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Joan Massagué at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and pioneered a functional genomic approach to elucidate mechanism of breast cancer metastasis.
Dr. Kang joined the faculty of Princeton University as an Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology in 2004. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2010 and to Endowed Chair Full Professor in 2012. Dr. Kang is President of the Metastasis Research Society (2016-2018), Chair of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Tumor Microenvironment Working Group (2018-2019) and President-Elect of Chinese Biological Investigator Society (2018-2020).
Dr. Kang’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis. His laboratory applies a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the molecular basis of cancer metastasis, combining molecular biology and genomics tools with animal models and advanced in vivo imaging technologies. His work discovered new genes that promote recurrence, metastasis and chemoresistance of breast cancer, delineated tumor-stromal interactions that are essential for metastatic growth, and identified novel regulators with dual functions in mammary gland cell fate determination and tumor progression. Dr. Kang has published over 140 original articles in leading journals including Science, Cancer Cell, and Nature Medicine. Dr. Kang’s outstanding achievements have been recognized by many prestigious awards, including a Department of Defense Era of Hope Scholar Award (2006), the 2011 Vicek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Sciences (2011), and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Award for Outstanding Achievements in Cancer Research (2012), the Fidler Innovation Award from the Metastasis Research Society (2014), the Fuller Albright Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (2014) and the AACR Outstanding Investigator Award in Breast Cancer Research (2014). Dr. Kang was elected as a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Komen Scholar, and an inaugural inductee of the Duke Graduate School Few-Glasson Alumni Society in 2016.
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Blog, Events, Music, Radio, Tejano, Tex Mex, Tex Mex, Texas, Texas music, Travel, Western swing
Texas Music Hour of Power Sat nites 7-9 pm central KRTS Marfa & KWVH Wimberley and anytime here
www.marfapublicradio.org
www.kxwt.org
www.wimberleyvalleyradio.org
www.kwvh.org
www.keos.org
Every Saturday nite, yours truly hosts the Texas Music Hour of Power, showcasing all kinds of Texas sounds created over the past century of recorded music. The show runs two hours because Texas spans two time zones and frankly, the music is too dang big to limit it to one hour.
Dial in online 7-9 pm central at www.marfapublicradio.org kwvh.org or kxwt.org, or use the Tune-In app, I Tunes, or the NPR One app for KRTS-FM in Marfa and KXWT-FM in Odessa-Midland-Notrees and KWVH Wimberley
If you’re in Far West Texas, the show blasts over these fine frequencies – KRTS 93.5 FM in Marfa, KRTP 91.7 FM in Alpine, KDKY 91.5 FM in Marathon, KOJP 95.3 in Presidio/Ojinaga and KXWT 91.3 in Odessa/Midland/Notrees.
In the Hill Country, tune in 94.3 KWVH, Wimberley Valley Radio.
And join our on-air Picture Radio show by subscribing to my newsfeed Joe Nick Patoski on Facebook, where my trusty executive agricultural assistant Pepino McCoy leads the Image Wranglers posting images and providing the back stories to the music that’s
playing in real time, transforming listening to radio into a visual, multimedia experience.
Here is the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/joenickp
and while you’re at it, come over the Texas Music Hour of Power page on Facebook and give us a Like while digging the Texas music we dig up to share during the rest of the week: https:www.facebook.com/TexasMusicHourofPower
Sat nite too late? KEOS-FM 89.1 in College Station-Bryan-the Brazos River Bottoms and KEOS.org air the Early Bird Club Matinee broadcast from 3-5 pm central Saturdays.
Each week’s show is archived here for your personal portable partying pleasure.
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The live 3 hour July 27 extravaganza from Marfa (h/t to Chuck Williamson for the recording) first hour
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second hour
third hour
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The Big July 28 Three Hour Extravaganza, live from Marfa
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The Live From Marfa July 29 Spectacular
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Feb 25 is here
Links to the Feb 18 3 hour live International Open Wrangle broadcast from Marfa
http://tmhop.com/radio/20170218_TMHoP_hour1.mp3 http://tmhop.com/radio/20170218_TMHoP_hour2.mp3 http://tmhop.com/radio/20170218_TMHoP_hour3.mp3
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Here’s the Viva Big Bend Three Hour Special
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May 7? Why right here
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Tag Archives: Germany
VIFF 2020 Review: Undine
By Jon The Blogcentric on 17 November 2020 | 1 Comment
Paula Beer plays a Modern-day undine in Christian Petzold’s latest film Undine.
Undine was the first live-action foreign-language film I saw at the VIFF. It’s a very unique story.
The film begins with a man names Johannes breaking up with his girlfriend. She is distraught and even says she’ll have to kill him. Her name is Undine Wibeau. Undine tries to go about her daily life as she works as a historian at the Berlin City Museum. There she shows people a model of the city and tells of the history of Berlin. Undine has a unique ability to focus in on places and areas. She has an area of the Spree River in focus.
At a remote area of the Spree River, a man named Christoph works in the water to weld or to search out treasures found in the ocean floor. That is his profession. Undine returns to the cafe where she and Johannes used to drink at. That’s where she meets Christoph for the first time. The conversation gets friendly, but an accident happens. The accident causes them to bump into the cafe’s fish tank, causing it to break and spill all over. Both Undine and Christoph fall to the floor in love. However the owner is furious and bans the two from the cafe forever.
Over time the relationship between Christoph and Undine grows. They even move in together. One time during his job, Christoph offers to show Undine what he’s seen. Undine goes down, but without the scuba gear and she later floats off. He senses something peculiar about her. His sense of peculiarity grows right during his job he comes across a sunken ship with the name Undine on it.
Even though the relationship between Undine and Christoph grows, Undine still can’t help but think of Johannes. It strikes her as she goes about her job but when she looks at a part in the module that resembles the location of the cafe, she gets the sense that Johannes is there. Even while she’s walking romantically with Christoph in a park, she noticed Johannes with his new girlfriend. She turns her head, but returns back to Christoph. However Christoph sensed something. It wasn’t just the turn of the head but the the change of her heartbeat. It infuriates him, but Undine confesses the truth. That it was her ex.
Heartbroken, Undine goes to the cafe where Johannes is. Despite the owner being infuriated by Undine’s presence, she meets with Johannes and says he wants her back. The next day, an emergency happens at Christoph’s job site. The oxygen has been cut from his scuba outfit and he’s removed from the river unconscious. Undine is distraught to learn the news. She goes over to the hospital to see Christoph, but there’s a woman by his bedside. Christoph is unconscious and comatose. The woman tells Undine he’s brain-dead and she unleashes her anger on her. Undine leaves, going to Johannes’ place later that night. Johannes is in the pool while his girlfriend goes in the house to get a drink. Undine enters the pool. While Johannes is happy to see her, Undine drowns him. The then leaves and walks into the Spree River naked.
Two years pass. Christoph is alive and well. He recovered from his coma. The woman from the hospital, Monika, is his girlfriend and they are expecting their first child together. However Christoph is sensing something back to the Spree River. He returns one night alone, and there he sees her: Undine. She is alive and well and she belongs in the water. It becomes clear who is truly in Christoph’s heart.
One thing about this film is that it gets into the myth of the undine. For those who don’t know, the undine is a lot like the mermaid most us are familiar with. However the mermaid is just one of the images of the undine. The mythical undine is a lot darker than the mermaid who wants to please the man she meets. In fact one aspect of the undine is if the man is unfaithful to her, he is doomed to die.
What this film does is try to get to the common image of the undine in both its positive qualities and its negative qualities too. In a sense, the film is more of a reminder of the undine myth. The film also tries to set the myth of the undine in the modern world. In modern-day Berlin to be exact. Undine Wibeau is the undine in the modern world who lives along the humans, but gets to the true sense of who she is when she’s in the water.
One unique thing about the film is how they use Berlin as part of the telling of the story. Undine works as a historian with an urban development team. She knows a lot of Berlin’s history form centuries back to the days of division with the Berlin was to the present and its developments. The history also provides clues to Undine’s own past and own identity. One would be surprised how a story of an undine in modern Berlin would come to be.
This is another good film by Christian Petzold. Petzold has become one of Germany’s most heralded directors in recent years with films like Barbara, Jerichow and Phoenix. Here he delivers another good film. It’s very well-done, but it does have its flaws. The energy level does seem to get lost somewhere near the end. Nevertheless it is mostly well-written and well-acted. Paula Beer is also excellent as the mythical Undine. Her role may have lacked dimension, but she was very good in capturing the mythical figure of the undine well. The two leading men, Franz Rogowski and Jacob Matschenz, were good in their roles, but I felt their roles were underdeveloped. Hans Fromm did an excellent job with delivering the cinematography for the film.
Undine has done quite well on the film festival circuit. At the Berlin Film Festival in won the FIPRESI Prize and was nominated for the Golden Bear for Best Film. Beer herself won the Silver Bear Prize at that Festival for Best Actress. It’s also been a nominee for Best Film at the Denver Film Festival, Beijing Film Festival, Seville European Film Festival and a Best Narrative nominee at the Montclair Film Festival.
Undine is a good attempt at telling a modern-day story of the undine myth. It doesn’t keep the energy or the vibe consistent throughout the film, but it is picturesque and has a good sense of the characters.
Posted in: Entertainment - Film and Movies, Movie Reviews: 2020, VIFF - Festival and Reviews | Tagged: #VIFFest, ARTE, Beer, Christian, Deutscher, Deutschland, Filmforderfonds, films, Films We Like, FIPRESCI, Franz, Germany, IFC, Jacob, Losange, Maryam, Matschenz, Paula, Petzold, Rogowski, Schramm, Undine, VIFF, Zaree, ZDF, Zweites
2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Group B Focus
One thing about football is that there is normally a lot of foregone conclusions on who will win the Cup and who don’t have the best chances. Those are not all guarantees. Even the best teams can bomb out sooner than anyone expected. And I will be getting to that very shortly in my blog. In the meantime, I will be focusing on Group B today. It’s easy to assume one team will win the Cup, but upsets are bound to happen. So without further ado:
-Germany (2): Germany has been seen as one of the best women’s teams consistently. They’ve been in all seven previous World Cups and won twice. In 2016, they won their first Olympic gold medal after three bronzes. They’ve been in the Women’s euro all ten times and won eight. However it’s not to say they’ve had some inconsistencies too. The last World Cup where they finished in the Top 3 was their winner in 2007. Also a year after winning Olympic gold, they were beaten in the quarterfinals of Euro 2017 by Denmark. Even the best have an Achilles heel.
If there’s one thing, Germany has been consistent in play in the last twelve months. They’ve won against Canada, Italy, France and Sweden. They’ve also drawn against Japan and Spain. Chances are if Germany’s on target, they can make this World Cup #3.
–China, People’s Republic of (15): China is another team that experienced big success when women’s football started establishing itself in the 1990’s. They dominated in the 90’s, but have been set back in recent years. There was even a brief time at the beginning of this decade, they didn’t qualify for either the World Cup or the Olympics. Recent years have shown an improvement with China as they made the Round of 16 at the last World Cup and the quarterfinals at the 2016 Olympics.
China’s last twelve months have had a lot of ups and downs. They’ve had wins against teams like South Korea, Cameroon and Russia. They even tied the Netherlands at the Algarve Cup. However they’ve also had losses to France, Denmark, Norway, Japan and the United States. France 2019 will be the place for them to show the world what they’re made of.
-Spain (13): Spain’s women’s team is a team just starting to enter the stage of women’s football. In fact their appearance at Canada 2015 was their very first WWC. It was a learning experience for them as they left with two losses and a draw. In the women’s Euro, they did have one semifinals appearance all the way back in 1997. They were able to qualify for the last two Euros and finish in the quarterfinals both times. However the most recent Euro was another case of scraping by as their only win came against Portugal.
In the last twelve months, Spain has shown that they’ve made a lot of improvement. They may have lost to Poland, England and the United States, but they did achieve draws against Canada and Germany, and they also won against Finland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Brazil. France is the arena for them to prove themselves once more.
-South Africa (49): South Africa is one of four teams making their Women’s World Cup debut. South Africa has competed in the Olympics twice in 2012 and 2016. South Africa has also been runner-up five times in the CAF Women’s Championship.
South Africa will be coming to France with a lot to prove. They’re one of the lowest ranked teams in the world competing in France. In 2019, they have yet to win a game, enduring losses to the United States and the Netherlands. However they did draw against Jamaica and Sweden. It’s quite possible South Africa is just a team that hasn’t proved themselves and France 2019 could be the domain to show how much they can do.
This is one of the easier ones to predict. I’ll have to say I predict Germany to top with China in second. I anticipate Spain to take third.
And there’s my take on Group B. I aim to have all my takes on the groups completed by Wednesday. Which means I’m planning Group C’s focus tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted in: Sports - Olympics, Sports - Soccer/Football | Tagged: #19FIFAWWC, #2019FIFAWWC, #FIFAWWC19, #FIFAWWC2019, 2019, China, Cup, fifa, FIFAWWC, France, Germany, South Africa, Spain, women's, World
World Cup 2018: The Struggle Of The Defending Champion Continues
By Jon The Blogcentric on 28 June 2018 | 1 Comment
A dejected Team Germany looks on in disappointment after their 2-0 loss to South Korea.
“Congratulations to Korea for the win, for Sweden and Mexico for the qualification. It’s difficult to explain. The way we played we didn’t deserve to go through.”
-Germany coach Joachim Loew
Many of you may remember during the last World Cup, I posted a blog about the challenges the defending World Cup champion faces. Sometimes it seems like bad luck. After Germany’s game against South Korea, my look at the defending Champion deserves an update.
In the 20th Century, only Italy in 1950 and Brazil in 1966 were among the defending champions that failed to make it past the Group Stage. In the 21st Century, there was France in 2002, Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014.
Then came Germany here in 2018. Germany was the most impressive team at the 2014 World Cup and deserving of their victory. The team appeared to have many a great retire from the national team over time like Miro Klose, Per Mertesacker and Phillipp Lahm just after their World Cup win, Bastian Schweinsteiger right after Euro 2016, and Lukas Podolski in 2017. Nevertheless their reputation of consistency would continue to be as they would continue to do very well in tournaments, if not win. There was the semifinal finish at Euro 2016. There was winning their first ever Confederations Cup in 2017. They even won FIFA team of the year in 2014 and 2017 as well as the Laureus award for Team Of The Year in 2015. It appeared that the years were kind to team Germany as well as with the new talent that was coming along. Including Joshua Kimmich who won German Player Of The Year in 2017. Germany’s Olympic team in Rio which consisted mostly of men under 23 won the silver medal. It also appeared Head Coach Joachim Loew was continuing to make the right decisions and Germany’s football system which went through an overhaul in the early 21st Century was continuing to pay off big time.
Even in friendly play, Germany did very well, but they also had notable defeats like 4-2 against Argentina seven weeks after the World Cup, 2-1 against the US in June 2015, 3-2 against England in March 2016, and 3-1 against Slovakia in May 2016. 2017 looked like a good year for Germany as they topped their World Cup qualifying group easily and they didn’t even lose a dingle friendly. Their draw for the World Cup didn’t appear to threaten their World Cup status as their mix with Sweden, South Korea and Mexico appeared to be a group they could advance with after playing.
Then the 2018 year began. They drew against Spain 1-1 in their first friendly in March. Their next friendly, against Brazil four days later, they lost 1-0. They would lose to Austria in a friendly 2-1 on June 2nd and then win 2-1 in a friendly against the Saudis on June 8th. It was apparent the team chemistry that gave Germany the winning edge in 2014 wasn’t there.
The World Cup squad of 23 for the German national team was announced on June 4th 2018: two days after their loss to Austria. Manuel Neuer, goalkeeper for the 2014 team, was back and was captain of the team, as were eight other members of Germany’s 2014 team. There was also Mario Gomez who was part of Germany’s 3rd-place World Cup team of 2010. Marco Reus, who had to be replaced just before the 2014 World Cup because of an ankle injury, finally got his World Cup moment in 2018. There were some notable differences about the make-up. Four members of the 2014 team had 100 caps or more. None of the 2018 team had that. Three of the members were part of Germany’s silver medal-winning performance at the Rio Olympics in 2016. There were the ‘reliable’ veterans like Ozil, Muler, Neuer, Khedira and Boateng. As for the new players, there were talents like 26 year-old Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, 22 year-old Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Julian Brandt, and defenders like 25 year-old Antonio Rudiger from Chelsea and 23 year-old Joshua Kimmich from Bayern Munich as well as 22 year-old striker Timo Werner who scored three goals during the 2017 Confederations Cup.
There were also some notable members of the German national team who were left off the World Cup squad like Shkodran Mustafi who was part of the 2014 team and Mario Gotze who scored the goal that won Germany the World Cup. Gotze had been going through a metabolic disorder since March of last year and it may have caused his dismissal from the national team.
Then the World Cup started. Their first opponent was Mexico right in Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. There were talks of struggles with the team chemistry since the Cup started, including with their team-based training in Moscow, but it appeared to be nothing to worry about. Mexico was a team where their last defeat to them was in 1985. They even beat them in the semis at the Confederations Cup last year. However sport is not about the past; it’s about now. Vet Neuer was chosen to be goaltender, Kimmich and the relatively inexperienced Marvin Plattenhardt were the only two ‘new’ players chosen as defenders, the two midfielders were vets Kroos and Khedira, and Werner was the only ‘new’ defender of the four. Substitutions also caught people’s eyes as ‘new players’ Plattenhardt and Werner were among those substituted and two vets along with ‘new player’ Julian Brandt were the substitutes. Germany had 60% of the ball possession, 25 of 37 attempts, nine attempts on-target and nine off-target, eight of the nine corner kicks, 88% pass accuracy, but the one goal was scored by Hirving Lozano of Mexico in the 35th minute.
Germany’s 1-0 loss soon got people talking. This was Germany’s first loss of a Group Stage opening match in yay so long. There was even talk about how the German team lacked organization, lacked chemistry. Some claimed Loew was ‘separating’ the team between the tried-and-true vets and the newer players. More scattering of players than setting a build of play. Germany still however had two more games. Their next match was Sweden in another Olympic Stadium: Fisht in Sochi. Neuer was back as goaltender, but this time there was more presence of newer players, especially among defenders. Even two of the three substitutes were new players like Brandt and Ilkay Gundogan. However it appeared to be another struggle for Germany, especially after Ola Toivonen scored after the 32nd minute. It did, however, appear that Germany was beginning to find their groove again as Marco Reus evened the game up at the 48th minute. However it was starting to look like Germany was going to choke again. Then came the miracle of stoppage time. It was Toni Kroos delivering a successful free kick in the 5th minute of stoppage time to give Germany their winning goal. Despite their 2-1 victory, there were still naysayers, pointing out how Germany did so little with so much. Germany had ball possession for 71% of the game and 16 goal attempts, but only five attempts on-target. They also had five of the seven offsides. Also Jerome Boateng received two yellow cards– in the 71st and 82nd minutes– en route to a red-card dismissal and Germany to play one man down for the remainder of that game and against the following game against South Korea.
Then came Game 3 against South Korea at Kazan Arena. Germany had to win if they wanted to qualify as Mexico already had two wins. No doubt Germany appeared to be there. They had 70% ball possession, had nine corner kicks, and delivered 17 shots, but only six were on-target. Germany appeared to deliver a lot of good attempts at goals, but young goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo was on that night. It was definitely frustrating for Germany as they knew they had to win to stay alive. Sweden was beating Mexico 3-0 so a win was needed to qualify. It did not happen. This time, it was South Korea that took full advantage of stoppage time with a goal by Kim Younggwon in the 93rd minute giving Korea the lead and a goal by Son Heungmin in an empty net in the 96th minute that meant it was the end for Germany. That was only Germany’s second loss to South Korea after their fourth time playing each other.
It’s tough to decide what lead to Germany’s demise. It may be the coaching staff’s overtrusting of its senior players and not giving the newer players a fair chance. Especially after vets like Neuer, Ozil and Thomas Muller all performed below expectation. Some say there was lack of unity or lack of a game plan. There was enough on the field to notice that. Some say the coaching tactics of Joachim Loew that was successful in the past finally ran out here. Loew himself was shocked at the loss and Germany’s early dismissal, however he did not deny any of his misdoings or the team’s misdoings.
Quotes from Loew after the game:
“I think we prepared well for the tournament. We were ready and we knew that all teams will be desperate to beat us, but we haven’t showed for it.”
“It wasn’t only Ozil, a number of other players didn’t perform as they normally would. I take responsibility for that and stand up for that, but I thought it was a good team.”
Interesting to note that Loew signed a contract to stay on as coach of the national team until 2022. Loew has been coach of the German national team since 2006. However he has made it evident that he will voluntarily step down. He made his disappointment obvious, but he said it will take hours to digest.
One thing about the loss is that it gave Germany some embarrassing statistics like the second World Cup ever and first time since 1938 that Germany failed to move past the 1st round, first time for Germany to fail to qualify after opening Group Stage play, and the third defending champion in a row to be eliminated after the Group Stage.
That last statistic continues to be biting. This is the fourth time in five World Cups this 21st century and the third consecutive time the defending champion is out after the Group Stage. I’ve never considered it bad luck to be defending World Cup champion, but the statistics are strongly pointing the way to it. It was never this way in the 20th century. They may have had some bad statistics at the following World Cup, but it was very rare to be out in the Group Stage. Now it’s more common than ever with Germany being the sixth ever and third-consecutive. It’s tempting to think bad lack, but one has to study teams to know why they perform poorly time after time. This is something new and shouldn’t be, but this is tempting.
The defending World Cup champion. The definition continues.
Posted in: Sports - FIFA World Cup, Sports - Soccer/Football | Tagged: bad luck, defending, Deutschland, elimination, fifa, First Round, Germany, Group F, Group Stage, holders, Joachim, Loew, low, Mannschaft, WorldCup
World Cup 2018 Preview: Group F
I just bought the official guide to the World Cup. It gives a lot of fact and figures and trivia. Some World Cup trivia facts are worth knowing, like who scored the most goals or who achieved the fastest red card. Others, not really. Anyways enough of that. Let’s get back to reviewing the World Cup. Today it’s Group F:
-Germany (1)- Germany appear to be the clear favorites after their World Cup win in 2014. There doesn’t seem to be anything that appears to hinder them. However the defending champion teams have had a history of bad luck at the World Cup. The last time a team successfully defended their World Cup was back in 1962. The last time the defending champion made it to the final was in 1998. Also let’s keep in mind that three of the last four defending champion teams were ousted in the group stage. Germany looks like one team that won’t let it happen. The last time Germany finished outside the Top 8 was all the way back in 1938. However don’t rely on statistics.
Anyways the Mannschaft have been playing very well since their win in 2014. Upon the retirement of many vets after the Cup, coach Joachim Loew has had to train some new talent. They won the Confederations Cup for the first time ever last year. They also got as far as the semifinals at Euro 2016. However they did expose a weakness in their quarterfinal win against Italy when three of the players missed penalty shots: uncharacteristic for a team with a near-perfect record. Germany has delivered a lot of impressive wins like 6-0 over Norway, 4-1 over Mexico and 2-1 over Chile. However Germany ‘s 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia is its first win since World Cup qualification. They even lost 1-0 to Brazil and 2-1 over Austria. Chances are they could just come alive again at the World Cup. They’ve always been together at every World Cup and I’m sure Russia 2018 will be no exception.
-Mexico (15)- Mexico is frequently seen as a sleeping giant in football. They’re a team loaded with talent waiting for their big breakthrough. Sure, they’ve qualified for the knockout stage in every World Cup they’ve played in since 1986, but 1986 was the first and only time Mexico won a knockout game. You can bet Mexico’s hoping to finally get their breakthrough.
El Tricolor have had ups and downs these past four years. They won the 2015 CONCACAF Championship but finished third in 2017. They also finished fourth at last year’s Confederations Cup. However at the last two Copa Americas, the best they could do was the quarterfinals. Their track records this past year has been good. They’ve had good wins like 3-0 against Iceland, 1-0 against Poland and 3-1 against Ireland. They even delivered a strong 3-3 draw against Belgium. However they’ve had some noteworthy losses such as 1-0 against Croatia and 4-1 against Germany. Anything is possible in 2018 and Mexico could rise to the occasion.
-Sweden (23)- If there’s one team that can cause an upset, it’s Sweden. During World Cup qualifying, the Top 2 teams from UEFA’s Group A were expected to be France and the Netherlands. France did come out of top, but Sweden finished ahead of the Netherlands on goal differentials. Sweden was drawn to play against Italy for the playoff berth. I’m sure everyone expected Italy to win it. However a goal from Jakob Johansson in the 61st minute of the first game and a scoreless second game meant Italy will miss out on the World Cup for the first time since 1958. Never underestimate the Swedes.
You can bet the Blagult will be ready. The big shock is that Jakob Johansson who delivered the berth-winning goal will not be in Russia. Neither will its superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he retired from the national team after Euro 2016. Now the most capped man on the Swedish team is Hull City’s Sebastian Larsson. Since 2017, Sweden has delivered notable wins such as 3-2 against Portugal, 2-1 against France, and of course their 1-0 surprise over Italy. However they’ve had some notable losses like 2-0 against the Netherlands, 2-1 over Chile and 1-0 against Romania. However never rule Sweden out. If they can upset the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying, they could create an upset in Russia 2018.
-Korea Republic (South Korea) (61)- There’s no doubt that South Korea is the top team in Asia. It has a record of consistency with qualifying for every World Cup since 1986. They come to Russia hoping to make a good impression, but most experts don’t have too high of expectations for them. Which is surprise since they were finalists at the last Asian Cup and even won last year’s East Asian Cup. I think they get the ranking because they didn’t win a game at the last World Cup. Actually no AFC team won a single game at the last World Cup.
Most of the lineup plays for Korea’s K League 1. Only four play for European teams. Since 2017, the team has had some remarkable wins like 2-1 over Colombia and 4-1 over Japan. However the team has had some noteworthy losses like 3-1 to Bosnia, 4-2 to Russia and 3-2 to Poland. Chances are South Korea could rise to the occasion again. They just have to prove it in Russia.
And those are my thoughts on Group F. As for predicting which two will move onto the knockout round, I think it will be Germany and Mexico. Those are my best hunches.
Just four more stadiums to go. As we get closer, the stadiums will get bigger. Interesting how the World Cup will show us big cities in Russia we never knew about. In fact I never knew about this city until I learned of the stadium.
Rostov-On-Don: Rostov Arena
World Cup Groups Hosting: A, D, E, F
Additional World Cup Matches Contested: Round of 16
The most interesting thing about the stadium is that soon after ground broke, five shells from World War II were found in June 2013 and they were in near-perfect condition! The stadium is noteworthy for its irregular shape of roofing and stands. Its lighting at night is definitely a spectacle to watch. The stadium is part of major city development of Rostov-on-Don. This is the first project built on the southern bank of the Don River. Built close to shopping and dining areas, the stadium will serve as a focal point for investments and new developments. After the Cup, the seating will be reduced to 42,000 and will serve as the home venue for FC Rostov.
And there’s my summary of Group F. Only six more days to go. And two more groups and three more stadiums for me to review.
Posted in: Sports - FIFA World Cup, Sports - Soccer/Football, Uncategorized | Tagged: Blågult, Deutschland, Росси́я, Ростов Арена, Росто́в-на-Дону́, 대한민국, fifa, Germany, 태극전사, Korea, Mannschaft, Mexico, Republic, Russia, South Korea, Sverige, Sweden, Taegeuk, Tri, Tricolor, Warriors, World Cup, 大韓民國
VIFF 2017 Review: Félicité
By Jon The Blogcentric on 27 October 2017 | Leave a comment
Félicité is the story of a Congolese singer (played by Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu) who life struggles mirror that of most African women.
Félicité appears to be a film about an African woman who sings in bars to make a living, but it’s a lot more.
Félicité is a woman living in DR Congo. The film begins with her waiting for the result on a repair for her refrigerator. It needs a new fan and it will cost. She then goes to the local bar to perform her music. That’s how Félicité makes her money, by singing. The bar is mostly locals. The repairman Tabu is one of those who catches her performance. However the bar has a lot of roughness and fights are frequent.
One day, her 14 year-old son is hospitalized. He was in a motorcycle crash. His leg is so badly injured, an operation is needed or else it will be amputated. Félicité is told she needs 1,000,000 Congolese Francs in order for the operation to happen. Singing from bar to bar is not enough. Félicité first tries locals who know her, but gets either little money or negative flack. Félicité then goes around the richer areas of Kinshasa posing as family members asking for money.
She’s close to the amount she needs, but it’s too late. The leg became so terribly bruised, amputation was needed. Félicité is shattered. However she develops a loving relationship with the repairman Tabu after he successfully repairs her fridge. He’s able to give the comfort she needs. She develops the confidence to start singing with an elite choir in a college as a hobby. Tabu is also able to talk to Samo and instill in him the confidence to live again.
Tabu again returns to one of Félicité‘s shows, but leaves with another woman. Félicité sees him the next day. She is very unhappy with him, but admits her heart is still with him. Félicité returns to singing in night clubs and singing with the high choir.
The way this film is made is common what one would have for a French film. There’s a storyline with a beginning, middle and end, but there’s also a lot in the background that adds greatly to the story. We see it in Félicité‘s singing. She sings the common African songs in the bars. She also sings gracefully in the elite choir. A lot of what she sings about in the night clubs is the struggle of African people in their daily lives and she belts out her emotions when she sings. A lot of what she sings in the high-class choir is graceful and gives acclaim to God and acclaim to life. Singing is not just a profession for Félicité; it’s a way of life.
Another background element of the film is Félicité‘s life and the lives of all those around her. She exhibits the struggles common of African women of trying to raise a child and trying to make pay. There are many scenes where you see Félicité walking down the streets of Kinshasa. Often the film shows about the difficulty of those living in the DR Congo, or Africa as a whole. We’re talking about a country with a very low wage and people struggling very hard to make ends meet no matter how much or how little they get. The 1,000,000 francs Félicité needs for her son’s operation translates to $650 American dollar. It may not sound like too much to you and me, but it’s almost two years income for the average Congolese. Even seeing how Félicité poses as a family member to rich people in their gated and locked houses shows the rich-poor divide in the country. Often I felt when I was watching Félicité, I was seeing a glimpse of African life.
Alain Gomis does a very good job of storytelling here in this film he directed and co-wrote with Olivier Loustau and Delphine Zingg. Gomis himself is a French director of Senegalese parents. You can see this story is personal to him too. He does a very good job of telling Félicité‘s story while giving people a god look at what life in Africa is like. Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu does a very good job in her debut role. She was able to play Félicité like she is the African ‘everywoman.’ Papi Mpaka also plays Tabu very well. At first, Tabu is just there in Félicité‘s presence, but soon becomes part of her life and her son’s life. It’s like he come from nowhere to be what Félicité needed. The music is one of the biggest elements of the film. The film may be about a night club singer but the music Félicité engages in says a lot about the film and about life in Africa in all its joys and heartaches.
Félicité is a four-nation film collaboration of Senegal, Belgium, France and Lebanon. The film is Senegal’s official submission in the category of Best Foreign Language Film for the 2017 Academy Awards. This is the first time the nation of Senegal has ever submitted an entry into this category. The film won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film festival, won a Human Rights In Cinema award at the Istanbul Film Festival and was nominated for Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival.
Félicité is a film that doesn’t just dimply tell a story. It gives a glimpse into the difficulties of life in Africa.
Posted in: Entertainment - Film and Movies, Movie Reviews: 2017, Uncategorized, VIFF - Festival and Reviews | Tagged: Alain, Belgium, Beya, Claudia, Delphine, DR Congo, Félicité, France, Gaetan, Germany, Gomis, Lebanon, Loustau, Mpaka, Mputu, Olivier, Papi, Senegal, Tshanda, Véro, ZIngg
VIFF 2017 Review: Tehran Taboo
Tehran Taboo is an animated look at the business of prostitution in modern-day Iran.
I started my trip to the Vancouver International Film Festival seeing an animated film called Tehran Taboo. This film is a very telling film in its subject matter and how it plays out in animation.
The story begins with Pari. She’s recently separated from her drug-addicted husband who’s now in prison. To get anywhere in Iran, including getting better things for her 5 year-old mute son Elias, she needs her husband’s signature on documents. She pleads to a judge with religious connections to no avail, but makes her an offer for her to be a ‘madam’ under his system. She refuses at first, but soon changes her mind. She is introduced to the prostitution business and is even given residency for her and her son.
Sara appears to have a happy marriage with her banker husband Mohsen, but it’s not. She finds the marriage discomforting especially since her in-laws are in the way. She finds a way into the system of prostitution. She even ‘works’ with Pari.
Babak is a traditional musician trying to make a name for himself. One night after a lousy show, he has sex with a woman she dances with. The next day, she comes to him saying she needs an operation in her vagina to make her appear like a virgin. She claims she’s getting married in five days. If her fiance finds out, he’ll have her killed. It’s up to Babak to get the money for the operation or find a serum. He even meets up with a hard man she claims to be her fiance.
All three situations criss-cross in the middle of Tehran. All three meet different endings. In the end, the truth about Sara is revealed to Mohsen. It’s right after she makes a phone call for a prostitution request to a man of high government ranking. The man then orders her number traced by the morality police. Sara eventually loses it all. Babak would also lose it all. Just as he is on the verge of coming across the money needed for the operations, he witnesses public hangings. That could be an omen of his own demise. We also learn that the woman was not to be married, but part of a prostitution business where virgins are paid higher money. Despite the difficulties, things work out for Pari. She’s able to make a good income and be able to send Elias to a good school.
This animated film– animated through rotoscope– is an impressive story about three situations all intersecting with the world of prostitution. They all face their own challenges as all have to deal with the laws in Iran: both law-based and religion-based. The influence of religion is seen throughout the film as there’s cases where the husband is required to authorize along with the wife, religious clerics hold high jobs, and the morality police all around ready to arrest even on public signs of affection. Even the fact that there’s such thing as a Morality Police gives an insight of what type of system Iran has been under since the Islamic Revolution of 1978.
Prostitution is very much a hush-hush business almost universally but you can bet it is especially secretive in Iran. We’re talking about a country where adultery is considered grounds for execution. However it’s seen by these three women as a chance to make a higher income. This is especially beneficial since the income for the average Iranian is very low. Pari has a chance to receive a better life for herself and her son thanks to her work, and the red tape of a judge involved. Sara sees prostitution as a chance to escape the strain of her marriage, especially with pushy in-laws. However this ring of prostitution is a detriment for Babak as he finds himself dealing in this business without him knowing. We learn that ‘fiance’ is actually part of the business too much too late for Babak.
This is a story that takes three situations in Tehran and often has them criss-crossing together through each of the characters. Even the protagonists in one of the sub-plots will find themselves involved in the other two plots too. The three stories intersect with both the photo studio where the photographer would take pictures of those involved and Elias the mute son who says nothing, but is a witness to all that goes on. The story plays itself out both as a story with a lot of intrigue and even some comedic moments, like when they have to deal with a gynecologist with poor personal hygiene or the photographer always changing backgrounds.
SPOILER WARNING: In the end, it’s Pari who’s the one that benefits most from this system of prostitution, if not the only one benefiting at all. Babak finds himself stuck in the middle of what would become what many believe to be his tragic fate in the end. Sara loses it all in the end, and it’s obvious her drug-induced jump at the end is a suicide. It’s evident she feels like she has nothing to live for. Pari, on the other hand, had the unfairness in her favor. She struggled with the unfairness of the Iranian legal system demanding her husband’s signature for many things; that’s the law in Iran. How could she when her ex-husband is in prison? But when the Iranian judge offered her an entry into the prostitution business, it opened doors for her and Elias. It even allowed her to achieve things without her husband’s signature. Despite the struggles, it appears Pari is the only one who won.
This is the first feature-length animated film for Ali Soozandeh. Ali was born in Iran but would emigrate to Germany. It’s easy to see why the film’s countries of production are listed as Germany and Austria. There’s no way Iran would allow for a film like this to be released! The film which he directed and co-wrote with Grit Kienzlen is a very good story of intrigue and will raise a lot of eyebrows about what’s going on ‘underground’ in a country like Iran. All the actors did their parts very well, whether it be doing their voices or acting for their rotoscope images. I feel the rotoscope method of animation fits the film very well in terms of telling its story. Rotoscope also helped well with Waltz With Bashir a few years ago.
Tehran Taboo is an excellent animated film about the secrets of Iran few know about. The stories of those involved, and why they do it, are made very clear.
Posted in: Movie Reviews: 2017, VIFF - Festival and Reviews | Tagged: Abadinejad, Ali, Arash, Austria, Farhad, Germany, Grit, Iran, Jasmina, Kienzlen, Marandi, rotoscope, Soozandeh, Taboo, Tehran
2017 Confederations Cup Preview
The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup will take place in Russia one year before they are to host the World Cup.
With the World Cup just a year away, that means this year will have the FIFA Confederations Cup. Back in 2013, I did a focus on the Confederations Cup and why it’s an important tournament. This year’s Confederations Cup is important as well. Not just because the Cup is a growing tournament but also for the host country of Russia.
Russia is already a country controversial enough with the way they do politics. Hosting next year’s World Cup is also considered controversial as there’s question on how Russia won their bid and FIFA’s process in achieving the victories for both Russia for 2018 and Qatar for 2022. All I can say in this matter is I don’t have the research on that and things will have to sort themselves out over the year’s time leading up to the World Cup.
While the World Cup will be contested in twelve stadiums in Russia next year, this Confederations Cup will be contested in four stadiums. All four being ‘fresh’ stadiums which are either just now breaking ground or have broken ground only within the past five years:
Otkrytiye Arena, Moscow – This will be one of two stadiums in Moscow that will stage the World Cup. Located in the Tushino area of Moscow, this stadium is the home venue for Spartak Moscow. Completed in 2014, this stadium seats just over 45,000 people.
Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg – This 68,000-seat stadium may have just broken ground this year but it took ten years to complete. Problems from construction management to changing contractors to problems with its conditions have plagued the stadium and its construction but it will finally be ready for the Confederations Cup. Built on Krestovsky Island, the stadium is also the host venue for the football team FC Zenit.
Kazan Arena, Kazan – Completed in 2013, this 45,000-seat stadium has the largest outside screen in Europe. The stadium has hosted events like the 2013 World Student Games and the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. The stadium is also the home venue for Russian Premier League team Rubin Kazan.
Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi – Remember the $51 billion Sochi Winter Olympics? This is the host stadium which hosted the ceremonies and held the Olympic flame. Determined not to have it become a ‘white elephant,’ the stadium is now the home venue for Russian Professional Football League team FC Sochi. In addition, it will also host six World Cup games next year.
The tournament begins Saturday the 17th. There will be eight teams. Six are winners of their continent’s respective championship, Germany qualified as winner of the World Cup and Russia qualifies as host nation. Here’s how the teams stack up. FIFA rankings for June 2017 are the numbers in brackets:
-Russia (63): Russia is an enigma in football right now. The team has a lot of talent but constantly misses in delivering in major tournaments and qualifying events. Such examples include qualifying for three World Cups since the USSR dissolved and failing to qualify for the knockout round each time. Another example is the Euro tournament: semifinalists in 2008 but out in the Group Stage in 2012 and 2016. Trying coaches from other countries like Guus Huddink and Fabio Capello have delivered sub-par results.
Russia has yet to prove its current team since Euro 2016. The team consists of a Russian coach and all but one of the lineup for the Cup play for teams in the Russian Premier League. 2017 has not been the best to Russia as they lost 2-0 to the Ivory Coast and drew 3-3 against Belgium and 1-1 against Chile. They did however score a 3-0 win against Hungary. Remember that football is a box of surprises as Pele always says and Russia could end up surprising everyone here.
-New Zealand (95): New Zealand can be either a very good team or a bad team. It qualified for the 2010 World Cup and drew in all of its games. However it hasn’t made much of an impact since. The current line-up of the all-blacks only features one player that plays for a team in a major European League (France’s Ligue 1). The Kiwis have been dominant against teams from Oceania but have struggled against teams from other continents such as a 1-1 draw against the US and losses to Belarus, Northern Ireland and Mexico. If they don’t go far here, they can always learn in time for next year.
-Portugal (8): Portugal is a team of surprises. The team went from lackluster group play in Euro 2016 to becoming Cup champions. Portugal has since maintained its reputation as one of the best teams in the world with excellent play in World Cup qualifying and continuing to win most of their games. However they have had some notable losses such as a 2-0 loss to Switzerland in September and a 3-2 loss to Sweden in March. Portugal can either be very on or very off here in Russia. The next two weeks will decide their fate.
-Mexico (17): Mexico has always been seen as the leader of the CONCACAF. They hope to take it even further by proving themselves among the best in the world. However it’s come at a struggle as they’ve ended their last six World Cups in the Round of 16. Mexico have had a lot of good wins in the last 12 months to teams like Ireland, Iceland and Costa Rica and even had a 1-1 draw against the US. However they’ve had a 2-1 loss to Croatia and a 7-0 loss to Chile at the Copa America. The World Cup may be one year away but now is a good chance for Mexico to prove itself on the world stage.
Prediction: This is a tough one but I predict the two qualifiers to the semis to be Mexico and Portugal, but don’t count out a possible surprise from Mother (?) Russia.
GROUP B:
-Cameroon (32): Cameroon have been one of the most consistent African teams. However their play in the last two decades have been far from their glory days in the early 90’s. The team has worked hard to become better and more consistent since the embarrassment of the 2014 World Cup where they finished dead last. The current squad has many players from many leagues. The team hasn’t had the best chances at proving themselves since. In the past twelve months, they’ve either won or tied every game, but they’ve all been against African teams. The Confederations Cup is a chance for them to prove themselves and where they stand.
–Chile (4): We can have a long discussion about the ‘sleeping giants’ in football waiting for their big moment to arrive. Chile would be one of them. They have been underestimated in the past and have even gone out in the Round Of 16 in the past two World Cups; and to Brazil both times. However Chile has seized the moment at both the 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas by winning their first-ever Copas. Chile now wants to prove its greatness on the world stage, but they have had an up-and-down period since Copa 2016. They’ve had wins against Uruguay, Colombia and Iceland, but they’ve also had losses to Romania and Argentina and even drew against Russia 1-1 just a week ago. Chile will have to seize the moment if they want to prove themselves further.
–Australia (48): Since Australia was switched from the Oceania federation to the AFC after their Round of 16 surprise at World Cup 2006, bigger and better things were anticipated from them. Instead it’s been the opposite with losing in the Group Stage these past two World Cups. Australia hopes to put itself back as a powerhouse. However they’ve had a mixed bag of results in the past twelve months ranging from a 1-0 win against Greece to a 4-0 loss to Brazil. Anything can happen here in Russia and Australia could possibly find itself among the frontrunners.
-Germany (3): The current holders of the World Cup appear to be the heavy favorites to win here. They’ve maintained a consistency even with new members added to the national team ever since. However they’ve had their difficulties too. The semifinal loss at Euro 2016 showed they still have some elements of team unity and other glitches to work on. Since Euro, Germany have not had a loss. They’ve had wins against England and the Czechs but have also drawn 0-0 against Italy and 1-1 against Denmark. They have what it takes to win the Cup here. They just have to deliver.
Prediction: Long shots can pull surprises but I’m going to go with my best instincts and predict Germany and Chile to be this group’s two qualifiers.
And there’s my look at the confederations Cup and the competing teams. Winner to be decided on Sunday July 2nd. Possible more blogs to come, depending on how many hits I get with this.
Posted in: Sports - Soccer/Football | Tagged: Australia, Cameroon, Chile, Confederations, continent, Cup, fifa, Games, Germany, Kazan, Mexico, Moscow, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, World Cup
UEFA Euro 2016: Group C Focus
By Jon The Blogcentric on 1 June 2016 | Leave a comment
Meet Super Victor, mascot of Euro 2016.
This is actually my favorite group of the six because I’m 3/4 Ukrainian, 1/4 German. Plus I like Poland because Poland and Ukraine have a lot in common, especially in their language. Nevertheless this should make for an exciting group with a lot of rivalry. So here’s my review of Group C:
Poland (27): Poland may have a good World Cup legacy with seven appearances and two third-place finishes but they lack a Euro legacy with competing in only the last two and going out in the Group Stage both times. Last Euro was especially embarrassing since they were co-hosts and didn’t win a game. Since then the White Eagles has gotten better. And it’s not just with Robert Lewandowski becoming a star striker for Bayern Munich. It’s the whole team that has been performing consistently. In fact the team even scored their first ever win against Germany in October 2014 during Euro qualifying. They’ve had other notable wins in the past two years against Ireland, Czech Republic and Serbia. Their only loss in the past two years came to Germany when they got their Euro qualifying revenge last September. Before I even give my predictions, I can already say I know Poland will advance to the Round of 16 at the very least. Poland could be the team most likely to cause a surprise.
Northern Ireland (26): This is Northern Ireland’s first ever Euro. They’ve played in three World Cups before and even made the quarterfinals in 1958 but no previous Euro. The team may not have a George Best right now but they appear to be getting stronger in recent years. Five players play for the Premier League and they’ve scored notable wins against Hungary and Greece. Their two losses to European teams in the past two years were to Romania and Scotland. France could be another proving ground for the team.
Germany (5): You think that since they’ve won the World Cup in 2014, they should be top of the world, right? Well one of the reasons why they won the World Cup is because they had the most team unity and best team chemistry of all. No standout superstars, just one functioning team. And that’s how it should be. However three of its top players from World Cup 2014–Per Mertesacker, Phillipp Lahm and Miroslav Klose–retired immediately after. This led to dealing with a new team format since then and also into developing new national team players. Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Andre Schurrle and Mario Gotze and still part of The Mannschaft but they’re also added some new younger talent too.
With the changes to the team, they’ve gone through some ups and downs. They qualified for the Euro top of their group. They’ve had some notable wins against Poland, Spain, Scotland and their traditional ‘Achilles heel’ Italy. However they’ve also had some notable losses to Argentina, Poland, the U.S., France, England and most recently Slovakia. However Germany has a habit of coming alive when they most need to so it’s not right to dismiss them quite yet. Plus Euro 2016 could be the grounds for a lot of the new younger players to come of age. Only time will tell.
Ukraine (22): Ukraine is a team that either gets better or keeps on learning over time. They first arrived as a team at the 2006 World Cup where they made the quarterfinals. However they’ve struggled to qualify for a World Cup since. They played in their first Euro in 2012 as co-hosts going out in the Group Stage. The current team mostly plays for teams in the Ukrainian Premier League. The current team has a lot of good talent like veteran Anatoliy Tymoschuk and rising great Andriy Yarmolenko. In the past year, the team has had some notable wins over Wales, Romania and Slovenia. Their only loss in 2015 came to Spain. In their history, they’ve either won or tied Northern Ireland, had mixed results against Poland and never won against Germany. Chances they could be on at Euro 2016.
Prediction: I think Germany vs. Poland will be a draw game and both teams will have the exact game results in all of group play. But I think Germany will come out on top over Poland because of goal differentials. Third place in this group will go to Ukraine.
And there you go. My thoughts on Group C. My thoughts on Euro 2016’s Group D coming soon.
Here are my reviews of other groups:
Posted in: Sports - Soccer/Football | Tagged: 2016, Białe Orły, championships, Euro, European, football, France, Germany, Ireland, Mannschaft, Northern, Northern Ireland, Poland, uefa, Ukraine, Ulster, White Eagles
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Pair steals nearly $5,000 in perfume from store in Guelph: police
Chase Banger CTVNewsKitchener.ca Digital Content Producer
Published Thursday, November 26, 2020 10:20AM EST
Bottles of perfume and cologne are shown Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
KITCHENER -- Police are looking for two people who allegedly stole 21 bottles of perfume from a Guelph store.
According to police, the incident happened on Monday between 7:30 p.m. and 7:50 p.m.
In a news release, officials said the duo took the bottles, which ranged in price from $120 to $241, from a store near the intersection of Clair Road West and Gordon Street.
The brand names included Tom Ford and Chance. Their combined value of stolen perfume was about $4,497.
Police said they're looking for a man of average height and larger build. He was reportedly wearing a grey baseball hat, a black leather jacket, dark pants and a disposable blue mask.
They're also looking for a woman who's described as short with a larger build. Police said she was wearing a long grey coat, a puffy black hat and white shoes, and was carrying a large black purse.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
This isn't the first time that someone has made off with a huge amount of stolen perfume. Last month, police began investigating after two men allegedly stole $6,000-worth of perfume from another store.
Two men accused of stealing $6,000 in perfume
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Will the Tokyo Olympics be held or not An unequivocal stand was taken
admin December 30, 2020 Sports No Comments
In 2021, whether we like it or not, we will start the game: John Coates, Vice President, Olympic Committee
TOKYO, – International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates has said in a blunt position that the 2021 Tokyo Olympics will be held in any way possible. In a statement, John Coates said that the Tokyo Olympics would be held in July next year under a new schedule, with no change in the dates.
“Whether Krona stays in 2021 or not, we will start the game. The Tokyo Olympics will be a victory against Krona. The Olympics were not canceled even in the world wars,” he said. New Olympic dates have been set. According to the Tokyo Olympics, which will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021, the competition was originally scheduled for July 24 this year, but the Japan Medical Association has also raised questions about new dates. Many sports analysts say that it is difficult to hold the Olympics in the future, mainly due to the uncontrollable deadly virus.
In a statement, John Coates explained that the Tokyo Olympics will be held in July next year under a new program, without a change at the dates.
“Whether Krona remains in 2021 or not, we’ll initiate the game. The Tokyo Olympics will probably be a success against Krona. The Olympics weren’t canceled in the entire world wars,” he explained. New Olympic dates are set. According to the Tokyo Olympics, which is held from July 23 to August 8, 2021, the contest was initially scheduled for July 24 this season, but the Japan Medical Association has also raised concerns regarding fresh dates. Many sports analysts state it is hard to maintain the Olympics in the long run, mainly as a result of uncontrollable lethal virus.
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'Best of the best': St. Thomas, Ont.-native joins Royal Canadian Navy's top diving squad
Brent Lale CTV News London Videographer
@BrentLaleCTV Contact
Published Monday, November 23, 2020 5:14PM EST Last Updated Tuesday, November 24, 2020 8:21AM EST
ST. THOMAS, ONT. -- First Class Sailor Jeff Haskins has now joined the brotherhood of Canada's naval diving elite.
The St. Thomas, Ont. native, now living in Halifax, NS, has graduated and become a member of the Fleet Diving Unit (FDU) of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).
"A Navy Clearance Diver handles EODs (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) on land and underwater, mostly doing mine clearing measures," says Haskins, who is currently quarantining in Halifax.
He will now not only be blowing stuff up for a living, but will be part of the engineering department that will work to repair damage to ships.
"The main thing clearance divers are called into do right now is called Operation Open Spirit," explains Haskins. "They go to the Baltic Sea and dispose of World War II mines left there from the Germans. We find these old sea mines and dispose of them properly. We are also ready and trained in case there is a threat in Canada."
SSBA (Surface Supplied Breathing Apparatus) is used by Royal Canadian Navy Clearance Divers to dive down to 300 feet. (Source: Jeff Haskins)
Haskins was one of 120 Canadians nationwide who tried out for Clearance Diver Training.
"I wanted to work with the best that Canada has to offer," says Haskins, who graduated as top QL5A student, which is a combination of academic and team award.
"I've reached the top level that Canadian Forces has to offer when it comes to diving."
Sailor First Class Jeff Haskins, second from left, receives his QL5A Top Student Award, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. (Source: Fleet Diving Unit/Facebook)
Haskins is following in the footsteps of his great grandfather, Petty Officer Walter Gould.
Gould joined HMCS Prevost in London, Ont. in 1942 as a shipwright and did the Trans-Atlantic Crossing.
Sixty-nine years later, Haskins got his start in the same place.
While his friends at St. Joseph's High School in St. Thomas were taking part-time jobs, Haskins decided to join the military. He started at HMCS Prevost as a cook.
"From the beginning it was clear he was destined for things," says Acting Sub-Lieutenant Mara Pritchard, public affairs officer for HMCS Prevost.
"He joined saying he was going to be a diver, he was going to join the regular force. The exciting part is to see people take their dreams and make them a reality. It's great now to tell people who are just joining, that Prevost can help you foster your naval career."
Achieving this rank at 26 years old is atypical, especially considering he switched trades a few times, doing five selections and a 16-month course.
He was named Sailor of the Year in 2018 along the way, but isn't done setting goals.
"I'm doing university part-time right now," says Haskins. "I want to become a medical officer in the Canadian military specializing in diving medicine."
In the meantime, he's thrilled to have received his 'Dolphins' badge as a member of the Clearance Diving Team which he says "makes life a lot easier."
Until the next chapter, he'll just enjoy what many people would love to do...blow stuff up underwater.
"It’s a lot of fun that's for sure," says Haskins.
Kris Heywood of London, Ont. also graduated Friday. He was given the academic award.
Jeff Haskins is seen on a Royal Canadian Navy jet boat after a dive in this undated image. (Source: Jeff Haskins)
CCDA (Canadian Clearance Diver Apparatus), a shallow water rebreather, is seen in this undated image. (Source: Jeff Haskins)
First Class Sailor Jeff Haskins, right, says he couldn't do what he does with the support of his wife, Acting Sub-Lieutenant Ellen Mooney. (Source: Jeff Haskins)
Billion-dollar CAMI announcement
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Limn
Issue 8 Hacks, Leaks, and Breaches »
The Political Meaning of Hacktivism
By Ashley Gorham
In less than a decade, hackers have gone from marginal political actors to talking points at presidential debates. Hillary Clinton’s emails and Donald Trump’s 400-pound hacker are only the most recent evidence of hacking’s ascendance in the political sphere. Hacking’s popularity has verged on infamy at times. Fears of foreign spying, “unpatriotic” leaks, and cybercrime abound. Accounts of WikiLeaks and Anonymous, two of the most famous hacktivist forces, have been colored by these concerns. Contrary to these negative accounts, hacktivism can be a legitimate and effective form of political action. However, not all hacktivism is the same. In this article, I seek to differentiate the hacktivism of WikiLeaks from that of Anonymous by articulating the models of politics the two forms of digital activism represent. WikiLeaks’s fetishization of truth begets a technocratic politics, while Anonymous’s emphasis on opinion encourages a more democratic practice. Understanding this distinction helps to illuminate the particular implications of their political action, which are obscured by the conflation of the two hacktivist groups.
The connection between truth and technocracy is at least as old as Plato. Plato’s philosopher-kings’s rule is based on their knowledge of the “Forms.” Knowledge of the Form of the Good allows for knowledge of all observable things as worldly manifestations of the invisible Forms. To approach such knowledge, philosophers require a rigorous and technical education, which includes arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and dialectic. Those who achieve knowledge of the Forms gain access to the Truth, which is superior to “mere opinion” because it is eternal and unchanging. It is self-sufficient and does not require input from “the people.” Knowledge of the Forms offers a kind of blueprint for ruling; in the Republic, Socrates suggests, “there is no way a city can ever find happiness unless its plan is drawn by painters who use the divine model” (Plato 2004:500e1–e3). Plato compares the political leader to “the physician, weaver, and artist,” all technocrats in the literal sense as it refers to “craftsmen,” or “artists” working with “passive material receptive to the impress of the Idea” (Wolin 2004:43). In the words of Hannah Arendt, “the philosopher-king applies the ideas [Forms] as the craftsman applies his rules and standards; he ‘makes’ his City as the sculptor makes a statue” (1958:227).[1]
While Plato idealizes the technocratic regime of Truth of the philosopher-kings, he identifies “mere opinion” with “disorder” (Wolin 2004:35). According to Nadia Urbinati, Plato understood opinion as “the name of a view or a belief that cannot pass the bar of philosophical analysis” (2014:29). Suspicion of opinion runs throughout the canon of Western philosophy. Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill caution against opinion’s oppressive power, which Mill called the “yoke of opinion” (2006:14). Arendt is unusual among political thinkers in her defense of opinion. Arendt was critical of the “despotic character” of truth, writing:
The trouble is that factual truth, like all other truth, peremptorily claims to be acknowledged and precludes debate, and debate constitutes the very essence of political life. The modes of thought and communication that deal with truth, if seen from the political perspective, are necessarily domineering; they don’t take into account other people’s opinions, and taking these into account is the hallmark of all strictly political thinking (1993:241).
Unlike truth, opinion is fallible, but this is its value for Arendt because it makes room for democratic discourse and debate.
Although they do not rule according to their knowledge of the Truth, like Plato’s philosopher-kings, WikiLeaks understands politics in terms of truth. There are at least three kinds of truth involved in WikiLeaks’s politics: theoretical, mathematical, and political. WikiLeaks’s political action centers on the “leak,” or the transmission of classified, private, or otherwise secret information. Their model of leaking is rooted in the “cypherpunk” philosophy of their founder, Julian Assange.[2] In Assange et al.’s (2012) Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, cypherpunks are described as “advocate[s] for the use of cryptography and similar methods as ways to achieve societal and political change” (2012:v). For WikiLeaks, cypherpunk thought represents a kind of theoretical truth; it is a blueprint for political action, which the organization seeks to implement technically through its “innovative, secure and anonymous” leaking submission system (WikiLeaks 2011). Assange believes his work with WikiLeaks has “given political currency to the traditional cypherpunk juxtaposition: ‘privacy for the weak, transparency for the powerful’” (Assange et al. 2012:7). Cryptography is itself grounded on mathematical truth; Assange has said, “it just happens to be a fact about reality, such as that you can build atomic bombs, that there are math problems that you can create that even the strongest state cannot break… So there is a property of the universe that is on the side of privacy, because some encryption algorithms are impossible for any government to break, ever” (Assange et al. 2012:61–62).[3] Finally, WikiLeaks views the content of the leaks themselves as political truths. In his article “Don’t Shoot Messenger for Revealing Uncomfortable Truths” (2010), Assange makes this point explicit, writing of WikiLeaks, “The idea…was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.” These three truths represent the idea behind, enabling form, and content of WikiLeaks’s leaks. The organization’s technocratic implementation of the theoretical truth of cypherpunk thought, based as it is on mathematical truth, facilitates the leaking of political truth in pursuit of “privacy for the weak, transparency for the powerful.”
Like WikiLeaks, Anonymous is also concerned with truth, but unlike WikiLeaks, their hacktivism reflects the centrality of opinion to politics. Although it is discussed far less than their commitment to free speech, opposition to censorship, and love of “the lulz,” opinion is the substance of both their internal communication and external actions.[4] Before, during, and after operations, “Anons” correspond with one another almost continuously on IRC (internet relay chat), and through their discussions they form a community, as many become known to one another by their hacker handles. Multiple IRC networks and channels and Twitter accounts are active at all times. Hanna Pitkin once criticized Arendt’s concept of “the political” with its idealization of Athens by quipping, “what is it that they talk about together, in that endless palaver in the agora?” (1981:336). Online members of Anonymous seem to have created an unembellished version of this ideal as their continuous conversations run the gamut from the not serious at all to the extremely serious (and often both at the same time). The absence of official dogma allows for the coincidence of multiple and at times conflicting opinions.
Anonymous has staged protests against Scientology, Sony, and BART, and in support of WikiLeaks, the “Arab Spring,” and Occupy, among many others. In carrying out their operations, Anonymous employs a variety of tactics, including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, website defacement, data dumps, physical protest, press releases, consciousness-raising through videos, hacks, leaks, and various kinds of pranks (see Coleman 2014; Norton 2012). While they may not rise to the level of discourse, such tactics are expressive. They are better understood as expressions of opinion and prods to opinion formation and reformation than as edicts of truth. Both internally and externally, Anonymous is constantly undertaking the work of opinion formation and expression rather than allowing truth to do the work of politics for them. In this way, Anonymous engages in democratic praxis.
It is not that WikiLeaks’s hacktivism is incompatible with democracy; leaking can expose wrongdoing and often leads to positive change. Factual truth is essential to politics for a number of reasons, not least of which is that “facts inform opinions,” which means that “freedom of opinion is a farce unless factual information is guaranteed and the facts themselves are not in dispute” (Arendt 1993:238).[5] The problem is that the technocratic fetishization of truth can have antidemocratic effects. Truth has, in Arendt’s words, a “despotic character” like that of the philosopher-kings: its rule is absolute (1993:241).[6] By contrast, in “matters of opinion…validity depends upon free agreement and consent; they are arrived at by discursive, representative thinking; and they are communicated by means of persuasion and dissuasion” (Arendt 1993:247).[7] Arendt notes that “the shift from rational truth to opinion implies a shift from man in the singular to men in the plural” (1993:235). While opinion entails community, truth requires only a single representative. Thus, when politics is understood primarily in terms of truth, the demos may be devalued.
This danger echoes in the internal politics of WikiLeaks itself. Famously, Assange is alleged to have suspended Daniel Domscheit-Berg from WikiLeaks for “disloyalty, insubordination and destabalization [sic] in a time of crisis” (Domscheit-Berg and Klopp 2011:227). When WikiLeaks volunteer Herbert Snorrason questioned Domscheit-Berg’s suspension, Assange is said to have responded, “I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier and all the rest. If you have a problem with me, piss off” (Zetter and Poulsen 2010). Elsewhere, Assange has admitted to considering himself “a bit of a vanguard” (Assange et al. 2012:84).
Anonymous’s emphasis on opinion helps to insulate the collective against the tyranny of philosopher-kings. Opinion is dependent on a community (both real and imagined) for its validity; lacking the “force of truth,” it relies on consent (Arendt 1993:240). In this way, opinion entails a community by consent. Understood in terms of voluntary engagement rather than consensus, Anonymous can be said to be such a community by consent. Gabriella Coleman has described Anonymous as a “wily hydra”—a loosely coordinated collective of changing (and at times conflicting) associations without “a stable hierarchy or a single point of control” (2014:48,75). It is perhaps best understood as a “do-ocracy,” or a system “rule[d] by sheer doing,” in which “Individuals propose actions, others join in (or not), and then the Anonymous flag is flown over the result” (Norton 2012; see also Coleman 2014:75). As Coleman points out, “some Anons are more active and influential than others—at least for limited periods” (2014:75). However, no one could ever say that he or she was “the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier and all the rest” in reference to Anonymous. Opinion’s communal nature demands as much.
There is a way in which WikiLeaks and Anonymous are both technocratic and both democratic: both embrace technological expertise and have expressed a commitment to democracy. These similarities help explain why the two are so frequently grouped together and the distinctions between them collapsed. Yet, while both WikiLeaks and Anonymous have technocratic and democratic elements, their participation in the categories is not uniform. Their differing relationships to truth and opinion mark a definitive divide between the groups. The two can function well together, working to temper each other’s excesses, but from the perspective of democracy, WikiLeaks’s excesses are more troubling than those of Anonymous. The pitfalls of WikiLeaks’s model of politics surfaced during the recent U.S. presidential election, as the organization’s leaks appeared to target only one of the candidates, thus implicitly endorsing the other. While both Anonymous and WikiLeaks seek to influence democratic discourse, WikiLeaks approaches politics from a position outside of the demos, in the role of truth-teller. Eliding the influence of its own curatorial opinions on its truths, WikiLeaks opens itself up to the charge of manipulation. The inability, or unwillingness, of WikiLeaks to recognize the relationship between its truths and its opinions leads the organization to risk harming the system it claims to serve.
Ashley Gorham is a doctoral student in political science at the University of Pennsylvania. More »
[1] Plato’s philosopher-kings are certainly not conventional technocrats. They do not possess a narrow expertise; in fact, they are by definition “lovers of wisdom.”
[2] For a description of the evolution of cypherpunk thought, see Levy (2001).
[3] Incidentally, as Arendt notes, “Plato…believed that mathematical truth opened the eyes of the mind to all truths” (1993:230).
[4] Gabriella Coleman defines “the lulz” as “a deviant style of humor and a quasi-mystical state of being” (2014:2).
[5] That truth is necessary in politics amounts to a truism, and yet “No one has ever doubted that truth and politics are on rather bad terms with each other” (Arendt 1993, 227). The rise of “alternative facts” is a reminder of just how important, and fraught, the relationship is.
[6] Interestingly, Assange has described Plato as “a bit of a fascist” (Baird 2013).
[7] “Representative” thinking involves “considering a given issue from different viewpoints,” which requires “being and thinking in my own identity where actually I am not” (Arendt 1993:241).
Arendt, Hannah. 1958. The Human Condition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
———. 1993. “Truth and Politics.” In Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought, pp. 227–264. New York: Penguin.
Assange, Julian. 2010. “Don’t Shoot Messenger for Revealing Uncomfortable Truths.” The Australian, December 8. Available at link.
Assange, Julian, Jacob Appelbaum, Andy Müller-Maguhn, and Jérémie Zimmermann. 2012. Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet. New York, NY: OR Books.
Baird, Julia. 2013. “Assange as Tyrant?” New York Times, September 14. Available at link.
Coleman, Gabriella. 2014. Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous. New York: Verso Books.
Domscheit-Berg, Daniel, and Tina Klopp. 2011. Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website. Translated by Jefferson Chase. New York, NY: Crown.
Levy, Steven. 2001. Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government—Saving Privacy in the Digital Age. New York, NY: Viking.
Mill, John Stuart. 2006. On Liberty and The Subjection of Women. Edited by Alan Ryan. New York, NY: Penguin.
Norton, Quinn. 2012. “How Anonymous Picks Targets, Launches Attacks, and Takes Powerful Organizations Down.” Wired, July 3. Available at link.
Pitkin, Hanna Fenichel. 1981. “Justice: On Relating Private and Public.” Political Theory 9(3):327–352.
Plato. 2004. Republic. Translated by C. D. C. Reeve. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
Urbinati, Nadia. 2014. Democracy Disfigured: Opinion, Truth, and the People. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
WikiLeaks. 2011. “About: What is WikiLeaks?” May 7. Available at link.
Wolin, Sheldon S. 2004. Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Zetter, Kim, and Kevin Poulsen. 2010. “Unpublished Iraq War Logs Trigger Internal WikiLeaks Revolt.” Wired, September 27. Available at link.
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Humans of State High
2020-21 ISSUES
Lions' Digest
How the NBA has Dealt with Change
The Milwaukee Bucks stadium has very few people in sight, only the referees, and some of the Miami Heat team.
Matt Allison, Staff Writer
The Milwaukee Bucks, who had a chance to clinch their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic boycotted the game and decided to not go to the court for their game on Aug. 31. Hours before this game, Jacob Blake was shot by law enforcement in Kenosha, right outside of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott the game to speak up against police brutality and hate crimes.
“Change is coming,” Orlando guard Michael Carter-Williams said. He was in full support of the league’s decisions despite being on another team.
The NBA is in a bubble that doesn’t allow for communication to the public unless it is portrayed by the media. The Bucks took the lead for this movement, which would later impact the entire sports community and news stations all over. This season, an average NBA playoff game has had between five-hundred thousand and one million views. After the Bucks to boycott this game, commentator Kenny Smith and analyst Chris Webber, both hall of fame members, spoke and provided their heartfelt support for the protesting players. The Bucks management, players, and office were all glad that they came together as a team and got the whole country’s attention.
Since the boycott, leagues such as the WNBA, MLB, and the MLS decided to postpone games, feeling that they should step up for action as well.
Not only did the NBA speak out about the boycott, but they are now advising people to vote. The Houston Rockets center announced that their court would turn into an early in-person voting center. Right after this happened, numerous teams including the 76ers, Celtics, Thunder, and others, decided to open their stadiums for early voting. After the political debate, the NBA’s signs which said “Whole New Game” just got replaced with signs which say “Vote.”
Lakers star player Lebron James spoke up about the conversations the NBA’s actions were sparking.
“The conversations that are being had right now, how many people are really listening, I think that’s progress. We’ve got a long way to go,” James said. James realized the amount of influence that he has on his fan base and is hopeful for the future of the NBA and the U.S.
The NBA has been promoting and supporting players and teams that are expressing their beliefs. With averaging over 20 million viewers for the NBA finals, the league will be able to allow their messages and actions reach a large audience. As a community, we are looking forward to seeing what the NBA and players have in store for us both in terms of game-plays and current issues.
Matt Allison is a senior at State High whose hobbies include baseball and pickup basketball. His family is very important to him and he loves to live...
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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
July 31, 2019 leoadambiga Leave a comment
Native Omaha Days has been on my writing-reporting radar for more than two decades. With the 2019 Native Omaha Days underway, I thought it a good time to compile some of my work about this communty reunion and heritage celebration. My blog, Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories at leoadambiga.com, contains hundreds of stories I have written over the years about Black Omaha people, places, events and occasions. If you are a Native Omahan back for this year’s festival, then I invite you to visit the blog, poke around and enter searches to reconnect – through words, memories and photos – some of the very things you are reliving this week. You will find stories on dozens of notable Native Omahans, past and present, including Ernie Chambers, Cathy Hughes, Alfred Liggins, John Beasley, Rudy Smith, Bertha Calloway, Gene Haynes, Gabrielle Union, Yolonda Ross, Tommie Wilson, Bob Gibson, Bob Boozer, Gale Sayers, Ron Boone, Marlin Briscoe, Johnny Rodgers, Monty Ross, Charles Hall, Carol Rogers., Q Smith, Camille Metoyer Moten, Kathy Tyree, Ahman Green, Terence Crawford, Carleen Brice, Vanessa Ward, Billy Melton, Preston Love Sr.
Be sure to check out my Omaha Black Sports Legends Series: Out to Win – The Roots of Greatness.
If you like what you see, then please follow my blog as well as my companion Facebook page, My Inside Stories.
Here is the Reader (www.thereader.com) story I did previewing Native Omaha Days 2017. From all reports, the celebration was a great success. Pam and I made it down to a few different Native Omaha Days events and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, too. If you’ve never been, you’ve got to sample this authentic slice of Omaha.
Native Omaha Days 2017: A homecoming like no other
Originally appeared in The Reader (thereader.com)
The African-American diaspora migration from the South helped populate Omaha in the 20th century. Railroad and packing house jobs were the lure. From the late 1960s on, a reverse trend has seen African-Americans leave here en mass for more progressive climes. A variant to these patterns finds thousands returning each odd-numbered August for a biennial community reunion known as Native Omaha Days.
The 21st reunion happens July 31 through August 7.
If you’ve not heard of it or partaken in it, you’re probably not black or some of your best friends are not black, because this culture-fest is in Omaha’s Afrocentric DNA. But organizers and participants emphasize everyone’s welcome to join this week-long party.
Featured events range from gospel and jazz concerts to talks and displays to a parade to a ball.
Nobody’s quite sure how many native Omahans living outside the state head home for it to rekindle relationships and visit old haunts.
There are as many takes on it as people engaging in it.
Thomas Warren, president-CEO of the Urban League of Nebraska, which this year hosts its 90 anniversary gala during Omaha Days, may put it best:
“People make it a purpose to come back.”
Reshon Dixon left Omaha for Atlanta 24 years ago and she’s been coming back ever since, except when military commitments prevented it. She hopes to free up her schedule for this year’s fest.
“I’m trying to. I usually plan a year ahead to come back.”
She said she brought her children for it when they were young because “that’s pretty much where our roots are from.” She’s delighted her now grown kids are “planning to come back this year.”
Serial nonprofit executive Viv Ewing said Omaha Days touches deep currents.
“People look at this event very fondly. In the off-year it’s not being held, people ask when is it happening again and why isn’t it every year because it’s such a great time bringing the community together with family and old friends. People look forward to it.
“There are people who have moved away who plan their vacations so that they come back to Omaha during this particular time, and that says a lot about what this event means to many people across the country.”
Even Omaha residents keep their calendars open for it.
“I’ve cut business trips as well as vacations short in order to make sure I was at home during this biennial celebration,” Warren said.
Sheila Jackson, vice president of the nonprofit that organizes it, said, “It’s one big reunion, one big family all coming together.”
Juanita Johnson, an Omaha transplant from Chicago, is impressed by the intentionality with which “people come together to embrace their commonality and their love of North Omaha.” She added, “It instills pride. It has a lot of excitement, high spirits, energy and enthusiasm.”
As president of the Long School Neighborhood Association and 24th Street Corridor Alliance, Johnson feels Omaha Days could play a greater role in community activation and empowerment.
“I think there’s an opportunity for unity to develop from it if it’s nurtured beyond just every two years.”
Empowerment Network director of operations Vicki Quaites-Ferris hopes it can contribute to a more cohesive community. “We don’t want the unity to just be for seven days. We want that to overflow so that when people leave we still feel that sense of pride coming from a community that really is seeing a rebirth.”
Ewing said even though it only happens every two years, the celebration is by now an Omaha tradition.
“It’s been around for four decades. It’s a huge thing.”
No one imagined it would endure.
“I never would have dreamt it’d be this big,” co-founder Bettie McDonald said. “I feel good knowing it got started, it’s still going and people are still excited about it.”
She said it’s little wonder though so many return given how powerful the draw of home is.
“They get emotional when they come back and see their people. It’s fun to see them greet each other. They hug and kiss and go on, hollering and screaming. It’s just a joyous thing to see.”
Dixon said even though she’s lived nearly as long in Atlanta as she did in Omaha, “I’m a Cornhusker first and a Peach second.”
Likewise for Paul Bryant, who also left Omaha for Atlanta, there’s no doubt where his allegiance lies.
“Omaha will always be home. I’m fifth generation. I’m proud of my family, I’m proud of Omaha. Native Omaha Days gives people another reason to come back.”
A little extra enticement doesn’t hurt either.
“We really plan things for them to make them want to come back home,” said McDonald. She drew from the fabled reunion her large family – the Bryant-Fishers – has held since 1917 as the model for Omaha Days. Thus, when her family convenes its centennial reunion picnic on Sunday, August 13, it will cap a week’s worth of events, including a parade and gala dinner-dance, that Omaha Days mirrors.
Bryant, a nephew of McDonald, is coming back for the family’s centennial. He’s done Omaha Days plenty of times before. He feels both Omaha Days and reunions like his family’s are ways “we pass on the legacies to the next generation.” He laments “some of the younger generations don’t understand it” and therefore “don’t respect the celebratory nature of what goes on – the passing of the torch, the knowing who-you-are, where-you-come-from. They just haven’t been taught.”
Sheila Jackson said it takes maturity to get it. “You don’t really appreciate Omaha Days until you get to be like in your 40s. That’s when you really get the hang of it. When you’re younger, it’s not a big thing to you. But when you get older. it seems to mean more.”
Sometime during the week, most celebrants end up at 24th and Lake Streets – the historic hub for the black community. There’s even a stroll down memory lane and tours. The crowd swells after hours.
“It’s almost Omaha’s equivalent of Mardi Gras, where you’ll have thousands people just converge on the intersection of 24th and Lake, with no real plans or organized activities,” Warren said. “But you know you can go to that area and see old friends, many of whom you may not have seen for several years. It gives you that real sense of community.”
Fair Deal Village Marketplace manager Terri Sanders, who said she’s bound to run into old Central High classmates, called it “a multigenerational celebration.”
Touchstone places abound, but that intersection is what Warren termed “the epicenter.”
“I’m always on 24th and Lake when I’m home,” said homegrown media mogul Cathy Hughes, who will be the grand marshall for this year’s parade. “I love standing there seeing who’s coming by and people saying, ‘Cathy, is that you?’ I always park at the Omaha Star and walk down to 24th and Lake.”
“I do end up at 24th and Lake where everybody else is,” Dixon said. “You just bump into so many people. I mean, people you went to kindergarten with. It’s so hilarious. So, yes, 24th and Lake, 24th Street period, is definitely iconic for North Omahans.”
That emerging art–culture district will be hopping between the Elks Club, Love’s Jazz & Arts Center, the Union for Contemporary Art, Omaha Rockets Kanteen, Jesse’s Place, the Fair Deal Cafe and, a bit southwest of there, the Stage II Lounge.
Omaha Days’ multi-faceted celebration is organized by the Native Omahans Club, which “promotes social and general welfare, common good, scholarships, cultural, social and recreational activities for the inner city and North Omaha community.” Omaha Days is its every-other-year vehicle for welcoming back those who left and for igniting reunions.
The week includes several big gatherings. One of the biggest, the Homecoming Parade on Saturday, August 6, on North 30th Street, will feature drill teams, floats and star entrepreneur Cathy Hughes, the founder-owner of two major networks – Radio One and TV One. She recently produced her first film, the aptly titled, Media.
Hughes is the latest in a long line of native and guest celebrities who’ve served as parade grand marshall: Terence Crawford, Dick Gregory, Gabrielle Union.
During the Days, Hughes will be honored at a Thursday, August 3 ceremony renaming a section of Paxton Blvd., where she grew up, after her. She finds it a bit surreal that signs will read Cathy Hughes Boulevard.
“I grew up in a time when black folks had to live in North Omaha. Never would I have assumed that as conservative as Omaha, Neb. is they would ever consider naming a street after a black woman who happened to grow up there. And not just a black woman, but a woman, period. When I was young. Omaha was totally male-dominated. So I’m just truly honored.”
“Omaha Days does not forget people that are from Omaha,” Reshon Dixon said. “They acknowledge them, and I think that’s great.”
During the Urban League’s Friday, August 4 gala concert featuring national recording artist Brian McKnight at the Holland Performing Arts Center, two community recognition awards will be presented. The Whitney M. Young Jr. Legacy Award will go to Omaha Economic Development Corporation president Michael Maroney. The Charles B. Washington Community Service Award will go to Empowerment Network president Willie Barney.
Maroney and Barney are key players in North Omaha redevelopment-revitalization. Warren said it’s fitting they’re being honored during Omaha Days, when so many gathering in North O will have “the opportunity to see some of those improvements.”
Quaites-Ferris said Omaha Days is a great platform.
“It’s an opportunity to celebrate North Omaha and also the people who came out of North Omaha. There are people who were born in North Omaha, grew up in North Omaha and have gone on to do some wonderful things locally and on a national level. We want to celebrate those individuals and we want to celebrate individuals who are engaged in community.
“It’s a really good time to celebrate our culture.”
“I really admire the families who are so highly accomplished but have never left, who have shared their talents and expertise with Omaha,” said Hughes. She echoes many when she expresses how much it means returning for Omaha Days.
“Every time I come, I feel renewed,” she said. “I feel the love, the kindred spirit I shared with so many of my classmates, friends, neighbors. I always leave feeling recharged. I can’t wait.”
The celebration evokes strong feelings.
“What’s most important to me about Omaha Days is reuniting with old friends, getting to see their progression in life, and getting to see my city and how it’s rebuilt and changed since I left,” Dixon said. “You do get to share with people you went to school with your success.”
“It’s a chance to catch up on what’s going in everybody’s life,” Quaites-Ferris said.
Juanita Johnson considers it. among other things,
“a networking opportunity.”
Paul Bryant likes the positive, carefree vibe. “There we are talking about old times. laughing at each other, who got fat and how many kids we have. It’s 1:30-2 o’clock in the morning in a street crowded with people.”
“By being native, many of these individuals you know your entire life, and so there’s no pretense,” Warren said.
Outside 24th and Lake, natives flock to other places special to them.
“When I come back,” Dixon said, “my major goal is to go to Joe Tess, get down to the Old Market, the zoo, go through Carter Lake and visit Salem Baptist Church, where I was raised. My absolute favorite is going to church on Sunday and seeing my Salem family.”
Some pay respects at local cemeteries. Dixon will visit Forest Lawn, where the majority of her family’s buried.
Omaha Days is also an activator for family reunions that blend right into the larger event. Yards, porches and streets are filled with people barbecuing, chilling, dancing. It’s one contiguous party.
“It’s almost like how these beach communities function, where you can just go from house to house,” Hughes said.
The Afro-centric nature of Omaha Days is undeniable. But participants want it understood it’s not exclusive.
“It just happens to be embedded in the African-American community, where it started,” Dixon said. “Anyone can come, anyone can participate. It has become a little bit of a multicultural thing – still primarily African-American.”
Some believe it needs to be a citywide event.
“It’s not like it’s part of the city,” Bryant said. “It’s like something that’s going on in North Omaha. But it’s really not city-accepted. And why not?”
Douglas Country Treasurer John Ewing agrees. “Throughout its history it’s been viewed as an African-American event when it really could be something for the whole community to embrace.”
His wife, Viv Ewing, proposes a bigger vision.
“I would like to see it grow into a citywide attraction where people from all parts come and participate the way they do for Cinco de Mayo. I’d like to see this event grow to that level of involvement from the community.”
Terri Sanders and others want to see this heritage event marketed by the city, with banners and ads, the way it does River City Roundup or the Summer Arts Festival.
“It’s not as big as the College World Seriesm but it’s significant because people return home and people return that are notable,” Sanders said.
Her daughter Symone Sanders, who rose to fame as Bernie Sanders’ press secretary during his Democratic presidential bid, may return. So may Gabrielle Union.
Vicki Quaites-Ferris sees it as an opportunity “for people who don’t live in North Omaha to come down and see and experience North Omaha.” She said, “Sometimes you only get one peripheral view of North Omaha. For me, it’s an opportunity to showcase North Omaha. Eat great food, listen to some wonderful music, have great conversation and enjoy the arts, culture, business and great things that may be overlooked.”
John Ewing values the picture if offers to native returnees.
“It’s a great opportunity for people who live in other places to come back and see some of the progress happening in their hometown.”
Recently completed and in-progress North O redevelopment will present celebrants more tangible progress than at anytime since the event’s mid-1970s start. On 24th Street. there’s the new Fair Deal Village Marketplace, the renovated Blue Lion Center and the Omaha Rockets Kanteen. On 30th, three new buildings on the Metro Fort Omaha campus, the new mixed-use of the former Mister C’s site and the nearly finished Highlander Village development.
For some, like Paul Bryant, while the long awaited build-out is welcome, there are less tangible, yet no less concerning missing pieces.
“I think the development is good. But I truly wish in Omaha there was more opportunity for African-American people to be involved in the decision-making process and leadership process. But that takes a conscious decision,” Bryant said.
“What I’ve learned from Atlanta is that unlike other cites that wanted to start the integration process with children, where school kids were the guinea pigs, Atlanta started with the professions – they started integrating the jobs. Their slogan became “We’re a city too busy to hate.” So they started from the top down
and that just doesn’t happen in Omaha.”
He worked in Omaha’s for-profit and non-profit sectors.
“A lot of things happen in Omaha that are not inclusive. This isn’t new. Growing up, I can remember Charlie Washington, Mildred Brown, Al Goodwin, Bob Armstrong, Rodney S. Wead, talking about it. The story remains the same. We’re on the outside running nonprofits and we’ve got to do what we have to do to keep afloat. But leadership, ownership, equity opportunities to get involved with projects are few and far between. If you’re not able to share in the capital, if your piece of the equation is to be the person looking for a contribution, it’s hard to determine your own future.”
Perhaps Omaha Days could be a gateway for African-American self-determination. It’s indisputably a means by which natives stay connected or get reconnected.
“I think its’ critical,” said Cathy Hughes, who relies on the Omaha Star and her Omaha Days visits to stay abreast of happenings in her beloved North O.
She and John Ewing suggest the celebration could play other roles, too.
“I think it’s a good way to lure some natives back home,” Hughes said. “As they come back and see the progress, as they feel the hometown pride, it can help give them the thought of, ‘Maybe I should retire back home in Omaha.'”
“I think Omaha could do a better job of actually recruiting some of those people who left, who are talented and have a lot to offer, to come back to Omaha,” Ewing said, “and if they’re a business owner to expand or invest in Omaha. So there’s some economic opportunities we’ve missed by not embracing it more and making it bigger.”
Ewing, Sanders and others believe Omaha Days infuses major dollars in hotels, restaurants, bars and other venues. The Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau does not track the celebration’s ripple effect, thus no hard data exists..
“I don’t think it’s accurately measured nor reflected in terms of the amount of revenue generated based on out-of-town visitors,” Warren said. “I suspect it has a huge impact on commerce and activity.”
Some speculate Omaha Days could activate or inspire homegrown businesses that plug into this migration,
“I think it can certainly be a spark or a catalyst,” Warren said. “You would like to see the momentum sustained.
You hope this series of events may stimulate an idea where a potential entrepreneur or small business owner sees an opportunity based on the activity that occurs during that time frame. Someone could launch a business venture. Certainly, I think there’s that potential.”
For Omaha Days history and event details, visit nativeomahacub.org.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com,
With the 2011 Native Omaha Days, July 27-August 1, just around the corner I am posting stories I’ve written about this every two years African American heritage and homecoming event and how it serves a kind of litmus test for the black community here to take stock of itself in terms of where it’s been, where it is today, and where it’s heading. The following story appeared just as the 2009 Native Omaha Days concluded. I spoke to a number of individuals for their take on the state of Black Omaha at a time when there is both much despair and much promise for the predominantly African American northeast Omaha community. I interviewed folks who grew up here and stayed here and those who left here but who retain deep ties here and come back for events like the Days in order to get a cross-section of perspectives on what the past, present, and future holds for North Omaha. This much discussed community, where generational problems of poverty and underachievement are rampant but where many success stories have also been launched, is finally getting the kind of attention it’s long required. Initiatives like the African American Empowerment Network are helping drive a planned revitalization that seems much closer to reality today than it did even two years ago. The role of Native Omaha Days shouldn’t be overlooked because it does bring together thousands of current and former Omaha residents whose individual and collective vision and energy are helping fuel what is about to be a major North Omaha revival. That doesn’t mean all the challenges that face that community will be eradicated overnight. It took decades for those problems and wounds to become embedded and it will take decades to heal them, and events like Native Omaha Days help give a purpose and focus to affecting change.
Native Omahans Take Stock of the African-American Experience in Their Hometown
Originally published in The Reader (thereader.com)
The 2009 African-American heritage celebration Native Omaha Days concluded Monday. Natives came from across America to indulge memories of this touchstone place. The biennial, week-long Days lends itself to gauging the African-American experience here — past, present, future.
Taking stock has added import with North Omaha at a tipping point. Ambitious new housing and commercial developments, job training programs, educational reform efforts and gang intervention initiatives are in the works. All in response to endemic problems of poverty and unemployment, low job readiness, poor academic performance, high dropout rates, epidemic-level STDs and ongoing drug traficking-gang violence. North O has a strong sense of identity and purpose yet struggles with scarce opportunities. The persistent challenges of segregation and inequality have led many natives over time to leave for better prospects elsewhere, but a sense of home and family keeps their ties to Omaha strong.
The Days brings thousands of natives back to meet up with friends and relatives for homecomings, large and small. Last week’s public events included: a mixer at the Native Omahans Club; a parade along North 30th Street; a dance at the Mid-America Center; appearances by NBA star Dwayne Wade and actress Gabrielle Union at North High School; and a picnic at Levi Carter Park.
Visitors helped swell the numbers at Jazz on the Green, at clubs and bars on the north side and at black church services. Celebrants were out in force too at school reunions. Then there were untold family reunions and block parties that unfolded in people’s homes and yards, in the streets, and in parks all over the city.
Northeast Omaha was jumping as visitors mixed with residents to sight-see or just kick it. Kountze Park, the Native Omahans Club, the Love’s Jazz & Arts Center, the Bryant Center, Skeets Barbecue and other haunts were popular gathering spots. Joe Tess on the south side was a popular stop. Streams of cars toured the black community’s historical corridors. Many made the rounds at post-card amenities like the riverfront, the Old Market, Lauritzen Gardend and Henry Doorly Zoo.
Nobody seems to know how many expatriates arrive for The Days. That’s a shame, as these visitors represent resources for a strapped city and state hurting from a brain drain and a small tax base. Many natives who come back are the same upwardly mobile blacks Omaha has trouble retaining, a costly decades-long trend. The city’s black population is small to begin with, so every talented native lost is felt acutely by a community with a paucity of black entrepreneurs and professionals for a city this size.
Hometown girl Felicia Webster has twice left for the East Coast but has since returned to live here with her young son. She wonders what would happen if residents collaborated with visitors on visioning new initiatives, ventures, projects, even start-up businesses aimed at reviving North Omaha.
“I feel Native Omaha Days right now is a good opportunity and a wonderful manifestation of African-American people coming together of one accord and building and talking and socializing. It would be nice to just have a really huge collective on what could actually happen with development here,” said Webster, a spoken word artist, “because, you know, people come from everywhere that are doing all kinds of things. They can bring their knowledge and tools with them to share something fresh, new and vital here. I personally would like to see that.”
Felecia Webster
What about The Days serving as a catalyst for brainstorming-networking forums that capitalize on the skill sets and entrepreneurial ideas and investment dollars of natives near and far? All geared toward building the kind of self-sufficiency that black leaders point to as the most sustainable path for black prosperity.
Nate Goldston III left Omaha as a young man and went on to found Gourmet Services in Atlanta, Ga., one of the nation’s largest food service companies. He’s doing just what Webster advocates by working with locals on stimulating new development. The self-made millionaire has been advising the Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the North Omaha Development Project on the landscape for new North O investment. He’s bullish on the prospects for that long depressed district.
“I think it’s going to grow, but you’ve got to plant the seeds first and that’s what were interested in helping do with some business development there in the food service area,” Goldston said by phone from Atlanta.
He’s close to finalizing plans for a brick-and-mortar Gourmet Services backed project here to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for local African Americans.
“If we can bring this business opportunity there and put some young people in place and let them have a little piece of the action and begin to develop a franchise type operation, and then allow them to go on and grow it themselves, manage and own at the same time, that’ll bring that missing link and fill that gap in the economic development portion. At least a small portion of it,” he said.
He said it’s the kind of grassroots development that’s required. “It’s not the Chamber’s job to develop North Omaha. North Omaha needs to be developed by people from or attached to North Omaha, and the kinds of things that need to go in need to be done from within as opposed to from without.” Goldston’s impressed with the “pro-business, pro-development, pro-North Omaha” focus of the Chamber and city. “They just need the right teammates, they need the right partners to help them do it, and that’s the first time I’ve ever noticed that collaborative attitude in Omaha. I think there’s a real chance there.”
New Omaha City Planning Director Rick Cunningham, who most recently lived on the East Coast, is a native who hopes to implement Mayor Jim Suttle’s vision for a revitalized north side. “His agenda includes a strong commitment to North Omaha,” Cunningham said of Suttle. “He has a goal for 24th and Lake Street to become a new Dundee for Omaha.”
Cunningham knows first-hand Northeast Omaha’s prolonged decline. He also knows “there have been pockets of success,” including the Blue Lion Center at 24th and Lake he served as project manager for under Omaha architect and mentor Ambrose Jackson. He said most North O redevelopment has come from “investments in new rooftops, in new housing,” and while that needs to continue he said there must be a focus on creating more employable residents and attracting businesses and services that generate new jobs and commerce. “To bring Omaha into a very livable community with an environment that all residents and visitors can enjoy we’ve got to make sure we’ve got a diverse economy.”
He looks forward to being part of solutions that “return North 24 to the vibrancy it had, when 24th and Lake was the heart and soul. We will be engaged in that effort.” He looks forward to meeting with community partners from the public and private sectors to “build synergy in accomplishing those goals.” He said the city cannot afford to let North Omaha wallow. “If there is an area that suffers in Omaha than the entire city suffers,” he said. “It’s important we revitalize the core area. Those communities that are alive and thriving have inner cities that are alive.”
Nate Goldston III
Goldston vividly recalls when North O had a greater concentration of black-owned businesses than it does today, but he said even in its heyday Omaha’s black community had few major black entrepreneurs.
“Omaha’s African-American community has always been job-oriented as opposed to entrepreneurial-oriented,” he said. “I see great opportunity and I see opportunity that’s been missed only because I don’t know that we’ve been blessed with a lot of entrepreneurs that have had the path or the ability to develop businesses in the area. We had the model of the bars, the nightclubs, the pool halls.”
He could have added restaurants, barbershops, beauty salons, clothing stores and filling stations. There were also black professionals in private practice — doctors, dentists, attorneys, accountants, pharmacists, architects.
Their example “gave me inspiration and hope,” said attorney Vaughn Chatman, a native Omahan who made it back for The Days from Calif. North 24th Street was once a thriving hub of black and white-owned businesses. Few, however, survived the ‘60s riots and their aftermath. Urban renewal did in more. Once the packing house and railroad jobs that employed many blacks vanished, few good-paying employment options surfaced. “My friends and I had no desire to leave Omaha until opportunities for us began to disappear,” said Chatman . “Most, if not all my friends, faced with lack of opportunity have left Omaha. My friends and relatives (still) there tell me the quality of life for them and their generation has not gotten any better despite the best efforts of a number of individuals and organizations.”
Several new businesses have popped up but many have come and gone over time. Despite some redevelopment North 24th is largely barren today.
“That positive feeling of inspiration and hope is what I miss the most about the North Omaha I grew up in,” said Chatman.
An old-line exception is the Omaha Star, a black weekly now 70-plus years strong. Founder Mildred Brown was one of America’s few black women publishers. She earned a national reputation for her crusading work during the civil rights movement. Goldston learned valuable lessons working for the Star as a kid.
“The Omaha Star was my entree to entrepreneurship,” he said. “That’s what taught me to create a marketing sense, the ability to be able to develop a customer base and customer service and the whole nine yards.”
Cathy Hughes is another Star veteran who credits her experience there and at Omaha black-owned radio station KOWH with helping give her the impetus to be a broadcast owner and eventually build her Radio One empire.
“It encouraged me to go ahead and to try to own my own radio station because I saw some folks in Omaha do it,” she said by phone from her Maryland home. “You lead by example. When you do something, you never know who you’re touching. you never know who you’re having an impact on. I saw Bob Gibson and Rodney Wead and Bob Boozer and Gale Sayers come together and buy a radio station, so I knew it was possible, and now I’m the largest black-owned broadcast corporation in America and the only African-American woman to head a publicly traded corporation. None of that would have been possible if I hadn’t seen the examples I saw in Omaha, if I hadn’t seen Mildred Brown keeping her newspaper not only afloat but providing her with a very comfortable existence for that day and time.”
Hughes, like Goldston, is pleased by gains that have been made via new housing developments, streetscape improvements and the Love’s Center, but is dismayed there aren’t more Mildred Brown figures in Omaha by now. In Hughes’ estimation Omaha should be much further along than it is in black entrepreneurship.
“It has a long ways to go,” she said.
Hughes is also concerned that strong community leaders like North O developer Al Goodwin, educator Katherine Fletcher and job training director Bernice Dodd are no longer on the scene. She’s warily watching the new generation of local black leadership to assess their commitment to redevelopment.
Goldston said black businesses in Omaha are not as visible as they once were.
“Those things have all gone away,” he said, adding that Omaha “is miles apart” from the dynamic black business culture found in Atlanta. “I think other opportunities were just not there (in Omaha) at that time to start and build a business.”
All these years later, he said, few if any Omaha businesses have made the Black Enterprise 100 list of the largest African-American owned businesses.
Most black-owned Omaha businesses of any size are not located on the north side today. Out of sight, out of mind. Hard to emulate what you don’t see. “I think we flourish when we see reflections of ourselves in the community where we live,” said Webster. “And when you don’t see that, what do you have to strive for?”
Introducing students to Omaha black achievers via school curricula is something Vaughn Chatman, founder of the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame, advocates.
Webster presents programs in schools that attempt to expand kids’ vision. “I want them to see a bigger picture, a bigger view of the world than what they normally see, and I hope that by my being African-American young boys and girls are seeing reflections of themselves in me of what they possibly could attain,” she said.
Hughes and Goldston are concerned about the education gap that finds black students on average lagging behind whites. The truancy and drop-out rates for blacks are higher. The two are alarmed by how far Omaha’s inner city schools trail their suburban counterparts. “We’re going to have to really cure that before anybody can make any progress,” said Goldston, who’s challenged a national organization he once led, 100 Black Men, with making a difference in schools.
Webster said she was fortunate to have parents who stressed education and showed her “the world was bigger than Omaha.” Omaha’s segregation meant she would often frequent places and be the only black person there. Cathy Hughes had the same experience coming of age here. “That’s challenging,” said Webster. The first time Webster left, for Philadelphia, in the early ‘90s, Omaha was viewed as a dull place by many young people — black and white.
“A lot of my close friends did end up leaving and going to more heavily populated cities, and I think a lot of that had to do with not only wanting to explore the world but what opportunities they saw. For some, it was a larger African-American presence. For others, it was bigger metropolitan areas where you felt like you were getting paid what you were worth and could fulfill what you desired.
“Coming back this time I can see Omaha is really growing but I think Omaha is still a work in progress. I have friends with degrees who are still making $12 an hour, and I think that’s a challenge. They can’t find jobs with livable wages. And I find I’m still the only person that looks like me when I go certain places.”
Webster likes that Omaha has far more going on now than even five years ago, but she said she misses Philly’s constant slate of cultural activities and larger base of African-Americans to share them with. The big city scene “reignites” her.
Author Carleen Brice (Orange Mint and Honey, Children of the Waters) is a native living in Denver, Colo. with mixed feelings about Omaha.
“It’s always complex being from a small city and having big dreams,” said Brice. “I can’t speak for others, but I felt I needed to leave Omaha to achieve what I wanted to achieve. Part of that had to do with my specific family background. When my parents divorced, we went through some bad times and so I associate Omaha with those negative memories as well as with the positive ones.
Carleen Brice
“What I sense the most in Omaha is a kind of small thinking, small dreaming. Strange since Omaha does have a lot going for it. But I also think every city is what you make of it. I live in Denver and think it’s great, but I have friends who grew up here and feel very much like it’s a tiny, backwards city. I’ve begun to think that if I moved back to Omaha I could experience it differently, without feeling so blinded by my past.”
Still, Brice said she senses North Omaha’s quality of life is worse today. “I know my grandmother is saddened by the decline of that part of the city. My friends don’t see much improvement in how people actually interact or how they are treated, which makes them feel depressed. Back to that word depressed again. It’s sad, but true, I think Omaha is depressed.”
Beaufield Berry is a playwright and actress who’s come and gone from her hometown several times. She’s here again. She feels a big part of what holds Omaha back is its “small town ideas” that don’t readily embrace diversity. She believes North Omaha will not reach its potential until the cycle of inequity and despair is broken.
“For Omaha’s black population to really thrive I think you’ve got to start at the poverty line. You have to start at where the people may not have the role models that other kids do. You have to make it so they can see a father figure or an older brother making the right decisions.”
Beaufield Berry
But Berry sees much to be hopeful about, too. “On the flip side of that I see so many amazingly talented young people of all different races who are really working towards something, who can really make a difference, not only with their work but with their words, with their presence, and I want to see more of that. I think that’s how Omaha, black or white, will start to thrive citywide.”
Webster sees Omaha progressing but like many blacks she’d like to see more done.
“I think with a collective idea and voice from all kinds people that it could kind of put a faster spark into it happening. It could manifest into something where everybody that lives here really enjoys it. I think it would be amazing.”
As the July 27-August 1 Native Omaha Days festival draws near I am posting articles I’ve written about this African-American heritage and homecoming event and about closely related topics. The following story for The Reader (www.thereader.com) appeared some years ago, at at time when predominantly African American North Omaha was experiencing a large increase in gun violence and media reports laid out the widespread poverty and achievement gaps affecting that community. In response to dire needs, the African American Empowerment Network was formed and a concerted process begun to to bring about a revitalized North Omaha. Native Omaha leaders and others expressed hope that events like Native Omaha Days and the Omaha Black Music and Community Hall of Fame might serve to unify, heal, and instill pride to help stem the tide of hopelessness and disrespect behind the violence. Things have improved recently and North O really does seen the verge of coming back, thanks in large part to efforts by the Empowerment Network, but the stabilizing role of events like Native Omaha Days shouldn’t be forgotten or dismissed.
Native Omaha Club photo by lachance (Andrew Lachance)
Native Omaha Days: A Black is Beautiful celebration, now and all the days gone by
Organizers of the 16th biennial Native Omaha Days call it the largest gathering of African-Americans in Nebraska. That in itself makes it a significant event. Thousands fill Salem Baptist Church for the gospel fest, spill into North 24th Street for the social mixer/registration and the homecoming parade, boogie at the Qwest Center dance and chow down on soul food at a Levi Carter Lake Park picnic.
This heritage celebration held every other summer is a great big reunion with many family-class reunions around it. Parties abound. Hotels, casinos, eateries, bars fill. Jam sessions unwind. Bus tours roll. North 24th cruising commences. Stories and lies get told. It’s people of a shared roots experience coming together as one.
Unity is on the minds of natives as their community is poised at a historic juncture. Will North 24th’s heyday be recaptured through new economic-education-empowerment plans? Or will generational patterns of poverty, underemployment, single parent homes, crime and lack of opportunity continue to hold back many? What happens if the cycle of despair that grips some young lives is not broken?
“The Native Omaha homecoming is very important, but a lot of young people don’t know what it’s all about, and that really bothers me,” said Hazel Kellogg, 74, president of the sponsoring nonprofit Native Omahans Club, Inc.. “They’re the future and what we’re trying to do is make them realize how important it is to hang in with your community and to keep your community pulling together for the betterment of our people. OUR people, you know?
“We have a big problem on the north side with violence and crime and all that, and I want to reach out to young people to let them know this homecoming is all about family and friends coming home to be together and enjoy a weekend of good clean fun. Eventually the young people are going to be heading up Native Omaha Days and they need to know what it’s all about.”
She said she hopes the event is a catalyst for ongoing efforts to build up the community again. After much neglect she’s encouraged by signs of revitalization. “I’ve been through it all. I’ve been through the riots. For a long time it moved in a negative direction. Now, I’m very hopeful. We need the whole community to come together with this. Together we stand.”
Vaughn Chatman, 58, shares the same concerns. He left Omaha years ago and the problems he saw on visits from Fair Oaks, Calif., where he now lives, motivated him to found the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame. The Hall seeks to restore the sense of community pride he knew. An induction ceremony held during the Days honors area black artists, athletes, activists, entrepreneurs and leaders. He feels young blacks can only feel invested in the future if exposed to successful folks who look like they do. He works with the Omaha Public Schools to have local black achievers discussed in classroom curricula as a way to give kids positive models to aspire to.
“Back in the day” is an oft-heard phrase of the week-long fest. Good and bad times comprise those memories. Just as World War II-era Omaha saw an influx of blacks from the South seeking packinghouse-railroad jobs, the last 40 years has seen an exodus due to meager economic-job prospects.
photo by Cyclops-Optic (Jack David Hubbell)
Centered in northeast Omaha, the black community hub became North 24th, where Jewish and black-owned businesses catered to every good and service and a vital live music scene thrived. Hence, many Days activities revolve around 24th, which declined after the late ‘60s riots. A few blocks have seen improvements, but much of this former “Street of Dreams” is run down or empty. Gang violence in the district is a problem. It’s concerns like these now spurring coalitions of residents and expatriate natives like Chatman to craft sustainable solutions.
For a change, Karen Davis sees “substance” in the new initiatives targeting rebirth. Enough to make the Native Omahans Club officer feel the area “can be back to where it was or even more. Businesses have come down or moved back, and I think it’s a good thing for us,” she said.
The Native Omahans Club is quartered in a former lounge at 3819 North 24th. During the Days the building and street outside overflow with people reminiscing. Visitors mix with residents, exchanging handshakes, hugs, laughter, tears. Scenes like this unfold all over — anywhere neighborhood-school chums or relatives catch up with each other to relive old times.
“We haven’t seen each other in years, so it’s just a fellowship — what we used to do, what we used to look like…It’s just big fun,” said Davis.
Like countless Omahans, Davis and Kellogg each have friends and family arriving for the Days. No one’s sure just how many out-of-state natives return or the economic impact of their stays, but organizers guess 5,000 to 8,000 make it in and spend millions here. Those hefty numbers lead some to say the event doesn’t get its just due from the city. No matter, it’s a family thing anyway.
“People come in from all over for Native Omaha Days. My family comes from Colorado, Minnesota. It’s a time I can get together with them. I have a friend from Arizona coming I haven’t seen in 20 years. I’ll be so glad to see her. Those are the things that really just keep my heart pumping,” Kellogg said. “It’s just a gala affair.”
For details on the Days visit www.nativeomahans.com or call 457-5974.
Even though I grew up in North Omaha and lived there until age 43 or so, I didn’t experience my first Native Omaha Days until I had moved out of the area, and by then I was 45, and the only reason I did intersect with The Days then, and subsequently have since, is because I was reporting on it. The fact that I didn’t connect with it before is not unusual because it is essentially though by no means exclusively an African American celebration, and as you can see by my picture I am a white guy. Then there’s the fact it is a highly social affair and I am anything but social, that is unless prevailed upon to be by circumstance or assignment. But I was aware of the event, admittedly vaguely so most of my life, and I eventually did press my editors at The Reader (www.thereader.com) to let me cover it. And so over the past eight years I have filed several stories related to Native Omaha Days, most of which you can now find on this blog in the run up to this year’s festival, which is July 27-August 1. The story below is my most extensive in terms of trying to capture the spirit and the tradition of The Days, which encompasses many activities and brings back thousands of native Omahans – nobody’s really sure how many – for a week or more of catching up family, friends, old haunts.
NOTE: The parade that is a highlight of The Days was traditionally held on North 24th Street but has more recently been moved to North 30th Street, where the parade pictures below were taken by Cyclops-Optic, Jack David Hubbell.
My blog also features many other stories related to Omaha’s African American community, past and present. Check out the stories, as I’m sure you’ll find several things that interest you, just as I have in pursuing these stories the last 20 years or so.
Vera Johnson, Native Omahans Club founder, (Photo by Robyn Wisch)
Back in the Day: Native Omaha Days is reunion, homecoming, heritage celebration and party all in one
A homecoming. That’s what Native Omaha Days, a warm, rousing, week-long black heritage reunion, means to the thousands of native sons and daughters coming back in town for this biennial summer celebration. Although the spree, which unfolded July 30 through August 4 this year, features an official itinerary of activities, including a gospel night, a drill team competition, a parade, a dance and a picnic, a far larger slate of underground doings goes on between the many family and class reunions, live concerts and parties that fill out the Days. Some revelers arrive before the merriment begins, others join the fun in progress and a few stay over well after it’s done. A revival and carnival in one, the Days is a refreshing, relaxing antidote to mainstream Omaha’s uptight ways.
North Omaha bars, clubs and restaurants bustle with the influx of out-of-towners mixing with family and old friends. North 24th Street is a river of traffic as people drive the drag to see old sites and relive old times. Neighborhoods jump to the beat of hip-hop, R&B and soul resounding from house parties and family gatherings under way. Even staid Joslyn Art Museum and its stodgy Jazz on the Green take on a new earthy, urban vibe from the added black presence. As one member of the sponsoring Native Omahans Club said of the festival, “this is our Mardi Gras.”
Shirley Stapleton-Odems is typical of those making the pilgrimage. Born and raised in Omaha — a graduate of Howard Kennedy Elementary School and Technical High School — Stapleton-Odems is a small business owner in Milwaukee who wouldn’t miss the Days for anything. “Every two years I come back…and it’s hard sometimes for me to do, but no matter what I make it happen,” she said. “I have friends who come from all over the country to this, and I see some people I haven’t seen in years. We all meet here. We’re so happy to see each other. It’s a reunion thing. It’s like no matter how long you’re gone, this is still home to us.”
As Omaha jazz-blues guru Preston Love, a former Basie sideman and Motown band leader and the author of the acclaimed book A Thousand Honey Creeks Later, observed, “Omahans are clannish” by nature. “There’s a certain kindredness. Once you’re Omaha, you’re Omaha.” Or, as David Deal, whose Skeets Ribs & Chicken has been a fixture on 24th Street since 1952, puts it, “People that moved away, they’re not out-of-towners, they’re still Omahans — they just live someplace else.” Deal sees many benefits from the summer migration. “It’s an opportunity for people to come back to see who’s still here and who’s passed on. It’s an economic boost to businesses in North Omaha.”
Homecoming returnees like Stapleton-Odems feel as if they are taking part in something unique. She said, “I don’t know of any place in the country where they have something like this where so many people over so many generations come together.” Ironically, the fest’ was inspired by long-standing Los Angeles and Chicago galas where transplanted black Nebraskans celebrate their roots. Locals who’ve attended the L.A. gig say it doesn’t compare with Omaha’s, which goes to the hilt in welcoming back natives.
Perhaps the most symbolic event of the week is the mammoth Saturday parade that courses down historic North 24th Street. It is an impressionistic scene of commerce and culture straight out of a Spike Lee film. On a hot August day, thousands of spectators line either side of the street, everyone insinuating their bodies into whatever patch of shade they can find. Hand-held fans provide the only breeze.
Vendors, selling everything from paintings to CDs to jewelry to hot foods and cold beverages to fresh fruits and vegetables, pitch their products under tents staked out in parking lots and grassy knolls. Grills and smokers work overtime, wafting the hickory-scented aroma of barbecue through the air. Interspersed at regular intervals between the caravan of decorated floats festooned with signs hawking various local car dealerships, beauty shops, fraternal associations and family trees are the funky drill teams, whose dancers shake their booties and grind their hips to the precise, rhythmic snaring of whirling dervish drummers. Paraders variously hand-out or toss everything from beads to suckers to grab-bags full of goodies.
A miked DJ “narrates” the action from an abandoned gas station, at one point mimicking the staccato sound of the drilling. A man bedecked in Civil War-era Union garb marches with a giant placard held overhead emblazoned with freedom slogans, barking into a bullhorn his diatribe against war mongers. A woman hands out spiritual messages.
Long the crux of the black community, 24th Street or “Deuce Four” as denizens know it, is where spectators not only take in the parade as it passes familiar landmarks but where they greet familiar figures with How ya’ all doin’? embraces and engage in free-flowing reminiscences about days gone by. Everywhere, a reunion of some sort unfolds around you. Love is in the air.
The parade had a celebrity this time — Omaha native actress Gabrielle Union (Deliver Us From Eva). Looking fabulous in a cap, blouse and shorts, she sat atop the back seat of a convertible sedan sponsored by her father’s family, the Abrams, whose reunion concided with the fest’. “This is just all about the people of north Omaha showing pride for the community and reaching out to each other and committing to a sense of togetherness,” said Union, also a member of the Bryant-Fisher family, which has a large stake in and presence at the Days. “It’s basically like a renewal. Each generation comes down and everyone sits around and talks. It’s like a passing of oral history, which is…a staple of our community and our culture. It’s kind of cool being part of it.”
She said being back in the hood evokes many memories. “It’s funny because I see the same faces I used to hang out with here, so a lot of mischievous memories are coming back. It’s like, Do you remember the time? So, a lot of good times. A lot of times we probably shouldn’t of been having as young kids. But basically it’s just a lot of good memories and a lot of lessons learned right here on 24th.”
The three-mile parade is aptly launched at 24th and Burdette. There, Charles Hall’s now closed Fair Deal Cafe, once called “the black city hall,” provided a forum for community leaders to debate pressing issues and to map-out social action plans. Back in the day, Hall was known to give away food during the parade, which ends at Kountze Park, long a popular gathering spot in north Omaha. Across the street is Skeets, one of many soul food eateries in the area. Just down the road a piece is the Omaha Star, where legendary publisher Mildred Brown held court from the offices of her crusading black newspaper. Across the street is the Jewell Building, where James Jewell’s Dreamland Ballroom hosted black music greats from Armstrong to Basie to Ellington to Holiday, and a little further north, at 24th and Lake, is where hep cat juke joints like the M & M Lounge and McGill’s Blue Room made hay, hosting red hot jam sessions.
Recalling when, as one brother put it, “it was real,” is part and parcel of the Days. It’s all about “remembering how 24th and Lake was…the hot spot for the black community,” said Native Omahans Club member Ann Ventry. “We had everything out here,” added NOC member Vera Johnson, who along with Bettie McDonald is credited with forming the club and originating the festival. “We had cleaners, barber shops, beauty parlors, bakeries, grocery stores, ice cream stores, restaurants, theaters, clothing stores, taxi companies, doctors’ offices. You name it, we had it. We really didn’t have to go out of the neighborhood for anything,” Johnson said. Many businesses were black-owned, too. North O was, as lifelong resident Charles Carter describes it, “it’s own entity. That was the lifestyle.”
For James Wightman, a 1973 North High and 1978 UNL grad, the homecoming is more than a chance to rejoin old friends, it’s a matter of paying homage to a legacy. “Another reason we come back and go down 24th Street is to honor where we grew up. I grew up at the Omaha Boys Club and I played ball at the Bryant Center. There was so much to do down on the north side and your parents let you walk there. Kids can’t do that anymore.” Noting its rich history of jazz and athletics, Wightman alluded to some of the notables produced by north Omaha, including major league baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, Heisman winner Johnny Rodgers, jazzman Preston Love, social activist Malcolm X, actor John Beasley and Radio One founder and CEO Catherine Liggins Hughes.
For Helen McMillan Caraway, an Omaha native living in Los Angeles, sauntering down 24th Street brings back memories of the music lessons she took from Florentine Kingston, whose apartment was above a bakery on the strip. “After my music lesson I’d go downstairs and get a brownie or something,” she said. “I had to steer clear of the other side of the street, where there was a bar called McGill’s that my father, Dr. Aaron McMillan, told me, ‘Don’t go near.’” Being in Omaha again makes the Central High graduate think of “the good times we used to have at Carter Lake and all the football games. I loved that. I had a good time growing up here.”
For native Omahan Terry Goodwin Miller, now residing in Dallas, being back on 24th Street or “out on the stem,” as natives refer to it, means remembering where she and her best girlfriend from Omaha, Jonice Houston Isom, also of Dallas, got their first hair cut. It was at the old Tuxedo Barbershop, whose nattily attired proprietors, Marcus “Mac” McGee and James Bailey, ran a tight ship in the street level shop they ran in the Jewell Building, right next to a pool hall and directly below the Dreamland. Being in Omaha means stopping at favorite haunts, like Time Out Foods, Joe Tess Place and Bronco’s or having a last drink at the now closed Backstreet Lounge. It means, Goodwin Miller said, “renewing friendships…and talking about our lives and seeing family.” It means dressing to the nines and flashing bling-bling at the big dance and, when it’s over, feeling like “we don’t want to go home and grabbing something to eat and coming back to 24th Street to sit around and wait for people to come by that we know.”
Goodwin Miller said the allure of renewing Omaha relationships is so strong that despite the fact she and Houston Isom live in Dallas now, “we don’t see each other there, but when we come here we’re together the whole time.”
Skeets’ David Deal knows the territory well. From his restaurant, which serves till 2 a.m., he sees native Omahans drawn, at all hours, to their old stomping grounds. He’s no different. “We’re just coming down here to have a good time and seeing people we haven’t seen in years.” Sometimes, it’s as simple as “sitting around and watching the cars go by, just like we used to back in the good old days.”
North Omaha. More than a geographic sector, it is the traditional, cultural heart of the local black community encompassing the social-historical reality of the African-American experience. Despite four decades of federally-mandated civil rights, equal opportunity, fair housing and affirmative action measures the black community here is still a largely separate, unequal minority in both economic and political terms and suffers a lingering perception problem — born out of racism — that unfairly paints the entire near northside as a crime and poverty-ridden ghetto. Pockets of despair do exist, but in fact north Omaha is a mostly stable area undergoing regentrification. There is the 24-square block Miami Heights housing-commercial development going up between 30th and 36th Streets and Miami and Lake Streets, near the new Salem Baptist Church. There is the now under construction North Omaha Love’s Jazz, Cultural Arts and Humanities Complex, named for Preston Love, on the northwest corner of 24th and Lake. The same sense of community infusing Native Omaha Days seems to be driving this latest surge of progress, which finds black professionals like attorney Brenda Council moving back to their roots.
Former NU football player James Wightman (1975-1978) has been coming back for the Days the past eight years, first from Seattle and now L.A., and he said, “I’m pretty pleased with what’s going on now in terms of the development. When I lived here there was a stampede of everybody getting out of Omaha because there weren’t as many opportunities. I look at Omaha’s growth and I see we’re a rich, thriving community now.” During the Days he stays, as many do, with family and hooks up with ex-jocks like Dennis Forrest (Central High) and Bobby Bass (Omaha Benson) to just kick it around. “We’re spread out in different locations now but we all come back and it’s like we never missed a beat.” The idea of a black pride week generating goodwill and dollars in the black community appeals to Wightman, who said, “I came to spend my money on the north side. And I’ll be back in two years.”
Wightman feels the Days can serve as a beacon of hope to today’s disenfranchised inner city youth. “I think it sends a message to the youth that there are good things happening. That people still come back because they feel a sense of family, friendship and connection that a lot of young people don’t have today. All my friends are in town for their school-family reunions and we all love each other. There’s none of this rival Bloods-Crips stuff. We talk about making a difference. It’s not just about a party, it’s a statement that we can all get along with each other.”
“It just shows there’s a lot of good around here,” said Omaha City Councilman Frank Brown, who represents largely black District 2, “but unfortunately it’s not told by the news media.” Scanning the jam-packed parade route, a beaming Brown said, “This is a four-hour event and there’s thousands of people of all ages here and they’re smiling and enjoying themselves and there’s no problems. When you walk around you see people hugging each other. There’s tears in some of their eyes because they haven’t seen their friends, who’ve become their family.”
Family is a recurring theme of the Days. “My family all lives here.” said John Welchen, a 1973 Tech High grad now living in Inglewood, Calif. For him, the event also “means family” in the larger sense. “To me, all of the friends I grew up with and everyone I’ve become acquainted with over the years is my extended family. It’s getting a chance to just see some great friends from the past and hear a lot of old stories and enjoy a lot of laughter.”
Native Omahans living in the rush-rush-rush of impersonal big cities look forward to getting back to the slower pace and gentler ways of the Midwest. “From the time I get off the plane here I notice a difference,” said Houston Odems, who flies into Omaha from Dallas. “People are polite…kind. To me, you just can’t beat it. I tell people all the time it’s a wonderful place to have grown-up. I mean, I still know the people who sold me my first car and the people who dry-cleaned my clothes.”
Although the Days traces its start back to 1977, when the Native Omahans Club threw the first event, celebrations commemorating the ties that bind black Omahans go back well before then. As a young girl in the ‘50s, Stapleton-Odems was a majorette in an Elks drill team that strutted their stuff during 24th Street parades. “It’s a gathering that’s been gong on since I can remember,” she said.
Old-timers say the first few Native Omaha Days featured more of a 24/7, open-air, street-party atmosphere. “We were out in the middle of the street all night long just enjoying each other,” said Billy Melton, a lifelong Omahan and self-styled authority on the north side. “There was live entertainment — bands playing — every six blocks. Guys set up tents in the parks to just get with liquor. After the dances let out people would go up and down the streets till six in the morning. Everybody dressed. Everybody looking like a star. It was a party town and we knew how to party. It was something to see. No crime…nothing. Oh, yeah…there was a time when we were like that, and I’m glad to have lived in that era.”
According to Melton, an original member of the Native Omahans Club, “some people would come a week early to start bar hopping. They didn’t wait for Native Omaha Days. If certain people didn’t come here, there was no party.”
Charles Carter is no old-timer, but he recalls the stroll down memory lane that was part of past fests. “They used to have a walk with a continuous stream of people on either side of the street. What they were doing was reenacting the old days when at nighttime 24th Street was alive. There were so many people you couldn’t find a place to walk, much less park. It was unbelievable. A lot of people are like me and hold onto the thought this is the way north Omaha was at one time and it’s unfortunate our children can’t see it because there’s so much rich history there.”
Then there was the huge bash Billy Melton and his wife Martha threw at their house. “It started early in the morning and lasted all night. It was quite a thing. Music, liquor, all kinds of food. It was a big affair,” Melton said. “I had my jukebox in the backyard and we’d have dancing on the basketball court. Endless conversations. That’s what it’s all about.”
Since the emergence of gang street violence in the mid-80s, observers like Melton and Carter say the fest is more subdued, with nighttime doings confined to formal, scheduled events like the gospel night at Salem and the dance at Mancuso Hall and the 24th Street rag relegated to the North Omahans Club or other indoor venues.
A reunion ultimately means saying goodbye, hence the close of the Days is dubbed Blue Monday. Most out-of-towners have left by then, but the few stalwarts that remain mix with die-hard residents for a final round or two at various drinking holes, toasting fat times together and getting high to make the parting less painful. After a week of carousing, out-of-town revelers wear their exhaustion like a badge of honor. “You’re supposed to be tired from all this,” Houston Isom said. “There’s no such thing as sleeping during this week. I can’t even take a nap because I’ll be worried I might be missing something.” Goodwin Miller builds in recovery time, saying, “When I go home I take a day off before I go back to work.” She and the others can’t wait to do it all over again two years from now.
One of my favorite events to write about is something called Native Omaha Days, which is really a bunch of events over the course of a week or two in mid to late summer, held every two years and in essence serving as a great big celebration of Omaha’s African American culture and heritage. There’s a public parade and picnic and a whole string of concerts, dances, and other activities, but at the root of it all is the dozens, perhaps hundreds of family and school reunions and various get togethers, large and small, that happen all over the city, but most especially in the traditional heart of the black community here – North Omaha. I’ve done a number of stories over the years about the Native Omaha Days itself or riffing off it to explore different aspects of Omaha’s black community. The story below for The Reader (www.thereader.comI is from a few years ago and focuses on one extended family’s celebration of The Days. as I like to refer to the event, via a reunion party they throw.
The Ties that Bind: One family’s celebration of Native Omaha Days
The warm, communal homecoming known as Native Omaha Days expresses the deep ties that bind the city’s African-American community. It’s a time when natives long moved away return to roll with family and friends.
Beyond the cultural activities marking the festival, which officially concluded this week with the traditional “Blue Monday” farewells at northside watering holes, it’s an occasion when many families and high schools hold reunions. Whether visiting or residing here, it’s not unusual for someone to attend multiple public and private gatherings in the space of a week. The reunions embody the theme of reconnecting folks, separated by miles and years, that permeates The Days, whose activities began well before the prescribed Aug. 3 start and end well past the Aug. 8 close.
No singular experience can fully capture the flavor of this biennial love-in, but the Evergreen Family Reunion — a rendezvous of many families in one — comes close. Evergreen’s not the name of a people, but of the rural Alabama hamlet where families sharing a common origin/lineage, including the Nareds, Likelys, Olivers, Unions, Holts, Butlers, Turners and Ammons, can trace their roots.
For older kin reared there, Evergreen holds bitter memories as an inhospitable place for blacks. Those who got out, said Evergreen-born and Omaha-raised Richard Nared, were forced to leave. “Most of us came here because we had to,” he said. “A lot of my relatives had to leave the South in the middle of the night. I was little, but I did see some of the things we were confronted with, like the Ku Klux Klan.” The Nareds migrated north, as countless others did, to escape oppression and to find, as New York-raised Clinton Nared said, “a new freedom” and “a better life.”
Celebrating a fresh start and keeping track of an ever-expanding legacy is what compelled the family to start the reunion in the first place, said Rev. Robert Holt, who came in for the affair from California. The reunion can be traced to Moses Union and Georgia Ewing, who, in around 1928, “decided they would bring the family together so there would be no intermarriage. It started out with about 10 people and it grew. We’ve had as many as 2,000 attend. I don’t care where it is, I go.”
As Rev. Frank Likely of Gethsemane Church of God in Christ said in his invocation before the family fish fry on Friday, the reunion is, in part, a forum for discovering “family members we didn’t even know we had.” Then there’s “the chance to meet people I haven’t seen in 40 or 50 years,” said Rev. E.C. Oliver, pastor of Eden Baptist Church. “That’s what it means to me. A lot of them, I’ve wondered, ‘Were they still alive? What were they doing?’ It’s a good time for catching up and for fellowship,” said Oliver, who arrived from Evergreen without “a dime in my pocket.”
Clinton Nared‘s taken it upon himself to chart the family tree. Reunions, he said, reveal much. “Each year I come, I get more information and I meet people I never met before,” he said. “There’s so much history here.” Niece and fellow New Yorker Heather Nared said, “Every year I find out something different about the family.”
Of Richard Nared’s three daughters — Debra, Dina and Dawn — Dina’s been inspired to delve into the family’s past. “I needed to meet my people and to know our history,” she said. “I’ve been to more reunions than the rest of them. I even went to Evergreen. I thought it was beautiful. I loved the South. Before my oldest relatives died off, I got to sit and talk to them. It was fun. We had a good time.”
Over generations the family line spread, and offshoots can be found today across the U.S. and the world. But in the South, where some relatives remain, the multi-branched tree first sprouted in America. “We live all over. Now and then we come back together,” Richard Nared said. “But Evegreen’s where it all began. They used to call it Big Meeting.”
Held variously in Detroit, Nashville, Evergreen and other locales, the reunion enjoys a run nearly rivaling that of the Bryant-Fisher clan, an old, noted area black family related by marriage to an Evergreen branch, the Unions, whose profile has increased due to the fame of one of its own, film/TV actress Gabrielle Union. A native Omahan hot off The Honeymooners remake and an Ebony cover and co-star of the upcoming ABC drama Night Stalker, she made the rounds at The Days and reunion, causing a stir wherever she went — “You seen Gabrielle? Is she here yet? We’re so proud of her.”
A display of how interconnected Omaha’s black community remains were the hundreds that greeted the star at Adams Park on Friday afternoon, when a public ceremony naming the park pond after her turned into — what else? — a reunion. Her mother, Theresa Union, said of the appreciative throng, “Most of these people, believe it or not, are her relatives, either on my side or on her father’s side. We are a very big part of North Omaha’s population.” Gabrielle’s father, Sylvester Union, said his famous daughter comes to the family galas for the same reason everyone does: “It’s a legacy we’re trying to keep going,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to communicate and share and stay in touch. To me, that’s what it’s about — bonding and rebonding.”
The actress wasn’t the only celebrity around, either. Pro football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers and Radio One founder Catherine Liggins Hughes were out and about, meeting and greeting, giving props to their hometown, family and fellow natives. This tight black community is small enough that Sayers and Hughes grew up with the Unions, the Nareds and many other families taking part. They were among a mix of current and former Omahans who gave it up for the good vibes and careers of 40 musicians inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame at an Aug. 4 banquet. The Days is all about paying homage to Omaha’s great black heritage. As Sayers said, “People in Chicago and different places I go ask me where I’m from and when I say, ‘Omaha, Nebraska.,’ they look at me like I’m crazy. ‘You mean there’s blacks in Omaha?’ I explain how there’s a very rich tradition of African-Americans here, how we helped develop the city, how there’s a lot of talent that’s come out of here, and how proud of the fact I am to be from Omaha, Nebraska.”
Gale Sayers
This outpouring of pride and affection links not only individual families, but an entire community. “Family ties is one of the most powerful things in black history. It runs deep with us,” Richard Nared said. During The Days, everyone is a brother and a sister. “We’re all one big family,” Omahan John Butler said.
Helping host the 2005 Evergreen affair were the Nareds, whose sprawling Pee Wee’s Palace daycare at 3650 Crown Point Avenue served as the reunion registration center and fish-fry/social-mixer site. Born in Evergreen with his two brothers, William and John, Richard Nared is patriarch of a family that’s a pillar in the local black community. The Nareds were instrumental in starting the Bryant Center, once Omaha’s premier outdoor basketball facility now enjoying a revival. Richard helped form and run the Midwest Striders track club. William was a cop. John, a rec center director. Richard’s sister-in-law, Bernice Nared, is Northwest High’s principal. Daughter-in-law Sherrie Nared is Douglas County’s HIV Prevention Specialist.
The Friday fry event broke the ice with help from the jamming funk band R-Style. Some 300 souls boogied the night away. “More than we expected,” Debra Nared said. About 50 folks were still living it up on the edge of dawn. As adults conversed, danced and played cards, kids tumbled on the playground.
The family made its presence known in the Native O parade the next morning with a mini-caravan consisting of a bus and two caddies, adorned with banners flying the family colors. T-shirts proclaimed the family’s Evergreen roots. A soul-food picnic that afternoon at Fontenelle Park offered more chances for fellowship. Gabrielle and her entourage showed up to press the flesh and partake in ribs, beans, potato salad and peach cobbler. She posed for pictures with aunties, uncles, cousins. A weekend limo tour showed out-of-towners the sights. A coterie of relatives strutted their stuff at the big dance at Omaha’s Qwest Center that night. A Sunday church service and dinner at Pilgrim’s Baptist, whose founders were family members from Evergreen, brought the story full circle.
Heard repeatedly during the reunion: “Hey, cuz, how ya’ doin’?” and “You my cuz, too?” and “Is that my cuz over there?”
Annette Nared said, “There’s a lot of people here I don’t know, but by the time the night’s over, I’ll meet a whole lot of new relatives.” Looking around at all the family surrounding her, wide-eyed Dawn Nared said, “I didn’t know I had this many cousins. It’s interesting.” Omahan Sharon Turner, who married into the family, summed up the weekend by saying, it’s “lots of camaraderie. It’s a real good time to reconnect and find out what other folks are doing.”
For Richard Nared, it’s all about continuity. “Young people don’t know the family tree. They don’t know their family history unless someone old enlightens them,” he said. “Kids need to know about their history. If they don’t know their history, they’re lost anyway.”
It’s why he called out a challenge to the young bloods to keep it going. “This is a family affair,” he said. “I want the young people here to carry things on. Let’s come together. Let’s make this something special from now on.”
Categories: African-American, African-American Culture, Arts-Entertainment-Culture, Community/Neighborhoods, Family, Family Reunion, North Omaha, Omaha, Writing Tags: African Ameican Culture, African American, Black Omaha, Community, Family, Homecoming, Native Omaha Days, North Carolina, Omaha, Reunion
Filmmaker Alexander Payne and his father George remember the family’s Virginia Cafe
April 1, 2018 leoadambiga Leave a comment
Originally appeared in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
It’s nearly 40 years since filmmaker Alexander Payne‘s family owned and operated the Virginia Cafe, a restaurant that for generations held a niche in the city’s downtown dining market. Recently, the filmmaker’s father, George Payne, shared some history and memories of the place and the family with The Reader.
George’s immigrant father, Nicholas (Papadopoulos) Payne, was founder and proprietor of the Virginia. Nick, as the patriarch was called, came to America in 1910, learning the confectionery trade from an uncle, John Birbilis, who helped Nick and brother Peter open the Palace of Sweets in Council Bluffs. In 1920 Nick, with cousin Fred Schizas and two other partners, bought the Calumet, a large, busy, around-the-clock food joint at 1413 Douglas Street that dated back to 1893. They remodeled it, renamed it the Virginia and kept it one of Omaha’s few 24-7 operations, George said. The other partners eventually dropped out.
According to George the Virginia served strictly American fare — steaks, chops, sandwiches, salads, a full breakfast line, daily lunch and dinner specials and traditional holiday favorites. The cafe housed its own bakery, had its own butcher and stocked a freezer with eight kinds of ice cream.
At its peak, he said, the popular cafe kept a payroll of 85 employees on three different shifts and served up to 3,000 diners a day.
George joined his father in the family business in the early ’50s. An Omaha Central High, Dartmouth and Northwestern University grad, George is a World War II vet who worked on the war production board in Washington D.C., where he met his wife, Peggy. He and Peggy settled in Omaha, where the youngest of their three sons, Alexander, fell in love with movies.
The future filmmaker was only 9 when a fire destroyed the Virginia but he has fond memories of the cafe.
“People loved that place,” Alexander Payne said by phone. “There was no key to the front door. They didn’t need one — they never closed. I used to like to go back to the kitchen and watch the chefs work. I remember all the wait staff and cashiers were so nice to me because, of course, I was the owner’s son. Our family ritual was dinner there every Thursday night.”
The Paynes ordered right off the menu.
While no Greek food was on the menu, the restaurant embodied Nick Payne’s classic immigrant made-good success story. Like many newcomers he went out of his way to be a super patriot. He sold millions of dollars worth of government Liberty Bonds during the Second World War, said George Payne, who added his father landed “quite a coup” when he inked a contract to feed all area military enlistees. From WWII through Vietnam, the Virginia served “last meals” to wide-eyed recruits en route to basic training.
“Those are the kinds of things that are a little unique from the Virginia,” the dapper George Payne said. There’s more. The cafe played a part in a tense chapter of Omaha history when a 1935 streetcar strike erupted in violence. George was 20 then and working part-time in the restaurant. Martial law was declared and more than 1,000 National Guard troops sent in to restore order. “That was serious stuff,” George recalled. The Virginia, located right on the streetcar line, was near the conflict between strikers and strikebreakers. The soldiers’ presence quelled the rioting. The cafe was commandeered into serving three meals a day to the troops.
“They came in and took over our business,” said George, who remembers the first guardsmen tromping in with their boots and packs and hanging their rifles on coat hooks attached to the fine mahogany wainscoting, which sent his father into a fit. From that point on the soldiers stacked their weapons safely out of harm’s way.
The Virginia was justly proud of its decor. Its glorious neon signage, plate glass windows, decorative tile-fronted exterior and rich mahogany interior with white table cloth covered tables and booths were straight out of an Edward Hopper painting. Distinctive murals of the American landscape and fine renderings of all 50 state seals adorned the lounge and dining room and the massive cross-section of a redwood tree was mounted in the party room.
“There wasn’t a restaurant in town that had that kind of atmosphere at all,” George said. “It was very well done. My dad had vision.”
This eclectic design reflected the diverse customers the Virginia catered to — professionals, office workers, politicos, housewives, clerks, stock boys, cabbies, crack-of-dawn delivery men, night owls and bar crawlers.
Up front, right at the door greeting customers, was Nick, trademark cigar in hand, dressed impeccably in a suit and tie and kibitzing with the line of people that formed at lunchtime. If anyone tired of the wait and started to leave George said Nick would coax them to stay with, “‘Don’t go. You know you’ll be back in five minutes. Where you going to go?’ He had a way with people.”
The cafe enjoyed a brisk trade before it went up in flames in 1969. Neither Nick nor George were there when the fire broke out on a Sunday night. They were awakened with the news and came down to see a burned out shell. After two full days of being hosed down, George said, the building collapsed in on itself. It was a total loss. George salvaged a few mementos and artifacts. There was talk of reopening at another spot but the family opted to walk away. The site of the Virginia was sold to the city, which built the W. Dale Clark Library near there.
“I really didn’t quite know what I was going to do…” George said. He wound up with the Sheraton Hotels group and then the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration — posts that took him around the world.
Nick Payne left a rich legacy that George has carried on. The elder Payne helped found the Omaha Restaurant Association, which his son presided over as president, as he did the Nebraska Restaurant Association. In 1956 American Restaurant Association Magazine inducted Nick into its Hall of Fame. The father was heavily involved with St. John Greek Orthodox Church. Nick Payne died in 1989. George Payne, now 92, has continued, with Peggy, his father’s support of the church.
The family retains close ties to Greece and has made periodic trips to their ancestral homeland. Alexander Payne one day intends to shoot a film there.
Categories: Alexander Payne, Entrepreneurial, Family, Food, Omaha, Writing Tags: Alexander Payne, George Payne, Virginia Cafe
Identical twin horn players set to lead Omaha jazz revival
March 27, 2018 leoadambiga 1 comment
Potash Twins
©Story by Leo Adam Biga
©Photography by Bill Sitzmann
Originally appeared in Omaha Magazine
Omaha once reigned as a major live music hub where scores of legendary artists came to perform. Many resident musicians who got their chops here used Omaha as a springboard to forge fat careers on the coasts.
The local African-American music scene was particularly lively from the 1930s into the 1970s, with jumping venues and jam sessions galore.
Then, that halcyon time faded away.
Now, identical twins Ezra and Adeev Potash of Omaha, two fast-rising horn players with crazy close ties to such living-legend jazz greats as Wynton Marsalis and Jon Faddis, are intent on reviving that long dormant scene. Nominated for Best Jazz for the 2014 Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards, they recently became co-artistic directors at the Love’s Jazz & Arts Center in Omaha. The twins, who turned 20 this fall, booked an all-star lineup of local artists at LJAC through 2013, headlining some dates themselves.
But it’s all a prelude for something grander. In collaboration with LJAC executive director Tim Clark the brothers are busy raising funds to underwrite a 2014-2015 lineup of jazz superstars. Many prospective guest artists are personal friends and colleagues of the twins in New York City, where the Westside High School graduates study music.
The brothers and Clark want nothing less than to create a world-class jazz club at the center, whose jazzman namesake, Omaha’s own Preston Love Sr., played with Count Basie and came of age in local nightspots like the Dreamland Ballroom. All the jazz giants played there or at Allen’s Showcase and other
long-gone venues.
Clark says, “What’s so exciting about the twins is their enthusiasm and their sincere desire to preserve one of America’s original art forms, jazz, and to put Omaha back on the map as a national jazz hub. They’re very serious about their craft and making jazz a priority in Omaha. They bring a breath of fresh air.”
“We’re going to try to raise the money to do the season right,” says Ezra, who plays trombone, tuba, and sousaphone.“We’re meeting with donors to prove to them our passion and our vision to get what we need to become a sustainable jazz club. The thing we want people in Omaha to know is that we have the connections to bring in the biggest names in jazz. The only way we can make it happen is if Omaha gives us the resources to make it happen. We’re really close to getting it.
“Now is the time. Omaha’s really thriving as a city and becoming known for its arts. Jazz is a historical music with strong Midwest roots. North Omaha was a center of jazz, and it can be that again.”
Adeev, who plays trumpet, says, “We want to make Love’s Jazz an attraction for not only the Midwest but around the country. You won’t have to go to 18th and Vine in Kansas City or to the Dakota Club in Minneapolis to listen to great jazz.”
There are plans to upgrade the acoustics at LJAC to “make it a state-of-the-art performance space,” says Ezra.
As unlikely as it sounds that two suburban Jewish-Americans barely out of their teens should lead a jazz revival in the heart of Omaha’s black community, it’s just par for the course for the twins. At 15, their chutzpah translated into a private lesson with trumpet master Marsalis after sneaking backstage at the Lied Performing Arts Center in Lincoln following a gig by his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
They appreciate what they have with Marsalis, who’s introduced them to other jazz icons, some of whom they’ve played with.
“Because of our relationship with Wynton we’re able to meet, hang out with, and learn from the best musicians in the world,” says Ezra. “We have a lot of awesome opportunities. We’re always eager to learn. And we like sharing with Omaha what we’re exposed to.”
Faddis confirms the brothers are “not shy” in approaching accomplished players like himself, Marsalis, and Jonathan Batiste for “pointers.” That networking has the brothers getting schooled by the best in the field.
“We’re living jazz history,” says Adeev, who studies under Faddis. “Wynton is the modern Coltrane. Jon Faddis is the disciple of Dizzy Gillespie. I feel honored to be part of the legacy they’ll leave me.”
Clark describes the twins as ambassadors, but the brothers also enjoy the limelight. In March, they performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, where they led an impromptu New Orleans-style “second line” parade down Sixth Street that National Public Radio featured. A film crew following them for a proposed reality TV series was there and at the May Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting, where the brothers performed. They also did a recent talk at October’s TEDx Omaha event on the Creighton University campus.
Their talk and performance there focused on the intuitive communication and bond twins enjoy, an asset that is magnified on stage. “Twins in general like to finish each other’s sentences,” says Adeev, “and that kind of works the same in jazz.”
Categories: Family, Jazz, Jewish Culture, Loves Jazz & Arts Center, Music, Musician, Omaha, Potash Twins, Writing Tags: Jazz, Loves Jazz and Arts Center, Music, Musicians, Omaha, Potash Twins
A series commemorating Black History Month – North Omaha stories Part II
February 8, 2018 leoadambiga Leave a comment
Commemorating Black History Month
Links to North Omaha stories from 1998 through 2018.
Articles on social justice, civil rights, race, history, faith, family, community, business, politics. education, art, music, theater, film, culture, et cetera
A weekly four-part series
This week: Part II – Faith, family, community, business, politics
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/11/16/interfaith-journ…rfaith-walk-work/
Good Shepherds of North Omaha: Ministers and Churches Making a …
https://leoadambiga.com/…/the-shepherds-of-north–omaha–ministers-and- churches-making-a-difference-in-area-of-great-need/
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/08/30/two-blended-hous…houses-unidvided
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/11/14/small-but-mighty…idst-differences
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/09/16/everyones-welcom…g-bread-together/
https://leoadambiga.com/2014/02/02/upon-this-rock-h…trinity-lutheran/
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/05/31/gimme-shelter-sa…en-for-searchers
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/01/09/an-open-invitati…-catholic-church
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/07/15/everything-old-i…-church-in-omaha/
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/03/10/the-sweet-sounds…ts-freedom-choir/
Sacred Heart Freedom Choir | Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories
https://leoadambiga.com/tag/sacred-heart-freedom-choir/
Salem’s Voices of Victory Gospel Choir Gets Justified with the Lord …
https://leoadambiga.com/…/salems-voices-of-victory-gospel-choir-gets- justified-with-the-lord/
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/07/11/the-myers-legacy…ng-and-community/
A Homecoming Like No Other – The Reader
http://thereader.com/news/a-homecoming-like-no-other/
Native Omaha Days: A Black is Beautiful Celebration, Now, and All …
https://leoadambiga.com/…/native–omaha–days-a-black-is-beautiful- celebration-now-and-all-the-days-gone-by/
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/11/back-in-the-day-…party-all-in-one
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/05/how-one-family-d…-during-the-days/
Bryant-Fisher | Omaha Magazine
http://omahamagazine.com/articles/tag/bryant-fisher/.
A Family Thing – The Reader | Omaha, Nebraska
http://thereader.com/news/a_family_thing/.
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/06/11/big-mama’s-keeps…ve-ins-and-dives/
Big Mama, Bigger Heart | Omaha Magazine
http://omahamagazine.com/articles/big-mama-bigger-heart/
Entrepreneur and craftsman John Hargiss invests in North Omaha …
http://thereader.com/visual-art/entrepreneur_and_craftsman_john_hargiss_invests_in_north_omaha/
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/06/30/creative-to-the-…s-handmade-world/
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/09/27/minne-lusa-house…on-and-community/
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/10/22/a-culinary-horti…ommunity-college/
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/08/28/revival-of-benso…estination-place
A Mentoring We Will Go | Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/06/18/a-mentoring-we-will-go
https://leoadambiga.com/2018/01/08/tech-maven-lasho…past-stereotypes/
https://leoadambiga.com/2017/08/22/omaha-small-busi…rs-entrepreneurs
Omaha Northwest Radial Hwy | Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories
https://leoadambiga.com/tag/omaha-northwest-radial-hwy/
Isabel Wilkerson | Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories
https://leoadambiga.com/tag/isabel-wilkerson/
The Great Migration comes home – The Reader
http://thereader.com/visual-art/the_great_migration_comes_home/.
Goodwin’s Spencer Street Barber Shop – Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside …
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/04/29/goodwins-spencer-street-barbershop-we-cut-heads-and-broaden-minds-too/.
Free Radical Ernie Chambers – The Reader
http://www.thereader.com/post/free_radical_ernie_chambers
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/03/15/deadeye-marcus-m…t-shooter-at-100/
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/01/15/north-omaha-cham…s-the-good-fight
North’s Star: Gene Haynes builds legacy as education leader with …
https://leoadambiga.com/…/norths-star-gene-haynes-builds-legacy-as- education-leader-with-omaha-public-schools-and-north-high-school…
Brenda Council: A public servant’s life | Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside …
https://leoadambiga.com/…/brenda-council-a-public-servants-life/
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/04/17/carole-woods-har…ess-and-politics/
Radio One Queen Cathy Hughes Rules By Keeping It Real …
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/04/29/radio-one-queen-cathy-hughes…
Miss Leola Says Goodbye | Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/09/01/miss-leola-says-goodbye/.
https://leoadambiga.com/2011/09/02/leola-keeps-the-…-side-music-shop/
Aisha Okudi’s story of inspiration and transformation …
http://thereader.com/news/aisha_okudis_story_of_inspiration_and_transformation/
Alesia Lester: A Conversation in the Gossip Salon | Leo …
https://leoadambiga.com/2016/03/09/alesia-lester-a-conversation-in…
Viv Ewing | Omaha Magazine
http://omahamagazine.com/articles/tag/viv-ewing/
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/02/11/sex-talk-comes-w…rri-nared-brooks/
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/08/29/strong-smart-and…-girls-inc-story/
https://leoadambiga.com/2015/10/13/omaha-couple-exp…ica-in-many-ways
Parenting the Second Time Around Holds Challenges and …
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/11/25/parenting-the-second-time…
Pamela Jo Berry brings art fest to North Omaha – The Reader
http://thereader.com/visual-art/pamela_jo_berry_brings_art_fest_to_north_omaha/
https://leoadambiga.com/2010/06/06/its-a-hoops-cult…asketball-league/
Tunette Powell | Omaha Magazine
http://omahamagazine.com/articles/tag/tunette-powell/
Finding Her Voice: Tunette Powell Comes Out of the Dark …
https://leoadambiga.com/2013/01/24/finding-her-voice-tunette..
Shonna Dorsey | Omaha Magazine
http://omahamagazine.com/articles/tag/shonna-dorsey/
Finding Normal: Schalisha Walker’s journey finding normal …
https://leoadambiga.com/2014/07/18/finding-normal-schalisha-walker..
Patique Collins | Omaha Magazine
http://omahamagazine.com/articles/tag/patique-collins/
Categories: African-American, African-American Culture, African-American Empowerment Network, Business, Community Redevelopment, Community/Neighborhoods, Faith, Family, North Omaha, Omaha, Politics, Writing Tags: African Ameican Culture, African American, African-American Empowerment Network, Business, Community, Faith, Family, North Omaha, Omaha, Politics
One Hundred Years Strong: Bryant-Fisher Family Reunion
June 23, 2017 leoadambiga 2 comments
©Photos by Bill Sitzmann
Published in July-August 2017 issue of Omaha Magazine
The Bryant-Fisher family reunion celebrates an important milestone in 2017—its 100th anniversary. The three-day reunion event will conclude with a final day of festivities in Elmwood Park.
The “Dozens of Cousins,” named for the 12 branches of the prodigious African-American family, will gather in Omaha on Sunday, Aug. 13, to eat, converse, and renew bonds of kinship while reinvigorating ties to local neighborhood roots.
The first reunion was a picnic in 1917 held at Mandan Park in South Omaha, where family roots run deep. Mandan hosted the picnic for 74 years. Its trails, gardens, and river views offered scenic backdrops. The park is also near the family’s homestead at 15th Street and Berry Avenue, and Graceland Park Cemetery (where many relatives are buried).
The picnic, which goes on rain or shine, relocated to Carter Lake in the 1990s and has since gone to various locales. It is coming to Elmwood Park for the first time this year.
Hours before the picnic, a dawn fish fry kicks things off. With bellies full of fried food, the descendants of Emma Early head for a family worship service followed by the picnic.
Always present is a star-studded menu of from-scratch American comfort and soul food staples: ribs, fried chicken, lasagna, collard greens, black-eyed peas, mac and cheese, potato salad, and more.
The family’s different branches provide tents under which they set up their family feasts. Monique Henry belongs to the Gray tent and says everyone waits for her first cousin Danielle Nauden’s peach cobbler to arrive on the table.
The meals may be the highlight, but the day also includes games, foot races, a dance contest, and a pie/cake baking contest, which Henry says is mainly for the teenagers. The baking contest garners between 20 and 50 entries, depending on the size of the reunion.
Competitions are an intense part of the picnic gathering.
Film-television actress Gabrielle Union, the star of hit BET drama Being Mary Jane, is a descendant who grew up with the reunions. She understands what’s at stake.
“Having a chance to compete against your cousins in front of your family is huge,” Union says. “Some top athletes are in our family, so the races are like the Olympics. Each section of the family is like a country sending their best athletes. You trained for it.”
Union vividly recalls her most memorable race: “I wore my hair in braids but tucked under a cap. I won the race, and then somebody shouted, ‘That’s a boy,” thinking this fast little dynamo couldn’t possibly have been a girl, and I whipped off my cap like, ‘I’m a girl!’”
Although the large family has expanded and dispersed across Omaha and nationwide—and descendants of Emma Early Bryant-Fisher now number in the thousands—the picnic has remained in Omaha the second Sunday of August as a perennial ties-that-bind feast.
Union returns as her schedule allows. The actress grew up in northeast Omaha, attending St. Benedict the Moor. She often visited relatives in South O, where the home of matriarch Emma (a street is named after her) remained in the family.
Union introduced NBA superstar husband Dwyane Wade to the reunion last year. “It was important for me for Dwyane to come experience it,” she says. “No one I know has a family reunion of the scale, scope, and length we have. It’s pretty incredible. It says a lot about the endurance and strength of our family. It’s a testament to the importance of family, sticking together, and the strength that comes out of a family that recognizes its rich history and celebrates it.”
A tradition of this duration is rare for African-Americans given the historic struggles that disrupted many families. Bryant-Fisher descendant Susan Prater James says, “The reason for celebrating the 100th is that we’re still able to be together after everything our ancestors went through.”
“There’s nothing I can complain about [in terms of facing] adversity [that] someone in my family has not only experienced but fought through, and not just survived but thrived,” Union says. “I come from a long line of incredibly strong, powerful, and resilient strivers, and I pull from that daily.
We recognize our uniqueness and specialness, and we never take that for granted. I think with each passing year it just gets stronger and stronger.”
The family tree gets updated with a new history book every five years. “Dozens of Cousins” social media sites keep the grapevine buzzing. The family migrated from South Omaha to North Omaha many years ago, and also once had its own North O clubhouse at 21st and Wirt streets. The Dozens of Cousins, Inc. became a 501c3 in 2016.
A century of gatherings doesn’t just happen.
“We get together all the time, and anytime we get together it’s a celebration,” says Bryant-Fisher descendant Sherri Wright-Harris. “We love on one another. Family has always been instilled as the most important thing you have in this life. This is a part of the fabric that makes us who we are.”
“We don’t know anything different,” says Henry, another Bryant-
Fisher descendant.
“That’s ingrained from the time you’re born into the legacy,” family historian Arlett Brooks says. “My mother committed to her mother, and I committed to her to carry this tradition on. This is my love, my passion. I just think it’s important to share your history, and I want our youth to know the importance of this and to treasure what we have because this is not a common thing.”
The reunion has evolved from a one-day picnic to include: a river boat cruise, skate party, memorial ride (on a trolley or bus) to visit important family sites, banquet dinner-dance, and a talent showcase. Milestone years such as this one include a Saturday parade. Headquarters for the 2017 reunion will be situated at the Old Market Embassy Suites.
The reunion’s Friday night formal banquet means new outfits and hair-dos. But renewing blood bonds is what counts. “It’s a way for young and old to reconnect with their roots and find a sense of belonging,” Prater James says.
Representing the various branches of the Bryant-Fisher family takes on added meaning over time.
“No matter how old you are, no matter how down you get, on that day everything seems to be looking better,” Marc Nichols says.
Cheryl Bowles says she “felt sick” the one reunion she skipped.
Arlett Brooks says she has never missed a reunion, and she’s not about to miss the 100th. “You only get the centennial one time,” Brooks says.
New this year will be a family history cookbook complete with recipes, stories, and photos. Catfish, spaghetti, greens, and cornbread are faves. The history cookbook is expected to be printed and ready for sale at the reunion.
Union says fun and food aside, the real attraction is “hearing the stories—the important stories, the silly stories—and learning the history before people are gone.”
Visit bryantfisherreunion.com for more information.
Monique Henry
This article was printed in the July/August 2017 Edition ofOmaha Home.
Categories: African-American, African-American Culture, Bryant-Fisher Family, Family, Family Reunion, Omaha, South Omaha, Writing Tags: African Ameican Culture, African American, Bryant-Fisher Dozens of Cousins, Bryant-Fisher Family, Bryant-Fisher Reunion, Family, Family Reunions, Omaha
The tail-gunner’s grandson: Ben Drickey revisits World War II experiences on foot and film
May 2, 2017 leoadambiga 3 comments
Omaha Magazine remembers World War II in its May-June 2017 issue. This is one of two stories I wrote for that issue. It tells the story of the late Wendell Fetters through the eyes of his grandson, Omaha filmmaker Ben Drickey, who accompanied his grandfather on a trip to Europe visiting the sites of some intense and bittersweet wartime experiences. The emotional trip gave Drickey, who was there to document it all, a new path for this life’s work. His footage of that experience brought things full circle for his grandfather and gave his family the precious gift of an intimate look back into the past.
The tail-gunner’s grandson
Ben Drickey revisits World War II experiences on foot and film
Appearing in the May-June 2017 issue of Omaha Magazine (http://omahamagazine.com)
Filmmaker Ben Drickey’s lifelong fascination with history turned personal in 2001. That’s when he documented his grandfather’s return to Germany, revisiting the sites where the U.S. Army Air Corps serviceman crashed and was captured during World War II.
Drickey’s video of the emotional trip has only been seen by family, but the project inspired him to make video production his career after years working with still photography and politics. Today, he creates documentaries and branded film content through his studio, Torchwerks.
Growing up, Drickey was spellbound by family patriarch Wendell Fetters’ stories of being a tail-gunner on a B-26 Marauder flying with the 9th Air Force, 391st bomb group.
On an ill-fated daylight bombing run during the Battle of the Bulge on Dec. 23, 1944, his plane crossed the English Channel and delivered its payload over the Ahrweiler bridge. Enemy artillery and fighter flak killed the left engine, igniting a fire, but the crew bailed out before the plane went down.
Fetters’ chute pitched him into a tree. The impact broke an ankle, but he cut himself down. Alone, injured, and afraid, the 20-year-old Iowa native took a sun reading and hobbled west behind enemy lines in sub-zero cold and snow. Two days later, militia captured him. A family housed him over Christmas, and he spent the next four months in a POW camp before the war in Europe ended. After a stay-over in England, he came home to resume his life. He worked, married, and raised a family.
Ben Drickey of Torchwerks
Fast forward nearly six decades. Drickey was attending a family reunion, where he learned of his grandfather’s plans for returning to Germany to visit the plane’s crash site. German amateur historian Hermann Josef Stolz found its debris and used a piece stamped with identifying information to trace the plane’s manufacturer, bomber group, and crew. He invited Fetters to come pick through remnants.
“The rest of us were totally intrigued and we quickly realized this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says Drickey, who, along with his mother, two aunts, and an uncle, joined his grandparents on the summer 2001 trip. Drickey went as a video documentarian even though he was strictly working as a still photographer at the time.
“I had no formal experience creating a moving image. I borrowed a friend’s camera and pirated a copy of Final Cut Pro. But I just knew I had to go do it,” he says.
With Stolz as guide, the Americans traveled to the site, where a cross memorializes the remains of the pilot, Jack Haynes, who died in the crash.
Even all this time later, Drickey says, “pieces of fiberglass, aluminum, and rubber” are strewn about. “I was picking up things to take home.” He displays one piece on his desk in the Mastercraft Building.
He says his “ecstatic” grandfather “was like a little kid being reunited with something from his past.”
The Americans next went to the nearby two-story wood and stucco farmhouse of Josef Hayer, the man who—at age 14—first arrived on the scene of the 1944 crash. Hayer had salvaged things from the smoldering debris. Among his finds was a tailpiece with a yellow triangle on a canvas peak.
“It was the first time on our trip where my grandfather was presented with the past in such a dramatic way,” Drickey says. “You could see on his face the memories just flooding back.”
Fetters then wanted to return to Eisenschmitt, the village his captors paraded him through to the home he was billeted in. He recalled a tannenbaum atop a table and framed photos of two German Army conscripts hanging on a wall. He was fed dinner and slept in the barn, then he was taken to the rail depot for transport to the POW camp.
After nearly giving up the search for the home all those years later, Fetters noticed a familiar landmark. Sure enough, just beyond the hill sat the house. Through translation, the elderly woman occupant said she remembered that war-torn Christmas when an American airman was brought to the house. She was 9 years old then. She recognized Fetters standing before her 56 years later.
She explained that the uniformed men in the photos were her brothers, and the pictures still hung in the same spot. She invited Fetters to see for himself. He refused.
“My grandfather said, ‘No, no, no, let’s go,’” Drickey says. “He went to the car and wouldn’t come out. He was visibly shaken. We didn’t know what to do, but we were standing there in awe reliving this history with him.”
As the visitors drove off, the woman hurried behind clutching oranges as a gesture of friendship. She handed them to Fetters. A family meeting ensued. Fetters held firm. Drickey explained he’d come too far not to go back, so he did.
“In my business, I would rather beg for forgiveness than ask for permission most of the time,” Drickey says.
He filmed inside the house and interviewed the woman, one of many interviews he conducted for the project.
The experience gave him a career path and archived a precious family legacy.
“I’m so glad I did it. It was such a learning experience for me about myself, my eye, and my ability to capture an image,” he says.
“So many things happened on this trip,” and Drickey says he can only appreciate them all by re-watching the footage.
His grandfather lived to see the video. “He thanked me for taking the time to do it,” Drickey says. “He was very pleased it will live on past him.”
Drickey has gone on to produce slick corporate videos, commercials, and short films. He also worked as cinematographer on the feature film It Snows All the Time, but nothing compares to that first personal project.
His grandfather—the airman who also served in the Korean War—passed away July 31, 2015.
Visit torchwerks.com for more information.
This article appears in the May/June 2017 edition Sixty-Plus, a publication within Omaha Magazine.
Categories: Ben Drickey, Documentary, Family, Film, History, War, Wendell Fetters, World War II, Writing Tags: Ben Drickey, Documentary, Family, Film, History, Second World War, Wendell Fetters, World War II
Southern Fried Love Road Trip Diary II
August 12, 2016 leoadambiga 4 comments
French Quarter scenes
From the land of Yes, sir…Yes, ma’am…and Y’all have a good time
After never being in the American South the first 57 years of my life, I made a purely pleasure road trip to St. Louis and Memphis in June. My partner Pamela Jo Berry and I made the journey with her daughter Beaufield and Beau’s husband Rob and their baby boy Shine. We took in the National Blues Museum, the St. Louis Basilica and the St. Louis Fine Art Museum. We toured Graceland and the National Civil Rights Museum. We checked out the Beale Street scene. Good food and music were plentiful.
On the way home we stopped in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Branson, Missouri for some more down home country sights and experiences. Then, just two months later, Pam and I headed to the South again – only this time to the Deep South for her family reunion. We traveled with Pam’s mother Janis and two of Pam’s sisters, Pat and Theresa, to Kansas City, where we rendezvoused with close family friend Jill Anderson. Caravanning with us in another car to K.C. were Pam’s nieces Ashley, Amber and Aubrey and nephews Christopher and Tyler. While the others flew from KC to the site of the reunion, New Orleans, Pam and I drove with Jill to The Big Easy. En route, we passed through Arkansas and Mississippi and made it to the epicenter of Let the Good Times Roll by way of Baton Rouge.
We just got back from four days and three nights in the tropical clime of that storied port city best known for its rich cuisine, jazz and blues music, raised cemetery plots, voodoo subculture and stew pot mix of French, African. Creole, Cajun, African-American influences and traditions. New Orleans is first and foremost a city of the waters – both ocean and fresh water – whose diversity comes to it from every nook and cranny courtesy the international boats that dock and disembark there. The heavily trafficked Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain all intersect New Orleans and feed the city with distinct elements of river culture, community and commerce.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, we had to get there and our staging ground for the drive down south was Kansas City. On the ride into K.C. Pam, her sisters and mother would instantly react to any good soul, R&B and jazz tunes by swaying and grooving to the music. I am afraid that even sharing close quarters with four black women this white guy still didn’t acquire any soul, not even by osmosis.
We spent a night in K.C. at the industrial chic apartment Jill shares with her roommate Jake, who generously gave up his bed to us. That night in K.C. before splitting up the next morning for our New Orleans jags by plane and care, we all went out to eat. Walking to the bar-restaurant we passed through the lively Country Club Plaza district with its Spanish-style architecture adorning shops, galleries and eateries. We hadn’t walked more than a couple blocks when Pat, followed quickly by Theresa and ultimately Janis, joined a line dance in progress at a little open square that three DJs turned into an outdoor dance floor.
At the Granfalloon Restaurant & Bar everyone in our party except me went for the Taco Tuesday special. Always the outlier, I went for the Falloon Burger with its Angus beef patty topped by smoked cheddar and peppered bacon on a Brioche bun. This good eats was on point.
Now let me share some more impressions and incidents from the rather circuitous path we followed in making our way down to the Heart of Dixie and that town of grassroots mystique called New Orleans, the original Crescent City. Instead of taking the Interstate, we opted to drive on a series of highways in a south by southeasterly direction. This meandering approach was a collective decision and included taking a scenic river path into New Orleans but as you’ll read that didn’t turn out the way we envisioned.
Well into our slog through Missouri and somewhere near the Arkansas border we happened upon an off-the-beaten-track Amish-run farmstead, where we stocked up on fresh fruit and veggies, including juicy, just picked Missouri peaches. A pit stop for gas and provisions turned up an unexpected delight when Pam spotted battered, deep-fried chicken livers and gizzards for sale as a uniquely Southern road snack. She and I both grew up eating those organ meats and so with every bite it took us back to our childhoods. I never did acquire an appetite for gizzards, but livers, well, that’s a whole other matter. These were just as they should be – soft and creamy inside with a flavorful not too crunchy breading on the outside. If cooked just right, as they were, it’s not an oily dish at all. Of all the good food we ate on the trip, and as you will read we ate some downright righteous stuff, the livers may have been the single best bite of the whole experience.
Traversing the surprisingly hilly country of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas we stopped to visit Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs. This impressive glass and steel structure sits atop native stone in a clearing amid forest. More than 400 windows provide a panoramic immersion experience in nature that is both serene and sacred. Pam and I meant to stop there on our earlier trip down South but never made it, and so getting to see it on this trip was well worth the wait.
We stopped in Little Rock, where with more time at our disposal we would have visited civil rights memorials, but settled instead for dinner at Gus’s Famous Fried Chicken in the city’s downtown River Market district. The chicken comes spicy hot and it was better than average but not that much to brag about. Neither were the pedestrian sides. Our waitress was a bona fide Southern sweetheart who at one point sat herself down at our table for a down home, right quick break from being on her feet all day and a welcome to Little Rock how-de-do. Jill’s rental car got a less than how-de-do ticket violation for being parked in a spot where the citation read no parking is allowable at any time, This unwelcome surprise came despite no visible warning not to use that spot. The full lot’s only signage declared, “Public Parking.” Pam and I encouraged Jill to protest the ticket via whatever means the city of Little Rock allows. This wouldn’t be the last time Jill’s car attracted the unwanted attention of law enforcement despite our collective best efforts to obey the law.
We stayed a night at a Days Inn in Pine Bluff. All three of us skipped the promised complimentary breakfast after discovering it consisted entirely of white flour, sugar-based products that are no-no’s for people with diet restrictions like two of us.
Speaking of food, we had killer snacks on the ride down thanks to Jill, who packed a nice supply of her homemade vegan tamales featuring Jack Fruit and a yummy, spicy blend of seasonings.
Half-way on the aforementioned scenic river route in Louisiana Jill mapped out is when we realized we were lost or at least not where we should be because all we saw were flood control berms and heavy industry complexes. The sheer size and scale of operation of those various industry works were a sight to behold but decidedly not scenic. High above us ran conveyance systems from either side of the road. Do the overhead pipes carry water from the river to feed into whatever industrial processes are going on there? Don’t know. All I know is that whatever does happen at those plants is securely tucked away behind barbed wire and perhaps electrified fences. The giant works themselves, with their smoke stacks, cranes, valves and such, have a kind of heavy beauty to them in their interlocking tangle of mechanics and machinery, Not everything we glimpsed was so oppressive. There were a few roadside shotgun shack residences and bars. All through the parts of the South we traveled we saw lots of played out towns and abandoned structues that reminded me of what one sees trekking across Nebraska or any rural stretched. We did pass a raggedy plantation as well as some dreamland site full of white stone structures. Convinced we needed to ask someone where we were in relationship to the Mississippi River and to New Orleans, we pulled into an automotive and towing business called Joey’s on the side of the road and hollered at the first person we saw, who just happened to be Joey. In his thick Creole accent he informed us we were on the wrong side of the river to see anything remotely scenic and provided clear directions for getting us into New Orleans.
New Orleans tagline to take to heart
We were no more than a few minutes traveling across the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway, which is the world’s longest bridge over a body of water with its nearly 24 mile span, when we hit rush hour traffic. Lake Ponchartrain is so immense and my sense of geography so poor, that I assumed we were over the Gulf of Mexico at that point. Then things really got interesting when a thunderstorm broke out and rain went from moderate to heavy to a torrential downpour. Visibility was reduced to a car or two in front of us, in back of us and on either side of us. Amidst all that gray and all those vehicles it was a claustrophobic inching along that tested faith and patience. Finally the shroud lifted and we got back to a semblance of normal travel speed. but bursts of jagged lightning bolts hitting a few hundred yards away made for an ominous arrival in our destination city. The Superdome loomed large ahead as we snaked our way through jam-packed streets to find the Embassy Suites on Julia Street, where we stayed three nights.
Over the next four days we ended up doing the French Quarter and French Market, but we avoided Bourbon Street. As a prelude to our first French Quarter foray the entire family gathered for the reunion took a riverboat cruise aboard the Steamboat Natchez. The food was disappointing but the cruise did give an appreciation for the grandeur of the river and for the scale of its commercial traffic as a bustling thoroughfare of ships and barges transporting people and provisions. Naturally, there was a “house” band entertaining us with old-timey jazz and ragtime music.
Our first truly New Orleans meal came at Peche Seafood Grill just a couple blocks from the hotel. Pam had a smothered catfish entree that she loved though I didn’t care for the red chili sauce that covered it. I had a killer gumbo with a scrumptious side of roasted beets and pistachios accented by fresh thyme.
Very near Peche is an Emeril’s restaurant and since we’re both big fans of his from watching cable cooking shows we decided to do dinner there one night. Eating at Emeril’s was hands down the best and most expensive meal we had on the trip. Trying to keep costs down, we both opted for the grilled salmon dish served on a bed of farro (a barley-like grain) and a tomato and corn chouchou, with some pickled string veggies tied in a bow atop the fish. The salmon was prepared perfectly, with the skin a nice black and crisp and the flesh moist and buttery. This was fine dining done right. The experience included at least four different wait staff who attended to us, each with a specific function, and somehow none made themselves obtrusive or a nuisance.
I forget what night it was down there, but Pam and I were walking back to the hotel after dinner and decided to explore a little bit and we heard, as you often do there, live music coming from somewhere. We followed the sound and before we knew it we were enveloped by a small marching band and their brassy instruments and dozens of rollicking merrymakers dancing to the joyous rhythms of When the Saints Go Marching In.
Steamboat Natchez
The day of the cruise didn’t begin so well but it certainly ended nicely. Waiting in line to board the boat became a mini-ordeal because of the oppressive heat and humidity that left us from more temperate Northern and Western climes sodden messes. Hand held fans were our only relief until we got inside the AC of the dining cabin. After a pale imitation of Southern cooking for lunch we went outside to stand or sit along the deck. A cool spray of water got kicked up by the paddle wheel below and a refreshing breeze made being outside in New Orleans a comfortable time for once.
We no sooner clambered off the boat then we headed right for the French Quarter, where a Satchmo Summerfest featuring live jazz and a sidewalk art show of diverse work drew good crowds. There’s much to see and do in the Quarter, of course, and we stopped in a number of galleries and shops, including a praline shop whose proprietor was a very short lady speaking in a very big voice. Her natural amplification made it sound like she was speaking through a bull horn. Our walking party through the Quarter consisted of Pam and me, Pam’s sisters Cheryl and Veronica, and Pam’s brother John.
During the course of our adventures in New Orleans we passed any number of praline places but we never got any. We were both trying to be good with our diets in a place where the abiding philosophy is diets-be-damned. But we had moments of splurging with food and other things.
Our stroll through the Quarter and on back to the hotel seemed like a forced march at times because of he humidity. It clings to you as if you’re walking with a warm damp towel over your head.
If we ever get back to New Orleans, I would like to have more time to explore the Quarter and to peak into those distinctive, tightly packed homes and buildings with their multicolored pastel facades, arched entryways, cozy balconies, ample windows with shutters and interior courtyards.
We also never got around to visiting a plantation or a cemetery. Next time must-dos.
The French Market is a big bazaar off the French Quarter filled with commercial buildings and open air stalls. We perused its Flea Market, where you can find an impressive variety of cooked to order food, fresh produce, apparel, jewelry, art and a hundred and one other things for sale. Pam had some interesting encounters with a charismatic vendor there by the name of Stefano Velaska. The story goes he wound up in New Orleans after fleeing his native Czechoslovakia, where he purports to have been a wanted dissident. He has been a vendor at the market since 1990. He’s also a founding member of the Dutch Alley Artist’s Co-op located within a short walk of his booth. He makes and sells his own handcrafted jewelry. He apparently suffered heavy losses in the Katrina disaster. He likes to quote Tennessee Williams and whether serious or not, he tried to interest Pam in interesting me to visit NOLA’s red light district to marvel at if not sample the whores. She was not sure how to take that or what to do with it but he twice “propositioned” her with the suggestion, which coming from a mustachioed, heavy-accented, flamboyant man in a decorated top hat does make one wonder or pause. Not far from the Flea Market is the famous Cafe DuMonde and its signature beignet and coffee. The takeout and gift shop lines went on forever and the open air dining area was packed too but we managed to just walk right in and sit right down. These were our first beignets, the legendary doughy delights smothered in powdered sugar, and I must say they’re quite good but hardly the revelation I was led to believe. During our repast there two older women turned out in gaudy mardi gras garb sat at nearby table and Pam asked if she could photograph them and they complied. A great pleasure on this trip was that Pam took photos practically everywhere we went. She is a superb photographer who years ago made a name for herself for her photojournalistic and art photography before life intervened and she eventually dropped the camera and morphed into a mixed media artist. Seeing her little by little pick up the camera again does my heart good. We intend to work together on a project one day featuring her images and my words.
Joining us after awhile at Cafe du Monde were Pam’s sisters Veronica, Victoria and Cheryl. We found a neat little gallery featuring the work of an artist who’s also the gallery owner.
During our meanderings through the French Market we heard some good jazz being played by a variety of musicians, including a sidewalk trio of a young man drumming and singing, an older man blowing his trombone and a young girl tearing it up on the trumpet. They attracted quite a few onlookers and admirers. Count us among them, Pam got some great shots of them.
The big family gathering that reunion week was a dinner and dance at Mulate’s Cajun Restaurant. The staff put out a nice buffet spread highlighted by a great jambalaya and these scrumptious little meat pies. The main bill of fare though was the four generations of the Williams-Jackson family gathered for this celebration. Family and friends of family joined as one. Folks came from California, Nebraska, Missouri, Virginia and Georgia. Pam’s mom Janis, who is called Mother by one and all, headed the program, assisted by her daughter Cheryl. A cousin of Pam’s named Alexandra from the Kansas City side of the family has a beautiful, trained singing voice and she treated us to a rendition of “Ave Maria” and a gospel hymn. An unannounced segment of the reunion dinner program featured Pam’s daughter Beaufield Berry and her man Rob Fisher ecchanging marriage vows before the assembled Williams-Jackson clan. They wanted to share their wedded union with the extended family. I happened to be holding their 2-year-old son Shine during most of the ceremony and while he was just fine he sure couldn’t understand what mommy and daddy were doing up there.
We baby sat Shine two nights there after long days when we knew we weren’t getting back out into the party fray. We left the late nightlife revelry to the younger folks. Besides, we have a ball with Shine, whose sweet joy takes the edge off everything.
Once in New Orleans we didn’t see much of our driver, Jill, but we did find out she got a parking ticket for an expired meter and then a tow boot put on her car, which is no way for a city to treat the visitors who keep its economy afloat. After that, we decided it was better to pay the hotel parking garage fee of $37 a day, which all three of us originally balked at, and we split the cost with her. It turned out to be cheaper than searching for the scant street parking available and then getting hammered by the parking Nazis there.
For our return journey back home we took a much more direct route. We won’t soon forget the stark landscape of Mississippi, the winding roads of Arkansas and the rolling fields of Missouri. We crossed some spectacular old bridges that are epic and sculptural in addition to being practical. We were passing through Cleveland, Mississippi this past Sunday when hunger overtook us and not knowing where to stop we took a flyer on the Southern Cafe & Grill, which to our delight offered the best roadside, all-you-can-eat buffet imaginable for $10.99. Everything in that buffet line was country soul food done right: greens, lima beans, green beans, mashed potatoes, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, both fried and broiled chicken and some wonderful chicken stew-like dish. All of it was down home, real deal, succulent pleasure personified. It was one of those, Now-you-can-take-me-home-Lord meals that just don’t come around that often. We knew we were in the right place when after church crowd began filing in – white and black – dressed in their Sunday finest.
We spent another night at Jill and Jake’s place in K.C. before heading back to Omaha with Beau and Shine. After two straight adventures in the South I really like it there. The humidity does a number on me but its doable. I like the people, the landscapes, the attractions and the lifestyle. Mostly, from what I could see, the South is, just like the Midwest and pretty much everywhere for that matter, made up of honest, hard working folks who don’t take themselves too seriously but who have fierce pride of ownership in the places they call home. They love sharing their culture with outsiders if you show genuine interest in it.
Beau and Pam
As an interracial couple visiting the South in 2016 we don’t have to contend with the cruelties and dangers that mixed couples and people of color faced in the past. We never felt uncomfortable or unwelcome. Seeing Confederate flags proudly displayed in the windows of homes and on private flag poles gives a moment of pause but those sights are few and far between. Pretty much everywhere we went we were greeted with cordiality, kindness and politeness. We even got a compliment from some random guy in Eureka Springs about what a great looking couple we are. Pam, as often happens with her, was told more than once how beautiful she is and how lovely her clothes are.
We were in good hands with Jill behind the wheel and she’s great company. A very sweet and smart woman who doesn’t stand for any nonsense.
I don’t know when we will next get back to the South, except that Pam feels called to do some serious family research in Georgia, where there are mysteries in her family line she is bound and determined to unravel. Depending on what she finds, it could be the makings of a highly personal photo essay or book or film or all or none of the above. If we don’t make it down there in 2017, we do know the next family reunion is set for Atlanta in 2018, so one way or the other I will be posting a new installment of my Southern Fried Love Road Trip Diary. Until then, I’m dreaming of that heavenly Sunday buffet and counting candied yams, not calories.
Categories: Arts-Entertainment-Culture, Family, Family Reunion, Leo Adam Biga, New Orleans, Pamela Jo Berry, Road Trip, The South, Travel, Uncategorized, Vacation, Writing Tags: Leo Adam Biga, New Orleans, Pamela Jo Berry, Southern Fried Love Road Trip Diary, Williams-Jackson Family Reunion
Southern Fried Love Road Trip Diary I
June 1, 2016 leoadambiga 4 comments
Just got back mid-evening on Memorial Day from a one-week family road trip down South. We were two mixed race couples of different generations heading down to Dixieland. Beaufield Berry and Rob Fisher, plus their baby Shine along for the ride. Then there was Pamela Jo Berry (Beau’s mother) and myself. Pam and I rode shotgun with the baby while Rob and Beau took turns driving. Eight days and a couple thousand miles of travel is a lot for anyone, especially a 21-month old, but Shine was a remarkable trouper.
Our happy band of travelers pit-stopped in Kansas City to board a dog before wending our way in a southernly direction to our vacation’s first real destination, St. Louis. We toured the St. Louis Art Museum and the new National Blues Museum. The first rates 4-stars and the second 3-stars. Some in our party did the City Museum downtown. The single most impressive thing we did and viewed was tour the St. Louis Basilica a truly magnificent sacred structure that left us in a state of awe. I know, not exactly a fun thing to do, but meaningful and impactful, Immersed in that wonder. I swear that my soul stirred and my vision expanded.
Civil Rights Museum.
“I can’t explain how it feels to be here. I have goosebumps the whole time. I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m grateful…this is a must see. You HAVE to come here. They start at Africa and walk you all the way through.” –Beau
Lorraine Motel – National Civil Rights Museum
Graceland. ❤️❤️❤️#bucketlistchecked – Beau
“They ain’t playin with these collard greens down here.” – Beau
Enjoyed a great meal at Mango Peruvian Restaurant. The biggest impression we left with was how St. Louis, just like our Midwestern sister cities Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis and our Western sister city Denver, all have monumental public spaces. both indoors and outdoors, that Omaha sadly lacks. Those cities also retain much more of their historic buildings than Omaha and so the quality and the character of their architecture is much more compelling than what we have left. Our travel party of four adults and a not quite 2 year old comfortably shared a Residence Inn suite. Our shuttle drivers were ambiable men who gave us a few godo tips on where to go and what to do.
Memphis was next among our bucket list destinations and its mega attractions of Graceland and the civil Rights Museum provided two vastly distinct history experiences. Each in its own way and for its own attributes rates 5 stars. Graceland offers more than what any of us expected in terms of personalizing Elvis and his place in the collective popular culture consciousness. The Civil Rights Museum sensitively and intelligently blends the preserved Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated with a surrounding museum. The extensive exhibits walk you through the legacy of slavery from pre-colonial times all the way through to the Emancipation Proclamation and its messy aftermath. It informs you of the earliest efforts for equal rights that culminated in the modern civil rights movement. It takes you through the birth of that movement and King’s rise within it. It places you as well as any exhibit possibly could right in the thick of the protests, demonstrations, sit-ins and marches.
Beale Street proved surprisingly short but we consumed some mouth watering and flavorful food there, including a killer gumbo and some righteous greens and cornbread, and we caught some down home blues thanks to the Queen of Beale Street, Miss Ruby Wilson. Our waiter at B.B. King’s restaurant was a gregarious ambassador for the charms of Memphis, We stayed at an AirBnB-found private home in a quiet Country Club-like neighborhood. It was a spacious, comfy, unpretentious family dwelling with a great big old covered patio and deck we meant to do a grill out on but never quite got around to. If felt like a home away from home. The drive out of Memphis gave us a thrilling view between the Bass Pro Shops’ pyramid headquarters and the steel arched Hernando de Soto Bridge spanning a picturesque segment of the Mississippi River.
The only things I was sorry we didn’t make time for were tours of the legendary Sun and Stax Records.
Christ of the Ozarks #eurekasprings
We were to have continued south to Nashville, where we planned to do the Grand Ole Opry and some music studios, but our accommodations got double booked in a major AirBnB snafu. So in classic improv fashion we double backed and spent our last few nights on a lakefront condo between Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Branson, Missouri. It made for a nice Plan B compromise getaway within the larger getaway. Eureka Springs was a delightful surprise to us for its rich mix of historic buildings, eclectic architecture and hippie trippy vibe meets redneck kitsch. We were surprised too by the hilly, rocky terrain of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri that alternated with lush forests and big beautiful valleys. Saw far more Confederate flags and references to Dixie than we spied in Tennessee. As two mixed race couples down South we never felt uncomfortable, though the sight of those old wound symbols was a bit upsetting. But everybody we met, with very few exceptions, was friendly and inviting. Branson was far less visually and aesthetically pleasing than Eureka Springs, but in all fairness we only drove through its main strip or drag with all the theaters and shows. Our stroll time there was limited to another section of town devoted to shops and eateries. We mean to go back one day to take in some of those iconic Branson attractions.
Staying on that lake provided a tranquil respite to all the ferrying around from point to point. The only harrowing part of the whole trip was driving at night on dim-lit winding roads from Memphis to Eureka Springs. The weather the whole time we were away was moderate with plenty of sunshine and some stunning skyscapes and sunsets for good measure. The only inclement encountered happened on the return jaunt home between K.C., where we retrieved the dog, and Omaha, when we drove through a storm cell that kept opening up on us. Adding to the excitement of heading home was Beau, who is a playwright, fretting if she’d make it home in time for a 7:30 p.m reading compilation of some of her new work at the Great Plains Theatre Conference. Construction delays and storm surges worked against us before the road and the sky finally cleared and she made it back with plenty of time to spare.
Beau, Rob and Shine
All in all, a good, positive, fun-filled bonding time and adventure shared by people who love each other. A much needed break from the grinding routine and rut. Thank you Beau for planning such a cool gypsy experience and for expertly changing things on the fly the few times when plans did go awry. You did a great job with the accommodations and making sure we all saw and did things that touched our hearts and expanded our minds. Thank you Rob for being our steadfast main driver and all around leavening agent with your good sense and humor. Thank you Shine for being the joyful life spirit who engenders love and trust. Thank you Pamela for being the Queen Earth Mother whose serene example of going with the flow became our team mantra. Thank you God for fending off the panic attack-like freakouts that have spoiled some of my travels. This was all good and easy going down, just like a Southern Fried Chicken dinner smothered in homemade peppered gravy. A real Pot Liquor-rich flavored, stick-to-the-ribs good time.
Categories: Beaufield Berry, Family, Leo Adam Biga, Leo Adam BIga's Blog, Omaha, Pamela Jo Berry, Travel, Writing Tags: Branson, Diary, Essay, Eureka Springs, Journal, Leo Adam Biga, Memphis, Omaha, Road Trip. American South, St. Louis, Travel
Love Donor – Larry & Amee: A Father/Daughter Love Story
May 21, 2016 leoadambiga Leave a comment
Here is a story I did some time ago about a prominent father and daughter in Omaha, Larry Kavich and Amee (Kavich) Zetzman. Their family business All Makes Office Equipment is a four generation success story. Just as Larry succeeded his father, who succeeded his own father in running the business, Larry eventually passed the business onto his daughter Amee and his son Jeff. After putting it in their good hands Larry was leading a carefree life enjoying his many hobbies and pursuits when he got sick. Suffering from advanced renal failure – his kidneys failing – his only option became an organ transplant. Amee became the donor for this life saving procedure that has given him a new lease on life and brought the already close father-daughter relationship even closer together than before.
I did this story for Metro Magazine (http://www.spiritofomaha.com/Metro-Magazine/The-Magazine/) and I am posting it here for the first time.
Read an earlier story I did about the multi-generational All Makes at–
https://leoadambiga.com/2012/06/17/bedrock-values-at-the-core-of-four-generation-all-makes-office-furniture-company/
Love Donor– Larry & Amee: A Father/Daughter Love Story
Originally appeared in Metro Magazine (http://www.spiritofomaha.com/Metro-Magazine/The-Magazine/)
Larry Kavich and his daughter Amee Zetzman have always been close. They worked together at the family’s fourth generation All Makes Office Equipment Co., where Larry headed things until turning the business over to his son Jeff and daughter Amee a few years ago.
The proud papa gave his “little girl” away in marriage. Amee and her husband Ted Zetzman have given Larry and his wife Andi two grandchildren. But the father-daughter bond went to a whole new level when Larry’s advanced renal failure necessitated a transplant earlier this year and she donated her kidney.
Thus, Kavich became one of an estimated 28,000 persons to receive an organ transplant in the U.S. annually. More than 114,000 are waiting list candidates. Amee’s one of 7,000 live donors projected to give an organ this year.The procedures took place March 19 at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, near Larry’s and (wife) Andi’s snowbird residence in Scottsdale. Father and daughter went into pre-op together and separate teams performed the surgeries in adjoining operating rooms. Weeks of testing preceded the transplant to ensure the best possible match. After four hours of general surgery Larry had a new kidney and just as hoped his body accepted it without complications.
After only four days in the hospital and frequent followup visits, he’s back to the full, active lifestyle he knew before his kidneys failed.
Far from the arduous experience Zetzman says donating is assumed to be, the two-hour laparoscopic procedure left only “three little scars.” Compared to her C-sections, she says it’s “no big deal…it’s doable.”
Hours after the transplant she walked down the hall to find her father sitting up in bed. She returned to work half-days about a week later.
Kavich says “it’s a miracle” she gave him this gift and resumed her life without major interruption. Amee feels she only did what anyone would in the same situation. “If you knew you could change someone’s life and you would still be OK wouldn’t you do it?” she asks.
Still, her father expresses gratitude every week. And not just to Amee. His son Jeff Kavitch also offered to donate. (Mayo will only test one candidate at a time until a suitable match is found.) The siblings decided who would be tested first with a coin flip. Once her donor suitability was confirmed the transplant was scheduled. Amee says she and her family were “very proactive” in educating themselves and pressing for answers. “You have to be your own advocate,” she says.
“I have a fabulous support team in my family,” Larry notes. “We’re the poster family for how things should happen. We’re very fortunate to have had everything that could have gone right go right, and for that I’ll be forever grateful to Mayo and to my children and my wife.”
A Curious Journey
As Kavich readily admits, he’s an anomaly in how his transplant journey unfolded . His new kidney functioned just as it should from the moment of insertion. His creatinine level and glomerular filtration rate steadily improved to where today they’re normal, something they hadn’t been since this all started in 1981. That’s when Kavich, who’s beaten Krohn’s disease and prostate cancer, was diagnosed with a rare disorder, Wegner’s Granulomatosis, that attacks kidneys and other organs.
“I had it 31 years ago and then the disease subsided and 15 years ago it came back,” he says. “On each occasion I was put on chemotherapy and high doses of steroids. It was a very unusual circumstance because I never manifested the symptoms that my numbers would have indicated.”
No loss of appetite or energy. No curtailed activities. It left doctors scratching their heads and Kavich feeling “I’ve been blessed.” He was always told that despite how well he felt he’d one day need dialysis and a transplant. Not wanting to believe it, he says he was “living in the land of denial” in one respect but also maintaining his natural optimism in another respect.
He says Nebraska Kidney Association CEO Tim Neal connected him with people who are transplant success stories and provided “support and encouragement.” He learned healthy regimens for eating right, drinking plenty of water and exercising. His wife filtered out any negative info. He wanted to keep everything positive.
He continued feeling well and living an unrestricted life despite progressive kidney disease, but late last year he finally had to face facts. He needed a transplant and doctors said he shouldn’t hesitate if he had a living, willing donor. His children had already offered but he’d refused. Waiting for a cadaver donor could take years and his condition would require dialysis in the interim. The one thing he didn’t want was a compromised life.
No Other Options
At a doctor’s urging he and Andi visited a dialysis center, where he says, “I saw what would have been my worst fear come to pass. I completely broke down. That’s when my wife called the kids and advised them I was in trouble.” After Amee emerged as his donor she pressed for the procedure to happen as soon as possible so that her father could bypass dialysis.
“Once I got approved I was very persistent and they were totally accommodating in working with us, and my father did avoid dialysis.”
In the extensive physical-psychological vetting process to determine a live donor match she says great pains are taken to ensure donors like herself are doing it for the right reason, i.e. not getting paid. She says it’s made clear that one can opt out at any time for any reason.
Did she have any second thoughts? “I didn’t. Once I made up my mind I was, ‘Let’s get this done.’” Transplant day, she says, is a blur of feelings. “It’s an emotional situation for the family because we’re both being wheeled away to surgery at the same time. It definitely affects the whole family, in all aspects.”
Like her father she’s struck by “the miracle of it,” saying, ““It is pretty unbelievable that they can take part of my body and make it work with his. And his numbers from day one were great. Mine went back to normal quickly as my body adjusted to just having one kidney. It just all worked so fast.”
Just as her father had ample support, she counts herself lucky to have had a support network. Her husband and kids, she says, “were on board, they knew papa was having issues. I have a good circle of friends who covered all my bases, and I have a brother who covered my office base. Not everyone is in that position,” she says, adding that the National Kidney Foundation is trying to devise programs” to assist donors with things like childcare and out-of-work benefits they may need.
Enhancing Lives
The family wants the public to know what a difference organ donation can make, whether getting on the national donation registry or volunteering to be a live donor.
“Towards the end when my kidneys were definitely failing my future and my ability to live any sort of life was impaired. I would not be leading the life I’m leading had the transplant not occurred,” says Kavich. “I am the richest guy you know and it has nothing to do with money.”
He gives back today by volunteering with the Arizona Kidney Foundation. “I will go anywhere and talk to anyone about my experience,” he says.
Another way to assist the donation community is by contributing to your local kidney foundation or association to help its mission of building awareness through education, screening and referral programs-services. For details, go to http://www.kidneyne.org or call 402-932-7200.
Categories: All Makes Office Equipment, Amee Zetzman, Business, Entrepreneurial, Entrepreneurs, Family, Jewish Culture, Larry Kavich, Omaha, Uncategorized, Writing Tags: All Makes Office Equipment, Amee Zetzman, Amme Zetsman, Business, Family, Health, Larry Kavich, Omaha, Organ Transplant
Omaha Children’s Museum all grown up at 40: Celebrating four decades of letting children’s imagination run free
May 7, 2016 leoadambiga 1 comment
In 30-plus years of writing about Omaha arts, entertainment, and culture there are very few attractions I have not done a piece on. In some cases I have written multiple stories related to the same venue. An exception to all this was the Omaha Children’s Museum. Our paths simply hadn’t crossed in all that time, though I do remember going there during my early journalism career. Just can’t remember why. But I sure don’t recall writing about it. With this Metro Magazine story about that venue, which celebrates 40 years in 2016, i can cross another one off the list. The museum got off to a very entrepreneurial but humble start and it seemed to plateau several years ago until a reinvestment was made that’s been the catalyst for a resurgence that has seen attendance steadily rise and programming and exhibits progressively increase. Now the museum is running out of space and looking at options to accommodate its current bursting at the seams activity and expected additional growth. The future looks bright and busy and the musuem is deciding whether to expand at its present downtown site or two look at either retrofitting another site, preferably downtown, or building a new museum from the ground up. My story looks back at the museum’s history, charts its growth, and looks ahead to the future.
Visit the digital edition of the magazine and my story at–
http://www.spiritofomaha.com/Metro-Magazine/The-Magazine/
Appearing in the May-June-July 2016 issue of Metro Magazine–(http://www.spiritofomaha.com/Metro-Magazine/The-Magazine/)
This summer Omaha Children’s Museum joins select local attractions boasting 40 years in operation. With 300,000 annual visitors and 10,000 memberships, OCM is enjoying its greatest growth phase now.
Founder Karen Levin suggests why OCM’s proving so popular.
“It’s a very different breed. It’s where people come to play. There’s no expectations, there’s no right or wrong. Interactive learning, sharing and socialization is the theme. What you put into the experience you get out of it. It’s a very multifaceted experience.”
The two women most closely identified with the institution, Levin, and current Executive Director Lindy Hoyer, never expected to run a children’s organization.
Levin was bound for a social work career when she visited the Boston Children’s Museum in 1973. Her “visceral response” led her to work there. That experience inspired her to pursue a children’s museum in Omaha after moving here in 1975.
“It changed my life. It ended up defining my life. It became my passion. It is still my passion.”
Karen Levin
She cultivated folks who caught her vision and together they opened OCM as a mobile museum in 1976. Levin says the late Evie Zysman, a social worker and early childhood education advocate, led her to key supporters, including Jane Ford. The late Susan Thompson Buffett gave seed money and recommended attorney David Karnes, who legally incorporated OCM and became an ardent supporter with his late wife Liz. Their garage served as its storage unit and their ’74 Oldsmobile station wagon carted exhibits and supplies.
“I also did much of the corporate fundraising as we got started,” recalls Karnes. “We needed to introduce the OCM story and dream to all that would listen and it was a story many loved to hear and eventually supported,”
David Karnes
He and other early board members Susan Lebens, Jim Leuschen and John Birge were raising families and they bonded over developing a stimulating environment for their kids as well as kids community-wide.
Karnes was drawn to supporting a place where children could explore, touch, dress up, play in unstructured ways and be “in charge.” The Karnes brought their four daughters, all of whom he says “have a warm spot in their hearts for the museum and know how much it meant to me and Liz and how hard we worked to make it a success.” Those daughters live elsewhere now but “when they return with my grandkids,” he says. “they love to visit OCM.”
OCM’s old enough now that multiple generations enjoy it. Now remarried, Karnes is a parent again and he says his two new daughters “love the museum and visit often” with he and wife Kristine.
As a new grandparent, Susan Lebens is thrilled to be “back” at the museum.
John Birge, a principal architect with RNG, has fond memories of taking his then-young children to the museum and now that his kids are parents themselves he enjoys taking his grandchildren there.
John Birge
“It’s just like de jeu watching my four grandchildren working their way through that whole building and listening them talk about all the experiences and what they like doing there,” Birge says. “It’s one generation later, but it’s the same idea.”
Board chairman Trent Demulling says, “It is the one place I go with my kids I’m never looking at my cellphone because it’s so fun to watch them play. They’re always looking back to see what you’re observing and looking for validation of what they’re doing or of what they’ve built.”
Veteran board member Sandy Parker says, “OCM was the place my boys could explore, get messy, imitate, imagine, inquire, play and just be kids. The boys and I used the museum a lot when they were young. I became president of the Guild in the early ’90s, went on the Governing Board after that and have been on the board ever since. I’ve chaired the For the Kids Benefit and assisted in a couple of capital campaigns. Back in the day when there wasn’t much money Guild members would volunteer their time helping make and paint exhibits. We brought our kids. We all became friends – the moms and the kids.”
Birge says the museum’s been “a catalyst for bringing young professionals into community leadership roles,” adding, “We were all together helping build this idea of a museum and we all went on to be very successful in doing cool things in Omaha in nontraditional ways.”
He says everybody involved wanted the museum to be world-class.
“We were a bunch of people who said, ‘We can do this.’ We kept getting great leadership in terms of board members as well as paid staff who were going to make it the biggest and best thing it could be.”
He’s proud OCM’s intertwined in “the fabric of the community.”
His daughter Alexis Boulos carries on family tradition as a volunteer (with the Guild) and engaged parent.
“I not only enjoyed the museum as a child I watched my parents volunteer their time and talents and now it’s so rewarding to give back myself and to watch my kids develop their creativity there.”
Dad and daughter marvel at how robust OCM is today. None of it could have happened without its founder. “Karen Levin was relentless in pushing that vision and she was not going to let go,” Birge says.
Monies that secured OCM’s initial footing came from the Dayton Hudson Foundation, whose grant helped pay for the first programs and exhibits. A CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) grant paid for staff.
OCM went from itinerant displays in shopping malls, libraries, schools and at events to renting a small, makeshift space in the Omaha-Douglas County “connector” building. Then it moved to larger, repurposed digs at 18th and St. Mary before occupying its present site, 500 South 20th Street, in the old McFadden Ford auto dealership.
Lindy Hoyer
A decade after the museum formed Lindy Hoyer was a recent college graduate looking to apply her theater degree to a stage career when she took a job at OCM. Hired as a secretary, her skills proved better suited to facilitating play with kids in the exhibits area.
“My whole life I’ve been drawn to children and when I got the chance to see children engage and interact at the museum i just knew this is my passion,” says Hoyer, who found OCM a great place to grow herself professionally. “This organization was so young and fledgling that there were lots of new things to do and take charge of.”
After eight years she left for the Lincoln (Neb.) Children’s Museum before retuning in 2002. She found OCM in a state of physical fatigue.
“We had to make really tough decisions. Even though the audience grows up and grows out and there’s a new audience coming in every eight years, you have to keep the exhibits fresh. So often children’s museums get exhibits built and then the resources to replenish those over time never get accumulated and so things get worn down, broken
and over time that shows. The place was suffering desperately from that when I started back in 2002. We did some things to replenish,
but we were starting to get there again.”
Since making upgrades, targeting early childhood audiences and working with community partners to build exhibits OCM’s enjoyed an unbroken rise in attendance. The first of the community themed and sponsored exhibits, Construction Zone, in partnership with Kiewit, was a huge hit. Next came The Big Backyard and a slew of permanent displays by First National Bank. Walker Tire and Auto, Hy Vee. Omaha Steaks and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center.
Community and traveling exhibits, plus educational programs make OCM a thriving, financially stable destination place with huge buy-in.
“It’s nice to be running a nonprofit organization in a community where we can be bold and daring within the context of a strategy and a mission and work that backs that up,” Hoyer says. “We understand our audience and we listen to them and we take what they say seriously.”
Levin admires how far OCM’s come.
“We built a very strong foundation and then it just kind of blossomed. I think the community has always embraced the museum. Everyone owns it. Parents seek it out. It belongs to Omaha.”
She credits the leadership of Hoyer, the board and a staff that is “engaged, active, smart” for creating such a strong operation.
But OCM has challenges. Its landlocked downtown home is woefully short on office, storage and parking space. It also faces millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. Meanwhile, more visitors pour in.
Board chair Trent Demulling says for a recent master planning process “we evaluated what the museum could be and we did not constrain ourselves in dreaming big.” He adds, “Now we have to align that with reality in terms of what funding is available.”
He and Hoyer say everything’s on the table – from expanding the present facility to finding a larger existing structure to building anew.
“I think management, the board and community leaders really need to think about what is Omaha willing to invest in the Omaha Children’s Museum,” Demulling says, “and what are the things we can get done in order to serve more people to give them an even better experience.”
Until a plan is finalized, OCM will continue stimulating children’s tactile senses and imagination in the same digs it’s occupied since 1989. Meanwhile, OCM celebrates 40 years of congaing minds and bodies.
“It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Omaha Children’s Museum,” says Hoyer. “The next step isn’t determined yet, but I know as long as we stay true to our mission to engage the imagination and spark excitement for learning, it’s going to be the right one. Whatever happens next will benefit generations to come.”
Visit http://www.ocm.org.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
SELECT OMAHA CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 40TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS
In February OCM unveiled an interactive 40th anniversary art piece at the main entrance along with a vintage station wagon commemorating the museum’s start as a traveling program. The vehicle has a photo app visitors can use to share pictures on social media.
June 24 – Donor Celebration
This black tie event is for donors, past and present board members and others instrumental in the museum’s history. A cocktail hour will be held at the museum and a formal dinner and program will follow at Founders One Nine down the street hosted by longtime OCM supporters Mike and Susan Lebens.
June 25 – Birthday Celebration
Enjoy birthday cake and special activities throughout the day.
June 26 – Sundae Sunday
Celebrity scoopers will dole out ice cream sundaes to commemorate a popular activity from OCM’s past.
October 15 – ImagiNation
This 10,000 square foot traveling exhibit will feature elements from some of OCM’s most popular displays over its 40 year history.
Categories: Arts-Entertainment-Culture, Education, Entertainment, Family, Omaha, Omaha Children's Museum, Uncategorized, Writing, Youth Tags: Family Attractions, Karen Levin, Lindy Hoyer, Omaha, Omaha Children's Museum, Play, Youth
Retired warrior, lifetime scholar John Nagl became U.S. Army counterinsurgency guru
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A Reflection of 2020 – MAF Papua New Guinea
The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across almost all of our programmes. It has affected our staff, our ability to fly, and the people we have been able to reach. Below is a summary of how this impact has been felt in Papua New Guinea.
On 19th March 2020, P2-MAF was involved in an accident at Yenkisa. Thankfully, the pilot and three passengers on board were not injured but the aircraft sustained damage. Whilst this accident was being investigated MAF operations were suspended as a safety precaution, so our flights were already grounded when, on 7th April, the Papua New Guinean government banned domestic travel and implemented curfews in response to the coronavirus pandemic. A state of emergency had been declared on 24th March.
MAF received approval to carry out COVID-19 related flights to support the Area Health Patrol (AHP), transporting PPE and medication. We did some limited flying in support of AHP who were setting up a clinic in Balimo in preparation for treating COVID patients*, however patrols to remote communities were suspended.
During this period of downtime and in response to recent incidents, work began in earnest with multiple stakeholders, including the Rural Airstrip Agency (RAA), to carry out airstrip surveys so that we can return a greater number of airstrips to service safely.
At the end of April, government restrictions for land travel were lifted. Air travel to non-restricted provinces was permitted, as long as proper passenger hygiene procedures were followed (temperatures taken, face masks, and social distancing) and with government approval for each specific passenger; medical evacuations were allowed without specific approval.
However, only authorised international passengers were able to enter the country and all incoming passengers had to quarantine for 14 days at a designated facility at their own cost. This presented problems for our staff who were stranded out of country and this would prove to be an ongoing issue in the months to come.
During this time there were actually very few confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country and life began to return to some normality, with social distancing measures and mask wearing expected. By May 13th the Prime Minister James Marape said the country was ‘technically speaking’ free of COVID but reminded people to remain vigilant. We continued to carry out AHP flights and airstrip surveys. By the end of May 25 airstrips were open, with another 25 in the process of being opened. Tech Services PNG (known locally as CRMF) joined some airstrip survey flights, taking the opportunity to connect with remote communities, distribute resources and assess communication needs.
Meanwhile, we received the final Instrument of Approval letter from CASA, certifying our Red Bird Flight Simulator as fully operational for flight training.
At the beginning of June, permission was granted for some staff to return to PNG, subject to a 14-day quarantine. New regulations came in at the end of the month, requiring people to self-isolate for seven days in their country of uplift prior to boarding, take a COVID test 2-7 days prior to boarding, arrive in PNG and then quarantine for seven days, with a COVID test after five days. We continued carrying out medevacs and AHP flights and by mid-July 47 airstrips were now open.
In mid-July we did two medevacs in one day, including a pregnant missionary with an infection. Our limited flight hours were slowly increasing, however by the end of July infection rates increased dramatically and Port Moresby went into a 14 day lockdown. Passenger air travel was only for essential purposes and all passengers were required to wear masks at all times while on the aircraft.
Cases continued to rise into August and restrictions on flights were once again imposed. Passenger operations were for essential reasons only and every passenger on all domestic flights needed to have approval from the government. Cargo flights were taking place, however, and at this point we had 51 airstrips open. Several staff members were trying to get back to PNG but they were experiencing difficulties with international flights. Without a full cohort of staff we were limited in our pilot numbers, which was another contributing factor into our low flight hours. Even when staff did return, they were subject to a 14 day quarantine and so it took time for the benefit of their return to translate into increased operational capacity.
In September, flight hours continued to climb to approximately 52 flight hours per week (compared with an average of 100 hours per week in September 2019). However they plateaued somewhat due to the number of available pilots in country. In October quarantine regulations were relaxed for passengers returning from Australia and New Zealand, meaning they only had to quarantine for seven days. A number of staff remained out of country at this point, but began scheduling returns in October and November, however due to quarantine and annual leave it will take time for this to translate into a full flight schedule.
There are concerns that the COVID-19 situation will lead to a rise in criminal activity and political instability. As always, we monitor these situations, and the potential impact on our staff, carefully.
One leader of a mission in PNG reported that he had tears in his eyes on hearing the MAF aircraft take off after many weeks of being grounded. The thought and knowledge of the hope and help that this would bring brought him to tears and gratitude to God.
Read more real stories here
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Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study
Alanna M. Chamberlain, Aaron R. Folsom, Pamela J. Schreiner, Eric Boerwinkle, Christie M. Ballantyne
Genes coding for proteins involved in lipid metabolism and, in women, menopausal status are independently associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels. We examined whether the association between common functional genetic polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E (apoE Cys112Arg and Arg158Cys) gene and LDL-c levels, as well as the associations between the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP TaqIB), hepatic lipase (LIPC C-514T), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL Ser447Stop) genes and HDL-c levels are significantly modified by menopausal status. Plasma lipid concentrations, genotype, and menopausal status were assessed across four examinations in a sample of Caucasian and African-American women (n = 4652-4876) who were aged 45-64 years at baseline from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. The association between LDL-c levels and the apoE gene, and HDL-c levels and the LIPC and LPL genes were not modified by menopausal status. The only statistically significant gene by menopause interaction was with the CETP gene on HDL-c concentrations (p = 0.04). However, the significant CETP gene by menopause interaction was possibly due to chance because of multiple testing. Postmenopausal women who were carriers of the A allele of the CETP gene had approximately 0.7 mg/dL lower HDL-c levels than pre-/perimenopausal counterparts, whereas the opposite pattern of HDL-c (0.4 mg/dL higher HDL-c postmenopausally) was observed for the GG genotype. Overall, our data suggest that the decrease in endogenous estrogen as a result of menopause may independently affect lipoprotein concentration, but does not alter the effect on plasma lipids of some common genetic polymorphisms that regulate lipoprotein metabolism.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
Apolipoprotein E
Cholesteryl ester transfer protein
Hepatic lipase
Lipoprotein lipase
10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Genetic Polymorphisms Medicine & Life Sciences
LDL Lipoproteins Medicine & Life Sciences
HDL Cholesterol Medicine & Life Sciences
Atherosclerosis Medicine & Life Sciences
Menopause Medicine & Life Sciences
LDL Cholesterol Medicine & Life Sciences
Chamberlain, A. M., Folsom, A. R., Schreiner, P. J., Boerwinkle, E., & Ballantyne, C. M. (2008). Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Atherosclerosis, 200(2), 322-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status : The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. / Chamberlain, Alanna M.; Folsom, Aaron R.; Schreiner, Pamela J.; Boerwinkle, Eric; Ballantyne, Christie M.
In: Atherosclerosis, Vol. 200, No. 2, 10.2008, p. 322-328.
Chamberlain, AM, Folsom, AR, Schreiner, PJ, Boerwinkle, E & Ballantyne, CM 2008, 'Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study', Atherosclerosis, vol. 200, no. 2, pp. 322-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
Chamberlain AM, Folsom AR, Schreiner PJ, Boerwinkle E, Ballantyne CM. Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Atherosclerosis. 2008 Oct;200(2):322-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
Chamberlain, Alanna M. ; Folsom, Aaron R. ; Schreiner, Pamela J. ; Boerwinkle, Eric ; Ballantyne, Christie M. / Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status : The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. In: Atherosclerosis. 2008 ; Vol. 200, No. 2. pp. 322-328.
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title = "Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study",
abstract = "Genes coding for proteins involved in lipid metabolism and, in women, menopausal status are independently associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels. We examined whether the association between common functional genetic polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E (apoE Cys112Arg and Arg158Cys) gene and LDL-c levels, as well as the associations between the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP TaqIB), hepatic lipase (LIPC C-514T), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL Ser447Stop) genes and HDL-c levels are significantly modified by menopausal status. Plasma lipid concentrations, genotype, and menopausal status were assessed across four examinations in a sample of Caucasian and African-American women (n = 4652-4876) who were aged 45-64 years at baseline from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. The association between LDL-c levels and the apoE gene, and HDL-c levels and the LIPC and LPL genes were not modified by menopausal status. The only statistically significant gene by menopause interaction was with the CETP gene on HDL-c concentrations (p = 0.04). However, the significant CETP gene by menopause interaction was possibly due to chance because of multiple testing. Postmenopausal women who were carriers of the A allele of the CETP gene had approximately 0.7 mg/dL lower HDL-c levels than pre-/perimenopausal counterparts, whereas the opposite pattern of HDL-c (0.4 mg/dL higher HDL-c postmenopausally) was observed for the GG genotype. Overall, our data suggest that the decrease in endogenous estrogen as a result of menopause may independently affect lipoprotein concentration, but does not alter the effect on plasma lipids of some common genetic polymorphisms that regulate lipoprotein metabolism.",
keywords = "Apolipoprotein E, Cholesteryl ester transfer protein, HDL, Hepatic lipase, LDL, Lipoprotein lipase, Menopause",
author = "Chamberlain, {Alanna M.} and Folsom, {Aaron R.} and Schreiner, {Pamela J.} and Eric Boerwinkle and Ballantyne, {Christie M.}",
note = "Funding Information: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study is carried out as a collaborative study supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute contracts N01-HC-55015, N01-HC-55016, N01-HC-55018, N01-HC-55019, N01-HC-55020, N01-HC-55021, and N01-HC-55022. The authors thank the staff and participants of the ARIC study for their important contributions. ",
doi = "10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045",
journal = "Atherosclerosis",
T1 - Low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in relation to genetic polymorphisms and menopausal status
T2 - The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study
AU - Chamberlain, Alanna M.
AU - Folsom, Aaron R.
AU - Schreiner, Pamela J.
AU - Boerwinkle, Eric
AU - Ballantyne, Christie M.
N1 - Funding Information: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study is carried out as a collaborative study supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute contracts N01-HC-55015, N01-HC-55016, N01-HC-55018, N01-HC-55019, N01-HC-55020, N01-HC-55021, and N01-HC-55022. The authors thank the staff and participants of the ARIC study for their important contributions.
N2 - Genes coding for proteins involved in lipid metabolism and, in women, menopausal status are independently associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels. We examined whether the association between common functional genetic polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E (apoE Cys112Arg and Arg158Cys) gene and LDL-c levels, as well as the associations between the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP TaqIB), hepatic lipase (LIPC C-514T), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL Ser447Stop) genes and HDL-c levels are significantly modified by menopausal status. Plasma lipid concentrations, genotype, and menopausal status were assessed across four examinations in a sample of Caucasian and African-American women (n = 4652-4876) who were aged 45-64 years at baseline from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. The association between LDL-c levels and the apoE gene, and HDL-c levels and the LIPC and LPL genes were not modified by menopausal status. The only statistically significant gene by menopause interaction was with the CETP gene on HDL-c concentrations (p = 0.04). However, the significant CETP gene by menopause interaction was possibly due to chance because of multiple testing. Postmenopausal women who were carriers of the A allele of the CETP gene had approximately 0.7 mg/dL lower HDL-c levels than pre-/perimenopausal counterparts, whereas the opposite pattern of HDL-c (0.4 mg/dL higher HDL-c postmenopausally) was observed for the GG genotype. Overall, our data suggest that the decrease in endogenous estrogen as a result of menopause may independently affect lipoprotein concentration, but does not alter the effect on plasma lipids of some common genetic polymorphisms that regulate lipoprotein metabolism.
AB - Genes coding for proteins involved in lipid metabolism and, in women, menopausal status are independently associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels. We examined whether the association between common functional genetic polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E (apoE Cys112Arg and Arg158Cys) gene and LDL-c levels, as well as the associations between the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP TaqIB), hepatic lipase (LIPC C-514T), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL Ser447Stop) genes and HDL-c levels are significantly modified by menopausal status. Plasma lipid concentrations, genotype, and menopausal status were assessed across four examinations in a sample of Caucasian and African-American women (n = 4652-4876) who were aged 45-64 years at baseline from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. The association between LDL-c levels and the apoE gene, and HDL-c levels and the LIPC and LPL genes were not modified by menopausal status. The only statistically significant gene by menopause interaction was with the CETP gene on HDL-c concentrations (p = 0.04). However, the significant CETP gene by menopause interaction was possibly due to chance because of multiple testing. Postmenopausal women who were carriers of the A allele of the CETP gene had approximately 0.7 mg/dL lower HDL-c levels than pre-/perimenopausal counterparts, whereas the opposite pattern of HDL-c (0.4 mg/dL higher HDL-c postmenopausally) was observed for the GG genotype. Overall, our data suggest that the decrease in endogenous estrogen as a result of menopause may independently affect lipoprotein concentration, but does not alter the effect on plasma lipids of some common genetic polymorphisms that regulate lipoprotein metabolism.
KW - Apolipoprotein E
KW - Cholesteryl ester transfer protein
KW - HDL
KW - Hepatic lipase
KW - LDL
KW - Lipoprotein lipase
KW - Menopause
U2 - 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
DO - 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2007.12.045
JO - Atherosclerosis
JF - Atherosclerosis
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The Lords of Cradley Manor, from Saxon times to the mid-nineteenth century
by N. BIRD
Even in earliest times, Cradley could not boast of being a well favoured residential place for not one of its manorial lords since Saxon times ever made permanent residence here. A steward was left in charge, but no doubt he entertained his lord periodically at the manor house where the rent (in kind) could be 'eaten up' and parties could sally forth to hunt in the park or hawk on the warrens of Lutley, Hagley and Clent.
Wigar, the last of the Saxons was the last lord to live within the manor. His house, which was very likely on the site of the old 'Farther Leys Barn' was no doubt a timber built structure like a barn, his family living at one end while his servants and ceorls occupied the other where they slept on straw.
He was displaced by Pagan, a Norman to whom Fitztzansculf, the First Baron of Dudley entrusted the management of the Manor. Pagan was somewhat more than a steward and probably lived alternately in Cradley and Amblecote where he was also seneschal.
Fitzansculf was succeeded by Fulk Paganel who had married Beatrice the sole heir. Possibly, Fulk was the son of Pagan, the name Paganel not having been recorded before this time. He strengthened the castle with stone walls and his son Ralf held it for Queen Matilda against Stephen.
Gervase, the last of the Paganels supported a rebellion against Henry II, for which offence he lost his title and the castle was demolished. His sister, Howise, however inherited his possessions and her husband John de Somery succeeded to the title in consideration of the latter's handsome contribution towards the ransom of Richard I, who was captured while returning from the 3rd Crusade. John was one of the mission which met Coeur de Lion in his German prison fortress to arrange for his freedom. A little of this ransom might have been raised in Cradley?
During the next hundred years, until 1321, the Somerys lived at Dudley Castle, rebuilding and extending the fortifications. Some of this work can still be seen. The place-name Oldnall (Olden Hall) suggests that there was a manor house thereabouts built of stone. The Somerys did a good deal of building and it is quite likely they were instrumental in having it built. There are two old stone quarries quite near.
The last of the Somerys, another John, died leaving no direct heir, but his sister Margaret inherited the major portion of the estates and her husband John de Sutton acquired the title. His younger sister, Joan, inherited Cradley, Clent and Warley, and from that time Cradley has been independent of Dudley. At different times afterwards we became linked with Lutley, Warley, Hagley, Clent and Oldswinford through the common Manorial lord and with Halesowen as part of the parish.
Joan and her husband, John, Lord Botetourt, enclosed the woodland and much of the common of Cradley to form their demesne and in recompense Lord John possibly founded a Chapel here as he had done at Warley. He was buried in Halesowen Abbey. They left only one child named Joyce who became the second wife of Hugh Burnell, Lord of Kidderminster. He prepared an elaborate alabaster tomb for Joyce and himself in the choir of Halesowen Abbey.
At his death there was a good deal of litigation, after which his three grand daughters shared the greater part of his possessions, while Cradley, Warley and part of Lutley came into the possession of Joan Beauchamp, Lady Abergaveny, who was related to the Beauchamps of Warwick Castle.
The next lord in possession was Joan's grandson, James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde. During the Wars of the Roses he followed the fortunes of the Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker) and at the Battle of Tourton, while fighting for Henry VI against Edward Duke of York was captured and executed.
The new King Edward IV confiscated his estates and Cradley was granted to Fulk Stafford of Grafton Manor. He died soon afterwards, and Thomas Prout held it until his death when it reverted to the Crown. The Queen then conferred it upon the Abbot and Convent of Westminster where a Chapel was erected for two monks to celebrate masses for the repose of Their Majesties' souls.
Soon afterwards the Manor was restored to Thomas Butler, the beheaded Earl's brother, and from him it passed to his daughter Ann, wife of Sir John St. Leger and aunt of Queen Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated mother of Elizabeth I. By 1535 the Abbots of Halesowen Abbey had acquired the advowson of the Cradley Chapel but this and some adjoining land was appropriated with the rest of the Abbey estates by Henry VIII and given to the notorious Sir John Dudley, whose agents sold it to the St. Legers.
A grandson of Ann, another Sir John St. Leger sold Cradley with Hagley and Clent to Sir John Lyttelton of Frankley in 1564. (The Lytteltons had bought Halesowen Manor four years before from Robert Dudley (who became Earl of Leicester) and two dealers in real estate named Thomas Blount and George Tuckeye). Since 1564, Cradley Manor has been held by the Lyttletons, but during the last 250 years they have gradually disposed of it.
Modern records state that a Court Baron and Court Leet were held at Cradley during the first half of the last century at which the Steward of the Manor acted as judge, assisted by "a jury of respectable inhabitants."
In 1841, the constable of the Manor, as an official, disappears from Cradley's history and we have a policeman for the first time. The beadle, however, continued in his office for a number of years after this date.
Note by Cradley Links:
This article was first published in the Cradley Parish Church Magazine, August 1953.
The author, Norman Bird, took an active interest in Cradley history, and was a regular contributor to the parish magazine. Deputy Head Master at the Cradley Church Schools for more than 20 years, he died suddenly in the school staff room in the late 1950s.
Fatherless Barn
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Tax Lawyer
Adam Namm
Adam M. Namm is a tax associate. Mr. Namm joined Debevoise in 2013. Mr. Namm received his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2013, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and a senior editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
He received a B.S. cum laude from the University of Maryland College Park, Robert H. Smith School of Business in 2006. Prior to law school, Mr. Namm worked as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Consulting in New York.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and TRANZACT in the $1.2 billion sale of TRANZACT to Willis Towers Watson.
The Carlyle Group in its strategic partnership with AIG to position DSA Re as a platform to provide solutions for insurance liabilities globally.
Resolution Life in its sale of Lincoln Benefit Life to Global Bankers Insurance Group.
HarbourVest Partners in the formation of HarbourVest Partners Co-Investment Fund IV, a $1.75 billion global buyout/growth equity fund.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in its $2.5 billion acquisition of HD Supply’s Waterworks Division, the largest distributor of waterworks products in the U.S.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in the formation of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Fund X, a $10 billion North America and Western Europe buyout fund.
Carmel Partners in the formation of Carmel Partners Investment Fund VI, a $1 billion U.S. real estate fund.
Activision Blizzard in the financing aspects of its $5.9 billion acquisition of King Digital.
Newport Global Advisors in the recapitalization of Newport Global Opportunities Fund LP. In the transaction, investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley, LGT Capital and other syndicate investors committed capital to a newly formed Newport-managed fund that acquired substantially all of the portfolio of the existing fund. Existing limited partners elected to either roll their interests into the new fund or receive cash in respect of their interest.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in its $153 million acquisition of IHC Risk Solutions and its direct employer stop loss business from Independence Holding Company.
American Securities and P2 Capital Partners in their $855 million acquisition of Blount International.
Protective Life in its acquisition by reinsurance of certain in-force blocks of term life insurance from Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company.
The Carlyle Group in the formation of Carlyle Europe Partners IV, a €3.75 billion Europe buyout fund.
The Carlyle Group in the formation of Carlyle Europe Technology Partners III, a €656 million Europe growth capital/technology fund.
StanCorp Financial Group in its $5 billion sale to Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company.
Diamond Castle in the restructuring of, and secondary sale of interests in, Diamond Castle Partners IV. In the transaction, investment funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Intermediate Capital Group and other syndicate investors committed capital to a newly formed Diamond Castle-managed fund that acquired most of the portfolio of Fund IV, and Fund IV limited partners elected either to participate in the longer term potential of the portfolio by rolling their interests into the new fund or to effectively sell their interests to the buying syndicate.
University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2013, J.D.
University of Maryland, 2006, B.S.
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Angela Ramey
Robert Nelson-Sullivan
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Monaco Monaco Residence Permit
Monaco Residence Permit holders are free to live and work in one of the world’s most sought-after cities. For over 100 years the residents of Monaco have benefitted from a favourable tax regime that doesn’t require them to pay any capital gains tax or personal income tax.
Favourable tax regime
High standard of living
Beautiful scenery and architecture
Funds in Monaco exceeding €1 million
Introducing Monaco
A safe haven for successful people
Monaco has the world's second-highest GDP nominal per capita at US$153,177. According to the CIA World Factbook, Monaco has the world's lowest poverty rate and the highest number of millionaires and billionaires per capita in the world.
It has been governed under a constitutional monarchy since 1911, with the Sovereign Prince of Monaco as head of state. The executive branch consists of a Minister of State as the head of government, who presides over a five-member Council of Government.
Since 1870, Monaco has not levied a personal income tax on its residents. Considering the location of Monaco, which is easily accessible by plane, boat or train, it is very common for residents to work and even live in other countries in Europe. Residents do not pay capital gains taxes and the government does not levy net wealth taxes.
Monte-Carlo, its major district, is home to an elegant belle-époque casino and the ornate Salle Garnier opera house. The marina is home to the world’s largest and most luxurious superyachts. Residents enjoy a standard of living which is amongst the highest in the world.
Capital city: Monte Carlo
Languages: French, Italian, English
Visa free countries: N/a
Total area: 2 km²
Time zone: Western European (UTC)
Monaco Residence Permit Requirements
The applicant must have appropriate accommodation available in the Principality, and either be employed in Monaco or obtain an attestation from a Monaco bank that they have adequate funds to support themselves without working. This typically means having over €1 million in a bank in Monaco.
Background checks on the reputation of the individual are undertaken by the authorities, and evidence of a non-criminal record must be obtained.
Monaco Residence Permit Application Process
Submit Residence Permit application
Attend appointment with Residents Section
Month 2-4
Residence Permit approved
Monaco's Residence Permit requires funds in Monaco exceeding €1 million. By checking this box, I confirm that I have read and understand this requirement.
Discover Guernsey's Investor Visa Programme.
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